shellyk666

Congratulations Amitm! Wow, I thought we were moving quickly on 23rd October but you're beating me by an entire month!!! All the best for the future xx

How about enquiring about school or kindy for any children? Along with ensuring you have their up to date immunisation records (which were required when we applied for a Kindy and a school place in Perth). We've booked a hotel the night before our flights so it's not such an early start the next morning and we've booked mini-buses to take us due to all the luggage. Make sure you've got suitable and enough luggage for the amount of kgs you get. We've also got a diary and have put in things like deadlines for giving notice on contracts like mobile phones, council tax, Sky TV, car insurance etc That's all I can think of right now. We've got 6 weeks to go and I keep on thinking I've forgotten about something!

I'm good thanks :-D Still grinning from ear to ear! Feeling a little overwhelmed at times about the MASSIVE list of things to do over the coming weeks. 2 weeks 6 days until I finish work and 6 weeks 1 day until we fly. So far, flights booked, hotel booked for night before, shippers booked, I've secured a Kindy place for my youngest, set up Oz bank accounts and a foreign exchange account plus I've given notice on our house and negotiated for them to return the deposit earlier than usual. It's my eldest's 7th birthday on Friday so I've also got that sorted and prepared for his party on Saturday! Phew! I can't wait to arrive in Perth if only to know that all this stuff is done with lol Still no news for you yet then? Every day is another day closer to that grant. Stay positive xx

That sounds familiar! Our grant came through at just before 11pm UK time. I suppose whether your case officer is in Adelaide or Brisbane May make a slight difference time wise.

It doesn't have to take 12 months, it's taken us 6 from the beginning to when we received the grant and I did it all myself, however it's always wise to err on the side of caution. I would not recommend waiting until you've completed the IELTS before making a start on the skill assessment (or at least gathering the documents for it) because this can hold you up. And if you don't get the IELTS scores you need first time then book it in again straight away, plus don't forget to revise! It can be done if you're willing to keep on top of it.

Hey, congratulations!! It's such a relief to finally see your time effort and money spent has all be worth it! Good luck for your new life in Australia xx

Good luck!

We're heading for Winthrop which is just SOR. We'll be staying with my sister to begin with but will likely find somewhere not to far away for ourselves in due course. I can't believe it's only 6 weeks away!! It would be lovely to stay in touch xx

After our chat yesterday - now that's just weird! lol Many many congratulations :-D It's easy to tell yourself after the event that you were worrying over nothing but it's horrible at the time. I'm so pleased that's it's over for you, such a relief! When are you heading to Perth?

Thanks SUMU, yes I received it last night and I'm absolutely over the moon. no one will be wiping the smile off my face for a while that's for sure! Good luck for your journey, I hope you hear really soon xx

NO WAY!!! That is amazing news :-D Those positive thoughts worked wonders lol Best of luck with your new life! And I hope we hear that others also received their grant xx

OMG!!!! we've just received the grant email. I CAN BARELY CONTAIN MYSELF!!!!!!!!!! those positive thoughts clearly worked so keep it up everyone and hopefully you will hear this week too. I feel so relieved. I finish work on 30th Sep and we've already booked flights for 23rd October. Perth here we come :shocked:

Lol, I fear it's nearly too late for me. If I don't hear this next week I'm sure that break down really will happen!!! Good night and good luck xx

I'm sure you'll be fine. I think the person you saw on the expat forum was refused due to claiming points for work experience and being unable to provide adequate evidence to support it. That is completely different from your situation as you're not claiming points for work experience. When assessing the visa application they are just wanting to see appropriate evidence for the points that are claimed. It sounds like you've already gotten through the risky bit of State Nomination. I look forward to seeing you confirm your grant really soon xxx

I would certainly advise making a start with investigating the different parts to the process before going to agents. Even if you do decide to use an agent it's worth understanding imo. Agents can give you different prices dependant upon which parts of the process you require their assistance with. Give Go Matilda a call for a free initial assessment, I did that and they were really good. They can confirm which path is most appropriate, whether you meet the requirements and what you need to do. They can give you prices and then you'll be better informed and better able to decide whether or not to use their services. I would also advise you start gathering relevant evidence for your Skill Assessment. I would find out who undertakes the Skill Assessment for your occupation and scour their website for info. Ours was through Vetassess (who carry it out on behalf of TRA) and on their website they have lots of occupation specific information and checklists etc as well as costs and time scales. They also had an email address for queries and were really good at answering any questions I had. I would also search this forum for other relevant posts, you may be able to find out about any problems people had. Medicals and police checks need to wait until you have submitted your visa application. Once you're granted your visa you will be given 1 year from the earliest of either the Police Checks or Medicals in which to enter Australia and validate your visa. If you got this done first and then you were held up or another part of the process didn't go to plan you could have wasted a lot of money unnecessarily. Also, these don't take long to arrange and can be done and dusted within a week or two. Before I began all of this I wrote a schedule for myself based on the approximate processing times of each part of the process and it was really useful so I didn't let time slip by unnoticed. I began with IELTS whilst gathering evidence for the skill assessment. It can be quite a lengthy process if you let it! All the best x

