TheReids

Hi folks, I bought an iPhone in the UK over a year ago and used my own SIM card in it, belieiving it was unlocked. I have now tried to use an Australian SIM (Amaysim) in it and it would appear that my phone is locked to VODAFONE :mad: Any idea how to get it to work in Australia? Even if I bought an Australian Vodafone SIM would that work or can I get it it unlocked somewhere? I'm in Perth so can go to the Apple store but would prefer to do it on the cheap :biggrin:. Any help/experiences appreciated!

I have been saying Joondaloop, but a friend who lived in WA told me it's pronounced Joondalup!

Hi, yeah we still have the book. Just pm me if you're interested and I can get it posted to you.

Hi folks, I have a barely used IELTS book (with cds to practice the speaking and listening parts). I found it really helpful when studying for my academic ielts test and so wondered if anyone was interested? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Focusing-IELTS-Academic-Practice-Reader/dp/1420230220/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375201817&sr=8-2&keywords=ielts+academic+practice+tests As you can see from the link, it's worth £23.20 new, so if anyone was willing to offer £10 (including postage) then it's yours! PM me if interested, Thanks. Ps - 7 weeks on Thursday until we fly to Perth!!!:chatterbox:

Thanks. I'd priced up Seven Seas before and they seemed competitive. Just wondered if it'd have been easier to use a general courier.

We land in Perth on 20 September so are starting to pack up our house. ALL of our large belongings have been (or will be) sold so we are actually only planning on shipping a few boxes - maybe as few as half a dozen. Does anyone know the best way of doing this? Would we be better using a specialist removal company or going with a shipping agent like Fedex or Parcelforce? We'd like to ship things ASAP so that we don't have the long wait for things once we land and are quite prepared to ship with the longest possible duration in order to save money. Any help appreciated.

189 granted today!!! Will update our timeline to show dates etc (once I've got the champagne glass out of my hand!!), but was a very quick turnaround for us!

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin: Cannot quite believe this day has arrived, and that I'm able to type these words, but our 189 Visa has been granted!! I've not managed to stop smiling and can't sit still, don't know what to do with myself! This was a very quick turnaround and we are so so excited to get out there and start our new lives.

Our CO old us that all further paperwork had to be with them within 28 days so I'm quite glad we pre-booked our medicals. Saying that, she did tell us that we could ask for an extension.

We had our medicals yesterday and are still waiting on our police checks arriving (although they have sent us a receipt). Medicals seemed to go well for both of us so fingers crossed for a visa grant next month!!

This seems like a daft question to be asking but I can't figure out the answer!! I'm only planning on shipping a few boxes i.e. no major pieces of furniture. I'm either planning on sending a MoveCube or just sending the individual boxes (depending on what junk I decide to get rid of!). I'm planning on having a short term let when I first arrive in Australia (Perth) but obviously won't know the address of it or how long I'll be there for. So where do I ship my stuff to?! Do I just arrange to collect it from the port? Any help appreciated!

We got our CO on Monday. Just need our meds and police checks and that should be us!!

Hi, We lodged our application on 5th May and have our medicals booked for 27th May. We sent our police check applications off earlier this week. Still waiting to be allocated a CO but hope to have all documents uploaded in advance. Getting to the exciting (and expensive) stage now!!!

It might be because your status shows as "application received". I'm pretty sure ours said "lodged" or "in progress". Maybe it'll update over the weekend?

I uploaded documents for myself and my wife yesterday. She is the main appliacant and I am the partner. Her name appears first on our login page and mine is underneath. I was just clickling on the links at the side of each document required and it worked no problem for both of us.

Thanks for the advice Lou. I think I'll get them booked!

Hi, We lodged our application for our 189 on Sunday. Everything we read on DIAC's website seems to suggest that, once we are assigned a case officer, they will advise us when to arrange our medicals and police checks. Would it work out quicker for us to arrange these prior to being assigned a case officer? Does the company who carries out the medicals upload the results directly? Thanks, The Reids

Our EOI for our 190 is now suspended, pending our 189 application. We just wanted to go with whatever will be quickest for us and couldn't believe how quickly it was before we got our invite for 189!! We paid the fee yesterday when we completed our application.

Yeah, we are focussing on Perth at the moment but fairly flexible depending on where jobs come up. What about yourself?

We updated our EOI on Wednesday last week and were invited today!!

Invited to apply for 189 today!!!

Hi folks, We have just applied for state sponsorship through Western Australia. Our case officer has advised that we require a minimum resettlement fund of $30,000 as a couple. Does anyone know whether a set level of saving is required when applying for a 189 visa? We are trying to keep our options open so have lodged EOI's for both 189 and 190 visas. Thanks, Iain and Aline

Hello, My husband and I are at the stage of researching the info needed to complete the WA state sponsorship visa and have managed to find the specific questions that will be asked on the application. We are getting a bit bogged down already though!! The first question is "Estimate the cost of your relocation to WA eg flights etc". Does anyone know the level of detail required for this? We are listing flights, frieght, visa, medicals, police check, initial accommodation...should we also state initial living costs eg food and bills?? There is a later part of the form to detail monthly cost of living so not sure if we should detail this in the relocation costs??:arghh: Confused already and we are only on first bit!! Thanks folks, The Reids.

Hello, My husband and are are at the stage of deciding what to take and what to leave, and I think we will be leaving furniture (don't have anything unreplacable or particularly valuable!) and so are looking at a few boxes of personal items and bits and bobs such as photoframes, ornaments, CDs and obviously our clothes etc. I wonder what people would advise as best options for sending out a few boxes? What kind of size of boxes?? I have seen on here that a few people have mentioned a MoveCube, can anyone give me an idea of cost? Any advice would be appreciated!

Got an email today from ANMAC to confirm they have now recieved all the documents they need and that I am in the queue for processing...on their website they state that applications usually take 6-8 weeks but can take up to 12 weeks at busy times. Does this mean that this starts from now or when they start to process it?! :huh: I'm hoping to get a rough idea so I can be organising other things in the meantime! Got to wait for the skills assessment before being able to put in EOI for state sponsorship for WA! Any experiences from ANMAC would be appreciated! Thanks folks!:biggrin: