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Its just my opinion but I think that those friends and family who are acting 'strange' are simply listening to their own emotions about you going to Australia. In the cases of many of these people their emotional self defence mechanism is kicking in, mainly because they don't want to get hurt by you leaving them to live the other side of the world. It's probably the same set of emotions that surface during abandonment events, such as lovers leaving. These are powerful emotions and have a tendency to dominate rational thought. In these situations it would be best to reach out to those who are being 'strange'. Give em' a big hug and tell them what they mean to you and make a commitment to stay in touch and/or have them over to visit. Even if they visit or not its important that you reach out to them. By expecting them to act normally you may well be exacerbating the situation. From their perspective the onus is on you to reach out to them. We are in the same boat. 3 weeks to D-DAY. Emotions bubbling below the surface, especially with the grand-parents.

Joanne PM me and i'll send you a transcript of a series of emails that I sent another applicant. Should give you most of what you need to get started.

I believe that you can get 2 shots only for the dog. If it fails both then it will not get the import permit for Aus. We are going through the same process at the moment with our dog. Try Sarah at Petair and she may know something that I don't.

Just like to chime in here, saying that I feel you frustration about your 190's. To take money and then delay visa for 4months is a bit out of order IMO. I feel like one of the lucky ones, having got my 190 on Feb 1. For me, it would really mess up my plans. Anyhow, I'm unwell as I type this (stomach bug) through a haze of nausea and shivers. I just wanted to say hang in there, you're first in line when they open the doors again in July. See you all on the other side. Edward

Sorry,I was being lazy and looked on the DIAC website. About 350$ and it lasts for 5 years. You can travel as much as you want in that time.

Trying to keep this thread on topic. What is the process like for getting a RRV? Is it expensive?

The problem I have with this is that AQUIS will invoice Crown for the fees. If they decided to delve a little further into your container then the costs are going to go up. This is not necessarily so and as such I can't stomach a fixed fee for something that could be as little as a couple of hundred AUD, where we have been charged £1000 sterling. My AQUIS fees are going to be a bit over the norm because I have a car and a 40ft container but others with less have said their aquis was around $3-500 AUD, even if mine came out at $1000 AUD then its still £550 or so and not £1000. I want transparency in this situation.

Crown got back in touch and it seems that we can bypass the Upfront AQUIS fees. Just waiting on the final nod. I think we'll be using IYM for insurance so will be in touch shortly. I'm just scouring the forums for reviews of agents but it seems that there are as many bad stories as good stories. This seems to be the nature of shipping. Thanks for the replies

Hi All, We are currently getting quotes for a 40ft container with household goods and car to Adelaide. We have asked Crown to give a quote but they are charging £1000 for upfront AQUIS fees for 1360sqft of stuff + a car. This seems way too expensive to me and I have queries it. Having a look around the forums I can see that people can expect to pay several hundred aud to get their goods through customs but £1000 is extortionate. Can anyone give some advice on whether I should show them the door or not. Thanks

I lodged on 29th November on a 190 to SA. Got my case officer last week, just for reference. Good luck!

A skills assessment should take around 90 days. My RPL took 95 and I don't think there is any difference in the timescales. As for number of invites and occupational ceilings etc try the skillselect website as there are all the stats you need, which are updated regularly. Good luck.

