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| Topic Started: Feb 5 2010, 10:39:37 AM (639 Views) | |
| jasperbell_cam | Feb 5 2010, 10:39:37 AM Post #1 |
True Blue Mate
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Hello, I am going to be going back to the United States in March to apply for full custody of my son under an imminent danger custody change of custody hearing (long story). If I am successful in getting custody I will be bringing my son back with me. When I immigrated to Australia I had to get a waiver for medicals for my son as my ex was not allowing me to see him for 3 years, I was able to prove to the consulate that I have tried to make contact through registered mail that was signed for but was ignored in the letter to get him a medical, nor did my sons mother show up to the appointment for my sons medical. I dont know if I should leave my 15 year old son in the U.S. for medicals and criminal history checks. Which I dont want to do, to get him processed. Also I am due for permanent residency in 10 days the cost from what I could see from immigrations website skyrockets once you become a resident from $185 to $2525 Or on second thought I could bring him here on a visitors visa and get him processed here in OZ and then fly him to New Zealand once the Perm. Residency is granted. From what I understand is that you cant be on Australian soil when granted a visa? Does anybody know of a better way to do this? Or are there special circumstances? |
  
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| Janda | Feb 5 2010, 12:51:10 PM Post #2 |
True Blue Mate
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Since your circumstances are what I would consider "special" I would just pick up the phone and call immigration and ask them what to do. That way you have no guess work and you have it straight from the horses mouth. I do know that it would be much easier for you if you got him here before your perm residency is granted. Is this your second stage spouse visa that your talking about? I don't know if you saw my post but I responded to your last thread about this and explained exactly what I did because I was in a similar situation with my 18 year old. We brought him over on a visitor visa to buy some time and figure out what we were going to do and then in the end he couldn't go back nor did I want him to so we just applied for a dependent child visa and even though he was 18, they still considered him dependent on us and because of the special circumstances it was granted. We then turned right around the next day and handed them the paperwork to have him added to my temp. spouse visa and in turn he would be considered along with me and my younger son when my 2nd stage comes up. We just sent off our 2nd stage paperwork and as far as I know everything should be good unless there is something I've missed. Once they send you your paperwork for 2nd stage you have 60 days to get it back to them. Since you are doing this in March I'm not sure you have time but if you do in my opinion you should do what I did. I also included stat declarations explaining the entire situation on why my son couldn't return to the United States to his abusive father. Oh and there is no reason you have to send him to NZ if you are able to add him to the spouse visa. Keep in mind that you can only add him to your Temp. Spouse visa application if your Perm. Residency has not yet been granted. Otherwise I'm not sure what kind of red tape you have to get through. Adding him to the Spouse Visa app. is pretty cut and dry and a very, very fast process. Literally took us less than a week to do the entire thing and Immi even called me personally and told me not to worry that everything would work out because "he could sense I was worried" I am no immigration agent and I can not tell you that what worked for me will work for everyone else but we were honest and upfront and had nothing to hide and in the end it all worked out and he has been here with us ever since. If you have anything you are just not sure about you should always call immigration. They have never steered me wrong with my questions and have always been very polite. Good Luck! Edit: I forgot to add. At 15 he won't need any Criminal Background Checks. That doesn't come up until he is 16. Also about medicals, if you can get him over here fast enough so that you can get him the Dependent Child Visa and then add him to your temp. spouse visa, his medical would be requested at that time. You don't have to have a medical to come over on a tourist visa. Also, I went back to your other thread and saw where you asked about the passport and I don't remember exactly but If I remember right I didn't have to have my x sign any passport form for my son who was 14 at the time because my son actually has his own picture ID which was a military dependent ID and they said since he had full ID he could actually sign for himself and didn't even need parental consent. LOL I thought that was a bit strange that my son could walk right in and get his own passport but it sure did make things easier for me. Regardless my x-husband was willing to sign away anything he had to just to get us out of his hair anyway and when we decided to stay I had no trouble getting him to sign whatever I asked him to. Edited by Janda, Feb 5 2010, 01:11:23 PM.
