Goochie

Getting my immediate boss to sign anything could be tricky - I'm a manager and I report directly to the Managing Director! Getting a duty statement will start alarm bells ringing with them as the company is quite small and everyone knows everything that is going on - We dont have an HR department. I'll have to speak to my CO and see what she says.

My Case Officer has today asked for a duty statement for the second time. Back in February I sent an email saying I dont have one as my employer doesn't issue them. The CO never replied so I assumed that was OK. Yesterday I emailed the police certificates and asked if there was anything else outstanding - She replied saying she's waiting for the duty statement!! So what am I supposed to do? How can I send something I dont have? I've sent the offer letter I received from my employer 5 years ago along with the front page of my contract which states my current role - But I simply dont have anything else.

We sent our police check forms last week by Special Delivery and they arrived on Tuesday. It's not been a week and they've cashed out cheque but nothing has turned up. How long do they take normally? Do they return the certificates by normal post or recorded?

Panic over - Got up early today to check online and it now says finalised for us both!

Still showing as referred

seaweedsprites

We had our medicals 10 days ago and they were received down under on the 13th. Yesterday they said "received" against both mine and my wife's. Today hers says "finalised" yet mine says "referred" I've only been to hospital once when I broke my leg aged 3 and dont remember the last time I went to a doctor - It was over 20 years ago thats for sure. My BMI is spot on and my blood pressure was perfect. Is it normal for the status to go from received through referred and then finalised?

We've just put 137 items on ebay today - Because we're not taking anything with us and will start from scratch! You can always buy second hand stuff from all the people who wish they haddnt bothered taking all their stuff lol!

Scot - Take a read of this thread: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?304615-It-is-now-apparent-that-it-will-be-practically-impossible-to-enforce-a-UK-debt-in-Oz Says it all really

I agree with Skype. There is a good Android phone ap which lets you use a phone handset to make the calls rather than a PC. Just connect to your broadband router's wi-fi - I presume there is an iPhone ap too. Or just use a PC of course.

Air Asia. No in-flight entertainment though and it's from Stanstead.

Luckily the exchange rate makes it quite favourable to pay more from Aus to the UK these days.

Can they do a phone interview? Why not take your mobile with you on holiday? If they're happy to call you, you'd only have to pay the European leg of that call meaning it could be well worth doing.

You cant pay a UK direct debit from an Australian dollar account. You need to retain a UK based account and make a monthly payment into that. Your direct debits will continue to come from there as normal.

Thanks for the replies guys. I would never rent somewhere before leaving the UK. We'll be booking a holiday rental for 3 weeks and from there we shall look for somewhere more permanent.

Try and avoid places where you rent an old hipping continer. They can get cold and damp all through the year. These people http://www.mtecfreight.com/ are just around the corner from my office and whilst the website looks a bit dated, I know people that keep pallet loads of stuff in their warehouse. However you will probably need to get your stuff onto a pallet rather than in individual boxes and they probably wont store furniture.

Your post prompted me to search the web and I found this: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1616581

You must have your skills assessment completed before you can apply for state sponsorship - State sponsorship is allocated based on your occupation and you cant claim an occupation without a skills assessment. Once sponsorship is given, you then have 60 or 90 days (depending on state) to lodge your 176 Visa application.

I know you need quite a hefty deposit when renting through an agent, but how much do you normally need when renting privately? I've see a few ads for suitable places on gumtree but none mention deposits etc.

Someone once told me that if your contract says you have to give 30 days notice and you give them 90 days (for example), your employer can make you leave after just 30! Basically you telling them that you're leaving counts as "giving notice" and your contract defines that as a 30 day period. That was from a HR manager at a highstreet name company.

I'm confused - I thought you had 12 months from the date of your medical/Police check/visa grant (whichever is the oldest) to make entry?

There is a good forum for this over on another site: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?334182-In-Australia-with-UK-credit-card-debt.&highlight=australia is a good thread. But this one is even better: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?304615-It-is-now-apparent-that-it-will-be-practically-impossible-to-enforce-a-UK-debt-in-Oz

I've done my 176 skilled migrant visa myself. All you need is this forum!

Dont waste your time. I went today and was very glad that I only live 10 minutes from the venue. There were hundreds of people there either queueing to get a free visa assessment or listening to a presentation on the different kinds of visa. There were probably 20-30 stands most were either house movers, pet movers or money movers. There was one recruitment company there but none of the jobs I looked at seemed to be for an actual job - They were just advertising the kind of thing that is available. A few hours on this forum and on Aussie job sites will be a much better way to spend your itme.

The Accord list is a list of accredited degree's from around the world. If your degree was accredited by the IMechE the chances are it'll be on that list and it's just a form filling exercise. If you degree isnt on the list, you'll have to do the essay/career history thing. There is a list of job titles on the Engineers Australia website somewhere that describes the typical tasks carried out by each profession they list. There a couple of categories (Engineering Manager, Engineering Associate and Engineering Technician). Under each of these headings are job titles and descriptions for each. I was UK Engineering Council registered but still had to do the essay/career history thing because me degree wasnt accredited by the IMechE and wasnt on the Washington Accord list. A google search for "Washington Accord" should reveal more.