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Hey, We have 2 spare tickets for the U2 360 tour concert in Brisbane on the 8th December. They are general admission standing tickets at the Suncorp stadium. Price $100 each. If you are interested please pm me Jodie & James Clark

The ACT government has announced the following changes to its State Migration Program: Closed – no further applications will be accepted for the following occupations: · Engineering Managers 1332 · Journalists 2124 · Architects 2321 · Greenkeeper 3623 ACT employment in the nominated occupation is required for the following occupations: · Urban Planner 2326 · Civil Engineers 2332 · Electrical Engineers 2333 · Mechanical Engineers 2335 · Other building and Eng 2339 · Pharmacists 2515 · Dentist 2523 · Psychologists 2723 · Other Social Professionals 2724 · Social Worker 2725 · Cook 3514 The requirement for Australian registration for all Financial / insurance occupations has been removed. Applicants are now required to have their skills / experience recognised by a relevant industry body Cheers, George Lombard

Applications lodged before the following dates are currently being considered by a case officer: Priority 2 State Migration Plan*: (* State migration Plan currently only available for Victoria & ACT) Skilled – Sponsored (Migrant) subclass 176 VE 176 (e-lodged): 01 May 2010 VE 176 (paper): 01 May 2010 Skilled – Sponsored (Residence) subclass 886: VB 886 (e-lodged 01 May 2010 VB 886 (paper): 01 May 2010 Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) subclass 475 VF 475 (e-lodged): 01 May 2010 VF 475 (paper): 01 May 2010 Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) subclass 487 VC 487 (e-lodged 01 May 2010 VC 487 (paper): 01 May 2010 Priority 3 applications. Skilled – Independent (Migrant) subclass 175 VE 175 (e-lodged): 24 October 2008 VE 175 (paper): 24 October 2008 Skilled – Sponsored (Migrant) subclass 176 VE 176 (e-lodged): 24 October 2008 VE 176 (paper): 24 October 2008 Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) subclass 475 VF 475 (e-lodged): 24 October 2008 VF 475 (paper): 24 October 2008 Skilled – Independent Regional (Provisional) subclass 495 and Skilled – Designated Area Sponsored subclass 496 UX 495 and UZ 496 (e-lodged and paper): All applicants who have an occupation on the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) – Schedule 3 have been allocated. Skilled – Independent (Residence) subclass 885 VB (paper): 20 April 2009 Skilled – Sponsored (Residence) subclass 886 VB 886 (paper): 20 April 2009 Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) subclass 487 VC 487 (paper): 20 April 2009 Please note Under the current priority processing arrangements Accountants who now provide an IELTS with proficient English will not receive a higher priority than other applicants. All Accountants are included in the new SOL and are currently being processed under priority group 3. Priority Exempt Applications Visa Subclasses 476, 485 and 887 are exempt from the current priority processing direction. Applications under these subclasses will be processed in the order in which they were received by the department. Applications lodged before the following dates are currently being considered by a case officer: Skilled – Recognised Graduate subclass 476 VF 476 (e-lodged): 4 October 2010 VF 476 (paper): 4 October 2010 Skilled – Graduate subclass 485 VC 485 (paper): 26 October 2009 Skilled – Regional subclass 887 VB 887 (paper): 30 September 2010 Subsequent Entrant Applications All subsequent entrant applications for subclasses 485, 487 and 475: 1 October 2010

Sunshine Coast - Kawana Island Meetup - 20th November 2010 http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/socialising-get-togethers/99369-sunshine-coast-kawana-island-meetup-20th-november-2010-a.html#post907329 James Sunshine Coast Broker

Hi All, We are having another BBQ, this time at Double Bay, Kawana Island. There are BBQ facilities, park, and a beach area for games. There is also a bar for later :biggrin: Will be great to meet up again with other locals. Should be a few of us from previous meetings, but all others welcome too. From 2pm, bring your food, drink and extra chairs if you have some. James Message me if you need any directions or have any questions. Sunshine Coast Broker

