Cheery Thistle

No, never been to Australia! Going in Feb/March to Sydney, Brisbane and Sunny Coast for a holiday and a look around. I have looked online at houses so know realistically what we’d have to pay in rent/mortgage etc. I was looking for internal flights from Brisbane-Sydney and Jetstar looked reasonable? But I literally know nothing about it lol. We’ll soon have a teenager, so really feel like we need to be at least easy travelling distance to a city for decent shops, concerts, entertainment etc. Plus to be honest I am a bit of a townie, having lived half an hour from both Edinburgh and Glasgow for most of my life. My boss lives in rural Lincolnshire and she was telling me yesterday she is half an hours drive from a supermarket which kind of freaked me out haha! We have a big shopping centre here with Next, M and S, cinema etc literally a 5 minute drive. Can’t imagine being cut off or isolated. The good thing about moving as an oldie is we know what we like/don’t like!

I just don’t want to ever see winter again, after doing over 40 Scottish winters! Every area seems to have its pros and cons - Sydney too much of a big city, great job opportunities, expensive life and property. Perth, fab beaches and weather but too isolated. Adelaide slow jobs market, great food and wine. Melbourne good jobs and culture, not so great climate. We are going to QLD for the weather and the jobs. Hopefully! Just waiting on everyone from these cities jumping on me telling me the above is a load of rubbish and how dare I reduce these great cities to a one-liner Lolol. Extra $20,000 is that for nurses? Reminds me of the extra £6k you would get for going to teach in the Scottish sticks.

Hiya, yes I know, feeling very lucky but also I moved really quickly with all the paperwork and sometimes these things are meant to be! I’m really glad though as I feel due to our ages the sooner the better. Also keen to get out of here before something goes wrong or someone gets ill! We are headed to Brisbane/Sunny Coast that was always the plan.

So I was going to tag this on to the end of another thread, but really felt it deserved to be a stand alone. Got the call from Jenny at Down Under Centre this morning that our 189 has been granted. Timeline as follows: Secondary Teacher, 65 points First contact DUC - 6/3/2023 PTE Academic Passed Superior 2/5/2023 Skills Assessment Successful - 19/5/2023 EOI submitted 189 (and 190 for SA and NSW) - 22/5/2023 Invited to apply 189 - 25/5/2023 Medicals passed and submitted - 28/6/2023 Visa Lodged - 29/6/2023 Acro received and submitted - 9/8/2023 Visa granted - 11th Oct 2023 We fly out on 24th Feb 2024 for 3 weeks for a look around and plan to move with our 10 year old (will then be 11) and 2 dogs in October 2024.

Well, someone’s got to do it lol. Hand to hand combat is fairly rare these days IV! To be fair I was thinking more along the lines of being an officer interpreter, not actually seeing active action in the field.

Also interested in this as we hold property in ltd too.

You’ve been married longer than I’ve been alive….just letting that sink in! Well done. There’s a lot to be said for sticking at it, that said I know loads of older couples who did just that and made each other miserable as hell!! Most of my friendships have been going more than 10 years, I cannot imagine upping sticks and moving every 2 years, it would not be for me. I briefly considered the armed forces as a career (using my languages) but quickly realised that a) rules are not my friend b) all that moving c) roughing it is also not for me!

This just shows how different people are and how we all react to things so differently. This sounds absolutely hellish to me (sorry)! I can’t imagine moving about as much as that. I like to be settled and have friends and I want the same for my daughter. I also like my own house and space to be ‘home’ and can’t imagine my 4 walls changing so often. In my adult life I have only really lived in 2 houses and I’m 43 lol. Good on you for making a good go of that and also for realising you don’t want to move again!

That’s strange, the skilled visa ones seem pretty accurate. As Marisa says, maybe there a few long ones skewing the average. In any case it’s not really a question anyone can answer definitively - we can give averages and examples but some of the visa process seems very random to say the least!

Did you check the link to the immi website that I provided on your other thread? You can check there the average processing time for each kind of visa. Whether you want to try and time it for your activation trip or not is up to you - that may or may not work as you just don’t have a crystal ball.

To activate the visa you have to enter (usually within 12 months of either the medicals or the grant date). I doubt it’s negotiable unless you have strong extenuating circumstances? if you don’t then move then I’d expect the visa expires? Why would you want to go through all of this and then not move? Perhaps you should be seeking advice from a licensed professional?

Oooh which agent was that? Dish the dirt! Haha! Good luck with what follows, let us know how you get on.

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-processing-times/global-visa-processing-times This link gives you an indication of processing times for all visas.

We lodged on 29/06 so hopefully won’t be too long now!

Delighted for you! Many congratulations and all the best!

Hi Eleanor, no idea about this agency, sorry. I am using Down Under Centre (they have been good so far for me, I am awaiting grant). Others that seem to get good reviews include Emergico and True Blue migration. There are a couple of independents who operate on this site too. Hope you get it sorted.

I think WA might be offering sponsorship without AITSL approval but I am not 100% sure.

You’ll have to see if you can get sponsorship, think that might be your only route. Or check if you can do a PGCE somewhere. Good luck.

Ask them. They’re the experts and time is of the essence. It will save you time and give you an actual, real answer. You may not be able to pass an AITSL skills assessment but there could be sponsorship routes open to you which circumvent that - DUC will know if you have any options.

Really sorry to hear you’ve had bad news and a further delay. All the best.

Hi Sang yes I was on minimum acceptable points (65) before state nomination which gave me an additional 5 points (70). I ended up being invited for the 189 on 65. I think I was very lucky and timing was everything. If I was you I would get moving and get your EOI in. You can still be invited right up to the day before your 45th birthday and it has been known for that to happen. You’ve got to be in it to win it and it doesn’t cost an earth-shattering amount of $ to do your skills assessment and put in the EOI. The big payment is when you lodge. You can’t afford to sit on the fence any longer though, so if you’re doing it get moving! Good luck.

What’s your timeline looking like Ruby? We lodged end of June with everything front loaded. All has been quiet. 189 in a priority occupation. It’s not been long and I’m just hoping it’s granted before we go for our reccy trip in Feb.

Waaaaaah I am literally and metaphorically jumping up and down for you guys!!! All the best, have a glass or 5 of bubbly tonight!! Hopefully we won’t be too far behind you.

Thanks all. It’s sounding like an expensive headache! So looking like the the car is going on the ‘sell’ list. Not sure the Quattro (that we bought for the snow) will be that much use to us in Brisbane anyway! Haha!

They don’t they just like winding folk up lol. Unless someone on here works for immi, they don’t really know, it’s all just conjecture. Most of the experienced agents don’t even know the exact way things are processed or understand the ‘logic’ applied to the grants system.