ODIN20123

Hi Roomummy, great to hear that everything is going ahead. As we moved our 2 horses in 2012, I can give you some first hand advice. The whole equipment quarantine is a bit overcooked... In reality it's rather simple: There are 3 aspects - I would not send along anything expensive with the horses. Based on our local contact here + experience, things can get lost. Our horses were handed back to us with totally raggedy halters which weren't ours ) I would only hand the horses over in the UK with basic / simple equipment which you can afford to lose (essentially a halter + lead). As they won't put on any horse leg protection or bandages during flight they don't really need anything else. (These are dangerous as they can't remove them on the aircraft when they become loose, and they also tend to get puffy legs if they are left on too long) - Send all your remaining horse equipment with your personal effects (container). If you need equipment before your container arrives, I would recommend bringing some brand-NEW (with tags) basic good quality gear in your flight baggage (good quality gear is hard to come by in Oz and/or very expensive. If it's new, local airport quarantine are happy.) (We did it this way) - All equipment needs to be perfectly clean (no fur, no grease, sweat etc.) before it's packed into the container (label boxes as horse gear). Essentially make it look brand-new. It will be inspected and might be sprayed / wiped down at the local removalist when AQIS comes in for the inspection (they have a look at the manifest and then decide which boxes they want to pull for inspection). Once it's inspected they will release your consignment and you will get an appointment for delivery. Generally this part is treated as a bit of a money grab as AQIS and the removalist sort of work together and decide what needs treatment (Goods are treated by the removalist, so you are at their mercy and they charge fantasy prices). I would not treat it upfront, as they might treat it again anyway. In our case they sprayed our 2 saddles with a pink solution (does not stain) which set us back AUD 100 (negotiated). I would also highly recommend that you insist on being onsite, as that gives you some bargaining power and you can also have a chat to the AQIS officer. The removalists hate if you do that (reduces their bottom line) and will try to find excuses, but this procedure actually saved us a lot of money Wishing you all the best!

Hi Roomummy, we migrated to Australia in 2012 and took our 2 horses with us, so we got some first hand experience. At that time I wrote / updated an article (see below link) about the whole experience. I hope that this might be helpful for you. In summary it was a very smooth process and our horses have adapted really well. You can easily import all the gear and tack but it has to be extremely clean (see below as well). Fell free to contact me if you have any questions etc. You are in good hands with IRT! Just had a look at your horse on the picture, what a lovely and unique breed! Our 2 horses are a Spanish Criollo and an Arab. The Criollo originally came from Argentina, so he is a real world traveler now

Actually the highest portion of the transportation cost (9K €) is from the Oz quarantine and is fixed by AQIS. Only the remaining part can be influenced by horse shipping agents. Since most of their customers actually are horse professionals who ship around horses for competition, there is not really a lot of room for negotiation... :jimlad: Yeah using the toothbrush is a good idea. Our stuff passed through quarantine already and it really had to be spotless. They really go over your stuff with a microscope and if they find anything which looks like hair, soil, plant material etc. they are free to charge you a fortune and pester you for weeks. Its a major problem...

Hi Charmaine, good luck! If you need any other information please feel free to contact me. Where are you headed for?

Hi, we have arrive in Sydney in Oct. 2012 and had the same issues. You will only be able to secure a home AFTER your arrival here. Since the rental market ist extremely competitive here, no one will even care about you until you are here. We have stayed with Falcon lodge for the first 3 weeks. (Their website is currently down, but you can call them) http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=flacon+lodge+sydney&oq=flacon+lodge+sydney&gs_l=serp.3..0i13l2j0i13i30l2.1811.5121.0.5200.19.18.0.0.0.0.361.4439.2-14j3.17.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.4.psy-ab.EMs0REly2Ks&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=52e25552b949de7b&biw=1843&bih=897 It is a VERY simple, yet clean place to stay and it is within your budget. They even have a kitchen where you can cook. When booking tell them that you arrive here to work and you need a place to stay for the first weeks. They have a couple of houses and tend to seperate the noisy backpackers from long term lodgers. It is absolutely quiet at night and is located just a couple of minutes from the CBD. Furthermore there is a beautiful park just across the road! Good luck! ODIN

Hi allatonce, we are currently in the final phase of moving to Oz with our horses. Please feel free to send me a PM (Private Message) if you have any questions. Good Luck!