Arrived in Sydney on Mon.. luckly to be staying with my sister, I am the last of the sisters to arrive.... my body is here not sure were the head is! prob still in the plane. Well all new life ahead .... 1st catch up with friends over here.then ....job......house..... I know the weather will get better????? hope to meet lots of new friends as really miss the ones I have left behind xxxxxxKaren:jiggy:

Migrant skills go to the top of the list THE points system for skilled migrants that notoriously preferred hairdressers over Harvard scientists is about to be abolished. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is scheduled to announce in Sydney tomorrow a new points system in keeping with wider reforms to skilled migration. For further information see SOURCE

Arrived in Sydney on Mon.. luckly to be staying with my sister, I am the last of the sisters to arrive.... my body is here not sure were the head is! prob still in the plane. Well all new life ahead .... 1st catch up with friends over here.then ....job......house..... I know the weather will get better????? hope to meet lots of new friends as really miss the ones I have left behind xxxxxxKaren:jiggy:

Migrant skills go to the top of the list | The Australian THE points system for skilled migrants that notoriously preferred hairdressers over Harvard scientists is about to be abolished. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is scheduled to announce in Sydney tomorrow a new points system in keeping with wider reforms to skilled migration. The reforms shift the emphasis to high skill levels and employee sponsorship, making it harder for overseas students with low-quality Australian qualifications to secure permanent residency. Stricter rules for skilled migration have damaged the business model used by private colleges and universities to attract students and fee revenue. In China, Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans rejected any suggestion the commonwealth should compensate education providers for lost income. "It's not about us making up the shortfall. I mean, universities are a business," he told the HES. Regards

Migrant skills go to the top of the list THE points system for skilled migrants that notoriously preferred hairdressers over Harvard scientists is about to be abolished. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen is scheduled to announce in Sydney tomorrow a new points system in keeping with wider reforms to skilled migration. For further information see SOURCE

Hi all, Victoria released their SMP today (1 Nov 2010), one day before they formally enter caretaker mode for the state election. Some MODL/CSL IT occupations/specialisations have been preserved in the new SMP, so that would be good news for people holding 2231-79 MODL/CSL type assessment letters. More here: Eligibility Lists - Live in Victoria and Ptlabs Consulting - Articles on Australian Immigration Cheers Peter

Calling all statistics fans, here are the latest batch of stats. (N.B: Stats for October will be have been effected by the server move at the beginning of the month) Total number of posts in October: 23,720 (up 11% on October09) Number of unique visitors in October: 146,331 (up 35% on Oct09) Total number of 'visits' in October: 298,360 (up 41% on Oct09) Number of pages viewed/displayed in October: 6,253,198 (up 79% on Oct09) Number of new users in October: 898 And now for some random stats: More replied to thread in the last 10 days. 1st) - Women ONLY thread 4th) - the handsome mans club - pio Number of new users signed up to the Pomsinoz newsletter since registration started in July - 1,812. If any existing members wish to register for the forum newsletter, they can do so here. It gets sent out around once a month, so we're not going to bombard your inbox:cute:. Next month, as it's Christmas, there'll be a small quiz on the newsletter with a cash prize for the first correct entries received from the Northern & Southern hemispheres (to give everyone a chance) so keep a lookout in your inbox. Cheers Rob

DIAC finally says something about the SMP! Check it out! http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/statmig-fs.pdf

Hi all, Victoria released their SMP today (1 Nov 2010), one day before they formally enter caretaker mode for the state election. Some MODL/CSL IT occupations/specialisations have been preserved in the new SMP, so that would be good news for people holding 2231-79 MODL/CSL type assessment letters. More here: Eligibility Lists - Live in Victoria and Ptlabs Consulting - Articles on Australian Immigration Cheers Peter

Here is the detailed changes in forms from November 2010 in all kinds of forms in DIMMIA website. I had noticed one thing here that they have removed all kinds of papers based forms from website and replaced them with Electronically forums. It shows they have completely ripped off old visa processes. Please click here for detailed changes in forms... http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/form-changes-nov-2010.pdf

Gosh, it feels like deja vu! Doesn't this sound like the time when DIAC was about to release the SMP in July when suddenly the Federal govt entered Caretaker period for the election?!?! Really pray hard that the SMP is released on 1st Nov! Otherwise, hope that SMP is not affected by the Vict. State Election for those Vict. sponsored applicants awaiting Victoria's SMP. ********************* State Government Victoria: Caretaker Period - Live in Victoria State Government Victoria: Caretaker Period 29 October 2010 Department websites and other websites maintained or funded by the State As the Victorian State election will be held on Saturday 27 November 2010, the Victorian Government has assumed a caretaker role from 2 November. During the caretaker period, content will only be added to this website in accordance with the caretaker conventions.