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 "I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| jasperbell_cam | Feb 5 2010, 01:33:31 PM Post #3 |
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True Blue Mate
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Janda thanks for the response back. I just called my sons school principal she stated to me this morning that my son had come to see her in her office. He also stated last night that he was e-mailing my wife. His mother walked in and forced him away from the computer where she got into his myspace account. She flipped out got in his face and started spiting in his face screaming at him, she took the phone I bought him and threw it against the wall. She then told him to get out of her house (which is really her fathers home), he has no clothes. He is staying with friends who I am not sure of. I informed Department of Human Resources Child Abuse Section. They closed the case from December when he was hit, now it will be reopened. I will try to call him at school tomorrow as I do not know where he is. On another note that is quite strange that your son could sign for himself. I will check and see what is next. I will call NPIC or at least the embassy here in Australia because the rules changed that if he was over 16 he only needed one parent to sign. In regards to my residency this will be for my second stage. I do have military ID for my son as well. It is no longer valid as I am out. However I was smart enough to get my son state ID before I left the U.S. as well as a birth certificate, because I had a bad feeling in my gut, however I was right. |
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| Janda | Feb 5 2010, 07:49:47 PM Post #4 |
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True Blue Mate
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Well I think your main hurdle will just be getting that official word that you are free and clear to get him out of the U.S.A and on his way to Australia. Once you get him here it seems to me that you would have no issues adding him to your spouse visa app and going through the same process that I did as long as you can do it quickly before your perm visa is granted. Have you even gotten your packet in the mail from Immi yet regarding your 2nd stage? My 1st stage was granted Feb 2008 and I got my paperwork the 2nd week in December making us have to have the paperwork back in by the 2nd week in Feb (this month). We all 4 needed Australian Federal Police Checks which we got back in about a week which was a nice surprise. I sent our paperwork off last Friday and so we are just waiting now. You may want to just go ahead and call Immi because I think you can actually start the process of adding him to your temp. spouse visa right now without him being here. I'm not sure how that would all work but if it were me I would just give them a call to find out the best option and state to them he is basically homeless as of today and you are very worried and feel he is in danger. If you don't get a cut and dry answer from the first person you get on the phone then just hang up and call again. I can tell you that there were a couple of times I called to ask questions and I felt as if the person on the other end wasn't quite sure of the answer so calling back talking to someone who knew what they were talking about was more comforting. I know its a scary thing thinking about your kid being in danger and being upset and feeling as if he has no one when your on the other side of the world and you can't just run to him. That is exactly what happened to us and I was frantic trying to get him out of his situation. Once he called me and told me he felt as if he was going to go crazy and that he was being threatened and kicked out by his dads girlfriend and a list of other problems, my husband and I just started the ball rolling and had him out of there and on a plane to oz in less than a month. Once we got him to my where my family lives in Florida we then applied for passport, etc. and just paid extra for expedited services on everything. I had given him my mother my credit card number so that everything could be paid for easily. Keep us updated. I'm crossing my fingers for you...at this point I hope its all just some red tape you will have to get through and you can get it one quickly and get him here with you were he can start his new life and be happy. My sons love it and really appreciate the life we have here. |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| jasperbell_cam | Feb 5 2010, 11:40:49 PM Post #5 |
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True Blue Mate
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thanks janda, the department of human services is involved they are going to contact my sons mother the next day. I would expect for her to say that my son is a liar and that he ran away. She went to court and told him to stay home ans lied her ass off. After a few grumbles and tears he took her side. I called my lawyer to inform her. Do to the information being relayed after 12pm my lawyer was out of the office. I will know more tomorrow. I have purchased a forwarding numer through jetnumber.com because after a 20 minute forwarded phone call through skype or calling outbound off of skype lite on a mobile $16 can evaporate that very quickly. If i find a great service i will share it with everyone on YDU to help the next person in my situation or in a desperate situation |
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| Janda | Feb 6 2010, 03:36:28 AM Post #6 |
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True Blue Mate