Hi, unfortuanately, under the new system, which became effective starting 1/7/2011 there are no points for sponsorship by a relative for a Skilled Family sponsored (migrant) visa anymore. For both SC175 and 176 you will have to score the required 65 points all on your own. This has actually rendered the 176 Family visa useless... http://ozma.web.officelive.com/FaqSpon.aspx If you have enough points (65) you can also go for the normal 175 Visa. If you manage to submit a 175 visa before July, you should not be cut off. As far as I am aware they will try to finish processing all old Visas until the end of this year and then start with the new system. But of course no one can guarantee you this... :-( The new Visa system seems rather unattractive and non transparent to me and I would say that the wait for Visas wil be much longer in the future... Wishing you the best of luck!

We will move to Australia in Oct. 2012 and our beloved horses will come with us. Since I found it very difficult to gather information on this slightly exotic topic, I want to share my findings with everyone who is interested at PIO and the Internet. How to transport your horse or horses to OZ/ FAQ on horse transportation Formalities / Transportation / Vaccination and Health Requirements / Quarantine guidelines and rules based on current regulation 03/2012: 1. Your horse can only be transported to Australia from one the following countries: Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, USA 2. If your horse originally came from a country not on this list, it must have stayed in one of the authorized countries for approx. 180 days (variations exist depending on origin and export country) before starting of pre quarantine. 3. Horses can only be imported via Sydney airport where they have to stay in post quarantine for approx. 2 weeks (based on horses gender and agent procedures), so you have to arrange transport via landroute to your final destination afterwards. There are a couple of vendors which offer scheduled weekly land transports from Sydney to all major cities. Costs are aprox. 1000 AUD per horse. These are easy to find via google. 4. It is very important to have a valid EU horse passport with complete identification for every horse. Furthermore you need a vaccination pass, if this is not integrated in your EU horse passport 5. You horse has to spent approx. 14 - 28 days (depending on if it is a stallion, mare or gelding and on agent procedures) in pre-quarantine within an authorized quarantine stable in your home country. You can´t do it yourself :-( 6. Here you can find all the horse health requirements and pre + post quarantine + transportation procedures of AQIS, the relevant OZ goverment authority: http://apps.daff.gov.au/icon32/asp/ex_QueryResults.asp?Commodity=Live+horses&Area=All+Countries&EndUse=All+End+Uses 7. It is terrible to read, but the most important ones for horses in the EU are the test for Equine Infectious Anemia (Coggins) + Equine Piroplasmosis (B. Caballi, T. Equi) (ELISA or IFAT Test). I would do them upfront as soon as possible, as a positive result will rule out any transportation... :-( It is important to understand that your horse could have this disease and NOT show symptoms. The tests are approx. 100 € per horse and your VET can help you with them. The remaining procedures deal with rather standard health requirements and deal with the exact transport and transit procedures. This will all be handled by your transportation agent during pre and post-quarantine and during transport. 8. If you own a mare or a stallion or a young foal together with its mother, additional tests for sexually transferable diseases apply. These can also be found in the above document. Since we have geldings I did not bother reading them... As far as I can see a couple of further tests are neccessary in these cases. In the special case of a pregnant mare, she has to stay in quarantine until giving birth. 9. Furthermore you need to vaccinate your horse with the ProTeq Flu vaccine against Equine Influenca. The intervals for vaccination must be 100% matched from the beginning. The base vaccination (2 shots with interval) has to be done before the pre-quarantine starts. The horse has to be given an additional booster shot of this vaccine approx. 90 - 21 days before the pre quarantine period, no matter if it would be neccessary based on the normal intervals. It is VERY IMPORTANT not to take shortcuts on this vaccination, as this disease is the main reason for the strict OZ quarantine regulation for horses. If anything is not done by the book with this one, your horse will not be allowed to board its flight! How are horses transported? / What agents are there? / How do horses cope with flying? / Can my horse be put down during flight? / Can I visit my horse during quarantine? / Can I accompany my horse during flight? 1. Normally you will not be able to visit your horse during pre and post quarantine due to strict sanitation procedures. All agents offer full care based on your specifications for your horses during pre and post-quarantine and the actual transport. 2. Horses are transported in IATA pallets during flight and ground movement, which are similar to horse floats.There is a video showing how horses are shipped around the world: http://www.cavallo.de/videos/video/first-class-wenn-pferde-fliegen.290745.233219.htm It is in German, but should still be interesting to watch for everyone. I have also found a couple of pictures: http://www.cavallo.de/know-how/animal-lounge-frankfurt.288587.233219.htm 3. Horses normally cope well with flying, and all agents very rarely encounter problems. If they encounter them, horses are given a mild sedative and will be fine then. There are a lot of stories on the net that horses have to be put down during flight due to panic, but these are just rumours and there is nothing true about them. No need to worry! Even cases of colic are very rare and are avoided by feeding special feed before the flight. You also do not need to sign an authorization that agents are allowed to put down your horse in flight. These are dumb rumours as well. When you compare a horse float to a plane, the plane is actually much less noisy and far more stable than a standard float. Only the take off and landing is more stressfull. 