[Deb & Lol]

My partner and I are British Citizens, with jointly owned assets (2 properties in South Africa), looking to sell asap with the hope of immigrating to Perth, Australia, and need advice on the best course of action to guarantee our permanent residency (PR) there.

We should have around £87k if we sell, and hope to invest in AU, with the hope of buying property in Perth, and/or funding a business venture. Our dream for the future would be to start a business of our own, for example, B&B, Backpackers, or a bakery, once PR is established.

We are currently in South Africa trying to sell our properties, but will be based in the UK again hopefully around Sept/October time depending on when/if we sell. We would consider flying to London to sort our visa's as we have been finding it terribly difficult, even to the point of no assistance from migrant agents, merely as we are in South Africa at the moment.

We moved to the UK in 1998 and have spent the last 10 years working in the hospitality/hotel/catering industry, both being promoted and working our way up to manager level, starting from kitchen assistant, commis-chef, waitressing, bar, housekeeping, etc.

We've looked into the various pathways we could take to immigrate and it seems there are a few that would apply to us. However, we want to be certain that the option we choose will be the correct one to ensure our PR in Perth, Australia.

We have looked into (and are not interested in) RSMS visas, as we would by far prefer to return to study as mature overseas students in order to further our careers.

For myself, I have been considering completeing a pastry cooking course, as this is a passion of mine and am very familair in the kitchen with my experience in the hotel industry. I'm aware that being 40 yrs old limits what I'd like to study, as I know that for PR, I need to have completed my studies by the time I'm 45. Given that I am 41 next February and that such a course may take 2-3 years, I'm extremely keen to progress our situation further as soon as viably possible.

I note that the courses I'd need to study start 4th Feb 2009,and the places are limited and I'm not sure how to go about the process and would love some input into the points I've outlined above.

I'm also aware of the TRA who perform assessments on tradesmen who have experience but no qualifications. Is there such a thing for hospitality/hotel/catering for myself, as I have so much experience but hold no paper qualifications. If there is an institution offering as such, please would you be so kind as to give me their contact details. I have references from my employers as I've worked for many years at the same hotel.

My partner is within the age limit to enter Australia on a Working Holiday Visa. It is possible that she may wish to study in the future; if so, how would she go about changing her visa to a student one? Also, if she went in on a Working Holiday Visa, which would only give her two years, would she be able to move onto my visa via defacto/spouse visa if I am studying for three years?
I'm also led to believe that there may be a possibility that she could take a job within the hospitality/hotel/catering industry where she is sponsored whilst on a Working Holiday Visa (I hear this may be possible for some jobs; is this just hearsay?). Would I then be able to go onto her visa as a defacto/spouse, should I need to?

As it is uncertain how long it will take for our properties to sell, we are very wary that immigration laws may change based on the advice or information we hear about.

If our properties don't sell within the time limits we need to act upon, we will rent them out so that we won't have to lose money and time. Also, we are unsure as to how long a visa takes - have heard 6-9months?

If anyone out there can assist us with any of the above points, please let us know...we are totally famished to find out our doorway into Australia!!

Thank you in advance for ANY advice/comments....