Surely it could have only been a problem when you applied for State Nomination then? If you've already got State Nomination granted and applied for your visa surely there's no problem?? Does your CO still think there is a risk? If it makes you feel any better everyone around me of the 189 tracker has received a direct grant or communication from a CO too but I'm just telling myself that this is going to be MY week xx

You can claim points for anything from 3 years work experience up to 8 years but it's optional. If you meet the Visa's points requirement without claiming for work experience then I can't see that you have anything to worry about. It might be worth checking with your agent whether you're claiming points for 3 years work experience as you don't sound sure. I wonder if your agent was referring to the skill assessment when talking about 3 years post qualification experience required and 'giving it a go'??

It's no problem at all. There are 2 adults and 2 children (4 and 7 years) in our family, we are in the UK and have been since birth. We also have no medical complications so are pretty straight forward. We haven't come across any complications whatsoever (so far!) but I did A LOT of reading and research into each part of the process to ensure I understood. We are now at the point where we're expecting to hear the result of our application literally any day and hopefully by the end of this next week (fingers crossed!). Although I understand that some people need the help or simply don't want to do it themselves I found I couldn't justify the cost of an agent for something I felt I could do myself with a bit of time and effort. Costs - The skill assessment for a Joiner was not far off £1000 (for the Employment Check, the Technical Interview and the £50 DHL cost to send the documents to Melbourne). - The IELTS costs £145 per test and it took us 3 attempts to get the scores needed. - The visa itself cost £4000 for 2 adults and 2 children. - PCCs were £45 for each adult - Medicals were just over £800 for the entire family (at the time my daughter was 3 rather than 4, but not sure if this makes any difference). We went to Handsworth Wood Medical Centre in Birmingham because they had appointments on Saturdays. In addition to this you have to plan in costs for - flights for the family (we've booked with Singapore Air from Manchester to Perth one way and it's costing £2200). - taxi's to/from the airports and any hotel expenses - a container if you plan to take the content of your house. We're using a large Move Cube with Severn Seas which is costing £1500 but a 20ft container is double this. - if you plan to take your car you need to factor costs to ship it over. We're not doing this hough so can't help with this one. Can't think of anything else right now! Hope that helps

I didn't provide every single thing on the checklist but still made sure everything was covered. And I did get everything certified (I don't think there's any choice with this tbh). If you have any specific questions feel free to ask. Good luck

like like like!!!!!!!!!!

Hi Kermitfrog, The wait is difficult at the best of times so I feel for you. I keep on thinking that they'll consider the evidence provided for part of the 8 years we are claiming as insufficient. It's completely irrational but I think it's normal to worry when something matters so much. Your mind starts dreaming up all the worst case scenarios! The invitation to apply is based upon the information you enter in the EOI, have you claimed for 3 years work experience? xx

Hi Nadim, I would also recommend speaking to an agent, even if it's just for the free initial advice to gain a better understanding of your options and to make sure you haven't missed anything. Many decide to do it themselves (including me) but you have to be confident you understand what you need to do. Firstly with a skilled independent visa have a look at the DIBP website and ensure you meet the points test. You will also need to have your skills assessed, where you get this done and how much it costs depends upon your occupation. You'd also possibly need to do an English test (IELTS), for example although we have a UK passport we needed to undertake this test to gain additional points and some people may need to do it for their skill assessment or state nomination (if you go down that route). It certainly helps that you've been employed by the same company for the entire period as gaining employment references and evidence can be a pain if there are lots of different places involved and this is often what takes the time. Have a look at my time line in my signature for an idea of how long it can take. I don't know whether a motor mechanic would need to undertake a practical exam/technical interview as part of the skill assessment so this part may not reflect your situation. And I have to say that I have been pretty organised throughout. If any further questions come to mind feel free to ask Good luck x

I'm definitely taking that as another sign that it's going to happen! Don't they say that people often speak the truth after a few alcoholic beverages? That red wine is making you tell the truth lol I've had a busy weekend so my mind has been mostly occupied but now we're approaching the Monday morning opening time of the processing centre in Adelaide I can feel those butterflies returning whenever I think about it. Especially as I've been chatting to my sister today about the logistics of us staying with her when we get there, makes me so excited!!! Cannot wait to see her again

It IS going to happen this week. I can feel it!

Oh yeah, and have you seen the thread for those of us who lodged for a 189 in June? it's really good for venting and for seeing what's happening for others who lodged a similar time to us x