Marisawright

No, because the fee is to pay the administrative costs of processing the visas, which are the same whether they accept or reject it. The new rules require children over 18 to be dependent on you. If they're not, they won't get a visa. An agent would be able to tell you and it will be cheaper to get an agent's opinion than apply for visas you can't get.

That's true, but I've been in Australia for over 30 years and moved at least a dozen times, and that has never happened to me. In a nutshell, I'm pretty sure fleas are as common in Australia as they are in other parts of the world, no more no less.

WRussell is a reputable agent. He has told you that it is illegal for the company to make him pay the costs. Even if the visa is refused, the company has no right to ask him to pay their costs. If there was a written agreement beforehand, then they can ask him to pay just for his own visa application (there are two aspects to the process, their bit and his bit) but that’s all. The agent would be able to tell him how much that is. It isn’t legal for him to work voluntarily to pay that off, until he gets a visa I think what has happened is that the company has no understanding of how the system works either. To sponsor an employee, they have to supply a lot of information about their operations and I suspect they’ve struggled to complete all the steps - that’s the “jigsaw” the agent referred to. So the agent may be doing the right thing but the company isn’t

It's true that fleas live all over Australia, but I have never, ever had one in my apartment or my house and I have lived here for over 30 years. If you do not have pets you are not likely to have a problem with them.

I doubt it. I'm sure the upmarket ones are fine, but the cheap ready meals - both in Oz and in the UK - are not nutritious. They're cheap because they're padded out with cheap fillers, and then flavoured to make them taste good. I have to admit we ended up eating a lot of ready meals in the UK. I did have the time to cook, but the ready meals were so handy, we soon succumbed! That's why I noticed the article a few months ago which said that UK authorities are worried about the trend, since they don't contain enough nutrients and shouldn't be eaten too often. Maybe that's why I was so depressed in England - malnutrition!

How old are you? If you are planning to move back, then you need to start looking at things like pensions. If you leave Australia before you reach pensionable age, you will never be able to claim your Australian aged pension. If that's likely to be an issue, then you need to look into whether you can claim any UK pension and whether you could top it up - and of course, it may make a difference to whether you can afford to go back.

All very well, but other agents give you a free consult first, to let you know if you have any chance of getting a visa. This seems like a back-door way of charging you for what should be a free consult.

You are right, and for that reason I suspect that the consultant at HCF didn't know what it meant either, as I'm pretty sure they aren't entitled to the cover they've got. Not that i'm suggesting they should complain!

The correct response to this is probably, “you may very well think that, I couldn’t possibly comment”

Sorry, you didn’t mention that the agent has told him it was ok to go on working. As others have said, for an employer sponsored visa, it’s the employer who has to pay all the costs not him. He can be asked to pay for his own visa fees but that’s all. So there is definitely something not right with this picture. What’s his occupation?

Probably

Good to hear. Usually when people ask a question,they have a reason behind it, glad to hear that’s not so in your case

How would they know?

It's not illegal to arrive on a tourist visa and then apply for a substantive visa after you arrive. It is illegal to arrive on a tourist visa with the intention of staying permanently. That's a fine line, I know. The Immigration officer will look at your case and decide what you're likely to do if your visa gets refused. Will you do the right thing and leave the country, or will you flout the law and decide to stay on illegally? It's at their discretion to decide. In practice, the easiest option is to avoid the situation altogether. Don't arrive with masses of luggage and don't declare your intention on your arrival card. If you do that, it's very unlikely Immigration will give you a second look when you arrive. When you then apply for the 864, they can't prove you didn't just change your mind after arrival.

That's true, but your daughter's boyfriend should know that too. I assume he's on a Working Holiday Visa? The six month limit is clearly stated and most young people are very well aware of it when they get the visa. So it sounds like he's been a bit of an idiot himself. It's not necessarily a big deal, though. It's only going to be a problem if Immigration finds out, and they probably won't. He just needs to leave that employer immediately. Is his current employer the one who's sponsoring him? If they are serious, they won't mind that he has to leave work while he waits for his visa. If they're not serious, then now's a good time to find out.

On a bridging visa, your parents are legally non-residents and therefore Overseas Visitors health cover is all they are eligible for. I’ve often wondered if parents walked into one of the health insurers and just said they needed insurance, whether the consultant would check their passports. They’ve certainly never checked mine! Sounds like your parents have got away with it. Might be a useful loophole

AFAIK it’s not what other reputable agents charge for

Why would you prefer to do it independently? The spouse visa isn't tied to your spouse. Once you've got the 100 visa, it's your own independent visa that you get to keep even if you divorce.

If you look at that visa, it specifically says that it's for people who just want to visit and get married, not to live in the UK. So that is what you need to apply for. That's not the end of it, though. You have to attend the registry office to give notice of the marriage 28 days beforehand - so that means you've got to be in the UK 28 days before the wedding day. If you're getting married in church, they may also have requirements.

I second VeryStormy - a migration agent will cost you some money, but they will know who to contact, whereas you're likely to hit brick walls. Having said that, I think you're wasting your time trying to get a 187 visa because these days, you'd struggle to find an employer willing to take your husband on. Not many employers will wait a year or more for an employee - they'll settle for a less-qualified local person. They'd have to be really desperate.

Whom have you contacted? Were they MARA registered agents? I think it's rather unusual to send an email with all your details upfront, you'd usually make contact with the agent, find out whether they offer a free consultation, have a chat with them and then decide whether you wish to engage them.

I don't think there is. That's why I ended up joining this forum - because I was looking to move back to the UK (I have since moved back). What did you want to know? We looked into marrying in the UK and eventually decided against it. From memory, the problem was that we would've had to fulfil a residential requirement, which would have meant going back several weeks before the wedding day. Things may have changed, though. One thing you can consider (which is what we did) is to have a civil ceremony in Australia (followed by an informal party for your Australian friends), followed by a blessing in the UK or Europe. We did ours on Santorini so the family got a holiday out of it too.

True. We lived in the Wimmera and we preferred going to Adelaide over going to Melbourne, it’s an easy drive

That sounds like a healthy budget. I would agree with not rushing to buy. It takes time to learn where the best suburbs are and as your new lifestyle develops, you may find your preferences change

Are they a MARA registered agent? If not, don’t spend any money with them. There is no such thing as an evidence checking session so that raises red flags