Zeebeth

We went through the "My Health Declartions" and booked in our medicals whilst waiting for our invitation to apply. We actually went for the examinations after we had applied. I somehow ended up with two HAP ID's but just asked the medical centre which one they used and then used this on the application. I'd recommend doing medicals and your police checks before applying/before the case officer requests you to do these. That way you application could go through without ever needed to be allocated to a case officer. HOWEVER you should note medicals and police checks are only valid for 12 months so if you arne't planning to make a trip to Oz in the next 12 months (to activate the Visa) then hold off

Thought I'd post a quick update on here. We are flying out to Adelaide on 2nd September (less than 2 weeks!!!!) and provided we find jobs in Adelaide we will settle there, if not I guess we'll head on to Melbourne where we have been told we can pretty much walk into jobs. It's been a long old ride, but the end is in sight. We first started thinking seriously about moving to Oz in late 2013, probably around September/October time. We got married in December 2013 and had decided before then we would postpone the honeymoon until we got accepted/rejected for a Visa. Hubby did the IELTS exams on valentines day 2014 and then we started with the skills assessment, that took ages to go through. A lot of correspondence back and forth before they agreed his degree valid. That finally came through at the end of September last year and we then did our EOI the same day. It took 3 weeks for us to be invited to apply and we lodged our application the next day. Having done police checks and medicals during the wait. I think the grant came through on 2nd December and then we had the fun of carefully breaking the news to the parents over Xmas. They didn't like it much and have been in denial most of the time! We went on our honeymoon/recci in March and decided we loved Adelaide and we would settle there if we could get jobs. We engaged recruitment agencies on our return and booked the flights in May. We started trying to arrange shipping then. The weeks have been flying by so quickly and now we are almost there but still have so much to do!! The shipping company are coming in 6 days and we are anxiously waiting for calls from the recruitment agencies to tell us more about our chances in the Adelaide market. Hopefully everything will come together and we can have our happy ever after in Adelaide

We are currently sorting through our house in the UK and marking items for shipping, sell and tip. We have a dehumidifier which is used and originally cost around £200, we are reluctant to leave it in the UK incase we have a damp problem in Oz. However we don't know if it will clear customs or be held up/sprayed etc as it's been used for damp/mildew issues. I've had a bit of a google but couldn't find anything. Does anyone know if a dehumidifier will have any issues clearing customs in Oz?

I can understand not wanting to move all your stuff over just to move it back again if it turned out you really didn't like it, if we had lots of furniture we would probably do the same. I think 6 months would be a sensible time to reassess your situation and see if you want to give it a bit longer or ship your stuff over. What hubby and I are doing is shipping personal items like books and DVDs, we are then going to get a furnished rental (you do get them if you look on the right sites although they aren't as common as they are in the UK) so we won't need to buy the big items (like sofa's and beds) and buy things like bedding and kitchen equipment from Target when we did our recci in March we found a big Target and checked out the quality of their basic items and I would say its fairly good and would last you at lest a year if not longer. All our clothing will fit in out suitcases (we get 30kg as standard and the vacuum bags are a lifesaver!). We worked out by doing this it would be cheaper than shipping all our stuff and we would have to get most of the smaller items when we land anyway.

Thanks guys, we did briefly look into the movecube but were a bit worried about packing the things ourselves so think we would prefer a company that does it for you. Hopefully hubby and I can make a decision this weekend! !3 weeks to go.

Hi guys, We are flying out to Adelaide on 2nd September and have been getting quotes for shipping from a few companies and are now trying to decide which one to use. We aren't taking any furniture just a large number of books and CD's (around 1000) and a TV and some retro games consols so we'll only need part of a container. The companies we have contacted for quotes are: Pickfords - they originally were very helpful and were probably our prefered company as we met them at Down Under Live back in October. However we are still waiting for a quote (nearly a month on) and the guy now isn't responding to my emails. So that's put me off a bit PSS - The quote seemed reasonable and the lady was very friendly. However after looking online for some reviews about them it looks like they increase their quotes once they have your stuff which isn't great. Anglo Pacific - Decent quote, but the move manager seems really pushy. I've had quite a few calls and emails from him and he doesn't seem to be satisfied to wait a bit for us to decide. Crown Relocations - The highest quote we have received, they seem to have good Google reviews however I'm a bit worried as our move manager seems a tad unorganised. He provided a quote about a month ago but then called last week asking if we would like him to provide a quote. So I resent him the list of items we wish to ship and he then realised he had already given us the quote. I'd really appreciate peoples thoughts on which company to use and the pros and cons for all of them . Hubby and I are happy to be without out stuff in Oz rather than the UK so would be looking to ship in the last week of August. Zee

We have a grant!! No case officer just direct Grant!!!

We were looking to emigrate late 2015 once hubby and I had both got jobs, but we found out today our jobs in the UK are now at risk of redundancy so we at thinking of making our recci/honeymoon in March permanent.

Oops meant payslips! Stupid auto correct

Even if the companies don't have the payrolls they should be able to provide a letter stating the dates you worked for them. Really hope we get a grant/co soon, hubby and I found out today our jobs are at risk of redundancy so are thinking when we head over to oz in March for our honeymoon/recci we won't come back to the UK...

How many years work experience did you claim? Have you provided evidence for that whole time period? Have you provided them with a job description? Not sure what else to suggest

Think your right Whites, I know other people have emailed the CO once the docs requested were uploaded, perhaps see if your agent can do that?

Thanks Bradley I think they wait until at least the first 60 days have passed before the co get allocated

That's great new Bradley1986. Out of interest when did you get your invitation to apply?

I'm a bit worried about the same, but it could be they are having a bit of a push now to avoid Christmas delays? Either way it will only be a few weeks more