Malbec

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Hi, We are about to move to another unit in Sydney and we have the chance to choose a new electricity and gas provider. We are currently with Origin and we've had no major trouble. However, I've read plenty of scary reviews about them and wanted to know if I should try my luck with a better company. Any input is much appreciated.

My wife and I are in the process of clearing the house and starting to pack our bags to live in OZ. I'm having fun discarding all the junk that I've accumulated for years, but having been through the independent skilled migration process I'm weary about what papers should I bring, what to leave at my dad's and what to throw into the rubbish bin. I'm thinking about old payslips (how many? none at all?), bank or credit card statements, proof of whatever some agency/employer/government may require. If you are already there, have you banged your head against the wall about some silly paper you threw away? If you have any insights it'd be cool to read your advice.

This was the period when many SMPs were published, so I guess that many people applied for sponsorship (entering a higher prio) instead of becoming independent applicants, so the net number of lower priority applications must have dropped accordingly. cheers!

Thanks Lorri2011, we are headed for Sydney and need to move there or validate by march 2012. Where are you planning to live over there?

Hi everyone, I woke up this morning and my email-checking reflex finally paid off! It's been 12 hours and I keep opening the inbox now and then to see if it's still there. Also I've been grinning like an idiot all day at work, but keeping the news to ourselves until we finish to rearrange everything and get the one-way plane tickets sometime next year. It's took us more than four years to get to this point, two applications (our first 136 lodged in august 2007 got capped and ceased, after being sent to the last priority queue back in the Evans era), two IELTS (one remarked), a skills assessment re-issue and the whole SMP waiting calvary. After this long, emotional rollercoaster, it feels like being at the top of a mountain, with sanity slowly crawling back into place. Thanks to the helpful advice and good energy of PiO members, I know I wouldn't have glided through the last visa application without your help and insight. Here's our details: Name: Malbec Date of Visa application: 08/12/2010 Nationality: Mexican High/Low Risk: HR Trade/profession: Industrial Engineer Visa type: 175 Onshore/offshore: offshore Pre-14th July 2010 Category (If applicable): N/A Post-14th July Category: (old 3, new 4) Medicals submitted: April 2011 (got march 18 letter) Police check submitted: April 2011 Date CO assigned: don't know Date of employment verification (If applicable): N/A Date visa granted: 13/09/2011

Hi Kalinka, welcome to pio, The second IELTS test you sit, affects neither the first one or the grade revision. You can perform as many IELTS as you can afford, and you only send to DIAC the one that fits their threshold. As for the time it takes for a remark, I requested one almost a year ago, and it did take 7 weeks, but in the end, it was worth the wait. Just llike yourself, I asked for a remark in the writing module and they corrected a 6.5 with an 8.0. The reason they gave me for the delay, is that the remarking is done in Britain by a senior marker. Go figure. Good luck!

Hi VB, I can only advise you to keep looking for alternatives, don't wait for them to decide what to do with your application. They will always keep changing the rules and you must adapt and find other ways. Talk to an experienced agent and reassess your strategy.

That's the normal sequence for an independent application. However, if you are able to get State Sponsorship, you may compress the last two steps, and 'front load' meds & PCs in order to speed processing time by one or two months. Before and after the time you receive your Skills Assessment, carefully monitor the visa processing times Diac publishes on gsm.processing@immi.gov.au to decide if front loading everything is a good option or not. If the processing time is short, as it is now for cat 2-3s, then it may be worth the trouble. Good luck!!

Hi everyone, it'd be great to get any advice on this matter. I lodged a 175 application in 2010 and uploaded every document the website requested to the best of my abilities. However, after reading some messages here I reviewed the initial automated email of acknowledgement, and found a little issue with regard to the skills assessment evidence. My initial skills assesment was done by Engineers Australia in 2007 under ASCO and in 2010 they re-issued a new letter with the new ANSZCO code and dated it as 2010. For the record, I've worked in my occupation since before my graduation. The e-visa website explicitly asks to upload work references *only* from the previous 4 years (that would include from 2006-2010). But the email says "Please include all evidence of work experience you used to obtain this assessment". Which actually would include stuff from 2000-2007). So, is the old work experience relevant to the CO's decision? If I attach the old evidence will it add confusion or delay the processing of my application? What do you guys think I should do?

quick update: my meds appear as of 06/06 to be finalised!

This has been mentioned in other threads here in PiO. Apparently, staff at DIAC are not updating the medicals status on the inquiry website as one might expect. It has been speculated here that this is because of the backlog and because of DIAC's efforts being focused at processing visas. Some people have reported to have gotten a CO/visa with their status updated at the last minute. Mine have appeared as referred for seven weeks. I'm hoping the rumor mill be correct on my case.

Hi Debbie. DIAC states that priority 3 applicants can expect to wait between 18 and 24 months, but that is assuming they won't change the rules (as they've often have). I lodged our app about 5 months ago, so I'll share the way I set things up in my mind: I considered the application a lottery ticket (or a medium term investment with uncertain outcome, if you will), so until I get the visa, I try to live my life pretending nothing ever happened and checking sites like this and diac's announcements but that's it, I'm not worring about selling the house or finding a better job around here or whatever. That being said, apparently DIAC is cherry picking applications based on unknown criteria, as some applicants have been asked to submit medicals and police clearances way before their expected time, also cat 3 applications appear to be moving as we speak (they were stalled for some months as cat 2 applications were given priority). I hope this helps.