ann shepherd

Hi, hubby went for his long awaited test last week, he needs a band 8 due to being 43 years old. After weeks of practising with the books and online and finding it relatively easy, he came out of the listening/reading/writing exam feeling apprehensive about his results. Only after talking to someone else did they find out that the paper they had sat as General Test was one of last years Academic Tests, one of the other guys sat it last year. They were taken to one side and told that because Immigration here is changed, it has made it harder all round, the standard has been set higher and that some of last years Academic have been merged into the new General Next day he went for the Speaking, everything was going great till he had to speak for 2 1/2 mins on a given subject. One of the other guys had to speak about the best time of his life...my hubby had to talk about Trigonometry!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say he doesn't feel too confident. State Sponsership here we come lol.

well it's been a long month since we decided to start doing this, but today we finally posted off Leigh's application form for his skills assessment. It took ages getting all his references together as it had been a long time since he had worked for a lot of the people, the down side to working for yourself. Next weekend we are going to the Expo in Manchester to see if there is anything their that will help. We have been looking at property in Australia, but the problem is we cant decide which area to head for! Leigh is also worried about the IELTS test, he has been busy at work and hasn't been able to get much studying in, it's booked though for 16th May. Just so glad that we have finally got the ball rolling...the buzz after deciding to do this was starting to fade a bit, 13 yr old daughter still not happy, and mother isn't talking about it :cry:. Well hopefully it wont be too long for the assessment to come through, fingers crossed.

Hi, we have finally got all the paperwork together, took ages for Leighs references to come through, but finally got it in the post today, the ball is rolling.......

Morning, Leigh (hubby) is 43 so he has to get a 8+ for his points, think its terrible that your born and bred in the uk and you have to sit a test to prove it, understand the reasoning if your not English. We bought the IELTS Book 8 and he has been doing test papers, the stuff they mark you wrong for is unbelievable. Looks as if he will have to get his hammer & chisel out and do the practical test if the interview only for rural. I have spent the past couple of days getting his work declaration typed up, looks quite good. Will go and get everything certified by the solicitor on Monday and hopefully his references will have turned up by then and we can get it all sent off, and get the work assessment over and done with, will feel as if we have taken a step closer then :biggrin:. Getting the house in order for valuation, told the kids that if it not been played with since xmas, it gets sold...all proceeds go in my big box with Australia on it. Don't know where you are based, but we are going to an Expo in Manchester on 23rd March, hopefully get a few pointers there. Hope your progressing ok xx Ann

Hi, looking for a bit of reassurance about Global Visas. Signed up with them a couple of weeks ago and paid first £500, another £2'000 due over the next few months. They have phoned every week and e-mailed, but just read a bad comment on here and now im worrying, going to get paperwork certified to send off this week....HELP!!!!

Hi, hubby and I are at the same stage, gathering the paperwork think I have it all now, just waiting on some references and we can get it sent off. He's decided to do the web-cam interview as he thinks he'll be able to sell himself better. We own our own Timber Frame Construction Company so have had the same issues with people he's worked for, but luckily have 8 yrs P60's. Decided to do this as work here in the UK was really slowing down....now that we have signed up with Global Visas the bloody phone not stopped ringing lol...also got 3 kids, 13/10/6 and a puppy to take, dreading packing up the house but looking forward to going