HayleyB

Hoping someone can help! I have been living in Australia with my de-facto partner and working for the same company for 2 1/2 years on a 457 visa and would we like to get our PR asap. My employers have agreed to nominate us for ENS (186) but we will have to pay for this ourselves (bit disappointing, but I should have negotiated this when I accepted the job). They have a visa agent that they have used before and she has quoted me approx $16k for the both of us which seems a bit steep. I have asked some friends who have their PR and they have said it usually cost about $10k for a couple. Does this seem about right? Also has anyone got any experience of doing it themselves without a visa agent? We don't know anything about the system or how it works but we would be keen to try and save some $$ where we can. Also my employer said it takes 12 months to come through which seems ages! From what I've read it takes 3-5 months. Can anyone shine some light on this? Any help at all would be much appreciated as we are just starting to do our research (and sums!) and want to make sure we don't get ripped off. Thanks in advance :wink:

Hey, I live near Newtown and also work week days but free at weekends if you are

Hi there! Im Hayley, Im 31 originally from London. Ive been in Sydney with my partner for 19 months now and have struggled to make any new girlie friends for post work drinks and weekend brunches. I work as a fashion buyer for an australian chain store and love all the usual stuff like drinks, food, shopping etc. I would love to meet like minded people in Sydney so I don't feel like a complete billy-no-mates any more! I live in the inner west but happy to meet anywhere for a quick drink and a chat. Thanks x