transferring from R.N to R.A.N royal navy to royal australian navy

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

thanks ironduke,

i'm glad it's going well for you. and so glad you still find the time to pop on here and share your experience with us.

so it looks like we're heading to london on the 15th of march for Oh to enlist then off we go (is that the same date for you Gav?) so that leaves us the grand total of 33 WEEKS!!!!! to get organised. so be prepared for a thousand queries coming your way )

jen x

 

Hi Jen,

yes we go on the 15th March, if all goes well with VISA application. God 33 weeks isn't long. Jen just remind me is your OH a submariner, will be nice if on the same flight over, actually with my 3 year old you might think otherwise.

 

I (Nic) am like a rollercoaster at the minute with emotions about going and it didn't help yesterday when our 7 year old was crying saying he didn't want to go. I'm sure he will love it when he's there though. Maybe we should have had a reccie first. Oh well, went to Florida instead.

 

Nic

[Guest jeffner1974]

hi nic,

yes he is/was/will be again!!! i know what you mean. my head is birrling at the moment to. my 2 will be 6 and 2 when we go, so that will be an interesting flight right enough lol!! i pity the fool that sits beside us!! our eldest is quite excited at the moment but has started asking about coming back for a holiday, and when she'll see people again!!!

we have freinds that moved out in april, not through the forces but by coincidence are in Rockingham. they have kids ages with mine and have been sending pictures of swing parks ect so that seems to be the selling point for her lol!!

look forward to comparing notes over the next few months then (and some wobbly moments too no doubt!!)

jen x

[Guest jeffner1974]

hellooooo!!!! is there anybody there?????

 

nic, how's things going? have you recieved your labour agreement yet? no further developments here still checking emails and gathering info. hate waiting about!!!! beter get used to it i suppose!!

jen x

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

hellooooo!!!! is there anybody there?????

 

nic, how's things going? have you recieved your labour agreement yet? no further developments here still checking emails and gathering info. hate waiting about!!!! beter get used to it i suppose!!

jen x

 

Hi Jen, we have only now sent back the TOS as Gav has been away sailing trans-atlantic, we've got our police checks back, all clear!!

We are looking into medicals not sure if we should wait for labour agreement first though.

The waiting is a nightmare isn't it, it will all be worth it though, hopefully. Are you getting your daily fix of wanted down under? there's quite a few who have gone to Perth.

[RCplus3]

Hi we are just about to send application to RAN my OH is looking to transfer from RN. Wondering if anyone was in similar situation or perhaps couple steps ahead. :unsure:

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

Hi we are just about to send application to RAN my OH is looking to transfer from RN. Wondering if anyone was in similar situation or perhaps couple steps ahead. :unsure:

 

hello RCplus3,

 

We are at the stage of having just sent our TOS back to australia after signing it, Got our police checks done out of the way looking into getting our visa medicals done as soon as we receive our labour agreement where due to leave around the 15th of march 2012 If you got any question please feel free to ask

[Guest jeffner1974]

Hi we are just about to send application to RAN my OH is looking to transfer from RN. Wondering if anyone was in similar situation or perhaps couple steps ahead. :unsure:

 

 

Hi there,

We are nearly at the same stage as gavnicjacflo though we are still waiting on OH's TOS coming through (we are supposed to be going around 15th march too!!!) , police checks all ready just waiting to go (hanging back a wee bit in case it doesn't come off for march as they are only valid a year) and clearing all the rubbish out the house that we're not taking

 

Be prepared for lots of waiting about and constant checking of emails as nothing happens very fast lol!

 

welcome aboard :biggrin:

jen x

[RCplus3]

hey, what is the best way to send the application back not sure whether to use Royal mail or a courier??

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

hey, what is the best way to send the application back not sure whether to use Royal mail or a courier??

 

Hi, we used DHL in Staples when sending our application, it was about £35, keep your receipts and you can claim it back

[CornishSoph]

Have any of you guys had your COS yet??? Been waiting since June. Lt Cdr Vanessa Power keeps promising them and now has gone all quiet on us!! We sent off all the documents and applications in January. Geeting a bit fed up now. Would love to hear anymore about how your long your application took form putting in all navy docs reports etc until COS letter. We are hoping to go in Aug 2012 to Perth!! Sophie.

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

Have any of you guys had your COS yet??? Been waiting since June. Lt Cdr Vanessa Power keeps promising them and now has gone all quiet on us!! We sent off all the documents and applications in January. Geeting a bit fed up now. Would love to hear anymore about how your long your application took form putting in all navy docs reports etc until COS letter. We are hoping to go in Aug 2012 to Perth!! Sophie.

 

 

Sophie,

 

We received our actual COS at the end of July send them back mid August due to me being away. We received an email from Wendy Hughes the other day saying she was waiting on the labour agreement which has been lodged with DIAC and should hear something in a couple of weeks. Its taken us over a year to get this far!!! the waiting drives you mad. Wendy Hughes only works 3 days a week.

[CornishSoph]

Thank you so much more getting back to me! Seems like you guys have been waiting for ages too!! It drives you insane. Can't believe that you had to wait over a year as they seem to tell you that the offer will be through quickly. I think that Vanessa must work part time too. My hubby on deployment in Af'stan at mo and it is hard to connect all the pieces together. We had our interview in Pmth in Dec 2010 and assumed it would be 8wks. We still have nothing concrete really and need this before hubby hands in notice. They promised COS over a month ago and still no more info. Our main concern is that Adam needs to sort his notice soon if we are aiming for Aug2012 the date they have given us. Has your hubby done this?? Good luck, keep me posted! We went over in Nov 2010 and loved it!!

 

We are just down the road in Hayle at the mo with parents, but we live in Hants!

 

Thanks!

Sophie.

[Guest jeffner1974]

Hi,

OH sent his application off in jan 2011,we have a provisional date of march 2012 (not sure i can see it though, wont believe it till i'm there) waiting for COS to come through but there's been a bit of a hold up with meds. Wendy Hughes has been great at getting back to us with emails ect and i believe she is very busy. but things do take forever which is very frustrating.

good luck and i hope you hear soon

 

just out of interest have any of you submariners had to do a ' sharpened romberg test'??? bit of a grey area here

 

jen x

[CornishSoph]

Thanks for the reply! Pleased that we are not the only ones waiting for an age. Fingers crossed we will have some good news soon. Good luck everybody. Keep us upto date!

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

Hi all,

 

Sophie, hope you are enjoying the lovely Cornish weather, I actually packed away some summer clothes today for Oz, can't see me wearing them now, next time I see them we will hopefully be in Australia.

Gav is time done (crusty old sea dog) so didn't have to hand in his notice, he had to arrange for early release though.

 

Jen, Gav said submariners don't have to do that test, he can't remember what it is though. Do you live Cornwall / Devon way? would be lovely to arrange a get together before we travel out.

 

Ian, have you got the labour agreement yet?

 

Liz and Steve, are you there yet? would love a progress report.

 

And hello to everyone hope you are enjoying the last of the summer or winter

[Guest jeffner1974]

morning,

Nic, that's what we thought but for some reason they want oh to do one! it's a balance test to check for a neurological deficate (the bends) they have to do it before they go to the tank in oz but for some reason the want him to do it here first and is causing a headache because he's now a civvy, it's not so easy to get cleared up hoping to get it sorted out soon.

we're up in (not so) sunny ayrshire so a wee bit far for a coffee catch up i'm afraid lol! just need to keep up to date on here

enjoy the rest of your weekend

jen x

[RCplus3]

Hi, we used DHL in Staples when sending our application, it was about £35, keep your receipts and you can claim it back

 

We have sent application off, after reading some the messages am wondering when we are likely to hear something back from them. What/when was your first contact after sending application? We had an email from Wendy Hughes asking if we were still interested and if we were returning app. so hopefully that a good sign.

