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Hi All. Being packed up ready for our move to WA. Flying out this Wednesday. Had eight quotes and decided on Anglo Pacific. We have Rob, Jim and Ross here packing as I write this. They are doing a great job. Polite, efficient and very careful and thorough. Highly recommended. Who ever you chose make sure there is plenty of tea/coffee/biscuits - (it seems the kettle goes in last!) Cheers and off we go. Spindrifter and family

Here is the official sites of MIA and MARA registered agents http://mia.org.au/search-agent also check https://www.mara.gov.au/ Just search the name here for a MARA registered agent and soon u will know whether he is real or fake.If he is on the list, his MIA no and MARA number will appear . I just found this useful hence i posted it over here Beware of fake agents who can cheat you in the name of immigration. Regards, TIJO MATHEW

Hy guys ,me and my family are hopefully only 4/6 weeks from getting the verdict and start to a new great life for me and the family , Job is ready and waiting ,brother already living in williamstown ,which may come handy haha Read some great stuff on here and some worrying stuff as well ,so plenty to go over ,ie renting and schools,but as some one on here keeps saying just roll up and it be fine Anyway spk soon ,Andinchez

Hi Guys I am in the process of completing my tra assessment. I started it in May but for one reason or another didnt get it sent off in time. I am now full steam ahead in trying to get this posted off as soon as possible. I am applying as a GasFitter and have done the job in total 7 years including my apprenticeship. I am based in the UK and have all qualification/certificates required for my trade here. I am a little confused regarding the points advice test and the standard TRA application. It seems a little more complicated now than it did earlier on in the year. Can anyone please advise me of the process as i am finding the new TRA website and documents a little difficult to navigate and understand. Thanks in advance guys for your help. Nick:wacko:

Hi we are moving to South Australia hopefully end of April next year, my partner is toying with the idea of working in the mines; he is wondering if anyone on here is currently working in the mines or has worked in the mines, if so what are the working and living conditions like. Thanks:biggrin:

Been reading some reviews online and customer service is getting a bad rap, but their prices are good. Anyone got any personal experiences? Looking to buy a new tv, fridge freezer and chaise lounge thingy

Dear Guys, We are Indian nationals and are migrating to Perth (western Australia ). I am in the field of Civil Engineering / Construction and want to know the prospectus of my job. Does any one having some good sites so that I can apply Regards

Hi guys Does anyone know of any footie clubs or teams in the Brighton area, nothing overly serious just something social. Am 25 and arrived in Melbourne from shrewsbury in march. Settled into work now and looking to make the most of the lighter evenings!. Cheers

Moved from London to Tassie and am loving it so far!! Just found these forums through Google - they look great :biggrin: Hope everyone is doing well!!

hi myself an the missis have decided we want out of england an want to come over to oz but we don't realy no where to start ie what to go for first like what visa? where to apply for a job? i'm a excavator operator with unlimited ticket ( i can use the big stuff lol) an the missis is qualified in child care we have 2 kids one girl 8 and our son 1 1/2 and would like to know where would suit our situation best like work an schools. any help would be great many thanks rob an helen

I always thought I wanted loud naughty guys in the past and went out with some right ****** now I am married to a quiet kind of guy and it makes me womder what i ever saw in loud cocky guys, men who come on too strong and aggressively are a huge turn off to me these days...i like quiet, intellectual men...men who think before they speak and seem sincere rather than ones who can't do anything but run their mouths about how wonderful and great they are....quiet confidence is great...many men confuse arrogance with confidence...if you are confident in yourself then you don't have to brag about yourself. Pablo comes across as the quiet type of guy I like reading his well thought out posts.

I am engaged before to an Aus citizen, he's my boyfriend for 5 years.. but then, things didn't work out so i left.. went back to the Philippines... but then before that, I've met a Filipino guy who happens to be an Aus citizen as well, and we fell in love and followed me here in the Philippines and we got married... Now we are married 6 months already and I am applying for a spouse visa? with my aus. ex before, i got the Fiancee Visa or the Prospective Marriage visa which has been cancelled... Any opinions regarding this situation? do you think the aus. embassy will care much about my previous visa that's been cancelled? and how long before the visa subclass 309 gets granted? Please help..thanks..

