I haven't been having much luck on the job front here, either. I think it's partially because our visas are up in the air, so there's the chance we might have to leave the country. :/ It's frustrating! Have you tried Gumtree? I've gotten a few interviews through Gumtree, but none through Seek. Smaller companies typically advertise through Gumtree and in my experience they've been much more open about employing people on Bridging Visas.

Hi All,
I'm in the same boat may be some where on the lower deck. I applied my 820/801 Visa November 27th 2012 - in Melbourne. since then I receive an additional email from immi asking if I have submitted all the documents - after double checking my copy of the file I called Immi if they needed any other documents. their reply " They have all the documents needed" but no CO no update on the file.

Hi Inkhearted,

Yes i applied for a few jobs on Gumtree, but no reply at all. I remember one of the jobs i applied for is a Part Time sales assistant job selling nuts in a shopping mall. Even for that job, i didn't get any reply at all :(
Hmmmm...since a week ago, i have stopped looking/applying for jobs because it saddens me each time no reply comes in. Don't know how much of this I can take, so i thought i'd just stop for a while and start looking again in 2014 (or when i am ready to take in more rejections) :p
Thanks for your suggestions yah!

I agree with you guys that Bridging Visa A is far from ideal to be on a jobsearch on. This is why I stick with the job I got on my previous WHV and am not leaving anytime soon - I realize that my visa is a huge "risk factor" for employers, being possibly "kicked out" on any given day (in spite of the 29 days I believe you have to leave, it is still completely unpredictable). I'm just lucky I got employed before my Bridging Visa I guess. I never know what's better - send in a resume with no visa information and let them be impressed with me first and tell them later, or just tell it as it is right away.

I am reading a lot (well, it looks like a lot) of quick grant threads in cities other than Melbourne - which is slightly disheartening. At the same time I have read someone's story who applied somewhere else and was forwarded to Melbourne for "quicker processing" and got it quickly, which is frustrating if you've been in line at Melbourne for almost a year or over!

A co-worker of mine got granted the 820 within 3 months at Melbourne as well, which makes you wonder what they had over you... I mean he's a fantastic person in a great relationship and deserved it, but it does create some insecurities... what did we do wrong?

So, I just checked my e-mail for the first time today and lo and behold, an e-mail from immigration! It's the first correspondence I've had from them since receiving my BVA acknowledgement eight months ago. It's from the admin team rather than a case officer, and requests my US police certificate, Australian police certificate, and health check. That has to be a sign that things are getting underway, right? (I applied in Brisbane, if anyone wanted to compare.)

I wish I had my police checks in already! I've submitted requests to the FBI three times. The news from my latest one hasn't arrived yet, but I went on Australia post's website and it estimated that if the FBI sent out the paperwork on the 15th or 18th of this month (1 and 2 business days after the money left my account), it should be here tomorrow. Hopefully it's actually my police check rather than another "sorry, your fingerprints weren't good enough" letter. (They have something like 10 copies now, all done by an Australian police officer, so I should hope at least one set was good enough!)

Rambling, sorry. I got excited!

Hi, I got the same email from admin team some time around 2nd week of oct I lodge my police check on the same day, also did medical in the same week. IMMI confirmed that they got my police checks and all on 23rd of oct - (Month ago - :confused: :mad: :mad: :mad: :confused: :confused: )
still no news of CO or VISA. only they know what they are doing with file :rolleyes:

Well, that's disappointing. I'm still happy to have gotten anything from them at all! Hopefully you hear something soon. You're right, only they know what they're doing. :/

Sometimes I wish they had something like that "pizza tracker" that Domino's has when you order online. It could have things like "accepting payment" and "granting BVA" and "processing... this should take another six months." Then at least you'd know. ;)

I understand why they can't reveal the actual process too much but it would be nice if they could give some kind of loose indication. Like, if the case hasn't been picked up yet, note that somehow on VEVO - and if it's picked up say that this is not a waiting time indication but at least it's on someone's table. I've never understood why that's impossible. Or to at least, at the indicated average waiting time, alert someone if they've been picked up yet or not.

It's good to hear that some of your cases are moving, though! That's a sign of life, and that's positive for all of us :)

I'm starting to wish I hadn't frontloaded with police and medical checks. They're gonna expire before DIAC is done with me, and now they have even less reason to contact me because they already have the checks so I don't know if anyone's even looked at my file.

Sounds like everyone's story is similar , Any advice to TR to PR average processing time I know BVA is worked into it aswell

I feel the same way, and all I can do is tell myself that it might come through within the 12 months of their validity (or that, somehow, they'll waive the 12 month requirement at the time..?!). Maybe I'm being too hopeful!

It's been frustrating because we have friends who applied early this year who were granted their 820 in 3 weeks, and our relationships and living circumstances were incredibly similar. We followed the layout of their application almost exactly. So we had been hopeful (despite all the indications that theirs was not at all the norm!) that somehow ours would be processed quickly as well. Alas!