dreaming

We can't recommend the bridgewater and dr Million highly enough.. Great experience

Wow! You have definitely done the right thing getting cover straight away... I hope that your on the mend

Hi there, sorry... Haven't had a minute to log on we are in secret harbour. Most people we speak to seem to be with HBF, think we will probably go with them too. Apparently they do free boot camps near us too as part of your membership so that would be handy!

I'm so sorry to hear that Walvia... I really hope things improve for you soon. Keep up the positive attitude and I'm sure everything will work out WA is a big place as suggested, and you may find more success in a different area. We are SOR and love it here. just a quick question, have any of you taken out private healthcare and/or ambulance cover yet? We keep meaning to but are so confused what level to take out and what is already covered by Medicare... Any advice or e pertinence would be greatly appreciated xxx

Hi everyone, I haven't been on here in so long, but its lovely to read all the happy experiences so far! we have been here since the end of May, and love it! We stayed with friends initially but managed to get a rental within 2 weeks which was a relief! My husband had to return to the UK for 6 weeks at the end of June to finish up work, finalise sale of house etc.. That was quite tough, being here myself with the three kids, no shipping container untill the end of July... So if we can survive that we can survive anything lol. we have met so many lovely people, and they are all so helpful. I was even loaned a car from one of our new friends untill I got my own. Hubby arrived back at the beginning of August. He started working for a local company but within a week decided to bite the bullet and go self employed (he is a landscape gardener) He is thriving on this new challenge and it has been really positive for him so far. I was a childcare manager in the UK, and wasn't sure if I wanted to continue in that industry here. I did apply for and started a part time job in a centre about 5 weeks ago, but it wasn't for me. I have however just secured a full time job (still in the childcare industry), which on paper is my dream job, so fingers crossed I love it as much as I think I will lol. I start in 2 weeks, can't wait! Our kids have settled really well, our 19 year old is the only one who is struggling, which we expected. He isn't unhappy, but he is finding it difficult to get work. He had another interview today though so fingers crossed. Getting a job will just open up a whole social circle for him as well as a bit of financial independence. our 10 year old has settled great, school obviously really helps, but he has just embraced the whole lifestyle. Our 3 year old has settled great too. We are used to the price of things now, the only things I find really expensive are perfume, shoes and alcohol. Since arriving and finding out so many uk retailers deliver here... Well it's a lot better than we expected. We haven't saw many sights yet, life has just been so busy getting started here, but we are looking forward to exploring our new home We are loving life in WA and have no regrets or homesickness. I miss my friends, but it has actually got easier as time has passed. The Internet is amazing for keeping in touch, and nothing has really changed in the 4 months we have been here. I do think it will hit me when something "big" happens at home and I'm not there, but I still wouldn't change the life we have here to go back, even at this early stage and knowing we have so much potential still to achieve. I hope you are all enjoying your new homes, or the excitement in the preparations for arriving here... I love reading all your updates and the feeling of the whole visa process being so far away now lol. Take care everyone

Hi Purpledonna, Sorry for late reply.. We submitted the form and a colour scan of passport without certification at 4pm our time and woke up to an email the next morning saying that the required changes had been made.. very easy peasy!

Thanks very much, will give it a go without certification then

Sorry to butt in on this post, but we are currently completing form 929 for our son and it asks to have a certified copy of the new passport sent with the form...bensdad, did your wife have her copy certified? Our agent previously certified all our required documents but no longer offers this service. I have read previously that because its a colour scan it doesnt require certifying, but was wondering if thats true. Thanks in advance.

Thanks very much Euki! He might be interested in the retail course. That's a great help, thank you.

Thanks everyone. We have a friend over there who is going to start collecting information for us at that end when everything starts up again in February. We will of course continue researching here. We don't have a definate date for moving yet but will be there by end of June. Thanks Stevie. Love reading your lingo, reminds me of wee Aberdonian gran lol.

Thank you for your reply The plan is to move to the Secret Harbour area, so we will definately look in to local TAFE options for him. Fingers crossed we find something he will enjoy doing and will help him with his future.

Thanks Millie, Im hoping that is the case:) We just really want to be clear on what is achieveable for him before we arrive so he wont be disappointed. We will need to dig deeper regarding TAFE then. Thanks so much for your reply xx

Hi everyone, I am looking for some advice for our 18 year old son. We are moving over to WA in 2013 on a 176 visa. Our son has had difficulties in school so doesn't hold any o level/standard grade equivelants, though does have some SQA units in basic subjects. He attends college here doing a course on core skills ie numeracy, literacy etc and also has a part time job. My question is what options are available for him when we arrive? His dream is to study drama/acting and we would love to find any pathway into this for him. I have looked at TAFE etc but can only find courses which appear to require academic qualifications... He is very independant, high functioning and the loveliest person you will meet.. he just doesn't have the academic capabilities of his peers. He has no formal diagnosis or health problems. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

Hi there, We were granted our visa in July.. For our 18 year old son we only submitted the letter offering him his college place along with the form he had to complete detailing his financial dependence on us. It was the 176 we applied for so dont know if the paperwork will be the same for yourself but I cant imagine it will be that different. We expected to be asked for more evidence but our case officer made no contact and granted the visa. Good luck!

Congratulations!

Hi there, we are also moving to Perth next year (hopefully Secret Harbour area).. we haven't booked flights yet as waiting untill our house is sold. We have three children and everyone is desperate to move.. including me, but I have lost a bit of the excitement lately and I'm finding it difficult to actually imagine living in Australia now as opposed to here. I keep thinking once we have flights booked and therefor a date to "work towards" the excitement will return. Its like being in limbo again, without the mega stress of waiting for the visa lol. Will be good to share everyone's experiences on here, wishing everyone the best of luck with the move.

Congratulations to everyone who now has their visa:biggrin: and good luck with moving down under! Our house is still on the market.. Have a couple of people interested, one cant raise the deposit and the other is trying to sell their place before they can buy ours. We had hoped to be in Australia for christmas but its a bit too close now! So one last white christmas for us! When we 1st got our visa we were relieved, elated and desperate to go but now we are more relaxed as knowing we are definately going to be living there by next June is a great feeling and something to look forward to. Hope everyone else is progressing well in their journey to our new lives in Oz! Love reading the updates on here. Good luck everyone xxx

Our Visa was granted on Friday and ours STILL all say required! Good luck, hope you get your grant soon Congratulations to everyone who received good news today! Fingers crossed for more of the same tomorrow

Aliand Shane, Our sons medical was referred because of his stigmatism, We didn't get asked for any more information, it just changed to finalised with no contact. He was referred on 28th June and finalised on 24th July.. just to give you an idea of timescale.

Cant believe Im about to type this.. VISA GRANTED!! Best Friday feeling ever!! I just want to thank everyone for all your posts and information.. Although I dont post often you have all helped us survive this process with your information and knowledge. Will continue to stalk this thread untill the whole sheet is red lol. AUSTRALIA here we come!! xxxxx p.s. For those worried about proving dependancy, for our 18 year old we only submitted copies of his past qualifications with form 47A and a copy of his college acceptance letter for September. We didn't think to send his payslips from part time job .. Oops! But he still got on visa without question.

CONGRATULATIONS! Happy celebrating :biggrin:

Hi everyone, CONGRATULATIONS to all who have had progress in past few days whether it be CO or VISA!! The June gang are definately moving forward! Our latest update is that our son's medical was finalised today after being referred on 28th June. Our agent received an email from our CO on 12th July stating our visa was pending the finalisation of our son's medical.. so we are hoping a grant is imminent (aren't we all?? lol) He didn't ask for any further info in the email so we are hoping that's us almost there! cshowell: Our medicals took place on 26th June, were listed as received almost immediately then on the 28th June my husband's, daughter's and eldest son's went to finalised.. Our other son went to referred (because of his squint) and my own one eventually finalised on the 2nd of July (that was a long weekend of worrying for nothing lol) Hope that helps.

Hi Everyone, Huge congratulations to everyone who has been assigned a CO and those with grants.. WOW!! Our agent forwarded the email he received from our CO earlier today which states our application is pending the medical finalisation for our son who's medicals were referred on 28/6/12. Fingers crossed this happens quickly and means everything else is ok with our application.. Every other status is still "required". I hope everyone else has some contact soon.. Just to know something is happening!

I have added our details to the spreadsheet too.. great idea! Really hope things speed up and we see grants sooner rather than later.. this limbo is awful.

p.s. we are also from Scotland so same law applies