4. Horses are transported on cargo flights and mixed cargo / passenger flights. Normally pilots take special care during take off and landing and choose very flat landing and starting vectors. Furthermore they try to fly routes with as little turbulence as possible in order to reduce stress for their live cargo. 5. Your horse will be accompanied by professional horse grooms during the flight. I have heard that some agents offer the possibility to take owners as grooms on horse flights. I have read that often these owners are very nervous and are not much of help... :-) We will fully trust our agent with this. 6. There are not many companies who specialize in International horse shipments to OZ. I know of the following ones for UK and Germany: IRT (International Racehorse Transport) http://www.irt.com Peden Bloodstock http://www.peden-bloodstock.com/ Guido Klatte International Equine Services http://www.gklatte.de/ Crispin Bennett International http://www.crispinbennett.com/ 7. Horses will be fed hay during flight and have access to water. Due to quarantine regulations you should only send the bare neccessities together with the horse. As far as I have understood these items will be destroyed at the end of quarantine. So you have to bring new ones when picking up your horse in Sydney. 8. Taking horse items: All other stuff such as tack and saddlery has to be cleaned (do not get me wrong on this one... cleaned means it has to look brandnew :-) ) and shipped with your other household goods. If customs / quarantine agents will encounter any fur or dirt on them, it will get very expensive as they will "professionally" clean them for you. I have read of charges exceeding 100 AUD per item. 9. GST / As long as you own the horses for more than 1 year before export, you will not be charged any import GST as they are regarded as personal belongings. 10. Insurance / You can insure your horses for quarantine risks and standard health issues / death. This will help if any horse on a consignment fails quarantine, in this case you will be covered for the additional quarantine costs until the consignment gets released (200 AUD per day) and standard vet costs if they get sick during quarantine. In the past if somthing like this happended quarantine clearance for the consignment partially took more than 8 weeks (over 11000 AUD additional cost!!!). So this insurance makes a lot of sense and is very affordable. 11. Our agent supplied us with a contact number of the Sydney quarantine grooms, so that we could call them if we wanted an update on our horses. They have been very nice and I trusted them 100%. Prices 1. The cost of transporting 1 horse to Australia is approx. 16K € / 13K GBP per horse. This price includes everything (pre-quarantine, post-quarantine, transport, all grooming activities, feed etc.). Keep in mind that 3 horses can share a container, which will bring down costs to approx. 14K per horse when you have 3 horses in an own container. Furthermore I would set aside approx. 500 € for tests and other stuff. I hope that all this information proves to be useful for you, it took me months and countless phonecalls to gather it :-) Wishing all horse owners the best of luck! CU all in OZ! UPDATE: Our horses have arrived in Sydney safely in October. Everything has worked out just as described above. They have both settled in rather easily and really enjoy the good weather. We had to clip one of them since he already had a full winter coat, but that is the only thing that did not work out to plan. :-) The whole experience of transporting our horses was really excellent and I would not be worried of doing it again! I have been asked how they cope with the heat and until now I have not noticed that they have been struggling. A lot of the more expensive Oz horses are actually imported from Europe (warm bloods) and they all seem to be doing fine as well. I also did some research on this topic and most of the sources claim that horses can adjust easily to temperature and normally feel fine in a large variety of climate zones. Nevertheless if you ship horses from EUR winter to OZ summer, I would make sure that they are clipped prior to boarding their flight and rugging them for the remainder of their time in EUR... :-)

Hi Noob, you must be careful not to mix things up. The RPL is done for the ACS assessment. Immi has nothing to do with this... They just want to see it :wink: Info on this can be found at the ACS webpage: http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=load&temID=skillassessment There is an application form for the project reports there. The KAK (key areas of knowledge) part has no specific form set. You can also find all other requirements there as well. There is a website which has RPL information and examples. The website is old and the info is only 100% relevant for the old 2010 process. But since the process is still similar, info is still useful. http://www.rplhelp.co.uk/ Since the process is rather complicated and you have just started on this journey, I would recommend that you use a migration agent for the initial assessment. Due to the new Australian skillselect system, which will go live in July 2012, you do not have time to run into any errors... Getting a VISA after this date will be much harder and unpredictive... Wishing you all the best!

