RavenBlue

Not sure on which English test you need to take - I applied as an accountant and the Australian Accountancy body (CPA) website said which one I personally needed to do. Maybe check your skills assessment body website? For partner skills my husband's UK passport sufficed - no English test required.

@Wulworra its been quite a journey! There's just so much to do in the early days that it flys by, yet at the same time you don't really know what you've achieved sometimes! Getting our own flat was a turning point and then having a couple of months in jobs - it all just serves to start making you feel more settled. We've had our home sick moments, but mainly because you miss what you're used to. You just have to sit back and realise that part of moving somewhere like Australia is to experience a new and exciting way of life. It's different to the UK but that doesn't make it any less good. For us we're seeing this as a bit of an adventure, and if in a couple of years its not for us we'll go back. We're fortunate that we don't have children to worry about, so for us to move around is quite easy. The key is to take it one day at a time, and be grateful we even have this opportunity! How are you finding things?

We got our medicare cards when we were still in temporary accomodation, so gave them that address. You just need to be sure you'll be there for a good couple of weeks after that as it's where they'll send your medicare card. You can be getting on with that whenever. But with your drivers licence your address is printed on your licence, so it would be a pain (and maybe extra cost?) if you changed your address on that. We did wait until we had permanent accommodation before we did that. And you should be able to register with job agencies with your passport? We were here 3 months before we got permanent accomodation but we signed up with job agencies almost the day we landed.

We did ours at the Bondi Junction office. Had to take 2 forms of ID, one with address, so we took passport and medicare card. Also our UK driving licence and proof of PR visa. There is a form to fill in but you get given it when you first turn up - probably takes about 5 minutes. We then did it all in one go, just stood at a desk while a person processed it. Quick eye test (literally just look over the attendants shoulder at a letter chart) and a photo for the licence. No new test or anything. Just be prepared for a bit of a wait if the office is busy, but once you get called up it's about 10-20 mins. Too easy.

My husband says his compliments to your family! He's searched high and low for what he'd consider proper English beer and The Duke is the only place he's found!

Take a walk along Darling Harbour and up to Barangaroo Reserve. Walking through the Botanic Gardens, up to Mrs Macquaries chair and round to the opera house is lovely. Head out to Bondi Beach, some people might say it's too touristy but we love to just walk along the parade and down to the beach. It is still a pretty awesome beach. The Opera Bar (just outside the Opera House) is a pretty cool place to have a drink and take in the harbour - though maybe only for one as it's not cheap! If, like my husband, you're in search of a 'proper' english beer we would recommend The Duke of Clarence which has just opened and is styled just like an English pub, complete with 'ungassy' beer!

I'd second aconcannon, me and my husband have gone sim only with Amaysim - we were doing the same thing with giffgaff in the UK so suits us just fine. No complaints so far, though it has only been a week! We've got the $40 package too, so 10GB and unlimited international calls, etc. Only thing I would point out is that its $40 every 28 days (not monthly) and so just bear that in mind when comparing it with actual monthly deals.

Hi @Evel1184 I just read through all the forum posts I could find to see what people got asked for, and made sure we had it even if it was unlikely to be needed. We uploaded: Passports, driving licences, birth certificates, skills assessments, work experience verifications (if you're claiming points for this), wage slips from the period I was claiming points for, p60's for that period too, medicals, police checks, marriage certificate, additional proof of long term relationship (only been married a year so also uploaded proof of pre-existing long term relationship, including joint mortgage statements, rates bills, etc), everything which we had already given for skills assessments such as degree certificates, letters from HR departments, etc., form 80 and form 1221. Basically anything we could think of to prove what they were asking! Hope this helps.

You can go to DIBPs skillselect website and it has quite a lot of information on there about EOI's, including capped professions. What is your occupation and how many points would you claim? On the skillselect site there is an 'invitation rounds' section where you can see the last times at which people on certain points and in certain occupations were invited. It might give you a rough idea when you could expect an invite.

Ahh @laevans congratulations!! That's even more exciting news!! Hope everything goes well for you all - keep us updated!

