Does your stomach ever settle during the application progress!!

Mine's been churning since we made the first real step to application, and it hasn't stopped since!!

Sleepless nights, can't concentrate on anything else - is all this normal?

It's exciting though you have to say, sort of like being young again and waiting for xmas day!!


No where did I put that Gaviscon!

Fozzie

Wait till you get the visa, then the collywobbles really start!

I think though the longer you go on the more "normal" it seems and in the end you just can't wait to get it all over with.

Ditto I feel like a nervous wreck

Just wanted to wish you guys lots of luck for the future.........was also wondering did any of you apply even without visiting Oz first?
Donna

Tell me about it, it is like an obsession, taking to waking up before 6 and logging on in the hope...... even worse now as hubby has had his ESN approved and agent predicts we may hear in the week aaaaaaggghhhh :scared:
ViVi

Hi Donna - Kaz my wife is taking that leap of faith - i was there 10+ years ago and she is happy to take my word for it !!!

The way i sold it to her was that lets try and get the visa and then go out for a holiday - if we dont like it (yeah right!!) then we come back form the holiday chuffed right off that we spent 2.5K on something that we wont use !! In saying that she is looking most nights at cars and or houses !!

Thanks for the reply its nice to hear that there are people out there who are like us and ready to take the plunge...without first viewing, we were trying to get a rekkie sorted for march and it has all fell through and by the time we get to arrange another rekkie it will be about another 12 months and in that time we could have maybe got the visas sorted....so thats the decision we have come up with, i pray and hope its the right one.
We plan to go through an agent, our quote is £3500. Did you use an agent?
Donna

We are taking the plunge as it were!

We are also now seriously considering an agent too although none have given us a firm quote as of yet so I dont know the figures.

Can I ask who quoted you that price and what it included?

Thanks,

Fozzie

Hi,
I also applied for a visa before I had visited although I have now been to validate my visa and am glad we did it.

I used an agent and the total cost for us was £3400. That included everything from skills assessment, solicitors fees, agents fees, medicals application right down to postage. That was for 5 of us.

We used www.migrationexpert.com. They were very good I have to say. No problems at all, very prompt with responses to my queries and always had the right answers.

The only thing I found strange was as soon as we had got our visas I got a congratulations e-mail then it was like they had dissapeared off the face of the earth. I e-mailed to ask if they offered any further assistance with re-locating but I never heard from them again. They got the job done though!

Tracey.

Hi Fozzie

We went with an agent and they have been brill!! the link is below

http://www.australia-migration.com

Fees we payed below:-

Initial ASA Assessment £90.00

136 & ACS RPL £2,756.78

2nd Instalment for visa application £2,683.00

We applied for 136 skilled visa, but needed to be assessed by ACS as i had no uni degrees. If you don't need ACS you can knock off about £230.

Although this may seem expensive the amount they quote you is inclusive of the DIMIA fees (unless the fees are put up the you just pay the extra)

We found this well worth it as DIMIA have been happy with all info sent due to being checked by agent first..


Tabby

I decided to do it all myself - not go through an agent. I went on the DIMIA website and down loaded the appropriate booklet and studied it, what we needed to do etc Cost us as follows:

VETASSES £150.00
Visa application £725.00
Medicals (2 adults & 2 children) £300.00
X-rays £ 75.00
Blood tests £ 40.00
Police checks x2 £ 20.00
Postages £ 30.00 ??max

Total £1,340

Bit of a difference!!

Process went very smoothly, sent application begin of August and 139 visa granted 8.12.04.

WOW....a big difference...how hard was it doing it yourself?
Whereabout in Cheshire are you from?

Hi Fozzie
The agents are Int'l Visa's ......It would be for a general skilled migration visa
The cost include Police and Med checks ( For 4), Visa application and assessment for nurse registration. the price i think seems fairly average and to be honest we havent shopped around for any other
Donna

I think doing it yourself is a brave thing to do and of course saves money, I'm half doing it myself, half wanting an agent to hold my hand at the moment.

It's such an important thing I don't want to muck it up completely or delay it unecessarily through missing something simple.

My case may not be completely straight forwards so I'm thinking because of that it's going to be worth paying the extra for that reassurance if nothing else. (Can you imagine I miss something off a form and we get declined - that would be a long time in the dog house!!)

Fozzie

I didn't find it difficult at all, just a matter of reading all the info, getting the evidence. East Cheshire and you?