Tier 1 Application from Australia

[jen__]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has applied for their Tier 1 visa from Australis since the changes were introduced on 1 July and how long it took to get approval.

I have submitted my HSMP application to the UK back at the start of June, but due to the really slow processing times (they are still processing March applications), I am starting to get worried about whether I will have the visa and my EC in time to leave for the UK in October, so am now thinking of withdrawing my HSMP application and then re-applying for Tier 1 in Canberra (and paying the application fee again).

I just wanted to see if anyone knew the time that it was taking to process the Tier 1 in Canberra at the moment - on their website they state 20 working days, but anything is going to be better than the months and months of waiting that I appear to have ahead of me waiting for HSMP approval!

Thanks in advance for your help!

[rajesh9pl]

Shoud not be more than 3 week.

[niw2]

I suspect it will be difficult to withdraw your HSMP application and recover your fee. I might be wrong but I have my suspicions.

My partner and I applied at the end of May, intending to be in the UK to start work in September. I've been thinking of trying to get our documents back too.

[jen__]

If I withdraw my application, I will lose the HSMP fee that I paid, and I will then have to pay the full Tier 1 Application fee when I apply in Australia again (so I will have lost AU$800) - however, for the sake of getting my application approved in time to leave in October, I'm willing to give up the money. Given that they are still only processing 26 March - and it took them 3 weeks to finish processing 25 March - it could potentially take another month just for them to finish processing March!

Does anyone know the process to withdraw your application? Is it quick to get your documents back? (I would arrange for a courier to pick up the documents to send back to Australia).

Has anyone applied for Tier 1 from Australia and gotten their visa back in 20 days?

Thanks!

[niw2]

bump, Im interested in this issue too

[trbui]

Comprehensively:

Withdrawing your application could take a while. You'll need to do it in writing and post it to Sheffield where it goes in another queue to be processed and then your application will be withdrawn (which again takes time) before they send them back. Plus you don't get your money back. I've confirmed this with them over the phone.

Initially I sent my application under the old Tier 1 process (Monday 23 June 2008) the day they announced the new Tier 1 scheme in Australia and it was too late to withdraw the post and all efforts to try and stop my application package from leaving Australia failed - so I had to cancel my credit card to stop them processing payment. This surprisingly worked a treat. Within 2 weeks of sending it off I got my application back (Wednesday 9 July 2008) from the UK saying that my application was rejected due to payment errors. Then within 2 days I reformated everything and submitted it under the new Tier 1 process.


There's now a 2 part process
1. Online form which you complete, print and sign and book in a biometrics scan + photograph taken
2. Another pdf form which you print and complete.
3. Pay online as well $1365 AUD as at Mid July 08 (or fill in a manual credit form and submit with your application)

Then you attend your biometrics + photograph session and then they stamp your forms.

Then you'll have to send all your forms and supporting documentation to the High Commission in Canberra.

I have heard from an agency that someone got their Tier 1 visa back in 13 days. And given that entry clearance is now no longer needed it makes the whole process much more efficient.

A friend who I am going to the UK with just got her visa approved yesterday. Her time frame was:
Submit application: 7 July 2008 via express post
Payment charged on credit card: 14 July 2008
Visa approval notice via email: 4 August 2008

So from postal sumission to approval it was approximately 20 working days. From payment processing to approval it was 3 weeks.

Personally due to my debacle above I only submitted my application
on Friday 11 July 2008 and payment was processed on 17 July 2008. So far it seems to be following the time frame that my friend experienced so I should hear something back from them next week. So excited!!!

The service standard stated on the website is that they aim to get back to you within 20 working days (4 weeks) so so far from personal experience they are sticking to it.

My other less fortunate friend who submitted her application under the old HSMP process in the first week of April 2008 still hasn't heard anything back from the UK. Even if they issue the HSMP letter she'll still have to go through entry clearance which again follows the 20 working day guideline so factor this into your time frames too.

The new process is so far proving to be much more efficient!

Hope the above information helps.