Thanks @laevans! We had already planned to go on working holiday visas if our PR visas didn't come through in time - so we have flights booked for October 30th!! This just means we have the peace of mind of PR from the very beginning now - and might be able to get better jobs from the off! Its all so real now!! 48 days!! Have you submitted your visa application yet?

Hi everyone - just to update people that we had our visa grant today! Details in my signature (hopefully I've done it right!) - but we applied under Accountant (General) on 11/08/17 with everything front loaded, and got the direct grant today (12/09/17). No way was I expecting it that quickly! Good luck to everyone still waiting, looks like hopefully things are moving!

You should see both. I got an email saying I had been invited, plus the status changes in your skillselect from 'submitted' to 'invited' and an 'apply visa' button appears next to your EOI . Good luck!

The skillselect website says invites to 75 pointers in the August 9th round went to 24th June. Then one of the (unofficial) tracking websites says in the August 23rd round they got to at least 14th July. If that suggests about 3 weeks movement per round, you're looking at at least a couple of rounds wait. So maybe the second round in September...

Hey I didn't read any specific guidance, but I just tried to make it as clear as possible. So for example 'NAME_BIRTH CERTIFICATE', etc. You upload them under specific categories too, so there is a drop down list with the option to upload a birth certificate. Hopefully it shouldn't be too hard for the case officers to figure out what's what.

We submitted ours last week! I was super organised and already had everything sorted/scanned in etc before we even got the invite. Even then it took 3-4 hours to do the whole application! Your mind starts playing tricks on you and even the simplest question has you searching google to find out how other people answered it All you can do is answer how you think you should and honestly. All they can do is then come back and ask for a bit more info - not the end of the world! Fingers crossed for you - I'll let you know if I get any updates, but I think this is going to be a bit of a long haul!!

Yes I got an invite in the last round (16th August) Have you submitted your skills assessment?

Hi @DavetheRave, which chartered qualification do you have? Usually they are considered equivalent to a bachelors degree and so worth 15 points (I am ACA and mine was). Always worth checking with the assessing body though.

Hi, I presume you've had a skills assessment? If so, did you get the years worth of employment recognised as relevant by the assessing body? To my knowledge you should only put employment as 'relevant' if it has been deemed so by the assessing body. The reason why it wouldn't change your points is because you only start getting extra points for at least 3 years of relevant experience.

Ah ok great - I have payslips and P60s for all of the period of employment I'm claiming for, so hopefully that will suffice. Thanks

Thanks @pm79 I'm about to submit my 189 application and I would like to avoid CO contact too if possible! Already have our medicals and police checks. Did you upload any bank statements? I've seen some people say they did so for proof of income, but its not on the official DIBP website. Don't know whether to just upload them to be safe?

Hi @pm79 congrats! Did you get a direct grant? Or any CO contact? What documents did you front load with your visa application?

Hi @KangaKit the current cut-off for non pro-rata occupations (which I think midwife is) on 60 points is 21st June 2016. The last time a 60 pointer was invited was on the invitation round on that day. The two invitation rounds in July only took 70+ pointers, and after the 26th July round these had been invited up until DOE of 15th July. There's a chance that todays invitation round cleared all 70+ to date and so some 65/60 pointers could start getting invites in the next round or two. Having said that you never know what the split of invitations will be between pro-rata and non pro-rata occupations, or whether they might decide to raise the bar. Its best to just apply asap and prepare for a bit of a wait - then if something comes sooner its a bonus! Is there anything you could do to boost your points - have you got the full 20 for English for example? Good luck

Congrats @laevans its very real now isn't it! Although by the sounds of it the next part is the most stressful But at least there is now an element of certainty about it all. @Uroosa you are so close - the 70 point cut off is currently 24th October 2016 (taken from the last time one was invited back in March). Fingers crossed most 75 pointers will be cleared this time and 70 pointers will start getting a look in in a couple of rounds time

Hi Uroosa, thanks! It was for a 189 visa. The round was at 00.01 on 9th August Canberra time, so happened about 40 minutes ago. Have you checked your email/ skillselect account? What are your points and DOE?