# Visa Grant Notice...?



## CARLAE200 (May 26, 2011)

Hi all,

On Friday I found out via email from my C.O that my permanent resident visa (subclass 100) has been approved - hooray! My husband and I are keen to get over there as soon as possible, which could hopefully be early June.

Whilst looking into ticket prices, I have since learned that on occasion certain airlines make concessions for migrants, such as increase baggage allowance as long as you are travelling with a one-way ticket and the visa has not already been validated (which can be at their discretion). 

My husband tried calling Qantas and found that their migrant fare was literally around 3 times the standard fare, all that you got was an additional allowance on your baggage. The lady he spoke to told him he'd be better paying for excess baggage than using their migrant fare.

I have been trying to deal with Singapore Airlines as I know that they will sometimes double the baggage allowance for migrants, but it seems that the person I have been dealing with is unsympathetic. He keeps asking to see my Visa Grant Notice before he can comment on eligibility. I have forwarded to him the official email attachment that my C.O mailed to me on Friday, but he is adamant that that is not the right document, which I had assumed it to be.

In the CO's email it states that all visa details are held electronically so there is literally nothing more that I can show him or provide - I would have thought that this official Immigration document would have been enough, but apparently not! The customer service representative is also being a stickler for the correct wording, ie. he want to see exactly the words "leave to remain indefinitely/ permanently" but won't agree that "permanent resident visa" covers this idea in different words!

Aargh! I am finding this all very frustrating. Has anyone else had a similar experience, or have you any suggestions perhaps? 

Thanks in advance,

Carla.


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## Naushad M. Kamal (Apr 7, 2012)

CARLAE200 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> On Friday I found out via email from my C.O that my permanent resident visa (subclass 100) has been approved - hooray! My husband and I are keen to get over there as soon as possible, which could hopefully be early June.
> 
> ...


Hi Carla,

You can try Malaysian Airlines (MH). I am not sure about their migrant airfare. But they are very economical and even if you pay excess baggage fee, probably you'll end up paying less than Qantas or SQ. What is your destination in AU? If you fly from LHR to Sydney (1 way) then it will cost you approx 1200 GBP without excess baggage. Best of luck!

Naushad


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## CARLAE200 (May 26, 2011)

Naushad M. Kamal said:


> Hi Carla,
> 
> You can try Malaysian Airlines (MH). I am not sure about their migrant airfare. But they are very economical and even if you pay excess baggage fee, probably you'll end up paying less than Qantas or SQ. What is your destination in AU? If you fly from LHR to Sydney (1 way) then it will cost you approx 1200 GBP without excess baggage. Best of luck!
> 
> Naushad


Hi Naushad,

Thanks for your reply. I am going to be travelling from Manchester (although could go from Heathrow if the fares are much better) to Brisbane. I had a quick look at Malaysia Airlines and they were around £100 more expensive than the cheapest Singapore Airlines fare that I had found, although cheaper then than pretty much everyone else. We were quite keen to go with them as they apparently have a very good reputation for infant travel. It may be easier just to pay for excess baggage than have all this fuss!


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2012)

Email singapore and you'll get a bog standard reply saying you can have double baggage alllowance if you have an unvalidated PR visa. Print this and take it with you to check in. 

But you must get the visa in your passport. The visa is electronic but you really should get the visa evidenced, lots of people will want to see it, medicare, centrelink, driving office etc. 
Send your passport to australia house with a copy of the grant letter. Enclose a pre paid special delivery envelope for return. You'll have the passport back in a couple of days with the visa in.

You'll then get double baggage at check in


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## CARLAE200 (May 26, 2011)

_shel said:


> Email singapore and you'll get a bog standard reply saying you can have double baggage alllowance if you have an unvalidated PR visa. Print this and take it with you to check in.
> 
> But you must get the visa in your passport. The visa is electronic but you really should get the visa evidenced, lots of people will want to see it, medicare, centrelink, driving office etc.
> Send your passport to australia house with a copy of the grant letter. Enclose a pre paid special delivery envelope for return. You'll have the passport back in a couple of days with the visa in.
> ...


Thanks Shel for your advice. I have just emailed my C.O to see if I can arrange visa labels. I've been emailing a travel agent all day to see if they can have any more influence, and have been told that they won't provide anything in writing, that it shoudl be acceptable on my visa category and that they now want £150 more on a "migrant fare"! Sounds like such a risk to me that I'll show up on the day and they will decide not to give me the extra allowance. Almost makes me want to pay more to travel with Emirates, whose standard allowance matches what I am fighting to get!


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2012)

Honestly, that's exactly what I did. I didn't have to show the check in desk the print out in the end as she knew I was entitled because I had the visa label. Singapore are the best with babies, one of the hostess picked my son up and went off with him for 10 mins to give us a break & they timed mine & hubbies meals so we both got to eat as well as looking after babs. 

No reason why they won't put label in. Like I said some people can be very funny about seeing it even though they can access it apparently. We got given so much grief at medicare in paramatta, then again when I went to change my driving licence over.


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## CARLAE200 (May 26, 2011)

Were you also travelling on Subclass 100, or on a different visa? No one can give me assurances that if I pay extra for the migrant fare that I will get additional baggage, so how can they expect me to pay more for this up front? I was led to believe that they didn't do a migrant fare, that this was a standard thing that they tended to do.

Thanks again


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## Guest (Apr 24, 2012)

I travelling on a 309, not even a PR visa not that the girl at the desk realised :rofl:

I paid for a standard fare for us all, they don't do a migrant fares. They just do double baggage for migrants holding the right visa and both me and the baby got double allowance at check in, the baby had a PR visa. 

Here is the email they will reply with if you mail them. Seen the same one sent to everyone on the forums with the same query.

