path2aus

My memory of Frisco is from 2007, I left that place at that time. I loved every minute of working in the financial district. Probably things have changed now. There are lots of second tier cities in states which are becoming more desirable as the main cities have become so crowded. I never got a chance to visit Seattle, always wanted to go there. I have heard good things about Portland, but have never lived there either.

When I visited NY with my wife from Chicago, I loved the place. It was fun, we enjoyed our time there. So when I got a job there both were excited, but once we landed there within few days we felt that we wanted to get out. Not sure why. I guess it is kind of an acquired taste to live in such big cities. I lived in San Francisco too, beautiful place. It was expensive but a great place to live if you had the money. NY is nothing like that. If you like big cities, you should probably look at SF, fantastic city with great weather.

I have not visited Perth or Brisbane yet. At this point I find we are okay to start here. The opportunities in terms of work is surely a problem but I have found a decent length contract to start things off. You are right that the contrast between NY and Adelaide is like chalk and cheese. That's what excites me here. I feel that Melbourne is a good compromise between Sydney and Adelaide. It is neither too expense nor is it boring. Lets see what the future holds, my daughter is just 8 months now, so we still have some time to decide where we want to live.

I love Adelaide, will live here for ever if I get a chance. Really don't want to live in another NY type city, so will try to avoid Sydney as a place to live. I will surely visit though.I went to Melbourne to activate my visa and really loved the vibe of the CBD. Adelaide is the kind of place I like, good city for a family. Less crowded, beautiful beaches.

Never been to London, but NY is a horrible city. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I worked there for 3 months and I hated every bit of it. It is good to visit as a tourist but I will think twice about living there. It is just a concrete jungle with people rushing everywhere, pushing you, shoving you along the way. Highly overrated and overpriced city.

You have a permanent resident visa, so you can work in any job you want. You need not work in the job category you applied. Technically you can move and work anywhere but SA expects you to land here and show genuine intent to live and work in SA.

Hope Australia don't go the US way. I just came here after experiencing ridiculous wait times there. Hope they fix things and get it back to reasonable processing times for all types of visas.

Don't know about PTE but I gave IELTS 2 times and both the times I did quite well in Speaking (Getting 8.0) considering I am not a native speaker. I did slip once in writing (7.5) and once in reading (7.5) but was able to get 8.0 in all other bands. Again for me I did enough as I needed only 7 in all bands to get the required points. See this is the thing, IELTS or PTE is not a pass/fail exam. Some people might need 7 in all bands and some people might need 8 in all bands based on how many points they need. I don't think the examiner would know how much you are aiming for and try to score you below that. That is never going to happen. Failing in relative term in IELTS, someone might feel that they failed as they did not score all 8's but I might feel I passed as I scored all 7's. Some people who have the points already but have to write IELTS just to prove competent English will pass if they score all 6's. So the examiner has no way of know what the applicant is aiming for to target and fail them.

I am really sorry for what happened to you. I have stayed for 14 years overseas and ignorance is never accepted as a valid excuse for immigration purposes. One thing you always make sure and check when you leave a country is to make sure that you can get back in. Being an Immigrant in the US for 14 years, that is programmed hard in my head. I hope you can sort out something though.

I can't comment on TOEFL as I took it like 15 years ago. Lots might have changed since then. I did IELTS twice for different reasons and both the times getting 7 in all 4 components was easy for me. If you want 4 8's then it is a different ball game as even native speakers have struggled to achieve that in IELTS. I am not a native speaker but with some practice I was able to get 7 in all 4 components easily. In fact missed getting 8's only on one component both the times. No idea about PTE but have heard people on the forum say that it is much more advanced and simpler than IELTS.

Opening bank account and TFN is very simple. I wouldn't pay anyone to get that done. You can open bank account as soon as you get here. You can ask the bank to deliver your Debit card in the branch itself, so that you can collect it later but would wait till you have an accommodation to apply for the TFN. As it will be mailed out and it can take about a month to receive it.

I used Go Matilda for my PR and they were excellent. Very responsive and helped me through the process. I would definitely recommend them.

Congrats!! Relax and enjoy the moment Hope you have a great time in Australia when you decide to make the permanent move.

According to the website for 190 visa I see there are three category mentioned: 1. Tasmania Graduate 2. Job Offer 3. Family in Tasmania For 489 all the above applies along with a 4th: 4. Small Business Owner So I guess if you meet one of the above criteria, you can apply for Tasmania state nomination.

We bought a home in the US on H1B visa with GC processing in progress. Now thinking back it was a very bad idea. We decided to leave USA due to extremely long GC waiting times for heavily backlogged countries. We moved to Australia and we are struggling to sell our home in the US. Coordinating with an Agent staying overseas is a pain with the time difference and stuff. If we could just go back and reverse the decision to buy the house, we would have been in much better situation. Now I am paying mortgage in the US and also paying rental here in Australia. Not a great situation to be in. So unless you at least have a PR application pending, I wouldn't suggest to invest such high sum on a home. That is just me though through my experiences.