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So you don't go broke on phone calls, you should get a voip service. We use Engin Voip. http://www.engin.com.au/ We have had it for over a year now and though its not perfect 100% of the time there is nothing that can't be fixed with a restart of the box. Not sure if you are familiar with how it works but as long as you have a landline connection and an internet connection your in there. Just get the box from them and you can get on a plan like we have where we pay $20.00 a month and I can make Unlimited Free calls to the United States. Keep in mind that is only on Landline calls. If you call a cell phone in America it won't be free. It also gets you free calls anywhere in Australia too but still only on Landlines. It's awesome because you don't have to worry and watch the clock when you call for fear you will be broke when the bill comes in. You just connect your phone line and your internet into the box and you talk from your normal phone. No talking over your computer. You phone rings as normal with incoming calls coming in on your normal Telstra line and when you make outgoing calls it will be going out from your voip line. No need to give your voip number out to anyone since they ring in on your normal Telstra line. If for some reason the box is acting fishy as it has a few times in the past you can always just unplug the cords and use your normal Telstra line so its not something that would mess up your whole phone service if it bugged out for bit. One final thing I really like about it is that it has an American Dial tone. LOL....The normal Aussie dial tone sounds like a busy tone to me but with engin when we pick up the phone to dial we hear that all so familiar dial tone us Americans are used to. It's good too that its a different tone because that gives you extra assurance that your voip is working fine and your call isn't going to end up costing you a million bucks. Every lit bit counts so maybe this can help save you some money! |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| suzn | Feb 19 2010, 01:05:49 PM Post #7 |
True Blue Mate
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We have been using ENGIN for several years now. Great service & well worth the $20-$25 per month. Hope things work out for you and your son Jasperbell. keep us posted. |
 Living in Oz since 2002 ~ Temp Residency granted Dec 2004 ~ Perm Residency granted Oct 2006 ~ Dual citizenship official May 2009 | |
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| blarg | Feb 19 2010, 02:01:15 PM Post #8 |
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True Blue Mate
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I'll note that I had a huge drama with Engin with service dropouts. In the end it got resolved, but only once the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman got involved. I now use Skype and I'm very happy. 
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| suzn | Feb 19 2010, 02:04:20 PM Post #9 |
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True Blue Mate
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we were having dropouts with Engin while using Optus. Since we switched to Telstra/TPG, we haven't had any dramas at all. |
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Living in Oz since 2002 ~ Temp Residency granted Dec 2004 ~ Perm Residency granted Oct 2006 ~ Dual citizenship official May 2009 | |
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| blarg | Feb 19 2010, 05:54:55 PM Post #10 |
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True Blue Mate
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They reckon their voice box wasn't compatible with my router. However I'm actually a programmer and I could call them on their BS explanations for everything. Then they didn't let me out of the contract even though they were the ones that said their service was incompatible with my setup. They then claimed that if I just called and told them what router I had when I signed up, they would have told me it was incompatible. So I tried it. I called them up at the number they said to, and told the guy what router I had and asked if it was compatible with their service. He said yes. I said, "No known compatibility issues with it whatsoever?" He said nope, I could definitely use that router with their service. Oh, and by the way, the contract ending fee that they refused to let me out of was $20. So they turned me from someone who would have not talked badly about it into someone who makes sure to share the hell I had with them over $20. Really smart way to run a business. |
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| Janda | Feb 20 2010, 09:18:08 AM Post #11 |
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True Blue Mate
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Ya we have had a few bumps here and there with engine but my husband is also a tech genius and there is nothing he can't fix. He did call them and inquire about the issue with drop outs and they insisted they talk him through a configuration of the box. He told them he would give it a try and in the end he ended up going with his own configuration and it worked out ok. It's not a perfect service but in the end its saved us a lot of money. The other night when I was calling America I couldn't get the number to go through and every time I dialed it just did nothing so my husband just restarted our router and the box and that fixed it. I guess its a small price to pay for being able to call America from the home phone and talking til your hearts content. There was a time a while back that I wanted to ditch the service but it seems whatever problems they were having on their end they fixed for the most part. |
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"I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose" www.JandaDesigns.com.au - Custom Web Design, Web Site Hosting, Cheap Domain Name Registration. | |
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| blarg | Feb 21 2010, 12:09:47 AM Post #12 |
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True Blue Mate
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Well, if you ever get sick of it, I highly recommend just using Skype on an iPhone. I never need to restart the router.
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| shylady | Feb 21 2010, 03:35:03 AM Post #13 |
oldYank
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 Kevin! I have never had a problem with Skype. I love it! 
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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