RichWJ

NOW SOLD. I would say the second hand car market in Perth has improved for buyers over the last 18 months. Finally the prices are coming down a bit. Cars do last longer here but really, older cars cost so much more than they do in Europe. My advice would be to buy any bargain you can find. After 1 year here you will become eligible for a great finance deals and new cars are very well priced in Australia compared to Europe. Also be aware used car dealership extended warranties are nearly worthless - in an old car they claim everything is wear and tear and therefore excluded. Cars under 10 years old and with less than 150,000 km bought from a dealer do come with a 3 month legal warranty and that is worth having - but be sure to service the car (elsewhere) when you get it to discover any issues within the 3 months. Good luck and enjoy your moves to sunny Perth!

Hi All - now reduced to $6,500 - Thanks, Richard

Hi, I am selling our first car that we bought when we arrived in Perth in April 2013. Now that we have been here for over 12 months we were able to get a great finance deal and upgrade to a new car....so please have a look at our Kia Sorento that is for sale in Kingsley (on CarsGuide.com.au website). Great car with a 3.5 litre V6 engine that will keep going for many more km's. Rego paid until mid December 2014. Full service history. This car has just had a MAJOR SERVICE (fully detailed receipts shows all work including: Auto transmission service & flush, Fuel injection clean, New front brakes, Front and rear dif oil change.) Previously serviced by myself in Dec 2013 and May 2013. Sony CD Player. Air Con. 17 inch Alloys. Spacious interior. Tyres in great condition with good tread (Top quality Bridgestones on the rear for excellent grip, Khumo road tyres on the front to reduce road noise). Reluctant sale as I commute using the train and we no longer need two cars. This was our first car when we came to Perth and has never given us any problems. PRICED TO SELL. SORRY NO OFFERS. I have had to remove the link to Cars Guide .com .au so please find it there for more pics! Thanks for looking....leave any questions...

Just a quick update...the good news is that second hand cars in Perth must be getting cheaper with less demand. (Home rental prices have also definitely fallen in the lest few months). Good place to look is Gumtree, CarsGuide.com.au and also carsales.com.au And also, I have reduced the price of my car to $7,500 - I will edit this in my first post, it was $8,150.

PRICE NOW REDUCED TO $7,500. Hi guys, having been here over a year now in sunny Perth, I finally became eligible for a really good 1% Finance deal and bought a new car! I'm selling the first car we bought now as we don't need a second car (I use the train for work). Car is for sale in Kingsley, Perth. Great car with a 3.5 litre V6 engine that will keep going for many more km's. Rego paid until mid December 2014. Full service history. Last serviced in Dec 2013, previous service was May 2013. Tyres in great condition with good tread (Top quality Bridgestones on the rear for excellent grip, Khumo road tyres on the front to reduce road noise). Reluctant sale as I commute using the train for my new job and we no longer need two cars. This was our first car when we came to Perth and has never given us any problems. The car is also for sale on CarsGuide and Gumtree. If you look at my history at PomsinOz you will see I am a UK person now in Perth. Please ask me any questions.

Hi Lofty. We have been in Perth just over a week. We had our 2 year old twins (nearly 3) on a waiting list for a few months before we came out thinking it was hard to find places. In turns out that there are more options than you can find over the internet. All depends on the specific suburbs though. Maybe someone else can also advise on costs. It is about $90 a day per child, but it seems all Australians get about 50% of that costs back via Child Care Rebate. All I seem to be finding out though is that as permanent residents we cannot claim that rebate until we have been here two years. Then we wont need it as they will be at school! Makes it really pricey with 2 kids and surely they would prefer my wife to work having given us visas? Am I right in thinking this? We are currently exploring other options, such as 'occasional daycare' centres where you can just put them in for half days etc. My advice would be to visit quite a few once you get here, perhaps email some in advance to check they have space.

Hi Aasoro..... try calling 0061 286665777 and leaving a message that appeals for their help. I did this last night and 24 hours later we have our visa!! (it just arrived via email 5 minutes ago!) All the best and good luck.

Thanks so much for the info. I really don't like being in the dark about all this and I cannot understand why they can't just tell us what's going on. A badly organised and run process.

Hi Patricchan, Did your wife's medicals come back soon? I am still waiting since 17 November for my wife's medical that was referred... All the best

Hi aasoro....have you tried to contact Global Health? We are trying to go down that route....has anyone got an email address for Global Health? Like someone has asked..what does your CO say about this? It is really crazy...the process was great for us until the medical referral nonsense...now it is stressful and frustrating.

