pashton86

Hi folks, Well I finally have my invitation letter! Medical booked for Friday and Orals for the 4th of June! Took long enough!

Congrats to those who got their invitations! I continue to wait. The current AMSA timeline is 3 months for processing Migration Assessments apparently, so touch wood I should hear something by the 20th.

Hi Jikku, unfortunately for us at the bottom of the qualification ladder they only count sea time following qualification as experience. However mathematically it's still pretty possible to get the 60 points, you get points for your academic qualification related to your ticket and if you can score 8 or above on IELTS you're pretty much there. So long as you fit into the age categories of course!

Chaps as ever you're fountains of knowledge, thanks for the heads up! A couple more marine orders and I'm done for the day and off to the last night of the proms at the opera house!

Hi folks, So I'm sitting here in the rain going through paperwork while wait on AMSA and I had a couple of questions for those of you who've been through the process. Firstly, when completing AMSA form 419, it calculates your cost as you go, but from my reading this includes the cost of issue of you CoR for ticket and GMDSS, mines coming out at $630. Which also seems to include assessment of eligibility. Surely I'm not going to have to jump through the hoops of sending all the documentation back to them when they finally send me the letter? The other thing I wondered was whether I'm going to have to take a separate immigration medical, or whether the AMSA medical covers this? Cheers for the help chaps!

I'll certainly send over what I've got. If you need any help setting stuff up let me know. I'm on extended leave from the company which shan't be named while I sorted out my immigration stuff so I'm just pottering about the house with the dog mostly, the casual work teaching people to drive boats has dried up now the winters set in.

Thanks Captain C, I was quite pleased. On an unrelated note, I went into Sydney TAFE today to do a bit of networking, and investigate doing some Aussie tickets. Useful stuff, and if anyone on here isn't a Master and needs 2nd Mate Orals prep I have been gratefully gifted some by the head of the Maritime Section there. Just PM me if you need them.

Hi folks! hope everyone is keeping well. I'm STILL awaiting the return of my documents from AMSA *sigh*. Still on a brighter note I got my IELTS back and that went well. Reading -9 Speaking -9 writing -8.5 Listening - 9 So now the wait for AMSA continues, though honestly looking at the job prospects for a non-dpo 2nd Mate like me I'd have been as well just getting a partner visa in the first place.

Evening All, Bad luck on the IELTS there CaptainC, I did the speaking today and have the papers tomorrow morning in Sydney. We're now 2 months in and nothing heard from AMSA yet, I spoke to them before Easter and they tell me that it was with the Quals Officer. Alas when I called them today, the office was "temporarily closed" obviously they observe POETS day religiously!

Yes that was my understanding as well, they tell me they've verified my CoC but they're still waiting on my GMDSS, it's all rather odd.

Ha ha, well the eBay seller had excellent feedback . That being said, none of my interactions with the MCA have ever been what I'd call the model of efficiency! Hopefully they pull their fingers out and get on with it soon! I'm tempted to call them myself.

I'm still awaiting the initial skills assessment prior to taking orals after submitting my docs on the 20th of Feb, though apparently the hold up is with the MCA telling them my tickets are real. Glad some people are getting prompt service though!

Hi all Just a quick update to let you all know I submitted my documents to AMSA yesterday in person at the Sydney office. Now we await Canberra's incredibly long processing times!

Hi all, Excellent thread, very useful to us all. Now one thing I'm wondering in regards to points is about this "Any other qualificationYou can receive 10 points for any other qualification or award which is recognised as suitable for your nominated occupation in your skills assessment by the relevant assessing authority." So I got my OOW ticket in 2013, so unless AMSA are terribly kind and recognise my previous sea service with the Grey Funnel line (which the MCA didn't so I shan't be too hopeful) I'd need to get my Foundation Degree for the OOW course recognised. My reading of that quote is that it's up to AMSA, but will they do so as a matter of course, or do I need to prod them to notice it? Cheers for the advice chaps!

Hey folks, I've been a viewer of the site for a while and have finally spurred myself to join. Admittedly over a matter of self interest! A bit of background, my partner (Australian) and myself (British), are not yet in the position to apply for either a skilled migrant, or partner visa for me to move out on a permanent basis, been working for the government here, but that's wrapped up now and the new job will allow me to apply for either. So over the last 2 years, I've visited her on an ETA a number of times, normally with gaps of at least a few months, and I've never been able to stay longer than 6 weeks due to work. She moved up to Darwin recently, and I flew over in July to visit, was quizzed by a second person about my plans etc and finance, found it a bit worrying but took it as a spot check and was allowed to carry on my way. I flew out again to return back to blighty 36 days later, and the odd thing was that on exit the chap at the desk scanned my passport on 2 machines and then made me wait while he called immigration, before dismissing me with a cheery "it's all good mate". No idea what the issue was! This was even more disturbing as I'm sure you can imagine! So on returning home I applied for a new ETA which was granted in the customary 15 mins so I'm probably worrying about nothing. However I'm flying back to visit again on Friday, as I've been given 6 weeks leave from the new job (already I know! But the perks of working at sea!) and I'm a bit concerned about whether I'm doing something wrong. I've always stuck to the terms of the visa, never stayed more than 7 weeks (no where near the 3 months), don't work out here etc. I have got a bank account, purely to make spending money cheaper, but that's apparently not an issue according to DIAC. I guess I'm just looking for reassurance from anyone that's been through something similar, I've nothing to hide, but I wouldn't want to muddy the pitch given that if they find something wrong then I'm unlikely to see the girl I love for quite some time! Cheers in advance for the advice!