Could be another 5 weeks?

It's now 11 weeks since we had a case officer and 7 weeks since they had all of our paperwork.

Only now has our agent just told us the following:"Unfortunately it can take up to 3 months for them to make their decision after they receive all documents (although it is normally quicker than that). It just depends on the case officer. The other grant letter I am waiting on for another client has the same case officer as yourself which makes me wonder whether he is on leave or just busier or slower than other case officers. I will keep you updated if I hear news from this case officer."

Oh great, so now we get the slowest Case Officer on earth. 3 months after having all the paperwork? That could mean that this waiting could go on until the beginning of May. Arghhh.

My head hurts :-(

Tony Blair!

Ok, well this blog was supposed to be about our escape to Adelaide but today has been quite exciting so it makes sense to record it here.

Aside from our migration application, we have been having quite an exciting time helping out the national charity, Shelter. To cut a long story short, last summer we moved out of a flat in West London but our landlord didn't give us our deposit back, saying he needed it to redecorate and re-paint. We ended up suing him and thankfully won, getting all of the money back (£1,100) plus court costs. We contacted Shelter offering to help them out on any future campaigns about this, as it seemed that everyone we spoke to seemed to have had it happen to them or knew someone who had.

Anyway... Shelter are currently promoting the new Tenancy Deposit Scheme being introduced by the Government which will include having an independent middle party holding the deposit, and not releasing it until both landlord and tenant agree.

We've been busy bee's helping Shelter to promote the scheme. Here are some of the articles we've featured in:

Guardian Unlimited piece
Click here to read

Your Local Guardian
Click here to read

Dan went on Radio Five Live and Becks went on BBC Radio London's drivetime show. And now we've been invited to meet Tony Blair!

So we might not have our visa, but we're getting contacts in high places!

Can it go on much longer?

Well here we are. It's nearing the end of March and now 18 months since this whole process began. We are literally tearing our hair out (Dan has pulled all of his out).

The agent has sent an email to DIAC to chase up our case officer and she has had what I presume to be an automated email back saying that 'this information has been attached to our application for the attention of the case officer' - never mind attaching, just give us our visa!

Feeling reasonably optimistic that we will hear soon. Things seem to be moving again for others after quite a lull of no visas coming through. The agent also says she is waiting on final decisions on several clients, so at least it isn't just us.

Please! Give us our visa soon!

Please give us our visa soon!

Ok, this waiting is getting really silly now!

We've had a case officer for 9 weeks now, and they have had all the necessary documents for 5 weeks. We know from Adelaide Brits and Austimeline that we aren't alone - there don't seem to be many visas coming through at the moment!

Our whole life feels like it's on hold. We've both managed to extend our work contracts from the end of March til the end of April but after that who knows... The tenancy on our flat expires at the end of May, so we feel like time is not on our side!

Just want some news - any news! Just speak to us Australia!

Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh