Mims

Hi Captain C, 1. 334111 2. Plumber 3. 60 points 4. 03/12/15 Many thanks in advance.

Hi Marisawright, As per my post to Sooperlids its Santander. Yes there are some offering up to 6% but you're right they often only allow you to put 2k in them. You can get 60k in Santander at least if its proceeds of a house which is at least something but I know many people don't want to split their money up although technically its safer that way, isn't it only 80k per bank that's protected if something goes horribly wrong? I definitely think we will wait 6-12 months before buying, I want to be sure of areas before we make such a purchase so I will certainly look into a term deposit and take a look at that link, thanks for the advice :-)

Hi Sooperlids, 3% is with Santander between 3-20k but across a couple you can get 3% on 60k by having one joint account and two sole accounts. At the moment current accounts are offering better rates than savings accounts, we've been getting 3% since June 2013 and they were offering it before then, i'm surprised its lasted this long to be honest. There is a 2 pound a month account fee but they give you between 1-3% back on bills so we easily cover that, unfortunately they are increasing the monthly fee to 5 pounds a month next year but if I remember correctly Money Saving Expert said that over 5k its still the best place to have your money in the UK at the moment. Its just 500 pound pay in each month, which you can take straight back out, I just had a standing order between 2 accounts whilst we were travelling for a year to make sure I still got interest even when we weren't earning, and you have to have 2 DD's (possibly standing orders count too) going out as well i think. I was hoping to find something as good as this in Australia but not sure its going to happen....I LOVE the website Money Saving Expert too but I'm yet to find an aussie equivalent...

Sooperlids and marisawright, when you say higher, how much are you talking? I have money with nab in Oz but the interest rate is less than 2% I think, I can't easily move it I don't think either, not whilst I'm in the UK. Our money in the UK is getting 3% and is easy access, I wasn't expecting to achieve as much in Oz when we move next year so it would be great so know if it may be possible and with whom. thanks in advance.

So pleased for you Emma!!!

Our two dachshunds are gonna love the Aussie sunshine!

You're right VeryStormy, the fact the lists can change is a big consideration, we were lucky that one of us already had a skill that was on the list when we looked into a potential move, that was back in 2010/2011 though so we are fortunate that Plumbers have remained on there.

I agree jumpingjillybean, knowing we were thinking of making the move permanently we made sure to live as close to normally for 5 months during our WHV as we could, we had full time jobs in our fields etc, work is work wherever you are but we couldn't ignore the benefits we found both in the workplace and even more so when we weren't working so our move is not based on a year of travelling and partying. I do know where snifter is coming from, there are bound to be many that misjudge the reality but like you say, just having 1) spent a year or two away from loved ones and 2) having actually been to Australia for an extended period of time before making the leap makes them more prepared than many.

Hi Emma, you may need 3 years minimum, my hubby's a plumber and needed 3 years post qualification experience,however points wise he actually needed 5 years to get us the 60 points for a 189 PR visa and you have to be careful about how you calculate your points, we waited until recently to ensure he definitely would be classed as having 5 years and not any less, NVQs and apprenticeships weren't allowed to be counted in his years experience unfortunately. Best bet is to make good friends with the border.gov.au website and read read read, you'll find out who does the plastering skills assessments and can then enquire with them as to what they need to as a minimum for a successful skills assessment outcome. Additionally look at the points test, being British in regards to english competency doesn't give us any points for instance, Adam may need to do an IELTS (or similar) test to bump up his points, my hubby had to. Good Luck!

Steven worked as a plumber for 5 months while we were there (signed off by a plumber with a licence) and you can seemingly earn a lot more over there than here so it's worth it from that point of view let alone the other benefits Oz brings! i did look into it when we were there as we wanted to see if getting licenced whilst on a WHV was poss and I'm sure it was $3500 if not a PR and less than $1000 if you were PR. My research may not have been spot on though and it may differ from state to state. I'm pretty sure it's only a year as a plumbers mate you have to do though and the money for such isn't that bad, what's another year after 3 to get this far? I know what you mean about being settled, we have jobs we love here but we just don't want to say 'what if we'd gone to Oz', we have the opportunity so if we do it and come home for whatever reason at least we won't always wonder...

