Marisawright

I wouldn't worry about trying to make your mind up now. It's impossible to make a decision from a distance. You can do all the Googling and asking advice you like, but it can look totally different when you get there. That's particularly true if you're thinking of living in the country, because country towns in Australia are nothing like country towns in the UK. You won't be able to secure a rental property before you arrive, so you'll have to book four weeks in a holiday flat, and that will give you time to look around. I would choose a town that has a railway station, because commuting into Melbourne CBD by car would be a pain.

Attach everything now.

If the employer has never sponsored anyone before, I wouldn't recommend them jumping in and trying to do their first application without an agent. It's a fiddly process. As VeryStormy says, their first step should be to ask the agent whether they're even able to sponsor you for a part-time job. It's not enough that they want to keep you. The role has to be on the list of eligible occupations. There are several good agents on these forums like @wrussell or @Raul Senise I know it sounds weird, but don't believe what DIBP tells you on the phone. The people you talk to are just in a call centre, and famous for getting things wrong.

Wouldn't it be easier if he just applied for Indefinite Leave to Remain? https://www.gov.uk/settle-in-the-uk/y/you-have-a-uk-ancestry-visa

BTW did I see a mention of your husband's visa expires in March. You may already be aware of it, but just in case - you do understand that if he lets his visa expire, you'll struggle to move back to the UK if you ever want to? If you think applying for the Australian partner visa is a headache, you should check out the British one.

Don't worry if, for some reason, you don't get the 100 visa straight away. Although the 309 is temporary, it doesn't mean you're going to get chucked out at the end. The reason for the temp visa is, basically, to catch people who get married just to get the visa and who probably won't still be together at the end of the two years! As you'll still be together at that time (assuming all this stress doesn't lead to a meltdown, LOL), you'll have no trouble being granted the 100. As you're applying from the UK and the processing time is fairly short, you could get the Police/health check done to avoid any delays.

I think you'd be wiser not to take the chance. I believe you can open an Australian bank account in your own name, so it would be worth looking into that. The other option is to transfer money into Australian dollars with a company like Moneycorp. We opened an account with Moneycorp when we were moving countries. We chose a good time to transfer, then just let the money sit in our account until we were ready. You can't get a bank statement from them though, as they're not a bank - however you could enquire whether they could give you some kind of statement showing you have the funds.

If there are always new applicants with 75+ points coming in, maybe never

I think this is the bit many people aren't aware of: "The highest ranked clients by points score are invited to apply for the relevant visa. For clients who have equal points scores, the time at which they reached their points score for that subclass (referred to as the date of effect) determines their order of invitation."

You've got to remember there's a difference between the "minimum points required to be eligible" and the minimum points you need to actually get invited. For the last 12 months or so, there have been so many people with 70+ points, people with 60 or 65 points haven't stood a chance anyway. So I think this increase in the official minimum is just recognising reality.

The waiting times reflect both applications made in Australia and applications made from outside Australia. Applications made from outside Australia get priority and are processed faster, presumably because Immigration takes a dim view of people sneaking into Australia on a tourist visa with intent to stay permanently. We've seen several recent posts on these forums from Brits who've had their partner visa approved in 2-3 months. Victoria has just shut down the 489 program "temporarily" so it's not even an option for you now. If, as is likely, they don't open it again for several months, then you have to find a job and then apply for a visa, you could easily be looking at 2 years to get that visa. You can get family sponsorship if "your and your partner's only remaining relatives live here and you want to be near them." So if neither of you has any family in the UK, you can get family sponsorship. If not, no go. Anyway, it's likely it would take longer than the partner visa. When they say something like "unavailable due to low processing volumes" on the timetable, that doesn't mean it's fast. It may mean they only grant a few each year and the quota has already been filled. https://www.fastvisagroup.com/our-blog/advantages-of-applying-for-a-partner-visa-offshore (I'm not recommending the agency, I know nothing about them).

Actually, I'm pretty sure the reason this thread was started was because there were too many negative posts on the subject, and it was felt there needed to be a forum of positive experiences to counteract them.

What do you mean, 2 years wait time? If you are currently in the UK, the application takes only a couple of months to go through. You may be confusing it with the fact that you must be married (or in a de facto relationship) for 2 years before you apply. The process does require you to provide bank statements, leases and bills in joint names to prove you are actually living together and sharing a life. and yes, it is a bit tedious. Most people also submit photographs of holidays together and so on. But it's not like they ask about your sex life or anything!

