Chris&Mel

Adelaide has a fantastic climate, can get too hot during those heat waves though! It is certainly different to Melbourne, completely different feel to the place. We live in Adelaide, the southern suburbs (20 minutes drive from the CBD) and enjoy the quiet slower pace here, there is plenty to do, people are friendly but finding employment a couple of years ago was difficult as we have found it a place that employs the "its not what you know but who you know" rule (very clique). We visit friends in Melbourne a couple of times each year and love the hustle and bustle that Melbourne offers, it has a vibrant feel and the city centre with its pavement and back street cafes make it very appealing. However if your living in the suburbs I imagine its pretty much the same as anywhere else although it will be a lot more expensive than Adelaide, roads are busier and most likely your commute will be longer too. You need to ask yourself what you want, we would not move to Melbourne from Adelaide as we feel we can have the best of both, just over an hour away on a flight and you can usually pick up a bargain, but having said that I think we would be very happy if we did live in Melbourne. (Would we visit Adelaide if we lived in Melbourne...probably not)

Its not that simple. I am paid slightly under the market rate for my current position but there are big changes happening within the industry to catch up with Europe & the States. I have this experience (10 years worth) and this seems to be desired on advertised positions for my role and hence the wages asking for this experience are reflected in that as there is certainly a shortage of people with this experience within Australia and particulary South Australia.

I was wondering if anybody could answer this question; I have been in Australia for 4 months working on a PR-119 employed by a SouthAustralian company. Things at work are good, company is great but there is one gripe that i have which is I am not being given the market rate. I recently viewed an advert and went for the interview, I even was offered the job (double the money I am currently on) but can my sponsorship be transferred? I’m guessing not and I may just have to bide my time till my 2 years are up but if anybody knows any different,I would be grateful ifyou could share your thoughts or experience.

I arrived in Adelaide on 21st April and the family is not too far behind. We had been looking for a while at a number of places in the southern surburbs but since arriving i am having second thoughts about where to settle down. The downside is that i dont want to put the kids into school and then end up relocating to another area and having to change schools. With this in mind could anyone please provide some advice or positive/negative feedback on any schools within the Aberfoyle Park/Sheidow Park/Trott Park/Hallet Cove area's so that at least i can be looking in the right direction when it comes to choosing schools for the kids. Any information or advice will be greatly appreciated due to this last minute change of plan! Thanks

Yep i arrived 21st April and in general everything is more expensive, some items considerably and others not too much. Im yet to find anything cheaper other than fuel although that seems to be going upwards although not yet quite as expensive as back in the UK. Bear in mind though that your wages will be higher but i have made my comparison's based on percentages and yes the cost of living in comparison to income is higher for me...SA, Adelaide.

Im due to fly out for the first time very soon (mid April) and i have noticed that a lot of people have mentioned about avoiding Heathrow at all cost!!!! Im planning on using Quantas from Manchester to Adelaide, via Heathrow and Singapore. Can anyone eloborate on just whats the problem with Heathrow????? Ta

the hospital sorted everything out for us. They emailed either the case officer or the place that process the medicals and i phoned the hospital back a week later to enquire about where we were upto and they told me it was all sorted the week before. I then emailed my case officer explaining and asking if she could confirm that the medicals had been accepted on the e-transmit system. Next day i recieved a reply from my case officer saying my nomination and visa application had been granted!!!! maybe i was just lucky...

Its not that bad once get you get into it!! I did the CDR, think it cost approx £300 plus the certifying of documents and posting costs etc. I started slowly and managed to gather pace but all-in-all it took me 2 months to get it finished. 16 weeks later my CDR was approved without any adjustments having to be made. On top of all that i didnt need it in the end as i went on a 119 RSMS!

Same happened to us, was not a problem. The hospital sorted everything out, we had our medicals 7th November and our visa was granted 16th November so as you can see it was'nt a problem. We had our medicals at the Bridgewater Hospital in Manchester.

daughter 10, son 6. Just put the house on the market within the last week and hoping for a quick sale!!! might catch the end of their summer if were lucky! I've posted on the sister site at the same time and got a fair few responses. Thanks

Best bet would be a PR visa. If your thinking of trying to get an employer sponsorship then a 119 would give you PR status! view the booklet about PR employer sponsorship from DIAC. http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1131.pdf

LOL we just put ours on today too! Again were hoping for a quick sale too!

