Tez191

Hi, Haven't posted for a while: in fact not at all in the just over 5 weeks since we arrived in Brisbane! The information on PomsInOz provided by members was extremely useful, especially regarding the practicalities of getting us all over! So I thought I would share my experiences to in some way repay the advice I was given! We have two English Pointers and two elderly cats, and wanted to bring them all over with us. After reading recommendations on this forum, we contacted Petair. I was very impressed with their customer service. They answered my emails almost immediately, and were very friendly. Lindsey was our initial contact, then Catherine afterwards. They answered all my silly questions and put my mind at ease. Due to the size of the dogs, and the fact that we had four pets, it wasn't cheap. But most of the cost is the airfare and the jabs anyway. And when, four weeks before they were due to travel, our local vet who was doing some of the jabs told us the cats wouldn't be able to fly because they needed a complete course of one drug that would take six weeks, Petair were there to correct them and put our minds at ease! And having one less thing to organise and stress about... They were in quarantine for 30 days in Sydney. The two dogs sharing a kennel and the two cats sharing a cage. Being in Brisbane, it was a little far to visit them. However even if we were in Sydney we weren't sure if we would visit them anyway due to the stress for us (and them) of the goodbyes. We used Dogwalks in Sydney to visit them on our behalf. They too were great. They went in four times a week and on most occasions took photos and posted them on their website. This was a great help and made the time apart go much faster. And they seemed to have the knack of taking photos of them playing and 'smiling'. Considering the number of times they visited them (and they threw in free visits and photos of the cats!), they were a bargain. Karen there was so helpful We were considering driving down to Sydney to collect them, but with three kids in addition to the four pets, and a gas guzzling car, we reconsidered! Catherine recommended Errol and Dogtainers, and we contacted him. Again, his customer service was faultless, and we used them to fly the pets up to us. And as the crates used for international flights were too big for the earlier domestic flight they let us use one of theirs. The reunion at Brisbane airport was fantastic, and worth every penny we spend. So a big thank you (and recommendation) to Lindsey and Catherine at Petair, to Karen at Dogwalks, and to Errol at Dogtainers. Terry [And our dogs Barney and Sally, and our cats Dolly and Tammy]

Don't put it in the container, but take it with you in the suitcase. Each adult has a 2.25 litre limit: http://www.customs.gov.au/site/page4352.asp Not sure 700ml would last long in our house though - maybe a weekend! Terry

Good luck. We will be following you our two days later, also to Brisbane, and agree the goodbyes are very emotionally draining. But we need to hold on to the fact that what we are doing is the right thing for us and our immediate family who are going with us. Terry

I've just copied and pasted the following from my reservation confirmation for our flight in (less than!) two week's time: LHR-BNE: MH Basic Fare Family Benefits Baggage Allowance 30kg Not sure if we got more as the tickets were one way rather than return...? Terry

Thanks all. I will wrap them and send them in the shipping container. If I find any sentimentally valuable one then I'll put them in a separate pile to pack in our suitcases. Terry

Terry (39) and Alan (20:20 (we are not allowed to say 40!)) with our three kids almost 13, 12 and almost 10. And our two dogs and two cats! Flying out to Brisbane two weeks tomorrow, arriving Friday 13th September. Staying at the Brisbane Holiday Village for the first month until we can secure a 6 month rental. :biggrin:

Hi, The shipping container comes next week, with us leaving the following week, from Birmingham UK to Brisbane Australia. I have read the various posts here about packing materials, cleaning, goods not to include, etc, so thank you all for your advice. However, I couldn't find if anyone has answered a query on shipping photos in the container. We have a large-ish box of old photos, from our pre-digital days, which is very heavy so we can't really put them in our suitcases. If we put them in the shipping container are they likely to get damaged by the humidity / heat? Or is there some way to protect them for the journey? I know the answer will be 'they will probably get damaged regardless', and I will instead have to cull the collection and scan/take on our flight, but thought I would ask just in case! Thanks Terry

I think Rupert is right: it is Decision Ready Cases: http://www.immi.gov.au/gateways/agents/pdf/faq-ens-rsms.pdf Terry

Thanks Sammy: I stand corrected! I've found the following on the Australian immigration website which should answer most of the OP's queries: [h=2]What is VEVO?[/h]VEVO is a free online facility that allows visa holders and organisations to see details of current visas. Organisations will only be able to see certain information relating to your status and entitlements. You as the visa holder are provided with more detailed information including: class and subclass of your visa grant and expiry dates grant number entries allowed all conditions that apply to your visa. In particular the last bullet point. The link is http://www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/vevo.htm and click the link Enter VEVO as a visa holder Good luck. Terry

