My visa got approved:)

[Mvjnz]

I've lived in Australia for a year on a tourist visa, so we had to apply for a de facto spouse visa for me to be able to stay here. We logded the application in April and have been playing the waiting game since. Today they called us and told us it was approved and the application was so good we don't need to do an interview with the immigration people. yay:)

On the holiday visa I had bascially no rights, couldn't work, no free health service etc. But now I can work all I want and I'm part of Medicare. Yay free health service:)

So I'm looking for work as we speak:)

[sandy_n]

:11: :11: Congratulations:11: :11:

[Ryuu]

Congrats!!!!

[Mvjnz]

Thanks

:)

[SkinnyChicken]

Congrats ... having done it myself I know what an ordeal it can be.:11:

[country_boy454]

Congrats!:19: :19: Good luck on the job hunt too!

[Gemini]

Hey mvjnz - wherabouts in Brissy are you and what sort of work are you after?

[Evil Slimy]

Congratulations :)
I went through a similar experience here in the US. When it's finally approved it's a great feeling :)
:11:

[Mvjnz]

Thanks, yeah it feels good:)

Gemini, Northside, and I'd love to work at a pet store or something animal related. Not really picky tho, I'd just like to get out there and make some money so hubby doesn't have to pay for my aquarium hobby. I hate having to ask for permission to get stuff..

:)

[angelcakes]

congrats:11: :11: :11:

[Gemini]

Mvjnz - I'll keep an eye out for ads in Pet Stores etc... I do know that the last time I went to the Pet Store in the Toombul shopping centre they had a help wanted ad on the window. I know it's a chain store but maybe you could give some good advice there!
Oh and Pet Hypermarket seem to be advertising too!! [Only Registered Users Can See Links.] They have a tonne of positions - I don't know whether they are expanding or have a high turnover of staff but it might be a start!!

[Mvjnz]

I already applied for a few positions at the pet hypermarket:) Thanks for the tip on the Toombul one, I'll have a look:)

[William]

Congratulations. hope you find a job soon.

[crackatinny]

Congratulations, will you eventually apply for full citizenship?, where are you from originally?

[Mvjnz]

Ta:)

I'm originally from Norway and I haven't decided whether or not to apply for citizenship yet, because I will prolly lose my Norwegian citizenship if I do. And I don't really see that I would have any extra advantages as a citizen that I wouldn't have as a permanent resident. I don't become a permanent resident for another 2 years tho, so I don't have to decide yet:)

[invadertoast]

Congrats!!! You must be so excited!

Having been in a long distance relationship with a Canadian for the last 6+ years I know how intimidating the paperwork is... and we haven't even started yet!! He's in school for another 2 years, then we'll start looking into visas for him to come here. I tried to get a work visa to go to Canada, several people said they would hire me and fill out the paperwork. After waiting weeks and weeks for a reply I called the employer only to hear "Have you found anything out yet?" This was after explaining that I needed him to write me a formal job offer before I could start anything. Sigh.

Anyhow, sorry for the rant - Good luck in your job search! It must feel sooo good to be able to go out and work again!

[Mvjnz]

Thanks:)

We actually paid someone to do everything for us, they just told us what we had to provide and they put it all together in a folder and made it look all organised and nice. They also sent it all to immigration for us and handled all communication with them. Only bad thing is they wanted $2000 to do it o_O

But it was worth it I guess, we didn't wanna risk having it denied over some stupid detail that we might forget if we did it ourselves.

[invadertoast]

Yes we're planning on hiring someone when the time comes, way expensive but I know it'll be totally worth it. For now I'm just working freelance so I can have free time to spend with him, I might be staying up there for the winter while he's at school also. Next summer and winter will probably be the same thing, then the summer after that I'll have to get serious and get a "real" job so we can afford to hire someone and pay all the fees and everything. We're very paranoid about getting rejected over some minor technicality!

[Mvjnz]

Yeah, good plan:) Could even start saving up now if you have extra money.

:)

[invadertoast]

Yeah, good plan:) Could even start saving up now if you have extra money.

:)

Yup! I've got a savings account that gets an automatic deposit every month. I pretend that I don't even have the savings account so I'm not tempted to use it. It's been open for two years without a single withdawl and it's going to stay that way! Plus I have a big one gallon beer jug that is slowly filling with quarters (it's over halfway now!) I can't wait to cash it in and see how much it holds! :)