Did You Know When.......

[Guest guest37336]

I guess this applies to those of you in Australia and those of you waiting, and waiting, and waiting for your visa.

 

Firstly my own very short story. Even though I had been to Australia many, many times between 1979 and 1980 I didn't apply for PM until 1981. Way back then if memory serves me right the paperwork was still fairly comprehensive and detailed to satisfy DIAC, BUT.

 

It was no where near the criteria that is laid down today, no where near. Even my skills recognition (I think) was free,:shocked:. All in all the paperwork was minimal by todays standards. The medicals weren't even as stringent as they seem today, and the cost, I think it was £350, (total) or very near that figure anyway.

 

I read over and over again about the hoops some people have to jump through to get their visas, the paperwork would put the civil service to shame, and the cost, quite honestly the costs involved in some cases would give me heart palpitations.

 

So with that said, when you FIRST applied did you realise that the system DIAC have in place at the moment would impact so greatly on your lives. It must in some cases put immense strain on some relationships, the monetary angle at times I imagine seems never ending, and the goal posts at times seem to change with the weather.

 

Did you when you first considered Australia as your new home, you know, maybe a holiday out there or looking through some glossy magazine, did you honestly think that it would be as difficult as it 'seems' to be in some cases. And I guess, important to some, did you ever think it would cost as much as it has.

 

As I said, when I first applied for PM way back when, the 'system was so much easier to negotiate, and whilst being fairly complicated was in no where near as difficult as it seems today.

 

I'm not bitching about what DIAC have in place, but in all honesty when you FIRST thought about living in Australia did you envisage the massive impact it was going to have on not only your 'mental' stability, but also your bank account.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cheers Tony.:wink:

[Guest cazbob]

I hadn't a clue how much it would affect me Tony,

 

Now i am by no means financially ruined by it and i know i am fortunate in that my journey has only been a year so far and not the years and years it has been for some poeple but.... i sometimes feel mentally ruined by the whole thing! :cry:

 

Although in the most part it's due to other people's input into the process (employer mainly) the waiting and the not knowing are horrible. I have debated throwing the towel in more that once but in saying all that, kowing what i know now i would still do it all again... i'd probably be a bit more peristant with certain folks but all in all once it gets me to the land of Oz then I shall be a happy Cazbob! :yes:

[Guest guest30038]

We just couldn't wait to get sorted. The only worry we had was selling the house.

 

Our application was unusaual in that we got a phone call saying that it had been denied :cry: The comedian on the other end then told us why when we asked...............he said that we couldn't have a visa 'cause my wife was already a citizen!

 

Her dad was in the navy and he had done an exchange with an Australian officer for 3 yrs. Bridget was born just before they left to live in Singapore and although she only spent two months here, she was classed as a citizen.............that law has now changed, so we were lucky as I went as a dependent and the kids had citizenship by descent.

 

The buggers didn't give us our application fee back though! :arghh:

 

We were gone 5 weeks later :laugh:

 

kev

[B1K3R]

Good point Tony. But I think that most expenses don't come from DIAC alone. I had it planned all so I knew how much it would roughly cost...in my case, these were the things I had to pay for:

 

01. ACS accreditation

02. IELTS language test

03. Collecting/paying for university certificates, police checks, birth/marriage certificates, new passports etc

04. Certification of documents

05. Medical tests

06. Visa fee

07. Flights

08. Shippers & Shipping stuff

09. Insurance

10. Loss from selling car/bike/house and or renting expenses of renting your house out

11. Renting/buying a house in OZ

12. New will and attorney of power costs

13. Loss from transferring your money to OZ and the darn exchange rate!

14. Buying car, white goods and furniture + other stuff when arriving in OZ!

15. List goes on mate...

 

I believe its quite a tough move financially and also psychologically but if planned properly you'll have no problems :laugh:

 

Cheers

B!K3R