[jen__]

Hi trbui,

Thanks so much for your reply. That sounds promising that they are actually processing the applications within 20 working days (so much better than months and months of waiting that was ahead of me if I waited for my HSMP approval from Home Office) - please let me know when you actually get your application approved. I'm applying next week and hoping to fly out in the first week of October, so hopefully I will have enough time to get my approval.

Did it take long to get a biometrics appointment? I am in Melbourne, so hopefully I can get an appointment in the next couple of days.

For anyone thinking of withdrawing their application, make sure you keep following them up, I had to send a fax requesting that my application be withdrawn, and I rung the Customer Service number every day asking if they had received it - however the customer service person said that they are receiving so many faxes lately that they are not processing them very quickly - so if you are wanting to withdraw your application, make sure that you write in big letters "WITHDRAWL" at the top of the fax, and then it gets actioned straight away.

Thanks

[trbui]

No worries.
The length and waiting period for the biometrics test will depend on the amount of people booking for the biometrics test.

Though from personal experience I only had to wait 2 days from booking (i.e. i completed my online form and booked the appointment on Wednesday for the Friday of that same week).
It doesn't take long to have your biometrics scanned (barely a 5 min process). This shouldn't be an issue for you.

Though be careful of what you state in your online form of your intended date of arrival in the UK. My friend stated 1 October to give them more time to process (clearly she like everybody else was doubtful of the time frame) but then her visa came back in time and it stated 1 October when she could have travelled earlier.

[niw2]

You might like to join the rest of us over at the "HSMP what date are they up to?" thread to see how much HSMP progress speeds up now that they are at the end of the applications from March 2008. From here on in, they will have no more applications from India to process and they may speed up considerably. Heres hoping.

Of course, its your call but if they start processing 2 weeks of applications per week, it might not be worth withdrawing your application.

[simonekay]

Hi there,

I was the friend that trbui was referring to. I finally received my application and visa from the courier and my visa was issued the last week of July. So they issue your visa and date it on that date and not what your application form indicates. This means that you need to be ready to leave or it will be eating into the 3 year period.

[CoolestGuyC]

so I had to cancel my credit card to stop them processing payment. This surprisingly worked a treat.

Now thats what I call an intelligent move!! Really highly skilled migrant

[simon_poon]

Bump.

I am interested in timescales for TIER 1 applications from Australia. Has anyone else applied and been approved yet?

[jen__]

Trbui - did you end up getting your Tier 1 approval back from Canberra yet? From looking at the forums, they seem to be stuck on processing the mid July applications. This is so frustrating that they just keep pushing the expected timeframes out and changing the rules, it makes it so hard to plan anything because you don't know if your application will take 4 weeks or 4 months!

[trbui]

Unfortunately not yet...
Tomorrow would be the 30 working day mark for me.

I've called the visa hotline (the $9.90) and they couldn't tell me much other than the visa office is busy. I've also requested a progress report on Monday (18 August 08), whereby they will 'investigate' the progress of my application. This 'investigation' is said to take 48 hours and that I should call back where they charged me another $9.90 to listen to the result of the 'investigation'. So I called them back yesterday on Wednesday 20 August just to hear that my application is in the "final stages" of the process and that I should just hang in there for a couple of more days. Being in the final stages doesn't mean anything and that my application could either be successful or rejected.
Not really helpful there and that costed $20 just to hear nothing at all.

However I did find out that if your application is not successful then they'll just send it back. But if your application is successful then they'll email informing that you have been successful and that you should receive your application and stamped passport back within 5 working days.

It is the waiting for the email that kills me. I've been checking my registered email at least 2-3 times each hour everyday since last Monday when my application ticked over 21 working days and have been calling home to see whether any package has come back (because if the application comes back without the email first then it's a failure).

I've also noted that on the High Commission's website that they have been changing their stance on processing times.

At first it was 20 working days for straight forward application.
Then it was 30 working days for straight forward application.
Then just today or yesterday they posted that Tier 1 applications are not straight forward (but they fail to state the time frame for processing Tier 1 applications).

So from their website:
- Straight forward applications will take 30 working days
- Right of abode and certificate of entitlements (theTier 1 visa is neither of these) will take 3 months
Therefore I can only deduce that since a tier 1 visa is neither of the above, that it can take anywhere from 30 working days to 3 months.

I guess my friend got lucky and got rewarded with the 20 working day processing time because she got her application in the second week it operated in Canberra. For the rest of us, it looks like we are now sitting in the long queue and that I don't think it's going to get any shorter... triple

[trbui]

Trbui - did you end up getting your Tier 1 approval back from Canberra yet? From looking at the forums, they seem to be stuck on processing the mid July applications. This is so frustrating that they just keep pushing the expected timeframes out and changing the rules, it makes it so hard to plan anything because you don't know if your application will take 4 weeks or 4 months!

Oh yes here did you read that they are stuck on mid July applications?
The other threads aren't Australia specific. Did you read it off another forum?

[jen__]

Trbui - that's not great that you are still waiting. I submitted my application at the start of August and was really hoping that I would hear back within 4-6 weeks - now that is not looking likely.

From looking at the various Tier 1 forums - all of the Australian applicants who applied mid- July are still waiting on a response (Tier 1, EC, WHM applications, etc) - so they seem to have gotten stuck on that date - which isn't positive, as Tier 1 had only been in for 2 weeks at that stage - I can't believe that they have a large backlog after only 2 weeks!

It's just frustrating, as I rung up twice before applying and both times the person confirmed that Tier 1 applications would take 20 days (and based on that we booked airfares, etc) - and now they are going back on that and changing it - very very frustrating.

I don't know if this is true, but I heard that the approval emails from Canberra are generally sent out between 3-4pm each day.

Good luck, I hope yours comes through shortly - please keep us posted when you receive it.

[trbui]

Just got my email confirmation saying that my visa has been approved and I shall receive it in 5 working days!

YAY!!!!

To sum things up:

Date application was received by the visa office: Monday 14th July
Date credit card payment was processed: Thursday 17th July
Date of approval email notification: Friday 22 August.

Total processing time: 30 working days.

So despite sending in my application before 12 August the processing time is 30 working days.

However please caution that this is not an indicative timeframe for future or even current applications. Just because my case got processed in 30 working days doesn't mean that the others will be like that - as I have learned that my friend's 20 day approval was not applicable to mine.

Thanks for your goodluck wish Jen___ and I too wish you and the others a speedy process!!!

PS I've just booked my flights within 3 minutes of getting my application approval!!!

[trbui]

Also I got my email at 11:15am - but then again this is not a indicative time as others have gotten theirs in the afternoon.

[boundary69]

Hi All

I send my application for the Tier 1 (general) application from Australia on August 27. I m getting worried as they still have not deducted the fee and i have not received any kind of confirmation they have received the application.

I tried phoning them a few days ago and got no help whatsoever.

Can someone pls advise?

Thanks a lot

[charvey0]

Our Tier 1 (with HSMP letter) application was received on th 22nd August and the fee was charged to our account on the 8th September. Hope this helps.

[boundary69]

Hi

Fee was deducted on the 10th Sep for my application. Thanks for your response.

Now it is just a waiting game.

[boundary69]

Charvey

Payment deducted from credit card on the Sept 10. Now just waiting around.

Thanks a lot and good luck

[boundary69]

Hi all

I was keen to hear about the progress of any Tier 1 applications sent within Australia during August. Was wondering if the processing timeframe was still around 6-8 weeks mark?

[applier]

Application Approved.

Location: Australia, Melbourne
Type: Tier 1(General) Visa(fresh application)

Timeline:
Posted Application: 31 July 2008
Application Received: 1 August 2008
Money taken out: 7 August 2008
Application Approved Email Notice: 1 October 2008
Stamped Visa received by post: 3 October 2008
Visa Approval from: 19 Oct 08 to 19 Oct 11

Thanks you to everyone for their contribution.

[jen__]

Applier - congratulations on your approval - that was 44 days, which is falling within their 40-45 days that they are currently quoting.

Quick question, for the maintenance requirements, what evidence did you submit? I only submitted bank statements from the bank on their letterhead (I rang up and requested them to be sent out), but the guidance doesn't seem to suggest that you need anything else (the letter is only for it you print them off the internet yourself) - however this process seems to make you paranoid and question everything!

Thanks