I don't know if you already got the answer but unfortunately Child Visa is the best method for taking your baby to Australia permanently. The other option you have is to apply Tourist Visa and Child Visa together and take your child on tourist visa. Once the Child Visa is granted, your Child would have to leave the country and come back as PR. I think if your Child's tourist visa does not have a "No Further Stay" condition you could apply for Onshore Child Visa 802. The Child visa normally gets granted soon if you have all the documents ready, otherwise you could take a chance by applying for tourist visa and if eligible bring the child here and apply for onshore Child visa. I would suggest you check with the registered migration agent regarding the possibility. Subclass 101 is the best way forward if you ask me.

Thanks @The Pom Queen

No worries. Glad to help out.

I was having the same issue when I applied for PR. This is what I did. I got a general employment verification letter from my employer on a company letter head, which can be for any reason like, immigration, loan, opening bank account etc..And then had one of the colleague/managers give me a personal reference with their business cards. This worked for me.

Same here. Go Matilda were brilliant when I used them for my PR.

@The Pom Queen I have created a thread for the Child Visa and listed out what I did for my daughter's visa. Just letting you know.

Finally I am able to put together some sort of information about Child Visa application. This is not comprehensive guide, this is just what I did for my daughters visa last year. Introduction: Child Visa is a permanent residency visa for the children of Australian permanent residents. This is a paper application and cannot be done online at the moment. The process and documentation required are quite simple. I am just listing out what I did and what documents I submitted. This does not cover complex cases like divorce or non migrating parent cases. People who have information about the same can contribute to the thread. Forms Required to be filled out: 1. 47CH - Application for migration This is a straightforward form where you enter all the information about your child. Answer the questions as you understand. Don't over complicate things. 2. 40CH - Sponsorship for a child to Migrate This form as the name indicates is the information about the parent who is sponsoring the child. 3. Form 1229 - Consent to grant an Australian visa to a child under the age of 18 years This form needs to be submitted along with the above two application forms even if both the parents are migrating along with the child. Both migrating parents have to sign this form. If you have complex cases like divorce etc, you might need to include other documentation such as proof of legal custody, Stat declaration from the non migrating parent etc. I don't have much information on that so will not be including that information as part of this instruction. People with experience can share their thoughts on the same. Supporting Documents 1. Two passport size photograph of the child (Please follow the instructions on the immi website for instructions) - This is the hardest bit if you have an infant. Our daughter was just two weeks old when we tried to take her picture. It was really difficult as she wouldn't open her eyes for the camera (understandably so ). The best method is put a white cloth on a table or a bed, make him/her lie down and take a picture. This is what we did. I don't think immigration could be too strict about a photograph of a few weeks old baby. 2. Copy of Baby's passport - So after the baby is born you would need to apply for the passport obviously. This is needed before you can apply for the child visa. 3. Payment for the visa - This is the tricky part. This differs by the country, so you would be better off looking at the following page to see what type of payment Australian high commission accepts. In India it was either cash or Demand Draft. 4. Birth Certificate - This is required for the application as a proof that you are the legal parent of the child. Copy of the birth certificate needs to be submitted along with the application. 5. Proof that the sponsor is a permanent resident/Photo ID of sponsor and spouse - This can be proved by copy of your passport. I included the grant letter also along with the passport copies of my wife and I. 6. Proof of Funds - Included 3 months of bank statement. There isn't any specific amount mentioned on the DIBP website. There may be other documentation required if your child is adopted or step child etc. Please review the DIBP requirement for the same. You need to submit all the above documentation along with the required payment to DIBP and then wait for the VO to contact you for further instructions. Depending on which country you are applying in you need to find out the application submission process. In India we needed to go to the VFS location to submit the application in person. In India, postal submission is not accepted, so we needed to go to our local VFS office to personally submit the documents. Once the VO picks up your application you will be asked for the following: 1. Police checks for both you and your spouse - This will be for any country you resided for more than 12 months in the last 10 years. We lived int he USA, so had to provide the FBI clearance. 2. Medicals for your child - This is very simple process, you can find panel physicians from the DIBP website and provide the HAPID to book an appointment. It took just few minutes to complete the process at the doctor's office. Once we submitted all the required documents, the grant was immediate. The day when we sent the final document, we got the grant notice on the same day. The overall process took just over a month for us. The delay was only from our side as we had to try and get FBI check done from overseas and it took some time. Getting appointment with a panel physician took time and then there was Christmas/New Year break. So I would consider the overall process to be less than a month for us. This is from my experience and what I did for my daughters Child Visa, people can correct or add anything I may have missed out. It has been 7 months since I did this and I am trying to recollect as much I could in putting this up. This post has been promoted to an article

You can look at their profile on the forum and try to PM them or go to their website and use the number there.

There is an option in the visa application to request for 6 months stay. I filled out the form for my in-laws few months ago. I requested only 3 months stay though. You can try requesting for 6 months stay but it is completely in the hands of the VO who handles your application to determine your stay. In the application there is 3 months, 6 months and 12 months option. You can probably choose the 6 months option and see if they grant you that. I have heard some people being granted 6 months stay but I can't be sure.