Sandy.l

Well, we are also pretty gutted about the news of the raised pass mark.

It appears from the information that we will have to go regional if we want any chance of living in Australia as we are both 38, skills not on MODL, no close relatives that can sponsor us etc. Even with the bond we can only raise 115.

I was all ready to throw the towel in, but then I got thinking. This is a very small piece of information, we don't have all the facts.

Regional has not been defined yet. If regional is anything outside CBD's such as Brisbane, Perth, Sydney and the other cities that are already excluded in STNI then that still leaves Melbourne, Adelaide and Tassie. If we want to acheive our ultimate goal of living in Brisbane, then we would be quite happy to go to at least two of those places for a couple of years. After all this would open up the opportunity to see other areas of Australia and may even influence our final choice of residence.

Also, Alan Collett has suggested that there may be a tweaking of the points system as has happened with previous changes. This could also mean that we and others may end up back in the 'independent' running! Let's hope he's right!

I hope you all don't feel too much despair, if you really want to do this, you'll find a way. I know that we're going to work our socks off to get there! If it means experiencing other areas then bring it on! I've lived in this sh*thole of a pit village for the last two years in preparation for moving to Oz, I'm sure I'd rather live in Melbourne any day!

Finally to all those of you who no longer have this worry as you are the proud owners of shiny, new visa's, CONGRATULATIONS (you lucky b*stards!!!!!)

Get some tinnies in cos we will be joining you for a barbie in the next couple of years!!!

Good luck to everyone!!

sandy

nosuchluck

Hi Sandy
our sentiments exactly, we are in the same position as yourself, hubby is 39, i'm 37, so we too have to put the bond money up and have a maximum of 115 points but like you say its not for us anyway the end of the world, we too want to go to Brisbane, but if the only way round it is to go to another part of Oz for a couple of years then so be it!
i've just emailed my agent to find out exactly how we stand but won't get a reply till tomorrow!
We had our meds done last week unrequested so not sure how we will be effected,
just wanted to let you know that you are not alone in your way of thinking
kind regards
Rach, Mark and Chanelle x

wmoore

Try to look on the bright side. Regional aint too bad surely? I was hoping to go Independant to Brisbane. I had already applied for STNI with Victoria and await response - wanted to keep that as a backup but I'm another 115 pointer so that's now my main.
As far as I understand the new regional visa (and let's face it, nobody seems to know exaclty yet!), regional means any more than about 25 miles outside the cities, although each state can have it's own version of that. That's not so bad is it?
Keep an open mind and your options open. Most of all, keep smiling
Failing that, keep drinking

callé

Thanks you guys! you have given me hope again! I love the country anyway. Want to be near brissy, but if we can do a few miles out... Hey, thats alright with me! Im so glad Im not alone in all this. See you all there... one day!!
calle

ohippy

Isn't the new regional visa a temporary one ? Is the state nominated visa a temporary one too ?

I really want to get to Oz so if it means living in a different state then that's what I'll do. I've only looked at the areas on the net anyway and am sure I could be happy anywhere near the coast.

The only thing is hubby is worried about them only being temp visas. What happens at the end of the term ? In the meantime can you claim medicare and free schooling ?

I was just at the appointing an agent stage so can't seem to find the answers as the agents are, for some reason, extremely busy !!

wmoore

STNI is permanent but you have to commit to the state that nominated you for 2 years and complete surveys and stuff.
SIR (Skilled Regional Independant - the Bush Visa) is a 3 year temporary visa where you can apply for permanent residency after 2 years. You must commit to the are for 2 years again (I think) and you must be so far out of the city - if it uses the same rules as some of the current regional visas you only have to be 20-odd km outside the city. No real details have been released on this one yet so some of this is speculation. I'm sure the likes of Alan will keep us posted on updates on this one.

ohippy

That doesn't actually sound too bad. Hubby is a builder so we wouldn't want to live in the cities anyway. Do you still have to get skills assessed ?

Wouldn't have any problem staying in one place for two years - gives you enough time to work out what you want. Wish they'd hurry up though and give out details of the new visa as we've booked a trip to Perth in August. If Perth isn't included we'll need to see if we can change the flights - yet more cost !!

wmoore

Ohippy, yes you still need a suitable skills assessment.
Perth itself 'the city' isn't on the regional list but I suspect plenty of its suburbs will be. The current postcode list for Designated Area Sponsored can be found here but this may not necessarily be the same as SIR.
You can find the which suburbs are in which postcode areas at Auspost.

bcl74

Hi everyone,
we too have just been stung with this news. Ive been told that we may have to go to the government sponser route to get there next year as we planned although we will have to go to southern australia so it could be adelaide, our agent doesnt seem to know much about the changes yet (reassuring eh????) but perth(where we planned to go) seems to have more unemployment( or so im told) so it may just be a good thing heading down to adelaide as they are in desperate need for some handsome jock sparkies LOl
Will have to call agent about the bush visa to see what that entails but I will post any info I can get

regards, Brian

wmoore

I'm using an agent for advice only (don't think I need one for filling the form in ). Just logged on to their site and apparently there is 'no important news for your visa category'. Well cheers guys, you've already been paid then

Simone

Being a builder, you could live in the southwest. That should be reasonable enough.

On the ''The current postcode list for Designated Area Sponsored' (as posted by wmoore), Mandurah is an area, so may be classed as regional, Rockingham is included in Perth metropolitan.

I don't know if the regional will be the same list, I doubt it, because I definetly wouldn't class Mandurah as regional.....
And also going by that list Melbourne/Adelaide/Canberra would be 'regional' as well, even though they are big cities!
But, you never know, fingers crossed!

ohippy

Thanks for that - the areas that we were looking at are definitely in the 'designated areas', just hope that they use these for the new visa.

I'm not really that keen on the state nominated visa - even if it is permanent, as I don't really fancy sitting in a 'pool' for a couple of years waiting for someone to pick us. I was always picked last for the netball team so wouldn't hold out much hope.

pukka pom

What is exactly going on??, has the points system changed already, we are another 115 pointer who has to give the $100,000 bond, application due to go in in a couple of weeks - does this come into effect now?????????

Simone

Yes, probably... But maybe 1 june or 1 July.
Agents hope to here more tomorrow.
Nobody knows.....

Check out the immigration forum, and the threads by Alan and Steven O'Niel.

Also a thread from Alan in this forum somewhere.

wmoore

You're thinking of Skill Matching. State Nominated is simply the state assessing your skills and saying "you're the kind of guy / gal who would fit in here" (well OK, there's a bit of poetic licence ). You fill in a form and send your CV (I have already for VIC), after a couple of months they send you a certificate (hopefully) which you put in your visa application pack to DIMIA and you go there 'independantly' and find work yourself.
See here