Hi ppl :biggrin: Just wondered if any1 on here has used these guys as thier agents??? http://www.australiavisa.com.au/australia-visa-people Have just found out from my sponsor that these guys (Peter Moss) will be dealing with my 457 application. Cheers, kennmikp

Hi Everyone, I am wondering whether I should make an official complaint to the DIAC but I dont want it to hamper my application but nothing seems to be getting resolved. See what you think. I got SS on the 4th Feb 2011 and completed the main App and sent it via recorded post on the 15th March. By middle of April I had not heard anything and the tracking number never worked from the Post office so I could not say whether it had arrived in Oz let alone the DIAC. I made a number of calls to the department from Mid April and they looked around but all said that it had not arrived, It was explained to me how all the post arrives and the first thing done is payment is taken and its lodged on the system. No money had been taken from my card so on the 29th April I was officialy, by email, advised to complete an On Line app so as not to lose or have to apply for an extention of SS. I sat up till late in the night and applied and uploaded all the documents. It was sent and received and we got our TRN aand I completed the SS form and got that off, Phew :unsure: all ssent by the 3rd May!! Scathing letter also sent to post office! However, on the 5th May I got 2 receipts for 2 lots of process fee!! One clearly stated that it was lodged on the 7th April and the other 3rd May. I called again and was told that they had BOTH applications and I had to cancel one and it was nt as easy as me calling it had to be in writing and signed by all applicants over 18. So I did this on the 7th May, todate nothing, no refund no response to my email to the cancelation dept. However, (again) I have recieved a case worker who is starting to process the online app, now, she/he has asked for documents that they have (twice) and when I pointed it out she said that the stautory declartion signed by my childrens mother allowing them to migrate, giving her passport details, address etc and signed by her the solicitor and stating that she allows them to migrate was not good enough because it doesnt have the word "Permenantly" in it. I got the wording required from the OZ commission in LOndon and the solicitor I used stated he had done lots of then useing the same wording and had had no problems. Should I argue the toss or is it not worth it ,after all these solicitors letters cost a bit each time. Should I make a complaint about the 2 applications, as they quite clearly had the first one all the time, and should I complain that I have had no refund and its costing me interest and 2 currency conversion fees? Do you think it will "hamper" my application by p**sing people off. Not sure what to do but really frustrated and out of pocket!! Jase

Hi guys. Me and my girlfriend are looking into moving to Australia. We have lots of questions regarding the visa process & visa costs, locations to move to, looking for work, and moving pets. OK, So we are both english born and bred I am 26 and she is 28. I am a welder (boilermaker) and my trade is on the SOL list. She works in an office as a debt collector. We are not married and have no children. My main questions are... 1. What type of Visa would be best for us in terms of...how long the visa will take to grant us access, the best visa for us to stay in Australia, how much the visa application will cost, and what other costs there are (Medicles???) 2. Location, any body reading this would like to recommend any where?, i have family in Perth and Brisbane, My heart says Perth but i would love to live in Sydney. Any ideas on things to do, property costs, bills, costs, food, schools??? Any help on these subjects will be much appreciated. Also about renting/mortgages. If we do make the move we will be renting for quite sometime while we either build up a deposit or find a cheap enough house to buy with a small deposit. What are the costs of renting and is there anything we need to know (we would be looking for a place that allows pets, do land lords usually allow that?) 3. Work situation. Work is becoming few and far between in the uk right now and thats what has me looking into it (plus a change in life style). I have been looking on Seek.co.au and there looks to be plenty of work about in all regions and it looks to good to be true....so my question is, is it true? (lol) They look to be paying $25-$35 p/hr over 40 hours a week. How good is that and how far will that get us? And what type of work could my girlfriend find? She has previously worked as a debt collector, banker and worked in a real estates. 4. We are looking at bring over pets. A dalmatian and a cat. i have looked into costs, but i dont have much info on it, could people shed some light on this please? AARRRRGGGGHHHHH my brain is fryd already! :mad: lol Any help would be much appreacited guys!

I used to come on this site all the time every day all day x before during and after x moving to oz and wanted to post more !!!! but made some amazing friends on the way !! to have to send out 45 invites for my birthday party to people i have met and people that i have met throu pio and even people that i couldnt invite as a bit to far !!! lol kate, sue,wendy and many more xxxx xxxxxx and given my experiences, welcome new poeple , WE are all in the same boat !!!! have a laugh on chewing the fat x BUT why is it everytime i log on someone is actually being attacked for wot they think !!! ITS your life !!! we are on a roller coaster make your life great SO STOP X just cause people think oz is great x some dont x or rather its the area they live in or county they live in ! oz is huge and for people to comment on other peoples experiences is just plain dumb !!! i could say omg its hot in brisbane !!!! or cold in hobart or adeliade but roasting in perth !!!! the uk fits into victoria on the map !!!!! so stop having a go at the whole of europe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and yeh i am not where i want to be x but ! hopefully we dont go back ! yet ! but not easy when we are paying mortgage on family house in uk ! and melbourne isnt us !!!

