Alaska

I waited until the visa was through and basically gave my notice period. We had gone through a lot of changes and rounds of redundancy and I wasn't going to volunteer the information early. All my close friends at work knew but I worked for a large organisation and had very little to do with HR and management. I was once "caught out" before when I let the company know (job through a temp agency) that I was going to be moving on a few weeks down the line - we had got on well and they had been saying how pleased they were with me, so I thought it was the right thing to do. They phoned the agency that night and said not to come back which really scuppered my plans. Taught me that business is business.

I did a lot of call centre and bar work - including all the stadiums and shows and was never out of work. It was years ago now though so can't comment on current situation

Depends where you are living. We stayed in a backpackers and it was pretty cheap. Had a brilliant 6 months or so there - incomparable. Going back a while though so hopefully someone with recent info can help you.

If you are on a WHV, you can't beat Sydney!

Hi there. EH is lovely - I would avoid Queen Elizabeth Drive for the hooning. Here has been quite a few break ins in the area recently - for some reason Saraband drive bears the brunt. There is an older part of EH and some of the houses there need a bit of work. Are you renting or buying? If renting, there can be a bit of a shortage so I would consider Albany Creek too. Have you visited the area? EH school is massive and I feel it has suffered with a lack of consistency in the same years groups and little accountability. Seems to be improving though. Please PM with any questions. I am on my phone only this week so bear with me!

I phoned up Immigration who said the same as you Alnaibii - to put the 457 in Q15 and current application in Q16. Guess we will do that!

Thanks for your thoughts. Anyone else? We are keen to get this right. The mistake we made isn't relevant to our 457 visa as the question wasn't on there. We don't want immigration thinking we are declaring a mistake on there too.

We have realised that we inadvertently answered a question incorrectly on our visa form - we have since got information that we were unaware of when we applied. We have been advised to fill out Form 1023 by our agent. We have had numerous issues with this agent (employed by company) and her knowledge of the processes so we are unsure of the advice she has given us. Under "Visa and Application details" she has entered all the details of our 457 visa, not the PR visa application that we have made the mistake on. This doesn't seem to make any sense when you read the form but we called her and she is insistent that is it correct. She has made many mistakes in the visa process so we really can't be sure of her opinion. Does anyone know if this is the case?

It's not good. I only come a short way up and down the Gympie Road and it is a nightmare especially on a Friday arvo. I have tried all the back routes and it is no quicker either. I would look at closer suburbs definitely. Still wouldn't be quick but the likes of McDowall and Bridgeman Downs are nice. A good option would be to be close to a train line like Ferny Grove (although Ferny Hills is supposed to be a bit nicer), Sandgate or Shorncliffe.

Coventry is ok - I went to uni there (not Cov uni though) I lived on campus and then in Leamington which I loved. I also ended up working in Coventry for 10 years before moving here. I didn't live in Coventry though and there are some lovely areas within 20-30 minutes of the City. Not sure about your area of healthcare but Coventry has the University hospital which is a teaching one I believe - it's very modern these days.

What worries me is that someone else will be targeted as they bear a resemblance to her and something terrible will happen.

It's great to be happy where you are. I am in Brisbane and don't identify with "dry barren aspect" at all as it is really lush around here (most of the time). Just adding that in case anyone things all of Australia is as Quoll describes it.

I have heard good things about Kip McGrath - there is one in Albany Creek.

We have had to do the Transition Scheme too as DH hasn't got a degree so can't pass the skills assessment. Anyway the application went in last week so fingers crossed for all of us!

I hope that is a conservative estimate as I was hoping it would be quicker than that. Our lives are on hold too until we get the PR visa. We have held on to our UK property whilst on a 457 and are keen to tie up our lives in the UK.

Yes but we have had issues with accuracy of info before (employed by company so not our choice). Is this not the case?

I was going to reply to this but thought it probably wasn't genuine. I really don't believe someone would move to Australia and not have a clue how to get their family here - especially when all the information is so easy to find on the internet.

It's lovely. I like the colours but am shocked at the repainting costs here! The only thing I would say is that there are several mistakes in the written part of the ad. Not sure if it would make a difference but it doesn't hurt to make sure all that stuff is correct. Good luck.

Our agent submitted ours yesterday with the old Form 80. When I asked about the new one she said it wouldn't be needed as they allow some overlap. Not sure how for long though.

Our visa was lodged by the agent with the old Form 80 that we filled in a couple weeks ago. She thinks that it will be fine as they allow some overlap. Let's hope so as it is literally an impossible task. She also mentioned that the Migration Institute are in urgent discussions with the department to try to make it more practical for applicants.

I can officially join this thread as the agent has lodged our application today. 27 March 2014 - nomination and application lodged with medicals, police checks etc. ENS 186 Transition stream.

There is no way that we will be able to do this accurately - I couldn't even tell you the year of the French exchange or any of our long weekends in Europe or when I went to visit my sister in Prague or Slovakia, or when I hitchhiked to various European countries as a student. So basically this is an exercise in guessing which seems completely pointless on an immigration form.

Oh no! Ours is all being lodged tomorrow with the Form 80 we filled in a couple of weeks ago. Bet it won't be accepted

We found somewhere and moved in, in 3 weeks and that was pretty speedy. It took 2 weeks from the viewing to sort out the checks and paperwork so I would say 5 days would be pretty tough! We stayed at the Tribeca Apartments at Spring Hill for those 3 weeks - very reasonable. Pretty basic but did the job. Around here it seems to be 1 year contracts but you could probably get 6 months. I think you would struggle to find one for less than 6 months unless it was advertised that way (occasionally they are) or there is a very low demand.

I agree about work too. We are about 20km north Brisbane and about an hour from the Sunshine Coast and some lovely areas around here - Albany Creek, Eatons Hill, Ferny Hills etc. All have state schools with good reputations. A lot of people like North Lakes, Mango Hill and areas up there as well.