The journey to Australia- Our Visa application

Vetassess sent!

Sent the form and information to VETASSESS today, cost £7.75 for recorded delivery plus the $600.00 fee for assessment. My solicitor Stuart had kindly done all of the certified documents for free but collating everything took ages. There is currently a practical assessment going on so the next lot is scheduled for October.

Fingers crossed I am accepted for the practical.

The story so far

Here we are at the end of June 2008,

The journey started after an initial light hearted discussion during a skiing holiday in Meribel, New Year 2005/06. Bemoaning our lack of quality time and a mortgage that kept both of us awake at night we started talking about upping sticks and moving away. The discussions went from musing over how nice it could be, to a serious possibility in a matter of days. The growing feeling of "what if?" was one that was hard to shake.The first choice at that time was New Zealand, as Becky had serious doubts about the heat and the spiders in Australia. We looked long and hard at areas that attracted us, the lifestyle there seemed so relaxed. It came down to a straight choice between a couple of areas in the Wairarapa, just over the mountains, an hour from Wellington. At the time I was understandably excited and, as you do, got carried away with it. Once you embark on a project like this it becomes all consuming and it seems that nothing else exists. It wasn't until we looked at the work situation that it became a little less viable. The area we had chosen wasn't particularly well populated and it seemed the opportunities for a plumber might be limited. As a comparison I started looking at Australia, almost just to convince myself that it wasn't right for us, but the more I looked, the more I liked the look of the East Coast. After a long discussion on the pros and cons we decided to see if Australia was feasible instead.

The whole Australia/New Zealand decision took a bit of the impetus away, it seemed like we had convinced ourselves we wouldn't be any better off. There were definitive reasons we wanted to make the move, namely a better life for Becky and I, a better life and opportunities for Tom and Sam, trying to be mortgage free and the attraction of more free time in the outdoors. One of the things that became obvious was the difference in general attitude between the UK and NZ or Oz, the keeping up with the Joneses. Despite this, we let things ride, Spring turned to Summer and nothing more was said, it just went out of our heads for a while.

It wasn't until the following winter, 06/07 that the ideas took on more substance. We started looking at house prices, areas, what we might get for the money we had and in time became more and more interested in Australia. It wasnt that we didnt like the idea of New Zealand, just that Australia started moving higher up the list. Around January 2007 we discovered BE and the forums which gave us a myriad of new information, too much in some cases. We did some research on the spiders and realised that people just got on with it. There were numerous posts from people 6 months or a year in saying they had just seen their first redback or huntsman and it became so much less of an issue. By this time it was more a case of deciding to do something rather than nothing. We discussed our options and came to the conclusion, like so many others before us, that we'd rather try and fail than wonder "what if?" We contacted Visa Bureau and Go Matilda and worked out the cost of applying through them. Each were confident of gaining an Independant Skilled Visa for me so we made the decision to use Go Matilda based purely on the cost. The forums were positive for both firms but the cost difference made it difficult to justify using Visa Bureau as they were more expensive.

Having started the process, spent some money and put a fair bit of effort into the research, I was keen as hell to get on with it. Its difficult to get your head around the fact that you will have to wait a year yto achieve something you have decided to do. Its like putting the house on the market, you do it because you want to move. When nothing happens it becomes so frustrating when it is all consuming. You think of nothing else, everytime a news story tells of more doom and gloom you think, this time next year............We told our nearest and dearest, my parents, Beckys parents and our close friends, it seemed they were all in agreement. My Dad said we should do what we thought was best for us and the boys and that, although he would miss us, that we were doing the right thing. My Mum was slightly less convincing, she made the right noises but I got the feeling she wasn't as happy about it as my Dad. Not that she ever made it difficult, just the odd comment thrown in about not seeing us or the boys and that it was so far away. Becky's Dad was much the same as mine, fair play for having a go, sure everything would be fine whatever we decided to do. The boys were over the moon, I'm not sure if that was because we painted an idyllic picture for them or because young boys like adventures. Either way, they couldn't wait.

I did all the work for the TRA application, got references, Stautory declarations and copies of certificates etc. By the end of March 2007 it was all in place and I paid for the TRA. A bit out of the blue it seemed that things were not as straight forward as I thought. Becky had decided she wasn't completely comfortable with moving to the other side of the world. We had some long and difficult discussions and to be fair, she always said that if I was absolutely positive then she wouldn't be the one to stop it. I still desperately wanted to go ahead but I couldn't live with the fact that she didn't want to go and that she might be unhappy if I made the decision alone. Reluctantly I resigned myself that for the good of the family we weren't going anywhere. The emails from Go Matilda warning me of changes in the process didnt really sink in. TRA was changing but it wasn't of any consequence, so why worry?

Even having reached that point  we still had a hankering to go to Australia. We decided that we were going to save up and have an extended holiday at Christmas 2010. As a cricket fan, the Holy Grail has always been the Boxing Day test at the MCG. England would be in Australia playing for the Ashes, so what better focal point for our plans? Both Becky and I gave up smoking, as much as an incentive as for the obvious health benefits, and worked out that the money we could save would all but pay for the trip. Slowly but surely the idea of the holiday in 2010 allowed Oz to creep back into our conciousness, without even realising it we renewed the idea of emigration.

In February 2008 Becky and I had yet another discussion about the state of things in the UK, reinforcing the ideals of a new start. The decision was made to look at the Visa application again. By this time Sept 07 had come and gone and TRA was no longer an option for plumbing. I liased with Go Matilda, only to find that my money was gone, a new system of assessment was in place meaning we would have to pay again. This was bad news as we were not exactly flush with cash. The burst of enthusiasm nearly disappeared as quickly as it had come. However, we decided that if it was what we wanted, it was worth the money and the effort of starting the process again. It took us until May 2008 to get the money for the application in place, the house was on the market and the ball was rolling. As it stands now, on the 30th June 2008 the application for Vetassess is ready and will be sent by the end of next week. Now the real waiting starts, it seems that DIAC are experiencing a major backlog due to the rush of applications in August 2007. This was due to the change in immigration rules that passed me by in the emails. Once my application is recieved by Vetassess it will be decided by them whether the evidence of my qualifications and experience is sufficient to qualify me for a practical test. The test I am aiming for is in October, in North London.