Hi all Thought I would join up as this site seems really good on any info that you can't seem to find anywhere else! I am hoping to get myself and family into Oz, but it seems like a very long road, though I know it will be worth it. :biggrin:

Hi Guys and Girls....or should I say Blokes and Sheilas?! Just made the decision finally, after 10 odd years of procrastinating, to emigrate to Melbourne. Currently working in the UK for Fujitsu and hope to apply internally for a post in OZ and get there on a 457 Visa. No wife, no kids, no ties other than work family and friends in the UK so hopefully the transition should be easy. (He says, with the feeling that things can't possibly be as easy as it sounds!!) :huh: Hoping to make a few contacts on here to help with the life changing move and hear plenty of reasons to prove that I've made the right decision. Graeme.

Hiya Im new to the site. A collegue (Russian)told me about this sight and how useful it has been for him and his family. He is an accountant like myself (CSL) applied for the skilled migration visa which took 8months to be processed. That is perplexing as I submitted an online application for the same category visa in March 2009. My colleague tells me that at this stage I should have at least been allocated a case officer. I have queried but not received any substantial information to act on. I am still keen on living in Oz but its taking so long. Any advice will be most welcomed and appreciated. Charmaine

Hi Guys, I’m a new kid on the block nice to be here, you’re all looking well. I am living in the UK but have a NZ passport and my wife is Thai with UK PR and soon to have citizenship, we are looking at going to OZ this year for a look around and possibly even stay. One thing which may present a problem is that I do not have OZ PR and will not be able to get it because I did not stay there before they changed the law in 2001. I know I would get a special visa to stay and work permanently but for my wife she would only be allowed a 5 yr temp res visa which may be applied for every 5 yrs, which to me seems a little unstable as this does not lead to any type of permanent res.I would like to know if anyone has had any experience in applying for this visa, I think it is called a special category 614, it is for partners of NZ citizens who are not NZ citizens themselves. I am 42 and she is 39 but none of us are qualified although I have 15 yrs experience as a painter and at the moment I am working towards getting a Diploma in Horticulture Level 2 run by City & Guilds, does anyone know if this would be enough of a qualification to be allowed PR, because I have actually seen ‘gardener’ on the occupation list...? I did call an agency here to try and get some help but they mentioned that the Oz gov are to drop the age from 45 down to 40, but I have not read or heard that story anywhere else yet. I would like to give thanks’ in advance to anyone who may be able to help or advise. Thanks’ :biggrin:

Hi hope you all are well. This is my first time to a forum so a bit unsure whats what hopefully you'll be able to point me in rhe right direction. I'm currently an IRSE Signalling installer on the railways for Network Rail in the U.K realy had enough of it over here. I have applied with a couple of agencies over here but thinkin they would be bombarded. What i'm thinking of doin is trying to get over for 6 months or a year on a travelling visa to see what is available first hand. Travel and enjoy the country then hopefully be able to leave the u.k from there. Basically looking for any advice or companies rail signalling etc to give me a wee start off. Hope this isnt to long please say if it is no really sure how these work lol. Thanks for reading and any help or advice would be greatly appreciated Brian

How was everyone's weekend? Did any of you get up to anything exciting? Its my dad's birthday tomorrow, and as I am off to Melbourne in just over 2 weeks I made sure to make a big fuss of him this weekend. I took him and my mum out for a lovely meal yesterday, then made him his favorite meal today, a Lamb Tagine and a homemade cheesecake. Am now relaxing in front of the TV watching Prince Caspian. All in all a really cool weekend here. :smile:

Hi all, 1st post here following recommendation from a friend. My name is Cassie, I am 33 and live with my partner (Kev, 42) and my 6yr old daughter. I am currently a student nurse and will qualify in 2012. The long term plan is to move to WA although it looks like it's a few years away yet. Anyway, just wanted to introduce myself! I have lots of questions but I'll only bore you with one for now! Is there a list of abbreviations used somewhere?? I am sure I will get used to them soon but it's ll gobble-de-gook at the moment!!

:christmastree: happy christmas to ya all on pio xxxx hope ya ave a gud un x or merry xmas to you x hope you have a fab time xxx and hope to see you all on the boxing day meet up x :hug:

hey so any one who is on facebook it would be great if you could support. a friend of mine at the age of 16 was diagnosed with cancer and is now age 25 and continuing to go in and out of remission after being in comas and having kemo and so much more she still has a beautiful personality and strives to help people. her one wish is to get to see oprah when she is in sydney and we would love if you could support her plea on facebook by looking in the publice events for "pls get lucyon oprah show<3" all you have to do is clicked accept and hopefully the word will continue to spead until it reaches the right people. i beg you if you are not intrested then please do not leave rude comments as many people have seem to done this is for a real person with real feeelings and its the last thing she needs thrown in her face. thank you all so much xxnicole