thomasvo

Do you need to get a certain score?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkrdCphtU8u-dGJQSWROUlZ0bThIaUF2VW9zdUZmMlE&usp=sharing#gid=277 This is a visa tracker, where you can track how long it takes people to get their grants. But it varies, right now people that applied mid-late feb are getting their grants and their processing time is around 50 days. Mine took a little over 60 days. Around 60 days would be the average I guess. As I said, it can vary, depending on how many applications they get and if they have holidays at DIBP or not,... For people from high risk countries it takes a lot longer.

That last part cracked me up. Australia is not a retarded country with only 5 hospitals and 7 schools. Sure, there are remote villages where schools or hospitals are hard to come by but chances are very slim that you'll want to live there. The east coast is the most populated part of Australia. As in best place for living that's hard for us to say. There's heaps of beautiful and great places to live. You can go live in a city, in a suburb, a town, a village,... As far as I know a biomedical scientist in the UK is a biomedical scientist in Australia. As far as pay goes I wouldnt know, maybe you can look around on jobsites such as seek.com.au, look for a similar job and look what sort of wage is in the job advert. That should give you an idea

That is the official PTE website.

You're not giving enough information. What sort of visa? If you use a migration agent they will inform you how much they charge. That price will not include the actual visa.

That would surprise me a lot. The usual processing time is around 60 days.

I bought the practice test from the official PTE website. It comes with unlimited test boosters (always the same ones though) and you can do 1 free practice test which gets marked. I never even did the practice test but the exercises you get make you comfortable with how the test works and what sort of questions they'll ask. It gives you a lot more confidence when you know what to expect.

Same here! Did IELTS 4 or 5 times, needed band 8 which I always managed for reading, speaking and listening. I always had a 7 or 7.5 for writing since I suck at writing essays, even in my native language. I did PTE once and got 90 on everything! Thanks to the PTE test I have my 189 visa now

Do it yourself mate. Find as much information as possible on the immigration website and forums like these. Ask questions if you're unsure. That's how I did it. I got my 189 granted in february for the same occupation as you and I did it all by myself. It's pretty rewarding doing it yourself as well but you have to be sure of what you're doing. If you dont have any kids or if you dont claim any points for a spouse it is fairly straightforward.

Very good to hear all that I myself am moving to Sydney in a few months time, I obtained my PR in february, finishing up work here before I go. Even though I have already lived in Australia for 2 years on a WHV, I am still scared of course, but posts like this take that fear away (for a while)

I received my grant on friday Happy days!!

Oh I see. You had 8 years + anyway. I wouldnt know mate, maybe someone else can help you with this...

I dont think so. Your agent is right, you need a new assessment, submit a new EOI and wait for an invite. If you claim points at the time of invite that you didnt have at that time you will get a refusal. I'm not entirely sure so I'd prefer to have confirmation of this from someone else ACS is working pretty fast nowadays so it would only delay you for a few weeks.

Nothing here yet

I hope to hear something next week. Im nervous!!