Hi Tonya,
First of all, you shouldn't be addressing threads to anyone in particular. If Jeremy was around he'd punish you severely :-)
Second, every piece of information you ever get from DIMIA tells you not to book tickets prematurely. Although you have done medical and character clearances, you cannot be sure that there's not some problem with your documentation.
Third, going for a 461 is certainly possible, but you'd need to be very very careful, since if on a particular day the 136 was granted and then the next day the 461 came through, the 461 would "cease" the 136, and in fact most likely cease the 136 visas for all of you. Possibly better to get him a ETA - depending on his skillset a business ETA (see www.eta.immi.gov.au) might be a preferable option - and hope that the situation resolves itself in the first three months. An ETA won't "cease" the 136.
So if you absolutely must travel on that day, let the case officer know and have the ETA ready in case you all need to depart Australia on a validation trip to Aotearoa.
Cheers,
George Lombard
www.austimmigration.com.au
-- www.austimmigration.com.au
