Our News

About a month ago I received an email from the Australian High Commission in London.  This was to ask for evidence from the last 2 years regarding the continuing nature of our marriage, so a decision can be made whether or not to grant me permanent residency.  I had to get statements from a few people, include photos, copies of bills & statements etc - this was all sent off to London last week (sent by courier service, as there are postal strikes happening in the UK!) which they received 2 days ago.

A short while ago this evening I receive an email from the person in London who is dealing with my case - my file has now been transferred to Melbourne.  Makes sense as we’re living there now, however when I received that email a month ago I replied asking if I should send my stuff to Melbourne as we had just moved there - and got no reply. Bit frustrating

A part of Australian immigration is the need to get police clearance certificates, showing whether or not you’ve been a bad boy - so in my evidence I included a UK police check.  The requirement is if you have spent a total of at least 12 months in the past 10 years in any country you need to provide a clearance from those countries.  I spent 8½ months on a working holiday in 99/2000, 1 month in 2005, 2 weeks in 2006, and have been in Australia the past 2½ months - making a total of 12½-13 months…I now need to provide an Australian police check! Doesn’t sound so bad, I know there isn’t any record - however I have to provide every address I’ve stayed at in Australia. This is the thing..during that 8½ month working holiday 8 years ago, I stayed entirely in youth hostels and travelled around a bit I can’t remember every place I stayed at, nor can I remember all the dates!

Maybe I’ll get permanent residency by Christmas..let’s hope we don’t have to leave another country because visa stuff doesn’t work out.