Cookie Crew

Hi all

We are completely new to this forum and so pleased to find it. The information in here is fascinating and really useful to people like us, considering a new life in Oz.

The million dollar question I guess is where do we start. We would love to join the many brits that have bailed out of not so great britain but wonder if our work skills will score us enough points for a visa.

My hubby works as a team leader in food manufacturing and I work as a Project Controller for British Aerospace. We have two daughters 6 & 14, I am 38 and hubby is 35.

Can anyone out there give us contacts of people who can help assess if we stand a chance of a new life in Australia. We've already identified the Gold Coast as an area that would be of interest to us but don't want to do to much research in case our dreams never come true.

Any reply gratefully received.

Helen and Phil Cook

jensteve

Have you had a look at the dimia website, it goes into different visa classes and the sol list that you will have to look and see where you are on it. Just a word of warning though when you hit 39 you loose more points so try and get some form of application in before that happens, that is for the main applicant. You need to figure out who has the best trade, if your both on the sol list, figure out who's trade is the easy to get recognised, you have to basically proove that you can do your job with a trade assesment authority before you can do your main application.
I'm on the Wirral, but about to be homeless waiting for the bond to be requested, we where a tad short of points.
Good luck Jenny

Cookie Crew

Thanks for the reply Jenny. Where abouts in the Wirral are you? We're in Bromborough.

We'll take your advice and look at Dimia website and see what sort of visa's are available. It's really early days for us but I've found loads of useful links on this site so have started to look through the mountains of information.

Out of curiosity, what are your occupations and how many points short of 120 are you? Also did you apply for a visa yourself or did you use a migration agency?

Regards

Helen

jensteve

We are in Moreton, this sites is really great as you say lots of links, gets rather addictive though as everyone else will tell you.
We have gone on Steve's roofing skills, which gave us 60 points but we only managed to scrape 110, so had to put up the bond money to gain 5 extra. So if we where now aiming for 120 we would be stuffed.
Steves hitting 38 now heading towards his 39th and I'm 34, but I am selfemployed shop keeper, so technically managemnet but figured it easier to prove steve's skills over mine.
We have got an agent but in all honesty you can find all the information you need on here.

jenny

debbiea34

Hi both,

Have you tried migrationexpert.com?
This has a free assesment form and may give u an idea. Also give immi.gov.au a look, its the Oz government website. Like you said this site is great for advice and information.


Good luck and keep us all informed of your progress

Debbie

BKate

Hiya,

For skilled immigration this is probably a good place to start;
http://www.immi.gov.au/migration/skilled/index.htm

These are immigration agent websites but they also contain alot of useful info.
www.gomatilda.com
www.austimmigration.com

Good Luck

helinuk

I have sent you a PM

try gomatilda or some of the advertised migration agents online that have a free assessment online.
There are also some agents who will do a free phone assessment.
http://www.immi.gov.au/
http://www.gomatilda.com/visas/faqs.cfm#10
http://www.visa-unit.com/
http://www.themara.com.au/Online/default.asp
http://www.fed.gov.au/KSP?phase=538b...overnmentSites
good luck
Helen

Cookie Crew

Thankyou everyone for posting all those useful links. I've had a good look through the SOL and both me and my husband have jobs worth 60 points. I'm hoping to qualify for a visa using Information Technology Officer - Systems Manager Database Administrator and hubby could use Supervisor, Baker & Pastrycooks.

The problem is our current job titles don't exactly match the above. I have years of experience in database administration but have never had a job title of database administrator. My husband Phil is a Team Leader for a Bakery company but has only been employed in this role for 14 months so we'll be 5 points short.

We really don't want to lose the opportunity of a lifetime for the sake of a job title and 5 points. Does anybody have any advice to offer us.

JAJ

Your next step should be to work out how many points you have.

There is a chance that that points test will change in July as most of us in the industry feel that DIMIA will need to give some additional point-scoring opportunities to allow enough people to get to 120 - otherwise they could well fall short of their targets from mid 2005 onwards. Spouse skills could well get more points.

Keep an eye on the DIMIA website over the coming months.

The next step is to see if you meet the requirements for a skill assessment. The ACS and TRA are the assessing authorities for the two occupations you've mentioned, and both have quite specific requirements.

http://www.acs.org.au
http://www.workplace.gov.au/tra

I would point out that ACS do expect you to be an IT professional - and they do make a distinction between that and a *skilled user* of IT.

For claiming spouse skill points you can always nominate a 50 point occupation assessed by Vetassess - this is normally easy provided you have a degree equivalent to an Australian bachelors.
You still need to meet the other basic requirements for skilled migration.

For work experience the detail of what you do is usually more important than the exact title - but it does need to match to *Australian* standards.

If you can't get to 120 points you need to consider other options, like skilled sponsored, STNI/Skill Matching, or employer nomination. Or the new regional independent visa to be announced soon, although that's not looking especially attractive currently.

You may well want to hire an agent after reading all this - ask on the forum for recommendations.

Jeremy

MarkMyWords

Um, I don't want to put you off by any means but I would just say that it's a long long slog to get that precious piece of paper in your passport and if you feel that doing too much research at the beginning could be a waste of time then you are in danger of giving up too easily. Gird your loins and ask yourselves if you really want to do it. If the answer is "yes" then commit yourselves to a lot of hard work, angst, emotional ups and downs and financial uncertainty. But also be sure that you can rely on people on this forum for support through the tough times and congratulations if/when you succeed. There are plenty here at the beginning, plenty here still riding the rollercoaster and quite a few who have popped out the other end and are ready to cheer on the rest of us.

On a practical note, I would second Jeremy's note of caution that the ACS are really only interested in seeing true IT professionals and that the country is already filling up rapidly with those (says he, having snuck in by the skin of his teeth); then again these things are definitely state-specific, as I would never have got into NSW at all, so keep your skills-related options open. Maybe you could do two parallel applications, one for each of you being the main skilled applicant? (Dunno though, is that actually allowed? Plus of course it would be twice the cost.)

Enough already!

Mark

Cookie Crew

Thanks for your replies Jeremy and Mark, we really appreciate your honesty. I think that maybe you have misunderstood my quote about not wanting to do too much research into this. Despite my comment, our research has increased and in truth has become an obsession but we are truly worried that if our hopes are built up too much, it will be a long hard dive back to reality if things don't go the way we wish. However, until looking at SOL list we honestly didn't think we had a hope in hells chance of gaining a visa for oz. I take on board what you say about the I.T industry and the difference between being a 'skilled user' and an I.T professional and as a result we have decided that any application for visa's will be in my husbands name as his job is undisputable and his age 34 (35 in July) will gain us additional points.

Anyway once again thanks for the reality check and good luck with your new lives in oz.

Helen

MarkMyWords

True, and there are a few who get rejected (or fail for other reasons like change of circumstances) and express their disappointment here, but I don't think any of them regret trying. So I don't think you will either. Any ideas where you might end up? As you have no doubt found in your research, sometimes one state is easier to get into than another, even before you get to the level of wondering where the jobs are to be found. Good luck with it all!

Mark

JAJ

If your husband is turning 35 in July then you have not got much time (or perhaps no time at all - depending on processing times) on your side to get assessed by TRA before applying to DIMIA. Skill assessments must be done before you apply.

Age is assessed at time of application (to the day) and points drop once you turn 35.

Even if you feel you don't meet ACS requirements for a skill assessment, a Vetassess assessment in a 50 point occupation may be enough for spouse skills, if you meet the other basic requirements.

Jeremy