supercow

It's better to front load it all. I decided not to do that, because I wanted to maximise the time given to activate the visa... though now I'm regretting the wisdom of that decision.

Apologies if this is not the correct sub-forum, but I'm unsure where this should be asked. Can anyone please let me know, if the First Home Owner Grant (or great start grant, is that the same thing?) is available to those on a permanent visa (189) ? Thanks!

My recommendation is to buy the online sample questions $9.99. Maybe not eat lunch tomorrow, and you'll be breaking even

Dude, you're emigrating...or trying to, a different country... Of all the thousands of Dollars you're going to spend on it all, spending less than 10 extra bucks on prep material's not going to break the bank? :jiggy: Buy one of these you think is appropriate and get it over with? https://ptepractice.com/

D'oh - I'm blind it seems

To put it bluntly, if you're on a work sponsored Visa, then theoretically they could be squeezing you, as they have you by the short and curlies. Whether it's legal etc, I don't know, most likely not... but it will happen. A 190 on the other hand is a permanent visa, just like the 189. This means that you are not dependant on anyone, and can demand whatever you feel your selling value is. Whether the company chooses to pay what you think you're worth... well, that' no different than anywhere else in the world I guess

Don't let the overall cost scare you too much, you will spread the cost out over the inevitable age it takes to get the blinking visas

It really is impossible for anyone to tell you, with limited online interaction via a forum, how long it will take you to crack the English test. From what you've written, your English is already "proficient". You do however need to work on your grammar (and using more “filling words”….for the lack of knowing what the term is) , as it's easy to spot that you're not a native English speaker … not that native English speakers have immaculate grammar, but you make common mistakes I would usually associate with someone coming from somewhere where English is not the main language. That’s not meant in any insulting way and I hope you don’t read it as such. Going down the 190 route, will impose a moral obligation to stay in the sponsoring region for 2 years, though it's not a condition of your visa. Interpret that, in any way you want

By the way, I think there might be more implications for you, as one of your kids are over 18+ I don't know the specifics, but there will be more hoops to jump through as they're classed as an adult and will have to also do the English test for one....so worth finding that out before you start. Will be well worth using an agent, imo.

I keep bouncing from this thread, to the "Lodged July" bunch My agent lodged my application on the 16th July, but I didn't front load my medicals and Form80. The DIBP requested those on the 6th August, and I supplied them on the 13th. So while technically I'm in the July bunch, reality is that my counter only started with you lot Mentally calibrated my expectations to October, but strangely, my (MARA registered agent) said that he was expecting something back from the DIBP by the end of THIS WEEK! Trying not to think about it or changing my expectations, but I can't help feeling a little anxious !

I did the "ONLINE SAMPLE QUESTIONS" package, as I couldn't use the DVD included in the book I bought (forgot I don't own any PC equipment that has DVD slots anymore haaha) Went through all the questions twice and nailed the test. That being said... I had plenty of practise trying to pass IELTS, not sure if that helped my PTE at all or not.

@DeepDheer I'll of course post it to you, I just questioned the economic sense in doing so Let me know if you can;t find it online, then I'll send it to you.

I'd love to help, but don't think the postage will make it worthwhile. Might as well just buy it from amazon or ebay or something. The online test prep Ive previously mentioned in this thread does the same job.

Everything included, including visa fees, flights, shipping etc etc? I've seen people on here mention the region of £30 000. Initially I thought this was ridiculous, but now I can easily see that being the case. So if I had to say, I'd say between 20 and 30.

Hi @DeepDheer Let me have a look for it before I say yes. It must be in my spare room somewhere now, but I'll confirm this evening. You're based in the UK I assume?

Sorry to hear you're still not quite there yet. Don't lose hope! Out of interest... and I guess it's not an easy one to answer, but do you think that you have a heavy accent? Reason I ask this, is because it struck me when I did Pearson, that if you have personal interview (IELTS), then the interviewer might have been from the same area / live in the same area, so would completely understand your pronunciation / no meaning lost. With Pearson it's marked by unknown person far away who might not understand you. It was just yesterday that I was sitting at a London mainline train station, with a bunch of people sat next to me. At first I thought they were speaking a different language, but after a while it struck me that they were actually native English speakers, but I couldn't understand a word of it! Exactly this... you have nothing to worry about @Joseph23

Using metaphors, idioms (try avoid banal over-used ones) and generally just being descriptive by means of using vivid language will display a high level of spoken English. Also, try and be as natural as you can... so if you don't know an answer to a question, or have no opinion on it - say that and explain why. I recall in my first spoken interview, I was asked whether I think that a government should influence the prices of food... or something to that effect. I had no opinion on the matter, so just said exactly that - but I backed it up by qualifying that I'm no economist and that I don't fully grasp the ramifications of the free market system and what would happen is the government interferes. Alternatively, if another testing body is a viable option for you, then this might be of use to you: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/231707-ielts-v-s-pearson-test-english-academic-pte-academic-my-personal-findings.html

Sorry @fabweeni , it's impossble to tell what you're asking for.

Practise. I have a bunch of practice PDFs, here. It's all the official Cambridge workbooks: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/pnet618874e88ds/AABWg4Tl3omblG1WPE-JVKqVa?dl=0

edit: sorry, I read the question entirely wrong, ignore me!

Incredible story this -your determination and grit is truly commendable and something to admire.

Ah, sorry I read that wrong. You meant the UK police checks, in order to go to Aus?

Australian Police checks - are you in Aus at the moment? Either way, good news!

Same, if there's any consolation for me... it seems (by reading all others' projected processing times), that my grant (hopefully be a grant!!) will be around my birthday. It would make one helluva epic birthday gift

Lodged 16th July, but that was sans-form 80 / medicals and Police clearance. DIBP asked for the above, and I submitted the rest on the 13th August. I thought I was being clever, by buying my family some time to go activate the visa (as we're not going on activation Holiday there first, just plan to go)... but now I think it was a pretty sh!t plan