Now one could actually celebrate, but the whole process up to here was just as bureaucratic as the issue of the grant. So somehow I do not feel like celebrating. After all, we can now look for a house / apartment to buy, without having to pay additional foreigners taxes.

A temporary visa was granted first in order to facilitate grant of the permanent one (which was done immediately after). So now I do not need to wait another 2 years on the basis of a temporary visa until I finally get the permanent one. That’s good.

Permanent has a different meaning in Australia at least in connection with visas.

If I want to leave the country after 22.03.2023 (after 5 years), I have to apply for a new visa to re-enter, a so-called “Resident Return Visa”. Otherwise it can happen that I will not be admitted again. In this respect, the permanent visa is not permanent.

The Resident Return Visa then is usually issued again for 5 years. During this 5-year period you may travel in and out as often as you like. You only have to spend a total of at least 2 years or 730 days in Australia.

Also on the grant paper one is warned:

“You are required to tell us about any changes to your details as soon as possible. These changes may include your name, passport, contact details, address or family
members. If you do not notify us of your new details, this can have serious consequences for you.”

With 120 pages of completed forms, this can be all kinds of information.

Now I have to read the details again.

The post The permanent visa granted appeared first on GoAustralia.

Expensive health check

In addition to the general medical examination (AUD 222.50), it includes a chest X-ray (AUD 109.00) and an HIV blood test (AUD 47.90). Before you come to the examination date, you have to answer various health questions online. Then you get a so-called “referral letter”. You then have to enter data from this referral letter online to make an appointment on the website of “Bupa Medical Visa Services”. Then you are asked to make an appointment by phone (as usual in Australia) directly with the desired clinic. On the phone then again the same data were requested, which I had already given on the Internet …

When I arrived at the appointment, I was handed a form in which I had to give a third time the same data (name, address, phone number, etc.). In addition, I was photographed for “identity reasons”. After 25 minutes the necessary bureaucratic work was done by the clerk, and I was allowed to pay the fee of AUD 379.40. For that price I expected a substantial medical examination.

Not much of a thorough medical examination for the money

After another waiting time of about 20 minutes, a medical assistant or nurse guided me in a small room. There my height and weight were measured, my vision tested with a chart hanging at a wall, urine sample taken (which served the only purpose to determine if I would take drugs) and blood pressure measured. The whole process took barely more than 8 minutes. Then another assistant in another room took blood from me (for the HIV test and only for that) before I was sent back to the waiting room.

When I was asked in to the actual doctor after a short time, I thought that the thorough examination would commence. But the doctor needed barely more than 5 minutes to measure the reflexes (hitting the kneecaps with the hammer), listening to the respiratory tract through the shirt and looking into the ears, eyes and throat. He asked me if I was alright, if I had any specific medical background and if I was taking medication. Finished.

Then waiting again until I was taken to an X-ray room for the chest X-ray. Again, I did not have to take off anything and it took only 5 minutes.

All done within an hour for AUD 379.40 and the results I will not get, only the immigration authority….

The post Immigration medical examination appeared first on GoAustralia.