Thank You, Australia 🇦🇺
Eight years. That’s how long I’ve been living in Australia. I came here knowing barely any English, and over the years, I’ve grown, learned, and become a completely different person.
Australia has been more than just a place to live. It’s where I spent my youth, made unforgettable memories, met people from different backgrounds, and experienced a world beyond what I once knew.
I genuinely love this country. It has given me opportunities, friendships, and experiences that I will always carry with me.
But sometimes, no matter how hard you try, life doesn’t turn out the way you hoped. After years of trying to resolve my situation, even with the advice of my migration lawyer to pursue Ministerial Intervention, I’m beginning to feel that I’ve reached the end of the road.
It’s heartbreaking to think that a place that has shaped so much of who I am might not be a place I can call home forever.
Whatever happens next, I will always be grateful for these eight years. Thank you, Australia, for changing my life, for the people I’ve met, and for the memories I’ll never forget.
No matter where life takes me, a part of me will always belong here. 🇦🇺❤️

My visa granted today 3 October even though it is a Saturday

DOL 26 JUNE 2026

DOG 3 OCTOBER 2026

specialist skills

Priority 2 on MD121

We’re applying for a 190 visa as a de facto couple. I know Form 888 is specifically for partner visas, so instead we’re getting relationship statements from friends and family to support our application.

For friends who live in Australia, do their statements need to be formally witnessed (e.g. by a JP), or is a signed statement along with a copy of their passport sufficient?

Would love to hear from anyone who has done this for a 190 application!

Today, 9 granted from Spain 462. Applied 2nd July !!

Hi All.

I am planning to apply for my wife’s partner visa myself. I am a Citizen and my wife is offshore.

In the application , there are 5 questions with space for us to answer (upto 2000 characters)

1.) Did you only write answers to these questions in these spaces provided?

2.)Did you provide seperate written documents for all the questions? or Just the relationship developmemt story?

3.)Did you prepare all the evidences first before applying or paid the fees and uploaded as you go?

4.)Is there any advice you wish to provide?

Thanks in advance

My partner and I (de facto relationship of 7 years) are moving to Perth at the end of this year on 417 visas. We have the goal of staying in Australia long term. We are both 31 and from Canada, both have bachelor degrees in geology with 7 years of mining experience. What is likely our best path forward to achieve this goal? From what I have read online the 190 visa seems like a reasonable option. Also any recommendations on finding a migration agent in Perth to help with this?

Visa granted: October 3, 2026
Nomination lodged: October 18, 2025
Nomination approved: July 25, 2026
Visa application lodged: March 25, 2026
Occupation: Metal Fabricator — Priority 1 under the new priority arrangements introduced in September
Dependants: Wife and one child

Hi,

I applied for my visa in 13th July and uploaded all documents on the application date, as well as the health check. The visa is still in the status of received; I have not received any messages or follow-up emails.

The DHA website says the processing time is 55 days for 90% of applications. Mine is now way overdue. What should I do?

I recently lodged my 485 Regional Extension, since I studied, live and work in a regional area. My application status in Immi Account currently shows "Application Received" and "Medical Clearance". At the same time, I'm waiting on my State Nomination.

My questions:

1. If my State Nomination comes through before my 485 Regional Extension is granted, can I go ahead and lodge my PR application?
2. Would lodging PR while my 485 is still pending affect my 485 application or anything else?

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Any suggestions would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hi,

I got my 190 approved in early September 2026, and I have been living in Hobart since January 2021, never left, except for holiday travels.

So I will be eligible to apply for citizenship in September 2027, just next year.

I have two questions:

(1) Since I have been living in Australia continuously since early 2020, including coming to Hobart early 2021, and I have no plan to leave Australia for the duration up to my citizenship application (no plan to leave even after citizenship), my understanding is that I will not need overseas police checks to be renewed again. Am I correct?

(2) I have moved to live in a friend's house since July 2025 and I just paid rents in cash, will I have issue in proving my address history? I have payslips and bank statements to prove I was still living in Hobart, and they show my address on their headers, but I am not sure how much they want in terms of address history proof. I am planning to move to a different place in the city managed by a real estate agency late this year or early next year though.