Were off soon as the house is sold :cry: hopefully won't be too long

On arrival we experienced in the order printed; Urine samples (kids found this hilarious) Height and weight measurments taken Examination by doctor (blood pressure taken, pulse checked, ears, mouth and chest examined etc) Bloods taken (as mentioned above, only for children 16 and over) Chest xray (again 16 and over) All in all we were in and out within 90 minutes at the Bridgewater clinic in Manchester (2 adults, 3 children of which only 1 over 16 years). Service and staff by the way were absolutely fantastic!

We took our medicals upon request by the CO on the 7th November and our visa was granted 16th November (RSMS 119 subclass).

I think if your a straight forward case (and after a bit of reading etc you will now that yourself) then i cannot forsee any problems doing a DIY. There is nothing too complicated but be prepared to do a lot of reading up on the process etc. If you dont fancy that pay an agent, although you will still end up putting a lot of time and effort into it!

We put approximate dates and explained that in the additional notes section, as for old passports we just left blank. Did not have any problems or further requests from the CO.

I have not long since received my visa grant letter and I thought while I still have the figures in my head share my costs with anyone who wishes to read this thread. I can remember back to when we first started the whole process and wanting to have this kind of information available to us so that we could budget our finances accordingly. Being the kind of person I am, I was forever reading up on how much the whole journey about to be undertaken would cost. I wanted to be able to plan for the whole event, in fact I just love to plan ahead (kind of an OCD thingy). I do realise every case is unique and would like to point out that this information should only be used as a rough estimate, but hopefully it will provide a useful starting point for someone looking to maybe make the move in the future. Background of application I was granted my RSMS 119 visa in November 2011 which entitled permanent residency for myself, my wife and two children, both under 16 years of age. It should also be noted that included in the application was a none migrating dependant (aged 16) as this did contribute on the overall costs, particularly medicals and police checks. My visa application started with the intention of pursing the GSM (General Skilled Migration) route back in January 2011. In doing so I needed to lodge a Competency Demonstration Report to Engineers Australia and I had booked an IELTS test which are also included in the costs although were not needed for the RSMS route. I should also make you aware that our visa and nomination by the employer were non-DRC. At first we were looking to use an RMA but decided to DIY the application. After studying the forms and looking at the process we felt we didn’t need the use of an RMA. In hindsight we were a straight forward application (no hidden skeletons or messy custody battles etc) and we also wanted to save money. If we had the money spare we probably would have used one. Costs and payments associated with visa application Initial Consultation with RMA[1] £100.00 Engineers Australia (EA) CDR £360.00 Postage to Engineers Australia (twice)[2] £70.00 Certifying Documents for EA[3] £75.00 IELTS test £120.00 Visa Application[4] £1215.00 Certifying Documents for DIAC[5] £75.00 Postage to DIAC[6] £35.00 Police checks[7] £120.00 Medicals[8] £930.00 Total £3100.00 [1] Initial consultation with RMA, money well spent although we decided later on that we could manage the application ourselves after they were a reluctant to get caught up in RSMS applications preferring to specialise in GSM applications. [2] [6] For each occasion when sending documents to Australia we used DHL. I found their service was the cheapest but I was very satisfied with the tracking system provided and the time taken for delivery (normally 2/3 working days). [3] [5] Use of a solicitor from a local small practice to certify documents. Phoned a number of practices and found most did not provide the service. Probably would have been able to get them done cheaper in one go but at the time we were not fully aware of which documents were needed later on in the application (we were taking one step at a time). Worth also noting that we probably went a little overboard with the amount of documents we got certified as we didn’t want the CO coming back asking for further documentation. [4] Visa application charge at time of submittal; 12 October 2011. [7] Police checks included two original certificates as this was cheaper than getting them certified and sent on to DIAC, this was also explained in my covering letter to DIAC as they do not like to receive originals. [8] Medicals included two adults, one non migrating dependant aged 16 and two children aged 9 and 5. Additional information We obtained quotes from a number of RMA’s for the whole application which ranged between £2000 and £7000. The RMA we were considering using allowed payments to be made in stages so you were not stumped with paying a full fee up-front. They also happened to be the cheapest although this was not the reason for our preference on using them.

