Mr&MrsPom

Hello everybody,

We are just starting the process, we haven't decided yet whether we will emigrate or not yet but have decided to apply first, then if we are successful decide then. We have friends who have just gone back to Perth, they originally lived there 12 years ago.

I sent our first cheque yesterday for the skill assement to begin and confirmation for the agency to act for us. They will now send us the skill assement form. We are going to have to put A$100k in a bond to get enough points.

Out of interest how long has it taken for you. Did you use an agency. If so which one. We are using AMA in Manchester.

Some peoples applications seem to go through in less than a year but then we have some other friends who waited over two years.

What is the average.

Many Thanks
Mrs Pom

PS. The reason we are doing it this way, is that if we leave it we will lose vital points (age), so even though it could cost us £2.5k its probably worth it in the long run. It would be awful if we decided to do it then found out we couldn't because we were too old to qualify. Plus the fact we have wasted £6k this year on rubbish holidays so whats another £2- 2.5k.

mr mover

You don,t have a son named Bastard do you????????.... MM

chippy

I've just received my visa confirmation today. The whole process has taken just under 8 months start to finish. I also had to do the $100k thing. I did not use an agent. Good luck to yourselves.

HUP

Surely you mean have they got a son called Iebastard.

Sorry don't want to hijak the thread.

We did our skills assessment in November 2001. This only took about 3 weeks to come back

We did not use an agent and we submitted our paperwork in February 2002. We have recently had our assuror of support bond requested and should (hopefully) receive our visas soon.

So in answer to your question it can take a bloody long time.

Good luck with it

Whingin Pom

Well done you lucky sod, now you know you can escape this sinking s*@t hole.

I have only just put in my visa application and I started in November, so going by the quoted time of 50 weeks, I have about 40 left before they let me know.

Heres Hopeing

Mr&MrsPom

Mr Mover,

No thats the name I give my husband when he p****s me off!!!

regards
Mrs Pom

Mr&MrsPom

Chippy,

What is your trade or is that a daft question. Did your visa go through quickly because of your trade.

Regards
Mrs Pom

chippy

Yes surprisingly enough I am actually a chippy (carpenter).
I think that the visa proceess was accelerated during a short period leading up to the end of June. Word has it that they drafted in extra staff to hit end of year immo intake targets. It seems to have reverted to snails pace again, but I can't be sure.

I reckon that the 50 weeks thing is probably conservative, and most straight-forward cases wiil be quicker. However there are people on here who have waited a hell of a long time, but I think that this was during a period when DIMMA centralised their office to Adelaide whilst disbanding the London office for PR's.

chippy

Keep posting on here, it helps to keep you focused, and up to date on whats going on.

Mr&MrsPom

Hi Chippy,

Just reading another of your posts on the bonds thread. What is this 49 day thingy you refer to. We will have to go the bond route as well.

Re the adelaide thingy!!. It worked the wrong way for one lot of friends there visa took over two years but some other peoples application went straight to the new office with no queue and was processes in four months

Regards
Mrs Pom

chippy

When you get your bond money request you are given 28 days to sort out the money plus 21 days for postage allowance, giving a total of 49 days.

Although I got max points for trade & experience, I am an old bastard (been 21 for 16 years now), so I was 5 pts short of the req 115pts. I boosted this up with 5 bonus pts in exchange for $100 000.

tinaj

My skills assessment took 3 months (NOOSR). We sent off our visa application end of October and got request for medicals etc in March. Got final visa end of May/June.

There was definitely a rush on in May and June. Lots of people got their visas then, some of them had only just applied. It seemed that they just picked up the top ones that came in and approved them!

Most people seem to get theirs within a year now. The awful time was 18 months ago when they changed the application location to Adelaide.

Are you going to visit to see if you like it?

Mr&MrsPom

Hi Tina,

Before we seriously started talking about emigrating we planned to go out to visit our friends Xmas 2005. Timing is an issue for us, my work is seasonal so we can only go out of season. We have decided to see if we can get a visa first and then go for a holiday there and then make our decision. That way we would also validate our visa's.

Have to confess I am a little concerned about the negative comments that I have read re Perth. Especially about the lack of jobs etc and how most Australians consider WA to be the back of beyond.

My friend says that if she feels a little down or homesick, she takes a two minute drive and looks at the ocean and immediately feels better.

Regards
Mrs Pom

ps

Sorry meant to say we will probably bring the trip forward now to early 2005. Next years hols are already booked for Florida.