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Chapter One: Us, The Family, The Start
Posted 13-09-2007 at 09:53 AM by minlady
CHAPTER ONE: US, THE FAMILY, THE START
Hi Everyone
Not wanting to be left out I have decided to write a blog as well…..
I suppose I should introduce ourselves first….. Neil my husband is getting on a bit and as he is the lead on the visa we thought he had better apply soon before it was too late… he is a DCS engineer…. DCS stands for Distributed Control Engineer. In layman’s terms he deals with industrial computer systems, both software and hardware which allow things like oil rigs, or power stations to work. Because of his work we have travelled and lived in several parts of the world but at the moment we are settled in Telford, Shropshire.
We have 3 children all boys…. Brindley (10), Harvey (7) and Elliot who will be 4 in October. All the boys swim, Brindley in open galas. They also enjoy Cubs, gymnastics and the usual boy activities!
Me, well I’m not as old as Neil but some days I feel 90!!!.... I am trained as a Nurse, Midwife and Occupational Health nurse but at present I am a ‘homemaker’ and general dog’s body and I am also supposed to help out with Neil’s company…. Secretary skills etc! I am also a swimming teacher (level one) and use my skills at our swimming club on a Friday night.
We started our application for Australia back in October 2006. Neil and I had been to Australia back in 1996 when we were living in Malaysia, (Neil’s work again)… he took 9 weeks off and we back packed across the country and this is when we first thought about living there… but we didn’t do anything about it at the time as we had other things on our mind, such as the arrival of Brindley etc…. time ticked by and suddenly we were 40 odd and realised this is it or never!!.... So we met Ian Harrop, an agent in Oxon who basically said we had a good chance… and we started the TRA from then.
Neil’s job is a bit of a strange one and does not fit into any category as such…. His TRA had to be sent to the Australian Institute of Engineers… he had a degree in engineering from Huddersfield Poly years ago. We were trying to get in as an electrical engineer on the MODL which although strictly speaking Neil’s degree isn’t in that, he does do a lot of electrical stuff as well…. But sure enough when their decision came back they had not allowed him to go as Electrical.. Instead they had given him a really obscure number which was not on the MODL list. It was Christmas when this happened, so we had to wait 2 weeks until January to speak to the Institute of Engineers in Australia to see if they would change their minds. When we did eventually get in touch they agreed they would reconsider but Neil had to submit a 1000 word essay about his job, qualifications etc and we had to pay the price again…. In the mean time I had looked on the net and found the number he had been given as a requirement for Western Australia and we could in theory apply for sponsorship through them… which would then give us the required points for a Subclass 137 visa.
Neil was prepared to write his essay, although there was no guarantee that they would allow him the Electrical number at the end of it and my worry was we might be given another number that wasn’t even needed in WA… so we decided to go down the 137 visa route.
Western Australia agreed to sponsor us and so our visa application was submitted in February and by the end of March we had a case officer and we were arranging for meds and Police checks from the UK.
As I said before, due to Neil’s work we had lived in several different places. One such place was Qatar in the Middle East. We had been there from 1999 to 2001 and as we had been there for over 12 months we needed to get police checks from them….. Little did we know what hassle lay ahead for us……..but that is for another blog on another day!
Min x
Hi Everyone
Not wanting to be left out I have decided to write a blog as well…..
I suppose I should introduce ourselves first….. Neil my husband is getting on a bit and as he is the lead on the visa we thought he had better apply soon before it was too late… he is a DCS engineer…. DCS stands for Distributed Control Engineer. In layman’s terms he deals with industrial computer systems, both software and hardware which allow things like oil rigs, or power stations to work. Because of his work we have travelled and lived in several parts of the world but at the moment we are settled in Telford, Shropshire.
We have 3 children all boys…. Brindley (10), Harvey (7) and Elliot who will be 4 in October. All the boys swim, Brindley in open galas. They also enjoy Cubs, gymnastics and the usual boy activities!
Me, well I’m not as old as Neil but some days I feel 90!!!.... I am trained as a Nurse, Midwife and Occupational Health nurse but at present I am a ‘homemaker’ and general dog’s body and I am also supposed to help out with Neil’s company…. Secretary skills etc! I am also a swimming teacher (level one) and use my skills at our swimming club on a Friday night.
We started our application for Australia back in October 2006. Neil and I had been to Australia back in 1996 when we were living in Malaysia, (Neil’s work again)… he took 9 weeks off and we back packed across the country and this is when we first thought about living there… but we didn’t do anything about it at the time as we had other things on our mind, such as the arrival of Brindley etc…. time ticked by and suddenly we were 40 odd and realised this is it or never!!.... So we met Ian Harrop, an agent in Oxon who basically said we had a good chance… and we started the TRA from then.
Neil’s job is a bit of a strange one and does not fit into any category as such…. His TRA had to be sent to the Australian Institute of Engineers… he had a degree in engineering from Huddersfield Poly years ago. We were trying to get in as an electrical engineer on the MODL which although strictly speaking Neil’s degree isn’t in that, he does do a lot of electrical stuff as well…. But sure enough when their decision came back they had not allowed him to go as Electrical.. Instead they had given him a really obscure number which was not on the MODL list. It was Christmas when this happened, so we had to wait 2 weeks until January to speak to the Institute of Engineers in Australia to see if they would change their minds. When we did eventually get in touch they agreed they would reconsider but Neil had to submit a 1000 word essay about his job, qualifications etc and we had to pay the price again…. In the mean time I had looked on the net and found the number he had been given as a requirement for Western Australia and we could in theory apply for sponsorship through them… which would then give us the required points for a Subclass 137 visa.
Neil was prepared to write his essay, although there was no guarantee that they would allow him the Electrical number at the end of it and my worry was we might be given another number that wasn’t even needed in WA… so we decided to go down the 137 visa route.
Western Australia agreed to sponsor us and so our visa application was submitted in February and by the end of March we had a case officer and we were arranging for meds and Police checks from the UK.
As I said before, due to Neil’s work we had lived in several different places. One such place was Qatar in the Middle East. We had been there from 1999 to 2001 and as we had been there for over 12 months we needed to get police checks from them….. Little did we know what hassle lay ahead for us……..but that is for another blog on another day!
Min x
Total Comments 3
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Hi Min, what a lovely read and now i understand your police check problem from Qatar.. I bet you wish you never set eyes on the place after all the hassle you are having.. GOOD LUCK..
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Hi Min,
What a lovely read.. I always wondered what all that was about with Qatar!!  Bet you wish you never set eyes on the place ? GOOD LUCK, KEEP US UPDATED. (sorry i boo booed) |
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Updated 13-09-2007 at 01:47 PM by a&s |
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Hi Min
What a great post. Really explains all the ups and downs you have been going through to get this far. I have two girls aged 8&9 who are both into swimming and gym, same as your boys. Older one has joined Stockport Metro Club and i hope that we can find good clubs for them both to carry on in Oz. You'll get there soon. With everything you have had to work through, it shows just how committed you are. Good luck - Joanne |
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Recent Blog Entries by minlady
- Chaper Two: The Medicals....arh The Stress!! (17-09-2007)
- Chapter One: Us, The Family, The Start (13-09-2007)