_
Dear 

Thank you for your email.

The baggage allowance for Economy class passengers is 20 kilos for adults and children over the age of two. For a lap child (infant) or an infant occupying a bassinet the baggage allowance is 10 kilos. Singapore Airlines applies the weight system for checked in baggage, and as such we do not restrict the number of bags you can check-in, but if you do exceed your baggage allowance weight, excess baggage charges will apply.

Please note the maximum weight of any one bag must not exceed 32 kilos, due to health, safety reasons and for the baggage handlers to load the bags on to the flight.

Singapore Airlines policy on cabin baggage allows you to carry 1 item of cabin baggage only, per passenger, which must not weigh more than 7 kilos, and must not exceed 115 cms in dimensions (length + breadth + height). Apart from the cabin baggage allowance you can carry any one of your personal item such as:-

A Lady's handbag
An overcoat
An umbrella or walking stick
A laptop or notebook computer
A small camera
A reasonable amount of reading material for the flight
Infant’s food for consumption in flight and infant’s carrying basket
A pair of crutches and/or other prosthetic devices for the passenger’s use provided the passenger is dependent upon them.

Kindly note, if you hold an unused/unstamped/not validated migrant visa that specifically states that you are permitted to remain in Australia / New Zealand indefinitely / permanently, you will then be entitled to double baggage allowance (40 kilos, per seat paying passenger). This visa has to be used for the first time to enter into Australia / New Zealand and the double baggage will be granted after, the visa has been verified by our staff at the check-in counter on the day of your departure.

You can have as many items of checked luggage as you wish provided:

the total combined weight of all the items put together does not exceed your total checked allowances
no single item of baggage exceeds 32 kilos in weight, as a health and safety requirement


If you are not holding the correct visa mentioned above at check-in, then you will be entitled to the standard free checked baggage allowance of 30 kilos per passenger. 

Hope this resolves your query.

Yours Sincerely,_


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## nonny1983 (Jul 20, 2011)

I got granted my subclass 100 in October and came to qld in January. My visa is electronic and not once have I been asked to provide any more proof such as visa label. They just type in the passport number into their systems (and in talking airlines, Medicare etc) and they have all the details there. Are you sure you will even need double baggage allowance? We came with a family of 5 of us, we were allowed 20kgs for my hubby and I and 10 each for the kids plus 7 for hand luggage excluding my youngest who is an infant. They also allow extra for handbags, laptop bags, coats etc. We brought loads and never went over or had to pay extra. For photos and stuff we sent over 2 boxes with Fed ex at the cost of 90 pound and had all we needed. Try packing what you want to bring (we got all new clothes, towels etc so could pack in advance, our old stuff we gave to charity) weigh your bags before paying extra anywhere.


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## nonny1983 (Jul 20, 2011)

Also may I recommend Eva air.....they were fab, great food and entertainment for little ones.


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## nonny1983 (Jul 20, 2011)

Sorry for many replies lol but again Eva air staff took my little ones to give us a break at stopovers and they're list of what you can take on board is more than Singaporean reading shels list. We never asked about migrant fares as I believe they do cost more. We also never used a travel agent as such we used skyscanner.com to compare all airlines ourselves.


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## CARLAE200 (May 26, 2011)

nonny1983 said:


> Sorry for many replies lol but again Eva air staff took my little ones to give us a break at stopovers and they're list of what you can take on board is more than Singaporean reading shels list. We never asked about migrant fares as I believe they do cost more. We also never used a travel agent as such we used skyscanner.com to compare all airlines ourselves.


Thankyou so much for your reply - on the back of that I think we're just going to take a chance with the standard fare. I'm the type of person who likes everything confirmed though, so I just want someone to say that if I show up with my specific subclass 100 visa the baggage allowance will be granted - and no one seems prepared to do that.

Last night we did a test run to pack up all our belongings - I'm the only one eligible for the extra allowance so I think we're really going to need it. As well as the things we will wear and need when we arrive there are things like brand new shoes/bags/jackets that we have bought that are less than 12 months old, which we hear you would be likely to get charged a duty on if you ship, or that we would be sad to potentially lose if they went missing. I don't have a lot of faith in the customs people not to tear through our things!


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## nonny1983 (Jul 20, 2011)

The boxes we sent weren't checked as far as I can tell. In them was personal things we didn't want to leave like, photos, a few canvas prints of the kids, some blankets, toys, DVDs and posters. We just wrote on the box what was in them. Also we've had a few packages sent over from family containing chocolates, sweets, clothes etc that all seem untampered with. Just mark what's in them. With shoes they may check via xray but so long as they are very clean they should be ok.

Also one more tip, when you get to brisbane you can go in the line for citizens at the check in desk rather than the migrant one. I didn't know so my hubby and kids went through in no time while I waited ages in line to just be told I could have gone through with them!!! Good luck with your move


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## numair_fadlullah (Dec 3, 2011)

Hi

You can book your flight through International Organization for Migration (IOM)....they provide concessional fare and extended luggage facility...I have recently booked my ticket through them.

you can mail them your requirement at iomaustralia[at]iom[dot]int


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## CARLAE200 (May 26, 2011)

numair_fadlullah said:


> Hi
> 
> You can book your flight through International Organization for Migration (IOM)....they provide concessional fare and extended luggage facility...I have recently booked my ticket through them.
> 
> you can mail them your requirement at iomaustralia[at]iom[dot]int


Thankyou for the tip, I have just emailed them. Fingers crossed that they will be able to help with this. I had heard of them sometimes doing this, but had read that they weren't always very competitive - since you booked through them I imagine therefore that they were competitive in your case 

I looked at Eva airlines also, but they were not as competitive as Singapore and also only fly from Heathrow (we would prefer Manchester if possible).


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