Hi. I'm still waiting and my wife'd meds were referred in November. So it is taking over 3 months for some of us. It is coming up to 4 months soon for us. My CO tries to help but says he gets no info from Global Health. It is very frustrating as we planned to be out in Perth in early April...getting very stressed as I finished work in 2 weeks time in the UK....all I want is some clear information. It's a joke really. I would even pay if I could to get it speeded up.

we're still waiting....seems like a lot of November referrals have been getting visa's recently...some of us still left behind tho. Hoping to hear something this week...been over 3 months now for us!

Great news for you!! and the rest of us.... we're starting to get down about it....even though we know we shouldn't....but your news has given us renewed hope that it will be soon for us too!! Is yours a 189 visa Paul? You must be so happy that you can stop checking this thread on the forum!? I check it every day for the last couple of months!

Hi, referred due to my wife having a medical issue 8 years ago - she has been fine ever since. The Panel doctor that did our medicals said it would be no issue and would only take someone 10 minutes to review the paperwork - but it seems we are in a queue that takes over 3 months for the case to even be looked at.

Hi SJ1111 - have you had the "golden email" yet? I see that some people get the visa within 48 hrs of the meds being finalised... let us know how long you wait. I've heard nothing, but haven't called like you did. I just want an idea of how much more waiting there will be once the meds are done! Thanks. PS has the e-visa status of the medical been updated yet?

that's great news! do you know what day yours were finalised? and how long did it take for the grant to come through? my wife's meds still say "requested" on the online visa portal....but hoping we are soon then!

we're still waiting.... there don't seem to be any October referrals waiting around on here... but I don't see any meds being finalised for any of us November lot. They must have had all of January as holiday at Global Health... my CO gave us hope last week, but nothing really seems to have happened. looks like at least a 3 month delay for referred meds - up from the 2 months before Xmas.

Any previous illness and anything that might indicate you will cost Australia money treating any future illness. If you are in good health with no previous problems then you should be fine. I believe that BMI, eyesight and blood pressure which they test on the day can also lead to referrals. I was fine, my two kids were fine but my wife had a cancerous mole removed 8 years ago - no problems since - and require no chemo or radiation - but has so far caused a 3 month delay.

Hi Paul, we are 10 days behind you and are also very frustrated by it all. I did every other aspect of the visa application as fast as I could and now I feel at a loose end. I finish work on 11 March and now regret handing in my notice!.. getting very worried and want to head to Aus asap and get working, this is really making planning impossible. What has your CO told you? I am waiting for an update but he has apparently escalated our case to global health, but who knows what difference that will make. I'll update this thread as soon as I hear back again from my CO.

Hi there. Our CO said that because 12 weeks has now past he will escalate our case with Global Health and that he'll update us next week. The DIAC are also frustrated with the backlog at Global Health... So email your case officer after 12 weeks! We'll see what happens next week.....

Hi - not heard anything yet. Very frustrating, planning on emailing CO tomorrow as that will be 12 weeks!

Are there many October referrals still waiting? It seems to me that they are now working solidly on November referrals and I'm really hoping to hear something next week! The fact I gave notice at work in December (and finish early March) means I'm getting nervous now... will book flights for March as soon as we get that visa grant....hoping it's soon. Many other November referrals waiting around on this forum?

It's gone so quiet on here, I think the aussies take a lot of holiday in January time. 3 months really does seem to be the waiting time for referred meds now. Early to mid-December I really thought it was around 2 months. Oh well, really hoping to hear something in the next 3 weeks - sick of another dull English winter!

Hi, they will test your blood pressure and anything out of the ordinary will result in a referral. So like the rest of us that'll probably add 2-3 months to your visa waiting time. The eating disorder, well that depends if you mention it in on the forms - I can't see it being a problem if it was years ago and a GP can confirm you are well now. Safer to be honest but doubt they would delve that deep into your childhood?!

Just an update from DIAC, from Team 2 Case Officer: "At this time it is taking about 12 weeks for these further assessments to clear. Currently the MOC is assessing cases such as this up to the 17th of October 2012. So you still have some time to wait." My wife's meds were referred on 17th Nov, it would seem there are different queues for different types of cases - my wife's is fairly simple and was over 8 yrs ago - the panel doc said no issue at all, so a 12 week wait is disappointing. I had thought they were working in November cases now....