readstogo

I spent my teens & early twenties there (in the southern suburbs) and I never really liked it. One of my brothers still lives there, but the other one moved as soon as he could! My parents love it though. For me it's nothing major wrong with Adelaide, I guess I never understood the 'big city, small town' mentality.

There's loads for young families and the 30+. Teens and young adults, not so much. The live music scene was good back in the 90s though. I must admit, when I first heard 'radelaide' I thought it was ironic!

I've always taken "tailor CV to the job applied for" to mean you make your previous jobs look similar. For example, OH works in the leisure industry. I've always told him it's basically the same job whether the centre has lycra-clad cougars, ice-skating kids, or ten-pin bowling. As a manager, he does the same tasks! But employers won't see his skills as transferable, so he 'tailors' his CV by making his tasks and skills relevant to the job applied for. His employment history doesn't change on his CV, he just adapts the blurb he writes under each position.

Also, CV's in Australia tend to be longer than UK ones. They seem to like 2-3 pagers! You don't have to put in every job ever had, but you can explain gaps or early working history in the intro (ie I have a strong work ethic since I started working when I was 15 etc)

Hope this makes sense.

Good luck!

OMG it's actually real now! OH has handed in his notice at work and we're giving notice to our landlord.

I had been planning on a May departure, but itchy (and cold!) feet has brought it forward to March! In a bit of a spin right now, but the 2 years of research and planning should save my sanity.

Good luck to everyone still waiting to get that magical (and surprisingly boring!) email from their CO.

Depends on the airline. I asked Qantas for FIL when he migrated to NZ and the 'migrant' fare was £1000 more! Was told it would be cheaper to buy excess baggage.

Saw on here recently that Singapore Airlines automatically give the unvalidated visa holder extra 10kgs, plus they have upped their economy allowance to 30kgs!

Hi guys

 

congrats to everyone granted recently.

 

just a quick question do you know if you are entitled to extra baggage allowance on flights as emigrating?

My Dad had completed 22 yrs service with Royal Marines before migrating to Aus. He joined the Army Reserves (after struggling to adjust to working with civilians!), and later transferred to the Regular Aus army. There are loads of poms in the forces over there; my Dad even came across people he served with years ago! It can be done. Like the others said, check out the website. The Reserves don't suffer the same stigma as the TA does in the UK either.

Take copies of what you send them; we didn't get child tax credit statements, car & home insurance certificate or council tax bill back All that came back in the SAE was stuff like photos and cards. Thankfully my insurance is done online so I could print them again if needed. Just annoying really, plus I overpaid postage on the SAE!

Brilliant news newbie!

Chirobarn that FANTASTIC news!!! I just checked my email too )))))))))))) say's ready to depart Australia for my visa to be granted woohoooooo

So soo happy I cant stop smiling. Its been a such a long stressful 5 months here in OZ not being able to work. I am soo relieved its over.

I was prepared to get on a plane today haha...but it says in the email that I have to let her know my travel plans (and get a confirmation email she has revived it) before I leave the country for 3 working days. As London is asleep now it will be Monday.

Going to spend the rest of the day looking at cheap flights for Monday eeek how exciting

 

May applicants and early June....you must be soo close now..next few weeks!!

Not yet, but we had always planned to move in May 2014 anyway as the flights are cheaper.

Hi readstogo

 

many thanks for getting back to me.

any info is helpful . It's tough because you don't want to feel like your pushing them into going but I know he will thank me for it.

 

so have you guys made the move yet ?

Have you got evidence of trips together (plane bookings, hotel stays etc), evidence that you have been in contact even though you are apart (itemised phone bills). Do you go on each others car insurance when visiting? Is there a paper trail between each other's bank accounts?

I have seen others on the forum who are in a relationship, but don't live together because the Australian is in Australia and the partner is somewhere else.

You will also need to submit statements from yourselves and from others, including Australian citizens. Here is where they would be effectively giving evidence that you are both in a mutually exclusive relationship together.

Work with the evidence that you have. Use your personal statement to explain the evidence provided.

Good luck!

Hi Tootsie!

Don't front load the application with police checks as your partner may need to do them again...the clock starts ticking from the date of the police check. Medicals can't be done without a HAP Id number, which the Case Officer will give you along with a date to do it after.

Don't worry about being the driving force behind the application. OH hates paperwork so it was basically me who spent hours filling, fretting, re-filling & gathering evidence. I put my foot down when it came to the personal statements though!

The booklet on the immi.gov website is pretty thorough, but I wouldn't print it off as it's huge!

This forum is also a great place to ask others who are doing the same thing.

Good luck!

Hello!

I've been trawling through the forums and I'm yet to find an answer....did find a few arguments though so I will try to be as clear as possible!

When we leave for Australia soon, OH will be quitting his UK job and looking for one in Aus (obviously!). We have kids and will be lodging a claim for the family-based allowances. Centrelink will want to know about income & assets. Our assets will be of the liquid kind & I guess we just hand over bank statements to prove that. Its the income bit that needs explaining. Will Centrelink want to see UK P60/P45/payslips? Any advice on which bits of paperwork to bring with us would be greatly appreciated!

Last time I was in a Centrelink office was 2000 to tell them I had a job. I didn't have kids back then, so this is new territory for me. I know they can be very particular about what they want to see and don't like to be confused by unfamiliar paperwork.

Thanks!

The info on immi website is a little out of date because it also states that their guideline processing times are 5 months....it's been a while since I've seen someone on this forum get granted that quickly!

Ensure you have got the most up-to-date form too. They changed it when we were half-way through completing it and had removed a heap of questions. It was by chance that I was checking to see if I could use the updated version of adobe where I could fill the form in online and then print to sign.

Thanks everyone! This forum, and this (and other related) thread has been a great help.

Our CO was KP. OH's initial entry deadline is one year after police check as that was what CO received first. When we got the email telling us when to sort medicals, I used that as a way of thinking of 'when was the latest we want to enter by'. We were given a date in August, but chose September because the prices of flights go down again. We're aiming for a May departure though.

Newbie121, I'm sure you will get yours soon....I had given up and was expecting mid-Jan grant.

WooHoo!

OH's visa granted TODAY! :jiggy:He got the 100 too, although we've been together for 13 years, married for 8 & have 3 kids so I would have been surprised if he was granted the temp one.

Fingers crossed that anyone still waiting gets good news soon!

sorry , also do you need to get copy of your gp stuff for medicals or diac , or do diac base tgeir decision simply on this medical?

Depends on if you have a medical condition. Before OH's appointment he was told to bring a brief medical history. I had pointed out his medical condition too. Medical was £270 (in London), but had to pay an extra £25/30 (can't remember which!) for a urine analysis! Plus a full medical history was required from his GP. Our practice charges £25 for 'private letters' but we're yet to receive that bill, 3 months later...maybe they took pity on us!

Like Missmontie saya, your grant is not to far away....

A visitor visa is free, no work allowed though. You just need to go off-shore for a couple of days for the new visa to take effect.

I know the CO's tend to advise against applicants contacting them, however I have seen others in the forum be in a similar situation: close to grant and circumstances where a quick getaway from the UK is preferable. They email the CO with their issues, receive the standard '8-9 month' email in reply, then within hours/days get the grant!

I'm not suggesting that a prod will get you a grant, but I don't think there is any harm in it. Let them know that none of these events were of your doing too. I remember a bit of OH's email saying about not selling houses or quitting jobs until grant is through as this will not speed things up.

Be prepared for them to say no, maybe it will be through soon anyway.

Fingers crossed for you, I'm sure it's not long now!

Hey guys, been lurking this thread for the past few months. Just looking for someone else's perspective.

 

I applied for a PMV visa on the 13th May in London, CO assigned shortly afterwards on the 23rd. All Medical and police clearences done in late September.

 

My current situation is that my contract with my current employer is coming to end in the next two weeks and also my landlord has given me my 30 days notice to move out. I thought to contact my CO to clarify my position and see what is happening in regards to my application, but it appears they are on leave.

 

Should I try and contact the department if my case officer still off on leave next week as it's 3 months until the wedding and I'm getting a little desperate to get out there asap and finalise our wedding plans, also with my tenancy agreement coming to end and my employment ceasing within the next two weeks.

 

Any advise would be welcome as quite frustrated it hasn't come through yet, and these external factors are making us a little miserable.

 

Congrats to anyone who had their grants come through recently, I'm very envious! ha!

I'm not the applicant. I emailed about the kids citizenship, no response. OH emails, gets same day response!

I've only contacted them 3 times - apart from the time when they were on leave, I've had a response on the same day.

We haven't heard about it being referred. Judging by other comments in the forum, I figured it might have been. He took a brief medical history with him to the medical, and was also required to submit a urine test (extra £30!). Oh, and a full medical history from his GP was requested by the panel doctor...that resulted in a delay. Although we have not been given any deadlines.

I've been so patient over Christmas and New Year. It's a bit like pregnancy, the last month is the longest!

They will let you know if there is anything they require. If you've not been asked to submit further supporting evidence or documents then I'd take it as they don't need anything else in that respect to help them make a decision. My CO asked me for sons full BC the first time they contacted me and I had something like 49 days to supply the document. Once that was in I never heard anything else so didn't worry.

 

Medical wise, its usually all done electronically now and so the medical if referred will go elsewhere and your CO isn't the one to ok it. When my medical was referred my CO told me it was about a 3 month wait on a referred medical and not to worry as it would still be within the 8-9 month timeframe they gave at the beginning. CO also said if when it was reviewed they needed anything else from me they would let me know. Next thing I heard was from CO 3 months later with visa grant.

 

I'd expect your husbands medical to have been referred. If you were able to provide extra stuff from your docs etc about his condition then hopefully they won't ask for any thing further when/if its reviewed. They might not ask anyway but letters from docs etc regarding his medical condition and how it is controlled well etc can't do any harm. I took along a heap of paperwork from my consultant about my medical condition and the panel doc sifted through it all and copied the ones he felt would be wanted/needed. He also told me it was an A rating but to expect it to be referred but he didn't see any real concerns, just that it would get flagged for an actual person to check it over.

Dunno about carrying, she's the youngest of three! But I might look into airport strollers though.

We never carried anything tbh. We just allowed enough time to get to the gate (there is usually plenty of time) and used one of the airport strollers to hand for half an hour but that was all.

 

Usually one of us carried him for a bit. The other grabbed a trolley, bunged the hand luggage on it and away we went.

 

I'd not worry about a portable stroller personally.

Hello!

Bit of a long shot, but....

Has anyone used the Quicksmart backpack stroller for travelling?

My youngest will be 3 when we travel. She has a Trunki, but in the event of a full-scale meltdown I will need to strap her into a buggy if we need to get to a gate quickly!

This stroller seems perfect as it packs away and can even fit in the overhead lockers. Is it too good to be true?

Thanks!

I would take that as everything is ok, have you asked out right if his medicals have been cleared?

KP doesn't usually answer me! My husband only asked if the medicals had been received and if there was any further info required. I would hope if the visa was not going to be granted we would have been told, rather than making us wait...there's no refund if it's a no!

I have read on other forums that for some visas diabetes is an instant refusal, but for the partner visa it is allowed for compassionate reasons.

Until I finally arrive in Brisbane! Really cannot wait

 

I land on the 22nd Jan, just in time for Aussie Day. This will allow me to sort a few things like TFN, bank cards, set up appointments up with Recruitment agency's before a fun filled extended weekend etc

 

Looking at SEEK, limited I.T jobs seem to be posted recently which I guess is due to Xmas and January being a holiday month for the Aussies.

 

Hopefully when most people get back to work next week and towards the end of the month the market should pick up....

 

Luckily I have a friend who will be putting me up rent free until I get a job....

 

I have heard the Queensland job market can be a tough one to get into. If I am unsuccessful after a few months, I may move to Melbourne.

 

Exciting but nervous times also...

 

Fingers crossed

 

x

Good luck with the move!

A lot of companies in Aus go on hiatus over summer, not all though. Hopefully fortune will shine on you along with the sunshine!

May 20th....at least we'll know how quickly KP gets on with it!

We know to be patient, but we're nervous as my husband (the applicant) is diabetic and had to have a more thorough medical. He did email KP and the reply was 'no further info req, wait your turn'! so hopefully that is CO code for 'everything is ok, I will get to you eventually'!

I applied in May 22nd, what about you?

Helloooo! we've got KP too. When did you apply missmontie? Would be great to know whereabouts in the pile we are

Hi Newbie! Thanks

 

We're in Adelaide - where abouts are you? CO is KP, who is yours?

 

I managed to get a job on my WHV before we left the UK, but now I'm getting angsty because my 6 months are up in Feb and I haven't heard anything! It seems that there's been a few April's that have been granted, so I thought if I joined some of the luck might rub off on me :laugh:

Hey, happy new year! I'm mid may and not heard anything yet but hoping to by end of next week... Spreadsheet link is:

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/lv?key=0Aopvk3Y5mD7HdGp5V2hESFluN3V0QWNBTDg2TWJoLVE

 

Hope that works!

I'm so glad that spreadsheet has been sorted, it was getting a bit messy!

It looks like other applicants with the same CO as us are being granted a few days shy of 8 months......hoping for an email around mid-Jan then!

We're not planning to leave immediately (hoping for May/June). It would just be nice to start putting my plan into action after 18 months of research!

Hope all the May applicants hear something soon x