Glad to hear that you have what you need to get started with the RPL. Let me know if you need anything else. If you wanted to do something in return you could make a self promise to help another RPL candidate out when you find them on the forum, just like I did with you. I remember being in the exact same position when I made a start with my RPL and was a bit shocked to find so little in the way of assistance out there on the web. I suppose I should get round to putting up some information on PIO but I don't really feel like I'm an authority on the subject. I would hate to give out duff advice to lots of people who then subsequently found themselves in difficulties as a result. Where are you from? All the best Edward Sent: 12 October 2013 21:13 To: Edward Subject: Re: RPL Application Perfect, thanks Edward. Yes I have the required amount of points plus some. I require 60, I have 65. Thanks for everything. Please keep me posted with your RPL Application. I wish you all the best and hopefully we'll speak one day in Aus. Rock 'n roll! Take care. On 12 Oct 2013, at 17:12, Edward wrote: I guess the best way to describe to you how I wrote mine would be for me to make up a very short example of the way in which I wrote it. The example below is completely made up in my head as I go and is complete nonsense of its technical detail but it should give you an understanding of how to lay out the RPL: TR1 Hardware Fundamentals Topic 1 Hardware fundamentals Central processing unit Blah blah blah introduction to cpu ALU BLAH glahblah etc etc USB The Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a method of connecting hardware devices and secondary memory (removable storage) to computers. USB uses the XYZ protocol and requires a connection based handshake in order to trasfer data at up to 900 zillion bits a second. Memory allocation from the main cpu allows the USB hub driver to manage the control protocol and transfer lossless data throughout the network. In the allocation of that memory data the cpu will reserve bits and bytes specifically for use by the USB hub driver. In my day to day role as Network Administrator I will frequently be asked to reorder the data transfer in order to prioritise device allocation to users on the network. I have found that the USB technology is far superior to the now superceded ACME data protocol. I have found that by prioritising data transfer through the XYZ channel I can offer our users a fast and reliable transfer of network data throughput. I originally learned the technology USB during my time at company X. This business had over 45 users that needed to use the USB protocol daily. As part of my weekly routine I would regularly check that throughput speed matched our service level agreements... Obviously your version would be way longer (and hopefully make more sense) and would go into as much technical detail as you feel comfortable talking about. Remember to stay on subject and don't feel like you have to answer all the area's of knowledge.. Just the ones that you feel are really important to your role as Network Admin. I must ask.. Have you done your points calculation and everything. Are you eligible to apply in the first place?? I can't help you in this area but the forum would be the place to go for this. Regards Edward Sent: 12 October 2013 13:51 To: Edward Subject: Re: RPL Application Extremely useful Edward, I cannot thank you enough. I just have one more burning question as I begin, it may be an obvious answer but I'm a little uncertain. This technical essay, or whatever we will call it. How is it written, do I describe my work experience as if I were telling them my work history or do I write it as if it where a technical reference stating the problems, the research and the solutions? Cheers On 12 October 2013 12:38 Good to hear from you off forum, much better way to communicate. To answer your questions: I think that the whole idea of the RPL is that ACS realise that there are some very talented people out there that didn't follow the traditional route and do degrees and whatnot. I did a degree but in an unrelated subject and so had to do the RPL route. I wouldn't get hung up on having to prove your skills to degree level. In my opinion this is like comparing apples and pears. The general format that others have suggested is absolutely spot on. With regards to details you should go into as much depth as possible and use all the acronyms and technical jargon that you can, though you need to back this up with a solid demonstration of understanding the subject matter. I think it would be unreasonable for the ACS to expect that you've got every ounce of the required knowledge just stored up in your head, for this reason It might be prudent to do some reading around the subject matter, just to refresh your skills of course. With regards to the structure. Use the acs report form and attach all of your evidence at the end of the document. For this reason you will need to get hold of a copy of acrobat pro or nitro pdf pro so that you can edit your pdf file at will. In the first (areas of knowledge) bit list all of your top level subjects such as TR, TR3 (important for an admin!) etc.. Do loads of prep work on which subjects and topics to answer and filter out the ones that you . I have included my pdf notes from when I was choosing my subjects (this is why a pdf editor is very handy!). I simply cut our all of the subjects that I knew I wasn't going to answer. Make sure you study the ANZCO description fully and then apply those expectations to the subjects that you are going to answer. Aim to write about 10k words on your main RPL body. The reason why there is no formal work limits is that some applicants will only be answering very specific topics, whilst us admins have to have a very broad knowledge base. This is why I think my rpl went up to 30k words. Also, dont be afraid to add to the topic lists as they are not exhaustive. Make sure that you fill in the two fundamentals, very important! After this start writing, and the best of luck to you. For me It took about 4hrs per day, 5 days a week for two months. So it was a mamouth excercise for me. Please don't feel that you have to follow this as I get the impression that my RPL was quite weighty. Like I said aim for 10k and then go from there. As for the format of the RPL. break it up with top level topics and sub level subjects. I would broadly stick to the order in the RPL guide but you will have to deviate