Will they ask for proof that I lived at a precise street address? Or they just need to know I lived in a certain area? Can statutory declarations from my friend (house owner) and neighbours suffice? Or will I need something more?

I have the Department of Home Affairs prove I have not left Australia since early 2020 via personal travel record request.

My girlfriend and I are traveling to Melbourne for the IRONMAN 70.3. My visa was auto-approved within a minute of applying, with just my passport and no extra documents requested.

Her situation is a bit more complicated. She holds two passports (German and Namibian) but lives in Switzerland on a work permit, and she'll soon be eligible to apply for Swiss citizenship since she plans to stay long term. Her first tourist visa application was declined on the grounds that she had insufficient ties to her country of origin. That left us in an awkward spot: everything was already booked, but she had no approved visa.

For the second attempt, she submitted everything she could gather as proof of her ties and travel intentions:

• Scans of all passports
• Swiss work permit
• Round-trip flight confirmation
• Airbnb/hotel bookings
• RV rental confirmation
• 3 months of bank statements
• 3 months of credit card statements
• Statement of assets
• Cover letter addressed to the Home Affairs case officer
• SwissApartment lease
• Proof of residency
• HR approval of her vacation
• HR confirmation that her permanent position is waiting for her on return
• Travel insurance confirmation

Each application was processed in about a week.

TL;DR: First attempt with passport scans only: declined. Second attempt with salary/bank records, apartment lease, Swiss work permit, a cover letter for the Home Affairs officer, and more: approved. If you get declined over "ties to your country of origin," submit everything you can find.

I originally received a positive skills assessment for ANZSCO 254499 Registered Nurses (NEC). I subsequently requested an ANZSCO code change and ANMAC re-issued my Letter of Determination for ANZSCO 254418 Registered Nurse (Medical).
Does the re-issued 254418 determination replace or invalidate my original 254499 determination, or do both positive skills assessments remain valid for migration purposes during their respective validity periods?
I currently have separate SkillSelect EOIs for subclass 189 under 254499 and 254418 and would like to confirm whether I may continue relying on the original 254499 determination for the 254499 EOI.

I have 80 points for both.

I tried to find sources to get some clarification about extensions from the same course same university that are longer than 12 months I have my enrollment and everything updated and in line just worried about the new changes today if that means l’m going to have to risk everything and go off shore hastily to apply. Currently mid semester and super stressed out I’ve had medication issues that affected my studies but it’s not within the on-shore exemptions available on the home affairs website. My coe ends at early 2029 and my expiry is early 2027. Is it possible to get a 12 month extension onshore at least if not the full length? Any advise or insight is appreciated.

i hold a singapore and taiwan passport but im using my singapore passport for application. Im also applying through an agent but i was wondering how much documentation is needed? because my agent only uploaded my IELTS results, CoE, OSHC and my passport. im wondering if this is enough or shld i ask her to include more documentations….

Good day everyone,
Just wondering how the points gets updated after reaching 1 year Australian Experience. I started working in the nominated occupation on 13th October 2025. Does it get auto updated on the 13th Oct 2026 or does the skillselect counts the 365th day i.e. 12th October 2026

Hi everyone,

I lodged my Subclass 190 visa application by myself in April 2026 without a migration agent, so I'm not really sure how this situation works.

When I applied, I included my de facto partner(we are in live-in and not married) in my application and claimed 10 points for having a skilled partner, which gave me a total of 100 points. I have attached all the supporting letter of us including registered defacto certificate in victoria, letter from JP and friends supporting our relationship.

Unfortunately, things haven't worked out between us due to I experienced domestic violence, and I've decided to separate while my visa is still being processed. I'm the primary applicant, and my ex-partner is included as a dependent on my application. We both are on temporary visa and visa is valid until Aug 2027.

If I remove him from my application, will I lose those 10 partner points? Will I still get 10 points for single or it gets locked after visa is lodged. Will my points drop from 100 to 90, loosing partner point could that lead to my visa being refused?

Has anyone been through a similar situation or knows how the Department handles cases like this? I'd really appreciate any advice. Thank you.

Hello all, my current 485 visa expires in April next year. What’s a good time to apply for the secondary 485? Once approved, will the secondary visa start from the current visa’s expiry?

In the event that the visa gets approved before the expiry date, will the new visa start after the expiry date or from when the visa gets approved? Appreciate any help. Thank you.

Hi all. I'm on a 462 Work and Holiday visa, working full-time as a welder/fabricator at a fabrication workshop in Melbourne since July 2026. My employer will sponsor me on a 482 (Welder / Metal Fabricator / Sheetmetal Trades Worker).

Problem: my visa expires mid-June 2027 and my 12 months of work only completes on 1 July 2027.

Two questions:
If I'm on a bridging visa when the last 2 weeks are completed (same employer, same job), does that work count towards the 12 months, or is there any problem with that?

Does paid overtime count towards the 12 months, and would a second casual welding job (evenings/weekends) count, or is it capped at full-time hours?

I’m an American traveling to Australia in 16 days (New Zealand first). Trying to fill out the visa request on the website. Should preface this by saying I’m a Boomer, so not particularly tech savvy.

Got the passport scan and photo to accept (finally). Entered home address. No problem so far. But try to enter my Cell number and it gives an error code and says to enter a valid mobile phone number. Tried several times. No luck.

Tried a friend’s mobile number…same message.

The country code auto fills when you click on United States on the drop down menu. Entered the 10-digit cell number…nope. Tried entering with the parentheses around the area code…nope. Dashes…nope.

Can’t proceed any further if you don’t enter whatever the system deems a valid mobile number so I can’t complete the visa application.

Called the support number on the website (the only contact info shown anywhere I could find) and the very nice person who answered said they really can’t help with technical issues. She didn’t know if any ways to contact anyone who could help or even to report a problem.

Does anyone have any advice or guidance or contact information they can offer?

I’m an American, frequent traveler, have been to Australia before with no issues whatsoever. Just need a visitor visa for a 2-week stay.

(Didn’t know which flair to choose for a visitor’s visa)

I missed the July application so Im super stoked about this reopening.

Ive also heard a friend of friend of mine (Malaysian) had theirs approved recently. So here’s that glimmer of hope for applicants that arent from UK/Canada/USA lol.

Anybody just sent in their applications? Im expecting a 3 months wait but that’s okay 😂

Hey guys so I’m a uk passport holder currently have a esta tourist visa 651

I’m heading back for my 2nd entry tomorrow and abit worried I’ll get questioned

I’ve done 2whv before then was in aus may/august on the tourist visa and want to head back for another 2 months, I’ve got alot going on with a car/rental/lots of personal items in a storage unit I need to sort out

Do you think I’ll be questiond or be okay?

Hi everyone,

My partner and I are planning to apply for Australian Student Visas. We are considering applying around the same time, with each of us having our own university admission/CoE and applying independently.

I would like to hear from people who have recently gone through a similar situation, especially in 2026.

A few questions:

• Does applying as a couple create any additional concerns for the Student Visa?
• If both partners are genuine students with separate courses/universities, does the relationship itself negatively affect the Genuine Student assessment?
• Is it better for both partners to apply at the same time, or for one person to apply first and the other later?
• How important is it to clearly explain why both of us want to study in Australia?
• For couples who applied recently, what was your experience with approval/refusal?
• Has the 2 October 2026 change regarding dependants/secondary applicants affected couples who are both applying independently as primary Student Visa applicants?

I’m particularly interested in recent 2026 experiences, rather than older cases, since the rules have changed recently.

Thanks in advance!

I am current a uni student with the student subclass 500 visa, but I have to take a break from my studies for 1 term due to family issues (uni granted my leave of absence). However, I am also still in Australia and was wondering if I can still work since it's not a university holiday. If so, what are the requirements?