Hi there, I agree with jumpingjillybean, don't let this hurdle break you, you've not gone through all this effort to give up now, I think the problem is 3 years down the line it's easy to forget those little details of why you loved Oz and want to go back, we are only a year out of Oz and I know I've forgotten loads! My hubby has his vetassess plumbing practical skills assessment this Saturday and I'm going to get him to ask there, the assessor will surely know and like you we want to know what has to be done,if we find anything out I will be in touch. We are 25 and will be submitting our EOI in dec I think, hope to be there by June next year but we will see. Where in Australia are you off to?

Good luck!! X

http://www.vetassess.com.au/portals/0/downloads/trade_assessment/cpc32413%20pst%20candidate%20guide.pdf Yeah it's the practical assessment candidate guide you need, link above, strange it won't work for you, copying and pasting the info into here didn't work unfortunately...I'm on iPad, when I next get the laptop out i will try and attach it to a private message. Yeah, first thing Steven will be doing is installing heating for us for those few weeks of winter, it does feel cold when you've had it hot for months on end! Yeah Stevens got the skills and I'm organising everything, very much a team effort! Good luck with the English and the practical, give us a shout if you need any advice on anything else further down the track.

Ah we are doing ours ourselves, bit of effort and research involved but its ok. I did go really over the top on documentation for stage 1, we had mostly self employment which meant lots of evidence for those years, hopefully you've cracked it now with the extra docs. Yeah they will have more dates next year for sure, its just jumping on them when they are released which you should be in a position to do once you've completed stage 1 which i can't imagine will be much more of a wait now. Yeah stage 2 is a practical with theory questions thrown in, i'd ask your agent to provide a copy of the guide, or you can download it from the website, it gives you an idea of what to expect. You have to take a few tools along with you so you'll need the list of those. Same as us really, 12 months max though, in theory we should have our visa early next year so we won't hang around once we have it. Very jealous that you're off there form Christmas!! Maybe you could do your practical stage 2 whilst there??? just a thought, they have loads more dates over there apparently. We were there for a year in 2014 travelling and a bit of work. I think we are going to settle in Perth or within a few hours drive of it but we havent fully made up our minds, we loved loads of places. Where are you off to? Hmmm, you don't have to have your skills assessed before you do IELTS, of course if you do IELTS and then fail your skills is a waste of money on the IELTS but in theory there is no reason why a plumber with 14 years experience will fail the skills assessment, I'd say crack on with the IELTS whilst you're waiting on the skills assessment to come through, otherwise the IELTS is just going to delay you in submitting an expression of interest and visa application. Also, there are other tests besides IELTS, there are a few threads on them on here, we were already too far down the track with IELTS to change but if you havent started and find English hard then one of the others might be better to try, there seems to be a higher success rate with one thats called Pearson something or other, search IELTs on here and go from there. Steven had an IELTS specialist tutor for the day which was really handy, its as much about learning how the tests are marked etc as it is being good at english. It is better to have more points, think you get your invite to apply a bit quicker etc but we have the minimum 60 points and that won't stop us getting a visa, if you don't HAVE to do the IELTS and you're not in any mad rush to get there I'm not sure the £300 on tutoring and 1 test attempt (some people spend thousands if they repeatedly fail) is worth it, the practice was hellish for us, wouldn't have put Steven through it if it wasnt necessary, we are 25 though and as they don't count apprenticeships as part of your work experience it was either wait another 2 years to increase Stevens work experience by which time Plumbers may not be in demand or do an english test. Just looking into police checks and medicals now, think both are mandatory, I'm trying to get this all done prior to request so it doesnt delay us later.

Think it took a couple of weeks for the outcome of the document stage, although I had to chase and then got the answer same day so bear that in mind! Check this link out for the dates available on the practical- http://www.vetassess.com.au/skills-assessment-for-migration/trade-occupations/assessment-dates -I was originally told that they had no availability even at the 21st nov session and that we would have to fly to oz!! I pushed back and next thing a space opened up so bear that in mind too! I don't know what your time frame is but we want to go asap, if youre the same then maybe worth pushing on the docs stage and enquiring now if they have any spaces for 21st nov as the cut off date for booking it is 6th Nov and there is no mention of 2016 dates online yet by the looks of things. No they didnt email anything after the phone call, it was really strange, they just made steven write a list of what he needed to revise, but they could have just emailed it and not woken us up at midnight..?! Yes Steven has done IELTS already, he just needed 7's but that for him as a dyslexic was hard to achieve but somehow did it first time (with a lot of practice beforehand) have you got to or with 14 years work experience surely you can avoid it?

Hi Lewis, my hubby's a plumber too, his practical is on the 21st nov in London, that's the last one this year, have you got your date yet? Once you've passed stage 1 (all the paperwork) They will call you (we had ours last Sunday at nearly midnight!!) and tell you exactly what you need to revise, you just need to have a general understanding of everything plumbing and the Aussie elements that aren't relevant here although they take into account that plumbers aren't practiced in those things of course. Another plumber on here whose moved now said he revised like crazy and then found that it was really easy and that they actually help you where you aren't certain so I don't think it's anything to be too concerned about. Look out for Steven if you're off to London 21st nov!

Hi Saz, just your hubby for English and skills assessment, would make sense to start making progress on both of these straight away. English though isn't a necessity if you meet the points requirement without. You do need to do these before completing an EOI. If you're looking to go in about a year, id say you're best to get cracking now, it could take that long, I think I'm right in saying you have to fly into Australia within a year of receiving the visa but you don't have to stay, you dont have to make the move permently for several years after that if you don't want to but you will eventually lose your visa if you didn't go although that doesn't sound like it would be an issue for you. it is possible to do it on your own, we are, lots of people do, just lots of research, lots of reading and asking questions on hear from time to time. GOOD LUCK!

A delay is better than never I guess...... As long as we get there, nothing good comes easy.... right? Indeed! They didn't say it would be easy, only that it would be worth it! Completely feel your pain on not wanting to go without them, I have everything crossed for you that they pass 2nd time around!!!

I think you can take it to arbitration through the TDS can't you and avoid court altogether? Maybe something to look into if this is not what your going through already. all the very best with it!

I hate to make things worse but our shipper said the time starts from when the blood is taken, it's from the injection for NZ I believe. It sounds as though the vets waiting the 3-4 weeks before taking the bloods, Due to work commitments I had to have bloods at exactly 3 weeks but both mine passed to my surprise. SO strange that both yours have failed, must be very rare! They can pass 2nd time, sometimes it takes a 3rd attempt I've heard but at least there's still a chance for them even if it's put your current plans in jeopardy. good luck!!

In in total agreement mini cooper, I love coming here and checking what new posts there are, we are at a similar stage to you in proceedings and hope that one day we will be able to post a positive story here too!

Amazing trip, did one not too dissimlar but went up to Katherine, across to broom and down to Perth that way but took us best part of a year! Campings mostly fine - get the wikicamps app it's great. As for what to do, where to start!? Just drop into tourist info now and again, there's things to do mentioned on wikicamps, do a little research and just generally see what you come across. enjoy!!

Do some research and find out who the assessing body is for welders, for us, plumber, it's vetasses.it may be that if he's been fully trained you can prove the qualification without certificates, I know for some who are older that don't have Certs for that reason that's been an option. If so, this combined with being on one of the skilled lists verystormy mentioned would mean the option of a permanent visa like a 189 which is preferable to sponsorship, with the downturn there job loss is more likely and you've 90 days to get responsosered or leave I believe, none of that with permanent residency. We're 25 and went on a working hol visa when we were 23 to travel, work and make sure it's what we wanted, something to consider if you haven't already done it. all the best!

Hi Adam, we submitted a few photos but no videos, the guidance notes for us (plumber) stated they were optional. As for certification, check the FAQs on the vetasses website, it's not easy to find but it tells you all about certification and the people that can do it, my mums a nurse and they are on the list so we got her to do it just because there was so much to sign and best chance is with someone you know rather than having to convince or pay someone to do it. Good luck with it!

We lived in Dayboro for a month in January 2014 and it's super beautiful and yes not THAT far from the city but it's a horrible journey to get there and I completely appreciate that sometimes you just want things on your doorstop. My one worry about our permanent move to Australia is meeting people, my intention is to join every club and social opportunity going, there has surely got to be something within reasonable distance of Dayboro?? The family we stayed with in Dayboro were super lovely, her hilarious and perfect if you want a chat, she does all the talking and is so animated and her stories are always comical and interesting, keep your ears open and eyes peeled for nikki (Aussie) and Michael (irish) - some of the best people we met on our travels and right on your doorstep. all the best with your dilemma.