We gotta a house to sell and wanna move into quarters before OH puts notice in,

 

any advice would be fab

 

RCplu3

[RCplus3]

OMG have been reading back through and have found the pages with the negatives on, I knew it wasn't going to be all rosy but has made my head spin with questions.:eek:

so here goes - How and when do we arrange medicals? , Police checks when why who for? Has anyone else got a house they have sold or selling before moving to Oz?

would be great to hear someone else has done the same thing and thought OMG

 

thanks

 

Rach

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

OMG have been reading back through and have found the pages with the negatives on, I knew it wasn't going to be all rosy but has made my head spin with questions.:eek:

so here goes - How and when do we arrange medicals? , Police checks when why who for? Has anyone else got a house they have sold or selling before moving to Oz?

would be great to hear someone else has done the same thing and thought OMG

 

thanks

 

Rach

 

Hi Rach,

 

we have all been there, try and take some peoples opinions with a pinch of salt. The joining process is very slow just take it step by step. Firstly your OH will have to do a RAN medical, including a trip to the opticians, remember to keep all your receipts, as you can claim it all back when in Oz.

Then its a long, and I mean long wait for the TOS / COS (terms/conditions of service), if you are anything like us you will be checking emails everyday and reading everyones opinions about Australia, good and bad.

We had an informal interview with the RAN just before xmas, not sure if they are coming over this year. Not everyone has an interview.

We have done our police checks, they are for the visa and valid for one year, just a simple form, not an issue if you've not been in trouble with the law. They cost £35 per adult.

We have sent back our signed TOS, then the RAN apply for Labour agreement from the Immigration dept. We are now waiting for the labour agreement, the process so far from sending application has taken about a year, so try not to panic.

Next stage is then medicals for the whole family and the visa application.

 

We have got our own house which we are going to rent out, so currently touching it up and getting rid of junk, slow time.

 

We definately think OMG sometimes but are thinking of the move as an adventure, can always come back after 6 years if its not all its cracked up to be.

 

If you have anymore questions ask away, will try and help where we can.

 

Nic and Gav

[Guest jeffner1974]

hi,

just like nic says, it takes time and is frustrating. take all comments aboard, good and bad but don't dwell on the bad. we have the attitude that it wont be perfect and will have it's hard bits but the change in lifestyle will be worth it. it's what you make it!!

we also had the informal interview in december, waiting for some med stuff to be sorted out then hopefully get the COS and sent it away sharpish. we are renting the house out as well so in the mean time we are clearing out all junk, gathering together all the paperwork required (mountains of it )) our police checks are ready to go but waiting till things have moved on a bit. like nic says, they're only valid for a year (so are the medicals) there are some good websites to help along.

 

http://www.acpo.police.uk/NationalPolicing/ACROCriminalRecordsOffice/PoliceCertificates.aspx

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard/#vw=%23a_step_3

 

try not to worry and just enjoy the ride lol! you'll get there in the end and it will all be worth it

 

jen x

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

Hi All.

 

Woohoo we received our Labour Agreement this morning along with an email telling us which visa to apply for. Also been told to book our medicals, so get Nic to look into that next week.

[Guest jeffner1974]

Hi All.

 

Woohoo we received our Labour Agreement this morning along with an email telling us which visa to apply for. All so been told to book out medicals, so get Nic to look into that next week.

 

 

fantastic news, must be a great feeling! and what a good start to the weekend.

 

things are dragging a bit here still with this flippin' 'sharpened romberg test'!!:mad:

jen x

[Guest gavnicjacflo]

fantastic news, must be a great feeling! and what a good start to the weekend.

 

things are dragging a bit here still with this flippin' 'sharpened romberg test'!!:mad:

jen x

 

 

Jen,

 

If you read through this publication especially Annex N it might resolve the romberg issue, http://www.navy.gov.au/w/images/ABR_1991_Vol_1_Chap_7.pdf

[Guest jeffner1974]

Gav, thats a whole load of light reading there, cheers lol! i'm pretty sure OH has read all of it and i'm not even going to try. but thanks anyway!

 

the problem is from our Doctor on civvy street. if we knew this was required a fortnight ago it wouldn't have been a problem as he was still in the mob and would have been sorted by now, no problem.it's just bad timing. it will sort it self out i'm sure, but just shows how a simple wee thing can set it all back!

 

thanks again though for the link. enjoy your weekend

jen x

[RCplus3]

Thanks guys feeling much better about things now, had an email to say application been received. however the medical stuff for OH has changed and now an ecg is required argh!! thought was all sorted now.

 

Thats fab news nic and gav. :biggrin:

 

Rach