September 7, 2015
So yes, we are still waiting for our visa to be approved.
On June 5th our Working Holiday Visa expired and we continued living in Australia on a Bridging Visa (a temporary visa that allows you to stay in Australia until further notice about the visa you are applying for).
Since the 5th of June we have applied all documents for our next visa...that's more than 3 months ago by now!
There is a simple rule I want to explain to you: on a Working Holiday Visa you are allowed to work a maximum of 6 months for the same employer.
In March I completed my 6 months as a surf coach for one employer. So I had to stop doing what I loved and find other work.
Now here comes the news I received from Immigration last Friday:
''I could have legally worked for the surf school for the past 3 months''
From the moment I got my Bridging Visa (June 5th), I was allowed to work another 6 months for any company. And the lawyers that are helping me from the Migration Department simply had no clue! Their lack of communication with Immigration caused this ''misunderstanding''.
I even insisted to apply for a temporary work permit to start back teaching cause it was taking so long. After asking multiple times my lawyers/Migration Department finally did it. And guess what? It is completely invalid when someone like me is on a Bridging Visa to receive such a work permit. And they had no clue, again...
So that's what professional help stands for...
Let me give you an idea of what I lost since June 5th:
So in dollars I lost a bit over $AUD 15.000!!
The good news is that I can go back to work, and that's great! I can jump back in my wetsuit, and do what I love. So I'm very stoked about that.
In the meanwhile, well, we still have to wait to get our visa approved. But who says I can trust the Migration Department now? Who says that their lack of communication is not causing such a delay in my visa approval? You get where I'm going...
Hopefully all of this will be over soon!
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