Australia done quite well in some, and UK done quite well also. Leads to interesting stats about 100 countries. The 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index I am sure it would help for people emigrating New Zealand also does very well. The 2010 Legatum Prosperity Index

Did anyone attend the jobs expo in London a few weekends ago? If so was it useful ? Any big employers for construction jobs ??:biggrin:

Here goes our story so far. Left for perth on a monday morning flew from dublin to london and then on to singapore. family of 2 adults and a 12 year old and a 12mth old baby girl. connections were tight but singapore airlines were great and made sure we caught our connecting flight on time by escorting us through all the queues. flight to sing was great and we were well fed and really looked after. make sure to have the singapore sling!!! we didnt but if we didnt have the tot with us we would of had time to enjoy the refreshments. baby was great and the air stewards really love to make you and your baby very welcome on the flight. she had food especially prepared for babies as well as carrying all the usual baby jars and juices etc. the 12 year didnt take his headphones off as he was engrossed in the fantastic inflight entertainment. 5 star to singapore airlines. we spent 3 nights in singapore which really helped break up the journey. baby woke at 2am every night and didnt go back to sleep until 6 ish but we survived. tired, so didnt do too much sightseeing but enjoyed the cheap food in the food halls and thankfully no tummy bugs. sentosa island was good and the shopping is great but not cheap. left on a 9.30am flight to perth on the friday mon and we were so excitied. We had a hire car booked to meet us at airport as well as 2 of oh cousins who we had never met. we loaded up both the cars and squeezed ourselves in for the journey to rockingham. i forgot to mention that we had about 120kgs of luggage plus 6 cabin bags, pram, travel cot, car seat for babs and high chair. (singapore airlines take baby luggage for free and we got extra allowance by mistake. it was only my otherhalf who was entitled to extra but they emailed us new tickets and had given it to all of us. ) i booked a holiday rental for 9 wks just for ease espeically when moving with an infant. arrived at 5pm and it was cold and wet but we were still so excited. surprised how quiet the area was but settled in for the night to get much needed rest. baby slept well that night and so did we. we spent the weekend driving around in our hire car and got a taste for suburbs. to cut a long story short we have decided to move to the beeliar area. rocko is just too far out for us but it is much better value for rentals etc. we are only 3 weeks away from the holiday rental being up and so have started to look for a long term rental and it really is a owners market. we have put in an application for a property which you pay 1 weeks rent and fill out a detailed application form and they do go and ring your referees etc. very strict. then you wait for the agent to put all the apps to the owner and they pick who they like but really it is the agent who puts forward who they like. so dress up and make an efffort to arse lick agents!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! also the viewing times are through the day which makes it hard to get to them if you work. thankfully i work casual so can go to see some houses. so yes it really is as hard as its made out to be on poms and takes time and effort to secure a rental. one other thing is that once you've put your app in and paid your fee if you end up turning it down you lose your cash so it makes putting in a couple of app imposssible unless you have alot of cash. Now for the business end of things. on the monday after we arrived we went to centrelink, medicare office and rang around schools , day care etc. my advice on this is make sure you carrry all your offical docs in a folder and carry all of these things with you whenever you are doing these type of things. makes it easier as you'll have everything with you. i am a returing citizen