karlakoala

I thought id start a new thread for anyone in our boat.

We (me-karla, hubby-nick, son-connor(11)) are literally right at the beginning of our journey.

This morning received a call from our chosen agents following their initial assessment of our eligibility, they confirmed that we should be fine & have no problems obtaining a visa. So the ball is now rolling after years of talk and saving up.

We will be applying for a skilled independent visa 136 and hope to settle near the Perth area (possibly wheatbelt region, Northam).

I would appreciate posts from ppl who are also right at the beginning of their application process so we can all help and support each other through it and also from ppl at other stages of their visa application who may be able to offer advice.

At last I begin my journey down the yellow brick road, cant wait to reach the land of Oz!!!

rightruccus

Hi Karla
We're on same journey, but a bit ahead of you. We started 4 months ago (March) and are at the waiting for Visa approval stage. We used an agent as well, TRA is done and passed, meds and police checks being held back until we hear from DIAC. There is a waiting list due to changes in September, so there's quite a lot of applications trying to beat the deadline.

All i'm doing just now is sorting out the house, giving stuff away to charity, organising boot sales, selling on E-bay, all that kind of stuff.
Today, i've been sorting out the garages to determine what is coming with us and what is being given away.
We haven't applied for jobs yet, only because we don't know when we will be going but the initial plan was for the end of the year, then that changed to spring time next year when the housing market should waken up again and folks are more interested in buying houses. We've been keeping an eye on the job market, but it's only just that, seeing what's out there.
As for accomodation, we haven't looked at any temp stuff (no point i think for the moment), but lazily looking at areas to stay. Still a bit overwhelmed about where to look to staying, only because everybodies tastes and needs are different. Who's to say popular/desireable areas will suit us? A difficult call, but we'll get there in the end.
Actual jobs will determine ultimately where we live initially.

karlakoala

hi rightruccus,

good to hear from someone in similar situaltion.

The whole thing is a bit overwhelming dont you find? Knowing when and how to do things like that - selling your stuff, applying for jobs etc.
Id love for you to keep me informed of how everythings going for you throughout.

We plan on putting our house on the market asap after xmas, we have arranged to move in with my in-laws between then and leaving for Oz, mainly because unfortunately it is not in such a desirable area so we;d rather have it sold than end up with a visa and unsold house. Everything feels like a big risk now but im sure it will all be worth it.

Good luck with visa approval!!!

curly

Hi, not at the start like you, at the end just want to say welcome to BE

karlakoala

Thankyou curly,

At the end eh? Congratulations, cant wait til i can say that!
Does that mean you are there already? If not when do you leave?

rightruccus

Hi karla
There's a lot do in the whole process for sure. We went with a recommended agent because we wanted to make sure we weren't wasting our time and money on a dream which couldn't be fulfilled. Don't get me wrong, you can still fall at a hurdle, but the chances of that happening lessen with a good agent advisin you of pitfalls and the like. Don't be afraid to ask them questions. That's what you pay them for!

My advice to you just now is concentrate on your TRA for the moment, there will be plenty time to worry about the Visa application,meds,house selling, goods to take etc etc.

The way it happened for us was to go to the agent initially, see if we were eligible, then draw up contract between ourselves and agent once we found out we were.
From then, we had a choice of paying for everything up front or pay in stages (we paid in stages).

Next part of the process was the TRA..... As you'll probably read on this site a lot of people (self included) find this the hardest part of the whole process.
I got my paperwork in and it sat on the dining room table for weeks.. I just couldn't get the right motivation to sit down and write....... and write........ and write...... :curse: but after spending weeks going over and over in my head how to write down my skills in laymans terms to prove my capability, i got there in the end.

Everybody's different, but i can't spend a half hour here, a half hour there writing down my skills, i've got to be undisturbed, so i can get on with it. Once i got going, it started to get easier doing it and more and more useful information popped into my head which i could use to complete the task.

Having an agent helped here, cause i started doing my TRA, then took a wobbler wondering if i was writing what they wanted to know, so sending a sample to the agent, they will tell you whether you're on the right track. In my case it was, so bulldozed ahead with that encouragement and got it done in no time!

I'm not sure if all agents are the same, but ours gave samples of what the authorities wanted to see, so that helps the process too and helps you understand what the authorities are looking for.

With that out of the way (and more fees paid), we waited for the result. A pass!

Euphoria soon passed and a bump back to earth happened, when the next lot of paperwork came in... And i mean a lot!.... This was the actual Visa application paperwork. To be fair, we were spoilt cause the agent had done all the donkey work , all we had to do was check over it, sign it, provide details where necessary and Bob's your Auntie's Uncle as they say. There were 3 different forms for the Visa application. Form 47SK, Form 80 and Form 956 (for the agent).

