General Dogs

The first step before you should even consider the visa application will be your skills assessment. For this you will need to decide how many years experience you wish to "claim" points for. You will then need to demonstrate that experience via work references from every place of employment during that period, along with documentary evidence to prove employment such as pay slips and P60 tax forms. You may also need to provide a written Statement of Service - essentially a much-expanded CV. You will also need to prove your identity by providing a copy of your passport, and prove your qualifications by means of copies of the certificates and an official transcript from your university. ALL the documents will need to be certified, though as a solicitor I doubt that this will be a challenge for you. Only once your skills assessment is complete do you need to start considering the character references - basically a "Form 80" that you fill in - and all the other requirements of the actual Visa application (English Language test, medical and police checks for example). The IMMI website has a number of checklists that you can download to provide guidance with respect to documents. Good luck!

Time to celebrate - we received email confirmation today that our 189 visa application has been granted! :biggrin: For the record, our timeline for application was: Skills Assessment Lodged: 25th Feb 2012 Skills Assessment Completed (VETASSESS): 11th Jan 2013 IELTS (9,9,8.5,9): 16th Feb 2013 EOI Lodged on Skillselect: 18th Feb 2013 Invitation received: 5th Mar 2013 189 Application completed: 16th Mar 2013 Case Officer Assigned: 23rd Apr 2013 Meds done: 14th May 2013 Police certs received: 24th May 2013 Visa Grant: 27th May 2013 We waited until the CO asked before booking meds and police checks, otherwise I am sure the timeline would have been even quicker than it was. The biggest hurdle by far was the Skills assessment which was held up for months trying to obtain an Official Transcript from a University for a course I did before they started to maintain computerised records......

If my memory serves me I think the TRN is allocated after the invitation to apply, but you certainly have it by the time you have completed the Visa application on skillselect as it then becomes your login ID.

We waited for a case officer before sending off for the Police Checks and booking medicals both because we are not in a great hurry but also as I read that it would be ten weeks from applying to getting a CO assigned. In the event however we got a CO assigned after about five weeks so with hindsight I would have perhaps booked them both much sooner. Either way the only effect I can see is on the timescales of your visa processing so the decision is up to you.

I found that I was unable to upload documents immediately after completing the visa application but within about 24 hours the system appeared to have righted itself and all the relevant buttons appeared. Even after uploading them however I have subsequently been contacted by my CO requesting that I email certain ones directly as they have experienced some problems. Seems quite a buggy system in truth, though aside from offering sympathy to you I don't know what to suggest that might help.

We had our medical examinations at the Bridgewater Medmigration clinic today. We were treated courteously and promptly and based on the experience today I would have no problem recommending them. For those interested, we did not book our medicals until we had a case officer assigned and were instructed to do so but for anyone in a hurry you can get them booked as soon as you have a TRN (transaction reference number?) which will doubtless reduce the timescale from Visa application to grant.

If you have lodged the EOI have you had an invitation to apply for the Visa? If so I believe you have 60 days to submit the application via the skill select system before the invitation expires, after which you will need to re-lodge an EOI. Hope I have understood the question properly.

Condover, so just outside Shrewsbury in truth

How did you get around this? When I went through my skills assessment it took about eight months of wrangling as I did my degree before the University had computerised records and so they were not only unable to confirm subject grades but also unable to produce an academic transcript. Eventually the good folks at VETASSESS relented and accepted my qualification, but now DIAC have asked for a transcript too so I feel I may be back to square one.

Hello Chris, I opted for the points test advice letter, thinking it would make this stage a little easier. Experience now suggests that the only benefit of doing so was to gain a level of confidence that I was pitching myself at the right level (points-wise). All the docs I submitted to VETASSESS I now have to resubmit again.... H

Hi Chall77, I uploaded numerous docs at the point where we made the visa application - things such as the IELTS results, birth certs and passport details etc. I also uploaded copies of the VETASSESS certificates and foolishly thought that would be enough. Oddly the request for information also includes documents that I have quite clearly uploaded already. We were not in a great hurry to emigrate so opted to wait for the CO to request the Meds and Police checks and will now get them booked in asap. Looks like we are almost neighbours!

Just received an email from our case officer today, about which we are thrilled as we had expected at least another month before we heard anything. My enthusiasm has been dampened however by the long list of supplementary information required: P60 tax certs and/or payslips for 8 out of last 10 years Employer References for every employer in last ten years Statements of Service for every job in last ten years Copy of overseas qualification Official Transcript of overseas qualification The list goes on...... Question on my lips is what value did I get out of paying £650 or so to VETASSESS to check and confirm each of the above documents and certify their compliance, only to have to submit them all over again with the Visa application??????? :arghh: Sorry folks, just having a wee rant.... am happy really :wink:.......well, mostly H

Hi All, I submitted my EOI on 17th February and received an invite on 4th March. Visa application lodged on 16th March. I found the uploading of documents to be a pain - the website kept freezing so every couple of documents I found I had to close the page and log in again in order to continue. All in all it took quite a while. What I am curious about is that you are required to upload evidence of employment and qualifications and the drop-down boxes on the upload page refer to all manner of documents, most of which I had to submit for my VETASSESS skills assessment. Am I right in thinking I just need to upload copies of my VETASSESS certificates/letters that confirm that my qualifications and experience are suitable or do I need to supply reams of paperwork once again?? Am intending to wait for the CO to request medicals and police checks to allow the maximum amount of time to activate the visa. Now starts the waiting game H

Thanks for the swift replies you have confirmed what I thought to be true - that I should wait until the CO requests them. Sets my mind at ease again :biggrin:

Hi All, Am suffering from a bit of information overload so am hoping that some helpful soul can set me back on the path of calmness.... I have just received an invitation to apply for a Visa Class 189 and intend to submit in the next week or so as soon as I have all the certified documents ready. What has got me a bit nervous though is the timeline for the Medical and Police checks as I have read that some folks apply for them in advance and some advise to wait until the case officer requests them. I have also read that there is a 28 day time limit from the CO requesting the checks until you have to have them submitted so that has also got me thinking that they need to be applied for early on. So the question I have to anyone who has recently gone through this process is when exactly should you apply for Medicals and Police Checks? 1. Before submitting Visa application 2. Immediately after submitting Visa application 3. Wait until requested to do so by CO 4. Other? Apologies as I am sure that this question has been asked before, but some of the threads I have found about the subject pre-date the Skill Select system.