So, the update you’ve all been waiting on and asking for…

Sadly, despite our absolute best efforts, we didn’t get the 491 Queensland regional permanent residency offer we were hoping on.

We were fully preparing to leave. Lewis was about to book flights back to the UK, and arrange flights for the dogs too. We applied for a visitor visa to give us another 2-3 months, to sell all of our belongings, to stay to the end of our lease, prepare the dogs for travel and say our goodbyes to the people who have become family and to the country we’ve called home for a collective 15+ years.

And then…. OUR VISITOR VISAS GOT DENIED?!?!

No explanation other than that Australia doesn’t believe we ‘satisfy the provisions of migration regulations’.

The expectation is that we now leave Australia within 35 days, OR appeal at the Tribunal within 28 days. Of course we now have to appeal this process at the Tribunal, as there is no way we will be ready and able to just up and leave in 35 days time, and of course we certainly don’t want to 😭💔

The Good News (comes in 3’s too apparently)

The first lot of good news is that we are both on bridging visas whilst waiting for Tribunal, both with work rights (not that I am working as we have just had baby Sienna, and I had to quit my job as they wouldn’t let me stay there unless I got permanent residency).

The second lot of good news is that this appeals process can take some time (likely 12-18 months), which means we can stay here for as long as it takes to go to Tribunal.

The third lot of god news is that we’ve been given an incredibly helpful and influential contact through our petition, to help us navigate the whole process!!

We have a little glimmer of hope that things may work out, with the right support. However, we are still sat in incredible amounts of uncertainty, feeling a little deflated and let down by Australia’s migration processes. 

Every share and signature still counts because we aren’t giving up now… the battle continues!!