Hi Noob, when doing the RPL path, your education is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that you can prove 8 years of experience in the job you are trying to be assessed against. Concerning PR: As far as I can see your Job as Software tester is currently not on the SOL list http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/sol/ of DIAC. That means you will not be able to go for a 175 PR with this job, even if you manage to be assessed positive on it by ACS. You can check if you are eligible for a State Sponsored 176 PR visa. This is basically the same as a 175, the only difference is that you will have to stay in a specific state during the first 2 years after arrival. Summary: For PR your job needs to be on the SOL list or State Sponsorship list and you need a positive assessment by ACS. If you do not have formal qualifications you need to do an RPL. You will be able to pass this if you can prove 8 years of experience in the relevant job and if you show clear knowledge of the subject.

Hi Noob, we went this path and managed to get our 175 in Nov 2011. The RPL path is designed for people who have no formal titles in IT. Doing a RPL is very hard work as you have to provide max. detail on your previous education and career. It is important that your career and experience closely matches the job description ACS assesses you against. So if you try to get assessed as a Developer programmer, your job references + other information and your written reports should reflect this role for the past years. If you are able to provide matching information you should be fine. Most people who do not get a positive result have issues proving the neccessary job experience in the role ACS assesses. For example they provide 4 years of reference for system administration + 4 years for development work and hope that this is enough to prove their 8 years of experience as a developer programmer. Unfortunately this will not work. It has to be 8 years of experience as a developer programmer. They accept experience in closely related roles though. So a mixture of developer programmer, analyst programmer + Software analyst would propably be fine. It is hard work to prepare all the neccessary information. It took us nearly 3 months and we had over 100 pages of information. Wishing you the best of luck! ODIN

I would really love shipping two dogs :wink: But unfortunately we have two horses and they cost 36000 € to ship... :cry::wacko:

Hi all, we are currently preparing to move to Australia in the middle of this year and we will take both of our horses with us. It is a very complex and costly process. Horses have to go into pre quarantine in the country of origin for 30 days. They have to stay in an approved quarantine stable for this so you cant Do it yourself. Furthermore they need negative Tests for certain diseases such as piroplasmosis and equine infectious anemia. Mares and Non geldings require additional Tests. Furthermore they need to be vaccinated against horse flue using a Special vaccine called proteq flu. after arrival they have to stay in quarantine for another 30 days. Port of entry can only be Sydney. The total cost for a Full Transport incl. Everything ist 14K Euro per horse. 16K starting in April this year as quarantine costs will go up in Oz. We will use a. German Agent for this but I Know that peden bloodstock is a known Agent for this in the uk an that prices are very similar... Hope this helps!!!! Best of Luck!

We have secured a PR end of last year and are currently preparing our move to Australia. While searching for jobs I have stumbled over a significant amount of threads of highly qualified people who have not been able to secure a job for months! Judging by those postings they have always been rejected because of not having local work experience or even have not been invited to interviews at all, although their jobs and skills are in high demand in their area. I did a lot of research on this and found out that this is often because people did not adapt their resume´s and cover letters to Australian expectations. Furthermore employers rarely seem to contact people who are still overseas. People with foreign names from non western countries also seem to have problems getting jobs due to racism and employers who are unsure if the foreign applicants education will match their requirement. But especially the "no local work experience" does pop up very frequently and does not sound very assuring.... :unsure: But I understand that if you look for issues on the internet you will surely find them, so I am very interested in any "real life" experiences. It would be great if you could share some of your experiences of your job interviews, oversea contacts with employers, how long it took you to get a job etc.

Hi, we have secured a PR end of last year and are currently preparing our move to Australia. While searching for jobs I have stumbled over a significant amount of threads of highly qualified people (mostly non IT) who have not been able to secure a job for months! Judging by those postings they have always been rejected because of not having local work experience.... I admit that some doubt has now crept in... :confused: We are both working in the IT sector (Senior Software developer + Senior Systems Administration Analyst), have a tertiary IT education and both have over 10 years of experience in large multinational companies. It would be great if you could share your experiences! Has anybody got some info on the current IT job situation in Sydney?