So now, we're at the waiting game... This is when you can sit back and sort out all the million and one things you need to do before you go. With the timescales just now, we haven't applied for meds or police checks, no point imo, until we are nearing our Visa approval.

So, to recap, start to compile the information needed for the TRA, that's what i would do at the moment. Don't worry about anything else in the meantime, there's plenty time for the rest.

And good luck!

karlakoala

Oh no, don't say that, My OH is the main applicant so it's his skills were hoping to gain access with, problem is that writing is definitely not one of the many skills he possesses , I usually do anything like that.

We're at the first stumbling block already I think , waiting to hear from C&G archive services on OH's lost certificates and also as we are currently going through the process of my hubby adopting my son, waiting for an adoption certificate (which also means waiting to apply for a passport in my son's new name), all of these things were included in the list of documents we should begin to get together in an email received from our Agents yesterday.
Panicking already now!!! I have emailed our agent to ask what, if anything we can do to get started while we wait for these things so now I anxiously await his reply.

Anyway, thanks for the sound advice above, I think you are probably right, my head is just so full of all that we will need to do between now and leaving for Oz (hopefully) that I was getting carried away. Easily done though after finally beginning something we have wanted for so long!

rightruccus

That's all right , you can be his secretary! Nick can dictate while you write it down or type it into a Word doc.

Seriously though, don't get too worked up at the moment, take one step at a time.
Sort out the adoption issue and whilst waiting on that in the meantime, start on the TRA. You'll need references, certificates etc but your agent should be able to keep you informed with what's needed for Nick's skills.

JAJ

Maybe I've missed something, but it's possible that her husband is not a tradesman, in which case all the advice about "TRA" is misleading.

ELLJAY

[QUOTE=karlakoala;5118008]Oh no, don't say that, My OH is the main applicant so it's his skills were hoping to gain access with, problem is that writing is definitely not one of the many skills he possesses , I usually do anything like that.

Hi Karla, welcome to expats. We're from Middleton! - re the above point you've made - just work together. That's what we did. It was my OH skill we came on Sheet Metal Worker. So we'd get the kids to bed, pour a couple of glasses of cider - then make a start. My OH would tell me everything he did (workwise) and i would collate the info and type it up. We put or TRA together in 2 weeks! - because we wanted to hand deliver to Oz whilst on our reccie!!

Any info required (but not on Perth - sorry as we are in Brisbane) just send a pm,

Cheers L-j

blakey1

hi there we are about 2 months in the process we lodged our TRA application on friday so should hopefully hear back in next 3 weeks we hope . We found this quite simple but very indepth as husband timeserved not paper qualified but we have good agents who did almost the hard work for us after we gave thme what they needed. Quite daunted about the next stage which starts next week as dont know what the visa forms are like at all although we have been told these are quite straight forward compared to the tra requirements so we shall have to wait and see . God i hope we will know before xmas but not holding my breath cant wait to start new life with my hubby and girls.
We are also totally overwhlmed on the idea of where to go as we not visiting just selling up and going ahhhh! so we just kepp aking qustions and are going to attend a seminar in november hopefully that should help us and answer lots of questions.
Good luck and keep us posted on progress

blakey1

[QUOTE=ELLJAY;5118331]

blakey1

[QUOTE=ELLJAY;5118331] hi there any info on brisbane work situation for joiners would be fab and schools for kids as we have no idea at all what the pay is or rent costs are either thanks blakey1

ELLJAY

[QUOTE=blakey1;5118396] For new people to this site - it's hard to know where to start! I would suggest using the "search" facility, where you can type in what you want to know - and read through lots of previous posts. Type in "joiners".....type in "Brisbane" etc. Read as many posts as you can. Find other joiners who can tell you about the work situation. Then take it from there. You need to move to where the work is relevant to you.

if you want to read about my story - http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...AY+one+year+on

Good luck and happy reading, lj

ozzieclare2b

Hi , i am also from just up the road. It can be very daunting the process and you have to be patient ( something i am not!) but you will get there. I live up the road in Radcliffe and my bro is emigrating too from Heywood. Hes finding it harder than me as hes mostly been sell employed (flooring and carpet fitter) so i know what you mean about the TRA process. Hopefully i will have my ANMC skills assessment back in around 4 weeks. then we start applying for the visa.

Make sure you watch out for the next lancs meet up, there was one today but hopefully one next month too. Take care and good luck hun, everyone is so helpful on here x x clare