Hot Welder

No, you would need to add to that the competitive spirit and determination to win the prize at stake.

I think this depends on the occupation. I got 10 points for NVQ 2.

Have you seen the new fee structure from July 1st? http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/new-visa-charges-1july2013/proposed-visa-pricing-table.htm That 5 months may have cost you an extra thousand or two already.

That's great news. I know of someone else doing the practical on the 28th. Did the practical here: http://www.cnwl.ac.uk/contact/willesden-centre Hope it all goes through in time for you.

IELTS £125. UK PCC'S £45 each.

Timeline corrected. :embarrassed: Looking at going towards the end of the year. Good luck.

Oops yes, well spotted. :rolleyes: Was 4 days, will correct now.

Mine is underneath. If you take a look at the 189 lodged threads there are lots more on there.

Where did Nessie1970's comment go? I can't see it to reply to?

Yes we could check the system (hourly!) for progress. Hope all goes well for you. Good luck.

I applied under metal fabricator, so didn't actually do any welding on the day for mine. There should be a fact sheet on the Vetassess website explaining what is involved.

All docs were emailed over 30th Aug, posted 31st Aug. Email back 6th Sep to say training and employment check complete. I have no idea if it was 'rushed through' for the practical, I just did what they advised when I enquired about getting booked on the practical with only a few weeks to go. They do have to have the hard copies, and I couldn't be booked onto the practical until they received them. They must have processed the scanned copies, as there was alot of documents, and the email came through the same day the parcel showed as 'delivered' on the royal mail tracking system.

I wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes with an agent like that! What has taken 5 months then...IELTS and documentation for skills assessment? From memory last year there was a practical in May, then I'm sure there was one in July, and I got the next one in September. When I did it you had a choice of practical assessment in London, or technical interview. (via Skype or something I think) I opted for the practical assessment.

We didn't use an agent. Has your agent provided you with a rough timescale for the visas you are interested in? The ones we enquired to gave us printouts (general guide) of the process for both the independent and the sponsored skilled visas. I would share them with you, but they were based on the previous (175 and 176) visas, so not relevant anymore. It might be worth having a read through some of the 'visa lodged' threads to give you some idea of how long visa applications are taking just now. Part of the reason we did not use an agent was so we had control over the timing of things. (to an extent) We emailed Vetassess and asked them if we could 'speed up' the first part of the process to make the next practical assessment, which was only a few weeks away for example. They advised us to scan the documents and email them, before posting. By the time the documents had been received by them, (about 1 week) they had processed them all and I was able to book the practical. How does your point score look? Do you need points from IELTS?

Hi I completed Vetassess towards the end of last year. Pre- assessment I kept an eye on this page for dates of the practicals. http://www.vetassess.com.au/migrate_to_australia/ts_practical_assessment_schedule.cfm It isn't showing any at the moment, but it does change regularly. My timeline is below to give you an idea. Good luck.