You don't need a visa to leave the UK, only to clear entry into Australia after you land. I was the main applicant on our skilled independent permanent 189 visa, and I specifically asked my case officer the question of could my partner and our kids enter the country first, and could they travel in and out without me. He told me that each of us had a permanent visa in our own right and there were no restrictions. Others may be different, but that was the case for ours. As others have said, the visa in automatically linked to your passport, so paperwork isn't needed. If you were really concerned you could always try to ring the assessing team in Oz (assuming you knew which team it was), not telling them the details but asking for the visa number. They may give it over the phone, but again as others have said, you don't need it. Whatever you decide, good luck. Terry

We are currently in Kings Heath, but are due to complete in a couple of weeks so are frantically looking for somewhere for us, our three kids, two dogs and two cats to rent for the seven weeks before our flights to Brisbane! I work for a firm of solicitors, so got most documents certified for free too (well - I brought in a load of cakes to say 'thank you'), but for my partner's nursing it needed to be a JP or notary public. I've seen postings on here for people being charged per signature, one quoting £300 for having all their documents certified! Terry

I've seen a few posts quoting very high fees charged for getting documents certified. In particular, AHPRA (the nursing regulator) require them to be certified by a Notary Public or a Justice of the Peace, rather than just a solicitor. We phoned up our local Magistrates' Court (Birmingham) to get around 30 documents certified by a JP there (I wanted two copies of everything just in case). I was given an appointment at 9.30am a few days later, did have to wait around for an hour to be seen, but they only charge a flat fee regardless of the number of things to be signed: £25 for the lot! Hope this helps others in bringing down the costs! Terry

Hi Danny, We used the same private hospital that we used for our medicals: Spires Little Aston in Sutton Coldfield. With regards to the report itself, I think the questions they might ask will be specific to each person. We were asked to provide the following details: The following additional information we require are:- A recent report from an Ophthalmologist is required. Please forward a report addressing clinical examination, treatment and expected prognosis of visual defect. Please include information on the condition of both eyes, the applicant's best corrected visual acuity (using Snellen's test orequivalent) and their functional capacity (in terms of moving around independently in unfamiliarsurroundings, self-care, shopping, using public transport and work capacity etc).A bit overkill considering he is a normal boy, cycles to school, plays football, etc. An agent might give some indication of the questions they will ask you, or you could go it alone and wait for the Medical Office to ask the questions. I think they are taking much less than 5 months now to look at cases! Which ever route you choose, good luck! Terry

Thank you all for your good wishes. With regards to your daughter passing the medical: I'm afraid I don't know. The advice on this forum seems to be that the Medical Officers are only really concerned if a condition is going to cost the Australian taxpayers thousands and thousands in the first few years (I'm sure people will correct me if I'm wrong), and that it is quite unusual for medicals to get refused: just a long wait sometimes. We did everything by ourselves, without an agent, but I would probably recommend you run your case past a registered migration agent (do a search on here, there's a fair few recommended, just make sure they are MARA(?) registered). They usually give initial advice free. And actually with hindsight if we had gone with an agent they would have probably recommended we get a medical report done on our son before applying which would have saved us five months plus of uncertainty (but of course would have cost us paying the agency fees). So good luck with your visa process, and if you are still unsure then create a new thread on PIO and the good guys and gals here will I'm sure give you lots of valuable advice. Terry

Hi all, This site has been a great source of information and reassurance, so thank you all. At last our 189 independent visa has been granted... after our son's medical was referred 157 days ago (but who's counting?)! He had an accident when he was two years old and with his birth mother which left him blind in one eye, a couple of years before we adopted him and his two siblings. It took 18 weeks for the Medical Officer to look at his file and ask for a specialist report, and another 5 weeks for them to look at the report. It had been a terrible half year: checking my emails every morning to see if the visa had been granted, chasing our case officer every few weeks. But at last the wait is over! So the plan is to fly to Brisbane in mid-September, stay in the Brisbane Holiday Village for the first month, find a rental that takes pets, and hopefully find jobs (I'm a Chartered Accountant and my partner, Alan, is a Registered Nurse) ASAP. And of course schools for our three kids, 12, 11 and 10. We are using Petair for our 2 dogs and 2 cats, and are waiting for quotes from shipping companies. Any advice or tips for the move would be greatly appreciated. Terry