so for the medicare office i needed to prove i was returning to live and needed things such as shipping docs, proof that i was no longer self employed in ireland and also had to make a stat dec to say so which i had to take to a local pharmacy to get signed. good system though and we had a cards in about 3 weeks. the cards are good too as they are another form of offical ID. already needed to use the health system as our little one has been to doctor already. tonsilitus. the doctor we went to bulk billed which meant we didnt have to pay. prescriptions were expensive. now for schools. i wanted to continue a catholic education for my son and found a great school which had a place for him and he started a couple of wks ago. he was 12 in march this year and has just started yr 7 here although they are half way through the year.. at his school year 7 is in the secondary school. he has make lovely friends and is really enjoying himself. partly the new school environment but also going into secondary school as its new and exciting too. long may it last. baby is doing 3 days day care and took about a wk to settle but is now loving it. the programs are great and the staff and meals are excellent so our minds our at rest. we both had interviews the week we arrived by emailing for jobs from ireland. it worked and we both received offers of employment. i work casual and oh is full time. i love my job but oh is just waiting for his qualifications to be recognised and then he will return to doing what he loves. but all in the money is good and both jobs are secure. we are getting family tax benefit and child care benefit plus rebate which will help with weekly finances. Anyway i have probably written far too much and not much use to anyone but if anyone has any questions please just ask. Helen xx :laugh: And one last thing, we our still as excitied by our move to perth as we were when we first decided to move. i was worried that the inital buzz would wear off and we would feel flat and regret moving but thankfully it hasnt and we are still loving living in paradise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone I am a Brit Down Under(since January 2009) who has been through it all – house that won’t sell then can’t let; trying to work out what I should or shouldn’t take with me; leaving my friends and family behind (especially my brand new niece – very hard!) Whilst in the UK, and from time to time over here in Australia, I have been an avid reader of people’s experiences as they give up their UK life for a brighter one (hopefully) on the other side of the world. Well, after a couple of false starts, I have got a job I really love, working as a Migration Lawyer in Sydney. I see people go through the hard times and then the absolute best of times on a daily basis :biggrin:! Although there have been many ups and downs, I definitely made the right decision to come and live here and I absolutely love living in Sydney and working in the field of Migration. I am back in the UK for a wedding at the end of October and thought I would like to offer my help, answer questions, etc to those of you who would be interested. I have been through what you are about to go through and I also have the professional knowledge to be able to give you some decent legal advice as well as possible ways around the restrictions (legal ways, of course!) that the Australian government keep heaping onto the Migration System, should you need it. I am therefore combining a work and family trip (great for me!) and will be mainly in Manchester from 16 – 19 October (that’s where my baby niece is!), South Yorkshire 20 – 21 October (I left a house and friends and a life in Doncaster to come to Sydney!) and London 21-23 October (where the wedding will be). I know (from my reading this brilliant forum) that you all meet up for socials and to chat about your experiences and I would be happy to come along to one of your meetings. Please let me know if any of those locations and times suit. Alternatively, I am happy to meet you for a coffee. I look forward to hearing from you to see if I can help at all. Joanne