I have not long since received my visa grant letter and I thought while I still have the figures in my head share my costs with anyone who wishes to read this thread. I can remember back to when we first started the whole process and wanting to have this kind of information available to us so that we could budget our finances accordingly. Being the kind of person I am, I was forever reading up on how much the whole journey about to be undertaken would cost. I wanted to be able to plan for the whole event, in fact I just love to plan ahead (kind of an OCD thingy). I do realise every case is unique and would like to point out that this information should only be used as a rough estimate, but hopefully it will provide a useful starting point for someone looking to maybe make the move in the future. Background of application I was granted my RSMS 119 visa in November 2011 which entitled permanent residency for myself, my wife and two children, both under 16 years of age. It should also be noted that included in the application was a none migrating dependant (aged 16) as this did contribute on the overall costs, particularly medicals and police checks. My visa application started with the intention of pursing the GSM (General Skilled Migration) route back in January 2011. In doing so I needed to lodge a Competency Demonstration Report to Engineers Australia and I had booked an IELTS test which are also included in the costs although were not needed for the RSMS route. I should also make you aware that our visa and nomination by the employer were non-DRC. At first we were looking to use an RMA but decided to DIY the application. After studying the forms and looking at the process we felt we didn’t need the use of an RMA. In hindsight we were a straight forward application (no hidden skeletons or messy custody battles etc) and we also wanted to save money. If we had the money spare we probably would have used one. Costs and payments associated with visa application Initial Consultation with RMA[1] £100.00 Engineers Australia (EA) CDR £360.00 Postage to Engineers Australia (twice)[2] £70.00 Certifying Documents for EA[3] £75.00 IELTS test £120.00 Visa Application[4] £1215.00 Certifying Documents for DIAC[5] £75.00 Postage to DIAC[6] £35.00 Police checks[7] £120.00 Medicals[8] £930.00 Total £3100.00 [1] Initial consultation with RMA, money well spent although we decided later on that we could manage the application ourselves after they were a reluctant to get caught up in RSMS applications preferring to specialise in GSM applications. [2] [6] For each occasion when sending documents to Australia we used DHL. I found their service was the cheapest but I was very satisfied with the tracking system provided and the time taken for delivery (normally 2/3 working days). [3] [5] Use of a solicitor from a local small practice to certify documents. Phoned a number of practices and found most did not provide the service. Probably would have been able to get them done cheaper in one go but at the time we were not fully aware of which documents were needed later on in the application (we were taking one step at a time). Worth also noting that we probably went a little overboard with the amount of documents we got certified as we didn’t want the CO coming back asking for further documentation. [4] Visa application charge at time of submittal; 12 October 2011. [7] Police checks included two original certificates as this was cheaper than getting them certified and sent on to DIAC, this was also explained in my covering letter to DIAC as they do not like to receive originals. [8] Medicals included two adults, one non migrating dependant aged 16 and two children aged 9 and 5. Additional information We obtained quotes from a number of RMA’s for the whole application which ranged between £2000 and £7000. The RMA we were considering using allowed payments to be made in stages so you were not stumped with paying a full fee up-front. They also happened to be the cheapest although this was not the reason for our preference on using them.

If you have a choice i would recommend the 119 route. Its permanent residency as apposed to temporary, bear in mind though that you would have to complete your 2 years with your sponsor.

I was left scratching my head with the same questiosn etc but ended up leaving them blank with a very brief explanation in the additional notes section at the end of the form and i never had any problems or comeback from my CO at the time.

We did our 119 application ourselves and found the whole process straight forward. However we put all our money into the house so were forced to DIY it, i have no doubt if i had a spare couple of grand i would have employed an agent. Also worth noting that we had no complications, it was a straight forward application i.e. no messy custody of step children, outstanding medical conditions, criminal records or other skeletons etc. But also worth noting from what i have picked up is that you still end up doing a lot of the donkey work even for the agents. You have to decide if you can spare the money to use a reputable agent. At the end of the day whats 2k for getting yout ticket, your going to end up spending a lot more going through the whole process by the time you get there.

i received my job offer April 2011, applied for stage 1 nomination same month and visa was granted 16th November 2011.

I would also think about booking a consultation with a migration agent. We stumped up £100 for one hour (well actually we were there almost 2 hours asking questions) to Concept Australia. They will give you a pretty honest assessment of your chances and point you in the right direction with no commitments to them. If your a fully qualified teacher then I would imagine you may well be in demand although some experience post qualification may be needed, not to sure of the process for teachers etc. We ended up getting a job sponsor and doing the application ourselves and found the whole process reasonably straight forward but admittedly we did a lot of reading up first. There are also migration booklets from the DIAC website which give you an insight into the whole process whether your planning the skilled or sponsored route.

Great news, I reckon you let the new year in with a proper celebration:biglaugh: