GMacp

George86, As it will be two years before you can apply for a PR visa, the likelihood is that changes will have been made to the application rules and processes. I am the 489 visa holder, and my husband as my spouse and on the visa can work anywhere, he is also part of my application for 887. We have no children. I expect as long as you have a marriage certificate and birth certificate, you won't have any problems applying for the 887. If I was you, I would be looking into how you get your child back into Australia as they are born oversees. They will not be part of your 489, so I don't know how that works.

I contacted my agent after my initial findings, and his quote is $1900+GST, and he says visa is $580. There is not a lot to do for this visa (prove work/live etc) I feel 1900 is excessive for a visa costing $580, I am happy to do it myself if I could locate the correct link, so it is the link to the correct visa, as I don't think the 887 one is correct, but I cannot find anything else.

I have now completed my 2 years on State Sponsored 489 Visa (Visa is 4 yrs long) in SA and happy to stay here. I'd like to apply for PR and from the homeaffairs.gov.au website I know it will cost $385 for me and $195 for spouse. Now, the only route I can see after this is via 887 PR visa, and it seems to cost $3755 for me and $1875 for spouse. Is this right? We already spent quite a bit getting the 489, doesn't seem right to now spend another $6310 for PR. Any advice greatly received.

Yes, 4mm foam wrap (we gave the big bits away on gumtree last week, along with some boxes). Then cling wrap on top and then numbered the item. Bunnings doing 52L plastic storage boxes for $5.45 each. A good buy and the way to go with non-furniture/large items. Gale.

B, I ordered a 40 foot as I didn't think we would be able to get the goods in a 20 with amateur packers. Chess Moving brought it all in a 20". Get a company in to quote (PSS were good), gives you an idea of what you'd need. Extra cost was £450 for 40 foot over 20 foot. As all goods were cling wrapped, they stuck to each other, so no movement. We had plenty of space, so my worry was movement, but only a couple of boxes slightly crushed and to be realistic, they were weaker boxes. I worked for an IT company so had access to lots of DELL PC boxes and monitor boxes (good for pictures). Chess provided 3 guys and they unloaded in 2.5 hrs, and also unwrapped all furniture. We left the boxes to ourselves as we're not sure where things are going yet. The insurance is for the Marine part (boat sinks etc). As a self pack - china/mirrors etc are not covered. Gale.

So here we are 75 days later and the container arrived. In short, I am happy that we did it ourselves, and we saved money. Here's the detail: Customs opened 48 boxes of the 176 items, generally all Hobbies/Garden items were checked, footwear, ornaments, box with spice rack (think they may have thought they were full), box with placemats (cork base?), a carpet, a safe (ensure unlocked), and most of the suitcases. Only item to be confiscated was Dihydracodeine 30mg tabs - even though I had a prescription. These are banned as an unaccompanied entry, but OK in your travel suitcase. Only breakages were 2 small plates and 3 glasses (our fault, the box was not sturdy enough for glass). All 16 packs that had pictures or mirrors arrived safe. We used 4mm foam roll and cling film for all pieces of furniture. Only 2 of 5 vaccuseal bags arrived "sealed" however all the contents were fine - no mildew. An advantage of DIY is that you are more thorough with what you pack/take, so at the "other side" you have less to store/unpack. Gale. PS Scottish Company who picked up goods was Duncan Adams of Grangemouth. Bought insurance with Letton Percival (cheaper than others). Adelaide end of move with Chess Moving. B&Q for cling wrap!

Well, We went ahead with the DIY. We had the large furniture items down the driveway for 8:30, container arrived at 8:50 and was loaded by 9:50am. We had 3 friends in the container and 6 outside. The 5 foot lift was not a problem (old bit of carpet on the container edge assisted the lift). Easily loaded within the 3 hour allocation. Approx 1200 Cu ft in total over 176 items. Will keep the thread updated with the arrival (Port - 18/10/16) Gale.

I got two visits from Kilmarnock Removals (local) and PSS, both quoted 20' container. Pickfords did a video survey (which was OK), but quoted 40'. Needless to say I didn't go with them. Container arrives Sat 20th. Gale.

I have a client who ships goods abroad regularly and they have offered to do the paperwork. I'm happy to send them a spreadsheet of what is in each box and they'll do the formal customs forms. I've been told the container arrives at our house on the artic and we have 3 hrs to pack - floor of container is 5 ft off ground. This concerns me as it's quite a height to lift heavy furniture. G.

I am also considering a DIY as there is quite a saving, and I have someone who can handle the paperwork. My concern is the professional pack/load and also how to load heavy items - the container is 5ft off the ground and there is no tail lift to help. Gale.

I can't get 60 points with 189. I can with 489.

I was going to go down the route of 263212, however, just as i was about to pay the money, SA removed it from the list. Seems a bit fluid at the moment. Have been warned off the 189, if i lose my job, i have 30 days to find another or leave the country...a bit drastic. Also, i need the 10 points from nomination to make the minimum of 60. Gale.

Hi Ishfaq, I am using the State Nominated Regional avenue. For my Skill then have a condition that i must have a Job Offer before they'll consider my visa application. It is not the Employer that is sponsoring me. I have looked at other states - NT have same conditions as Vic, WA - same as Vic. We hoped for SA, however on 1/7/14 they moved the goal posts and took 261313 off their list. Got my positive skill assessement thru on 2/7/14 Gale.

I've passed IELTS and got the Skill Select for Software Engineer. For me to gain Regional State sponsorship from Victoria, I need to have a job offer. Now Victoria take 12 weeks to process requests, and then DIBP take 2-4 months. I just can't see any employer willing to wait 5-6 months for me to take up a post. I am applying for jobs via Seek, but no joy as of yet. I think this long dely may be putting potential employers off. Anyone else went down this route and found a way through it?? Thanks Gale.