At last we have our STNI Visas in our passports! Now the serious planning starts! Thanks to all of you who have contributed to discussions that have helped me and the family. We are off to Melbourne in September, and I plan to start looking for teaching work right now...
From a longer term perspective, my Wife hopes to bring her brother out to Oz. He's late 40's, has a couple of £100k's to bring with him, but has no particular trade or profession (he retails 2nd hand cars from his house). Does anyone know what options we might have to bring him out?
I would imagine to get a trade, but he wouldn't have enough experience.
Could study in oz i think, or perhaps you could find him a job out there that are willing to sponsor him.
We are just in the process of getting everthing together to have our skills assessed, then we will apply for stni sponsorship to victoria.
How long did it take you to get all done and visa's in hand? We have started using an agent but we are tempted to go solo once our skill assessment is done as we'd heard this was the hardest part. (any thoughts)
We like the look of Point cook and Geelong area, have you decided where you're off to yet?
A wise person told me about 18 months ago that "if you've got anything other than cotton wool between your ears" you can do the whole process yourself! So, I bypassed the agents completely, and amazingly, got it right first time! The main application was posted 23/9/06, and we received our visas last week - way sooner than expected. It is a painful process, but its worth it because the visa you'll get is a permanent one, so there are less hoops to jump through once you arrive.
Our plan is to stay with relatives in Perth for a couple of weeks, then head for the Mornington peninsula (hopefully!) Any more questions: ask away!
Andy
We are off to Albury/Wodonga in Apr and cant wait. Lucky enough we have a house and job to go to straight off just need to find a football team for my boys to play for otherwise life will be unbearable.
Good luck with your impending move.
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Initial email: Aug 05
Interview in London: Apr 06
Visa applied: Nov 06
Visa approved: 05 Feb 07
Removals: 26 March 07
Fly to Canberra: 16 Apr 07
Now going to Albury/Wodonga 16 Apr 07
Touch down in Albury 20 Apr 07
Moved into house 01 May 07
Boys in school 01 May 07
Hi
As you may have read, we did the whole thing ourselves.....
Before I sent the main application off, I checked it again and again and again. The got someone else to check it.. You get the idea!
Good luck to you!
Andy and family
