visa granted!!!
 

We got the eagerly awaited email this morning saying we'd been granted our 175 visa and must enter by April 17th 2013. Amazingly it's taken less than 7 months, much quicker than we expected. We couldn't have got this far without this forum so thank you to everyone who's posted all of the invaluable information for free. Hopefully in 6 months time we'll be ready to fly and begin building our lives in oz and meeting some of you that have already made the move.

Re: visa granted!!!
 

:thumbsup::thumbsup: magic!!

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Yay ... how awesome :)

Re: visa granted!!!
 

How fantastic is that, so pleased for you. Wahoo.
I eventually got my IELTS 8's thank god, so are applying for state sponsorship this week, then onto visa. We too hopefully will be there around same time, probably even going for same jobs. Good luck with the rest of your plans, and we'll see you on the other side, and have a drink or 3:thumbsup: Shelly

Re: visa granted!!!
 

That's brilliant!!! :thumbsup: It'll be great to meet up in oz :thumbup:

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Congratulations! :thumbsup:

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Wow shackybracky that's awesome! just saw this thread and I got so inspired! Hope I can be as lucky as you! :D

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Hey there, Myself and my partner are looking to migrate to Australia he is a fully qualified electrician and has been for 10years, we have been searching for help in doing this but keep going round in circles is there anyone that could possible help us in where we need to start the process

Thank you
Anna

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Hi Anna! Welcome to BE! Great to know you're moving to the land of oz. I'm a newbie here too but I'm sure if you check the other forum threads (esp. the Australia thread) you will see lots of helpful information there. Good luck! :)

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Start with the visa wizard on DIAC's website to determine if you're eligible for a visa. Since you're only starting now (presumably you haven't had skills assessed yet etc), you'll want to look at the new changes that are coming in from 1st July. They're changing to a system called SkillSelect. This will involve having to submit an expression of interest (EoI), and if/when they invite you, then you can apply for your visa.

I presume you're not looking at employer sponsorship, so you'll need to look at the 189 (it's an independent, permanent residence visa); 190 (sponsored, permanent residence); or 489 (sponsored, provisional residence - up to four years).

Electrician is on SOL schedule one (skilled occupation list), so you'd be able to go for an independent visa. If it had only been on schedule two, you would have had to obtain state sponsorship.

He'd need to get his skills assessed by Trades Recognition Australia. If he holds an eligible passport, he wouldn't need to take the IELTS test for the visa (I don't know if whatever body registers electricians requires it though), unless he needs the points. Some people find they do need the extra points, and for native speakers, it shouldn't be too taxing to get.

Once you've lodged the application, eventually you would have to get medicals and police checks (PCCs) done. In the UK, the PCCs are currently £35 each (standard service - ten working days), or £70 each (premium service - two working days). You can get them from the ACPO Criminal Records Office. There aren't as many authorised doctors to do the medicals as there used to be. You'll need to select one from the list of panel doctors. It really is a good idea to wait until they're requested by a case officer (CO), as they have a limited validity. If they expire, you'd have to do them again, and it's waste of time & money. Obviously, all your other evidence you can upload as soon as you can.

So, to conclude my rambling:

1) Look on the visa wizard to check eligibility.
2) Sort out skills assessment.
3) Take IELTS (if necessary).
4) Submit an EoI.
5) If selected, apply for visa.
6) When requested, arrange medicals & PCCs.
7) Try not to go insane waiting for visa decisions!
8) Don't worry about timelines. They're really not that helpful, as no two cases are the same.

If you're thinking of state sponsorship, you'd indicate it on the EoI & if a state is interested in sponsoring you, then you'd automatically receive an invitation to apply. You can indicate if you have a preference for a particular state, or you can choose to be available for all states, if you have no preference.

I hope this makes sense. I've probably missed something. I'm up to my eyeballs on cold medicines, so if I've missed something, I apologise!

Good luck! :thumbup::fingerscrossed:

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Thank you ever so much, I am up to my eyeballs with out the medicines ha ha
He has just arrived home from work and he is telling me he got a high score so thank you for the good luck its paying off already ;)

Anna :D

Re: visa granted!!!
 

Excellent. :) A good start then! :thumbup: