Rob Frain

It was a month's wait for the Medicals. Had them on Wed, got my results online on Thursday evening and Friday morning everyone else got theirs. I'm hoping to get the grant before December however I've read that some people from the October invitation still haven't got their grant!

Just a quick one - as many of you know I've applied for a 189 visa and we're hopefully are the closing stages of this. I'm currently due a visit to Australia with just my daughter in October to see my sister get married and have a normal e-visitor 651 visa for this. What will happen when I get to Melbourne? Do they activate my 189 visa (If it's ready by then) or can i ask them to not do that and use the holiday visa? Will there be any problems if its just me and the daughter and not all four of us? Most probably panicking over nothing.

30th May we did the application. Then immediately medicals wanted. Hopefully won’t be too long but I noted that processing has gone up another month looking at their schedules.

All passed now. We submitted everything 4 weeks ago today however on the day after paying they then demanded the medicals. I’m hoping this hasn’t reset the clock again by a month?

Well I've passed! Just awaiting the wife and kids now!

Medicals were all done today in Manchester. Nice and easy - the Doctor was great with our two kids. In and out in about 2 hours. Everything seemed to be okay and he said there were no issues. The bloods apparently take 48 hours to check - I'm sure all they test for is HIV( can anyone confirm?) We then went for a celebratory Brewdog just down the road!!

I'm in the same situation here. I did originally apply via the pool and they checked all my documents (as I was taught on a SCITT) and they said yes. We have applied for a 189 under my wife as main applicant. Medicals on Wednesday!

We have our medicals booked for the end of the month. All our other uploads are on the system. Do they look at these at all over the next three weeks or so they wait for the medical and then look at everything in one go?

Surely you can request to see them. Especially if there is an issue.

Do you get to see the records at all?

It’s not that now it’s work!!

Will I be safe if I book 24th July?

Yikes - I haven't even got a letter saying to get one. I just spotted it on the uploads section. I've emailed all 6 centres in the UK and so far all only work weekdays and the earliest I can book is the 21st June.

Well, one stone lost in 8 days so the diet is going well. I want to at least book the medicals but as a teacher, I'm finding this a bit of a nightmare as they don't do weekends and I'm pretty much working from 8 am - 6 pm every day until the Summer holidays starting on 21st July. Is there a deadline to provide medicals as I don't have a medical request letter - it's just a button on my immi account.

The medical request came through 5 seconds after we paid. They gave us our HAP numbers. Oh well we’ll book in a bit. Off for a run now… again(!)

Ive just scanned the originals. Hopefully they'll be okay as they all have numbers on them so they can check surely? I hope so. Im so nervous about my weight - that's my main concern. Well the other one is something that appears that i don't know about!

We finally managed to do it this evening. This was the last document. We've just paid the £4500 for the 189 and instantly got back requests for medicals. This is the one im worried about due to my weight. I was 19st 9 at my largest, though I've got down to 17st 5 in the last few weeks. Should I book the medicals ASAP or leave it for a bit longer to lose a bit more weight? Im 5ft 11.... Though i consider myself to bit fit. I've been running 5k a day for the last few days!

We got the police checks done in February but left the medicals. We’ll just wait until we get the HAP numbers. I’ve been on a massive diet and been doing 5k a day since the invite! Anyone know exactly what they test for? I also have a 6 and a 2 year old so hopefully it’s not too bad for them?

Thanks. 150 photos taken and not one approved of our little boy! He’s a pain. Also I hear some people get their medical done before applying? Is this correct? We thought you had to wait for a HAP number for the medical?

Yeah we got ours.We're about to try and press the button today to apply. The only thing we're struggling with is getting a photo of our two year old that the photo software their end likes(!) Havent done medicals but they can ask for them if (I expect) they are needed.

The time has come. Lots of 189 invites went out this morning UK time. Unsure how many …. The next step begins!

Now two months in and still waiting. We’ll give it another two months and then change to a 481 visa and try and get in that way!

I didn't though my skills assessment took close to a year from memory involving some pretty high up people from AITSL, Liverpool John Moores University and my SCITT. In the end the reasoning was that it was the SCITT and not the University that placed me on my work experience. Pretty poor excuse to be honest. Everything else in the end was fine.

Don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but you haven’t got a chance. I tried with AITSL for over a year and they eventually said no. it doesn’t mean you can’t teach over there as the authorities will allow you to - it’s just aitsl that won’t accept the skills!

I’ve been reading that teachers are in very short supply in WA. We’ll wait for the next load of invites and if we don’t get one we’ll look at the 190.