away from it when you add your topics. Add them to the relevant topics. Remember to break each subject up with, what I know, how I learned it and how I apply that knowledge in my work place. So each topic will be further broken up into the subjects that you feel you have knowledge about. Some of the topics are given only as suggestions. Answer them where required but dont answer the sup topic if you feel it has no relevance to you. For example I left out the topic ' browser' becasue I wanted to add more important topics and i didn't feel it was wholly relevant to my application Documents. I will give you a list of what I had to send them. Note that all these must be certified. Passport copy Birth Cert Statutory Dec. MCSE course certs References University Degree Cert University course transcripts To be honest you need to start getting your references together but don't blow your mind getting everything on day one. You have some writing to do. I went with an agent and I'm glad. My work experience wasn't straight forward and I joined left then rejoined my company. I also did some contracting and then soetimes I was on the payroll. Then I took two years away. In other words the agent really helped me get my references perfick! I am sure that I would have had problems if I hadn't gone with an agent. So the answer to your question is that I would go with an agent unless you have a very straightforward work history. Bear in mind that the agent will only be able to give broad guidance on the RPL becasue they do not understand the technical aspects of the network admin. I'm going on a 190 visa with SS to south australia (fingers crossed). However if I dont get this RPL then its game over for me. This is why I put everything into it. So, good luck with your journey. I remember feeling very elated when I finished. Now I have been waiting nearly 3 months for the result. It's a vital part of my journey and so my advice to you is to put everything you have into it. Get it done as quickly as you can because you don't want them shutting down your code when you're half way through it. Good luck and send me some of your work if you want. I can give you some pointers. I'm sorry I cant send you my work. I cant do anything to jeopardise my application. Kind Regards Edward Sent: 12 October 2013 09:57 To: Edward Subject: RPL Application Hi Edward, Many thanks for taking the time to offer advice and guidance. I can say the RPL doesn't look overly complicated, especially the two reports which is something I do on a regular basis however one never knows exactly how these things should be presented. What documents to provide and just how detailed it needs to be. Happy that you're completed yours, I can only imagine what a relief that must have been although I guess the stressful bit is the results! I wish you all the best in that regard. I've been reading over some other forum posts and some people say I need to describe what I learnt, how I learnt it and how that was applied but equivalent to that of a Bachelor graduate in ICT. Which does worry me some, as I have no idea what people learn whilst doing their degrees. I can only describe what I know, in the best possible way I can. I just worry it may not be at the level of detail you would find with a bachelor's degree. Another point was the formatting. I know it's an essay however what I'm questioning is the topics and subtopics. Do I write my essay broken up into these topics and subtopics or can it simply be an essay as a whole covering those topics in any order? Documentation, I know to provide certified copies of all qualifications and certificates, professional references, passports etc however do I need to provide proof of projects/tasks/spreadsheets etc I've worked on since 1999? What about Statutory Declarations? I assume this is a verified copy of my CV stating that this is the truth and nothing but the truth. Was this something you had to provide? Regarding the agent, I'm in two minds whether I actually need an agent. They are expensive and when you calculate the costs of the agent + the visa + all the others bits, it weighs in at a substantial amount of money. in your opinion, would you have been able to complete the RPL without an agent? I have an agent I'm about to sign up for in Australia but the timezone is a bit of a pain, who do you use and do they specialise in RPL applications? I assume you were nominated by a state of territory to apply in the occupation Sys Admin 263112? That occupation is only found on the CSOL which requires nomination? What visa have you applied for and which area are you looking to reside in? I've got family in Melbourne, Victoria and as they are sponsoring my I'll need to live and work in that area which, in the great scheme of things, isn't all that bad really, considering that's where I was going to work and live on a 189 visa!

I did my RPL a few months back and got a positive result. A short while ago i was helping out another RPL person and spent quite a while emailing him about it. I will post a transcript of our conversation below as I dont want to retype it all. Best of luck, hard work ahead!

Byron, I'm just tried to PM you but the forum wouldn't allow it. Maybe because i'm a first time poster (long time watcher though) I've recently completed an ACS RPL and I'm registered with an agency, so they gave me pointers here and there. I know all about the process and what's involved, especially as I applied in the 263112 Sys Admin, which is very similar to yours. I would be happy to help you out and give you some advice but I'm not going to send you my work. This is your journey and you must do it alone! In a nutshell: My main RPL was about 30k words but your's might be shorter. I wanted to provide the most comprehensive level of detail about what I knew so just typed until I had said it all. Read your anzco code thoroughly and compare this with the options,complete the options that best fit your skillset. Do the hardware and software fundamentals, but the remainder is your choice. Note that I also added some headings for subjects like active directory, virtualisation etc under the main headings. Remember you need to do 2 project forms and supply loads of documentation. It might be best to PM me if you want to chat further. My application is still in the system and I should be getting the result any day now. Best of luck if I dont hear from you. Edward The downloadable RPL form serves as the template for the entire document