Fantastic christmas night out for a great cause ! This event is arranged by a group of expats....the tickets are now on sale through www.trybooking.com/dkl

Hello fellow PIO'ers....been a while since I spent much time on this site and its been 3 months since our reccie and validation to Adelaide. Anyways here is a bit of report of our findings in no particular order.... Flight - We flew with Cathay Pacific. Service was fantastic, food not bad. But, the seats were the worst I have ever sat in. They do not recline....its the part of the sit you actually put your bum on that moves forward, so you are left sitting in a very uncomfortable slouching position....this wasn't too much of a problem flying out as the flight was empty and we had more seats to ourselves but coming home the flight was full (thanks to BA for striking and therefore Cathay Pacific took all their passengers) so we had to try and sleep upright...:arghh: So unless Cathay Pacific change there seats I would never fly with them again for that reason. We had a stop at Hong Kong, we didnt leave the airport. But the airport is huge....with loads of shops, plenty of places to eat. Very clean and staff very helpful. We arrived in Adelaide to very bright sunshine...I felt I had been in a black hole for 26 hours. We collected our car rental and headed to our accommodation. We took our sat nav with us, and found this to be a god send through out the reccie. We stayed in a suburb called Morphett Vale and rented a house, as we felt by staying in a house in a suburb would give us a better idea of what it would be like to live out there. We rented a 3 bed house, from RooRentals, she owns other properties and is a fellow pom. I highly recommend RooRentals if you need a short term rent in Adelaide. Our first day we headed to K mart to buy some booster seats for the car for the kids. We got 2 booster seats for $50. They were great, in fact I was so impressed with them I brought them back home to the UK. We had all intentions of ditching them out there but there are small and narrow and so are great for small cars. After that we headed for Coles for some food.... Okay, food, I know this causes a lot a debate about the price of food between there and the UK. But my opinion is that its either roughly the same price or its more expensive. I did'nt feel anything was cheaper than the UK. Bread is more expensive than the UK. Things like biscuits, crisps, yoghurts, pretty much the same price for top brands. Meat is better value for your money. Fruit and veg in the supermarket about the same price as the supermarkets here. Fruit and veg in the market, not a lot of difference to what I pay at my local market. I personally think the supermarkets need to start more competition with each other to create price wars and bring prices down. We spent one day driving around looking at suburbs. For us with had already knew we wanted to live on the south side of the city. It is really true what they say, you can't pick a suburb until you get there. You just cant get a feel for the place until you are there. Like everywhere else in the world, you get your really nice suburbs with big price tags, the not so nice places and those in middle which you just have work out for yourself whats best for you. If money was no object, then I would pick the Adelaide Hills over a sea view. The Adelaide Hills are just wonderful. But alas we couldnt afford to live there, so we have found other places that seem to tick our boxes. We also looked a school for the children whilst we were out there. It was a R to Year 7 school. Children stay at primary school in Adelaide till there are 13 years old. The school we looked out was having a lot of building works going on and the staff come across as very proud of their school. The biggest difference for me was the size. The school was capable of taking nearly 1000 pupils at the time they had about 400. They also taught japanese from reception year. The children in the classrooms seem very happy and well behaved. The school said we could enroll the children the UK ready to start for when we arrived in Adelaide. The other thing the teacher said is that schools in Adelaide are becoming more target measured just like the UK. They dont have an ofsted equalivent out there but the teacher said she felt it would be too many years before they did. The Aussies - I can honestly say that everyone we met pom or aussie was very welcoming and friendly. This was something OH liked very much. He likes a good natter and found this a welcoming difference from the UK in particular he is referring to the south of england where he says people never what to give you the time of day. We have friends out in Adelaide. Who were just wonderful. It was great to sit and talk to them about they gripes and worrys for their country. We came away with the impression they there worries and gripes for their country are not any different to what most of us have in the UK, we just felt it was on a lot smaller scale. Work - My oh spent a day in the city meeting up with a couple of contacts he has made. My OH works in IT and we are well aware that Adelaide is not the best place to look for IT work. But again as it has been said many times, it is very much a case of not what you know but who. He came away with more contacts and the overall view was if we were staying then oh would have probably got a job be it only a contract to start with. Overall we do feel Adelaide is place we could live. Adelaide is more a like a big town, like they say. It doesnt have the wow factor but its definately liveable and very much our type of place. There is definately a feeling of space in Adelaide, and parks in the city definately help with this, maybe thats because Adelaide was designed not simply put together. But my opinion is because it was a designed place, it makes it far more liveable than Melbourne or Sydney. Just my opinion, everyone is different. Finally, Adelaide is also called the city of churches....but I must admit I was quite expecting that many....seriously there is a church of some sort on every corner....:yes: Thats it, I think. Any questions please ask, I will do my best to answer them. Mandisfam

Hi, I'm British & in my early 20s and lived in Canberra for the previous year with my boyfriend. I returned to UK in June to submit an offshore spouse visa which is due to be granted at the end of Oct & therefore i intend to be back in Canberra Nov 2010. Just wondered if there are any people around my age group to meet up with to help make new friends.:biggrin:

Hi, I arrive in Sydney on the 16th October and was wondering if a few of us wanted to get together for a good old night out, dancing, clubbing, whatever? I will be in the CBD so need to be within reach and I will be all by myself so would be really good to have some company, even if it's a day trip or something.