Whereabouts in Melbourne will you be? Public transport in Melbourne is so good, you might find the car will sit in the garage most of the time anyway - unless you are way out in the outer suburbs. Easier to send it straight to QLD than go through all the hassle of registering it twice. Besides, the drive to Queensland isn't particularly scenic. Google says it's an 18 hour drive but that's non-stop. It would be three days and that's without stopping to see any sights. If you decide to detour to see some interesting places, it could become a very long trip indeed.

Worth noting that you don't have to be in the country to complete the sale, you can leave it in the hands of your solicitor.

No one ever uses a migration agent for citizenship. Citizenship is not migration

Mosman is a nice place to live, very handy for the city and plenty of restaurants, cafés etc. It's too Sloane Ranger for me (as is most of the Lower North Shore) but that may suit you for all I know.

Traffic in Australian cities isn't as bad as in the UK, but it can still make a huge difference to your trip in rush hour. To give you an example, I used to live in Oatley, which is 20 minutes' drive to the CBD on a quiet evening. In rush hour, it takes an hour on a good day. On a bad day, I've taken over two hours to get to work. Your commute wouldn't be as variable as that, because most of your trip from Manly would be going against the flow of everyone else. The heavy traffic is always from the suburbs INTO the city in the morning, and OUT of the city in the evening. However, I still think your trip would be more like 1.5 hours most rush hours. The inner west has some great neighbourhoods, it's where all the trendy young professionals live.

So, you are saying that on your 457, you have been working as the Hotel Manager, not as an assistant manager? Did you put that on your application? How many years have you been working as a Hotel Manager? I'm sure you're right that it would be hard to get promoted to Hotel Manager within a year of qualifying, but I'm afraid Vetassess doesn't care about that. That is just the minimum years of experience required. If the rules say an assistant position is not enough, then it's not enough, I'm afraid. The fact that friends have got through makes no difference - the rules are getting more strict all the time.

Considering your agent has already made two mistakes, I am worried. The case officer's question doesn't sound "too general" to me. It is common for Immigration to ask for evidence that the position is genuine, so the agent should know exactly what she needs to provide.

Did you read the response carefully? You say you were an ASSISTANT manager. These are the problem areas: The Hotel or Motel Manager...CONTROLS the operations of a hotel Clear evidence of tasks performed at the REQUIRED managerial level (not just any managerial level) The response says, "your roles as an Assistant Front Desk Manager, Duty Manager, and Assistant Manager Front Office do not demonstrate that you held ultimate responsibility for all operations and services offered by the hotel." If you are an assistant, you do not have full control. You are only assisting the person who has full control. You are not in charge, you don't make the decisions on how the hotel is run - your Manager makes those decisions and you follow. The buck does not stop with you. Does that make sense?

I'm hoping you've had good advice from an agent, but if you're in a relationship with an Australian and having a baby, I'd have thought a partner visa would be a much better option for you, even if it means paying another application fee. The processing times are longer if you're applying onshore (it's only two or three months if you apply from the UK), but if you've got good evidence it's a real relationship then it's more certain than the 187, and once you've got it, there are no conditions hanging over your head. If you get married, that's even better. It sounds like your employer is playing games with you, because (unless it is some government entity with strict pay rules), there is absolutely nothing to stop them paying you the proper wage for your position. It sounds as though they're using it as an excuse, knowing you can't leave - and therefore, I'd be worried about how they'll behave once you get your visa.

I'm sure you can think of towns and cities in the UK that are lovely, and also some you wouldn't live in because they're full of chavs! Australia is the same - so Australia hasn't changed while you were away, it's the town you've landed in that's the problem. The obvious compromise is to say to your husband that you're willing to give it a go for another six months to a year, provided you move to a more civilised part of the country. If he says no, then he's a selfish pr!ck. Sorry, but there's no other way to say it, really. You have to ask yourself, is it worth sacrificing your happiness for a man who puts his love for his home town before his love for you? Do you love him so much that you're prepared to always be second-best?

People in the UK think you're living "Home and Away", so of course they think you're crazy. They see your life as a paradise because all they can think about is sun and the beach, but you know that's not what life is about. You've clearly given Australia a red hot go and you know it's not for you. Don't let other people talk you out of it!

If you speed, park illegally, fail to register your vehicle or drive while drunk, you are breaking the law. None of those things "just happen", you do them deliberately knowing you are breaking the law. In particular, speeding and drunk driving can be extremely dangerous - maybe you didn't kill someone but you could have. TBH if you think those things don't matter, I would be sad to see you being approved for citizenship, because it shows you have poor moral values.