Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Feb 7th 2007, 12:19 pm
#1
Jelly-Belly, tbh
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2007
Location: N.Brisbane, QLD
Posts: 630
Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hi All! I’m a newbie, just joined up today.
My husband and I have been seriously considering emigrating to Aus for a long time now. We finally decided to go for it and see what happens! We’re still very young, both 26, have been married for three years and have a five month old little monster. We also have our own home which holds the equity we’d need to fund this life changing adventure, so this is a big risk for us, but one we’re willing to take for the benefit of our children. We’re very lucky to be so young on the housing ladder in this country but we can’t ever see ourselves being able to climb it. This is one of our biggest incentives to emigrate. With the housing being much bigger in Australia, even if the wages are lower, and at least we’d have a garden bigger than a postage stamp to waste those sunny days in if we couldn’t afford to go out and do things.
We’ve done an awful lot of background research and now feel ready to make a start on the whole process. We’ve contacted OE for one of their free assessments and they are confident my OH would clearly pass the 120 points mark. So, the next step is to get his skills formally assessed which we’ve looked into and it seems pretty straight forward.
We’ve made the decision to do as much of this ourselves to avoid agent fees, at least until we run into any problems. I personally would prefer to go through an agent but I can’t justify the extra spend at the moment as our budget will be fairly tight. What do you think about this? Has anyone else done it themselves and how did they find it? Also, for those who used agents, did you find their services to be worthwhile, would you use them again and how much did they charge you?
Anyway, it’s good to know there are forums like this ‘out there’. We have no family or friends who have done this before. No family in Australia and we only barely know a couple who live in Newcastle who lived over here for a bit. It’s all a bit scary stuff, but it’s good to know there are others who have done it against all odds.
Hope to speak to you all a lot more in the future. Emma x
My husband and I have been seriously considering emigrating to Aus for a long time now. We finally decided to go for it and see what happens! We’re still very young, both 26, have been married for three years and have a five month old little monster. We also have our own home which holds the equity we’d need to fund this life changing adventure, so this is a big risk for us, but one we’re willing to take for the benefit of our children. We’re very lucky to be so young on the housing ladder in this country but we can’t ever see ourselves being able to climb it. This is one of our biggest incentives to emigrate. With the housing being much bigger in Australia, even if the wages are lower, and at least we’d have a garden bigger than a postage stamp to waste those sunny days in if we couldn’t afford to go out and do things.
We’ve done an awful lot of background research and now feel ready to make a start on the whole process. We’ve contacted OE for one of their free assessments and they are confident my OH would clearly pass the 120 points mark. So, the next step is to get his skills formally assessed which we’ve looked into and it seems pretty straight forward.
We’ve made the decision to do as much of this ourselves to avoid agent fees, at least until we run into any problems. I personally would prefer to go through an agent but I can’t justify the extra spend at the moment as our budget will be fairly tight. What do you think about this? Has anyone else done it themselves and how did they find it? Also, for those who used agents, did you find their services to be worthwhile, would you use them again and how much did they charge you?
Anyway, it’s good to know there are forums like this ‘out there’. We have no family or friends who have done this before. No family in Australia and we only barely know a couple who live in Newcastle who lived over here for a bit. It’s all a bit scary stuff, but it’s good to know there are others who have done it against all odds.
Hope to speak to you all a lot more in the future. Emma x
Feb 7th 2007, 12:28 pm
#2
Living the Dream!
Joined: Sep 2005
Location: Cleveland
Posts: 6,515
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hi Emma,
welcome to BE.
We did our application by ourselves it was quite straightforward as long as you read all the information properly and read the forms and complete them carefully. Quite a few people have done it independently and saved themselves agents fees. If you get stuck with any of the questions you can always ask on here, I got loads of info from this site which helped enormously.
Good luck with your venture,
Jackie x
welcome to BE.
We did our application by ourselves it was quite straightforward as long as you read all the information properly and read the forms and complete them carefully. Quite a few people have done it independently and saved themselves agents fees. If you get stuck with any of the questions you can always ask on here, I got loads of info from this site which helped enormously.
Good luck with your venture,
Jackie x
Feb 7th 2007, 12:28 pm
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Ningi, QLD
Posts: 1,777
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hi All! I’m a newbie, just joined up today.
My husband and I have been seriously considering emigrating to Aus for a long time now. We finally decided to go for it and see what happens! We’re still very young, both 26, have been married for three years and have a five month old little monster. We also have our own home which holds the equity we’d need to fund this life changing adventure, so this is a big risk for us, but one we’re willing to take for the benefit of our children. We’re very lucky to be so young on the housing ladder in this country but we can’t ever see ourselves being able to climb it. This is one of our biggest incentives to emigrate. With the housing being much bigger in Australia, even if the wages are lower, and at least we’d have a garden bigger than a postage stamp to waste those sunny days in if we couldn’t afford to go out and do things.
We’ve done an awful lot of background research and now feel ready to make a start on the whole process. We’ve contacted OE for one of their free assessments and they are confident my OH would clearly pass the 120 points mark. So, the next step is to get his skills formally assessed which we’ve looked into and it seems pretty straight forward.
We’ve made the decision to do as much of this ourselves to avoid agent fees, at least until we run into any problems. I personally would prefer to go through an agent but I can’t justify the extra spend at the moment as our budget will be fairly tight. What do you think about this? Has anyone else done it themselves and how did they find it? Also, for those who used agents, did you find their services to be worthwhile, would you use them again and how much did they charge you?
Anyway, it’s good to know there are forums like this ‘out there’. We have no family or friends who have done this before. No family in Australia and we only barely know a couple who live in Newcastle who lived over here for a bit. It’s all a bit scary stuff, but it’s good to know there are others who have done it against all odds.
Hope to speak to you all a lot more in the future. Emma x
My husband and I have been seriously considering emigrating to Aus for a long time now. We finally decided to go for it and see what happens! We’re still very young, both 26, have been married for three years and have a five month old little monster. We also have our own home which holds the equity we’d need to fund this life changing adventure, so this is a big risk for us, but one we’re willing to take for the benefit of our children. We’re very lucky to be so young on the housing ladder in this country but we can’t ever see ourselves being able to climb it. This is one of our biggest incentives to emigrate. With the housing being much bigger in Australia, even if the wages are lower, and at least we’d have a garden bigger than a postage stamp to waste those sunny days in if we couldn’t afford to go out and do things.
We’ve done an awful lot of background research and now feel ready to make a start on the whole process. We’ve contacted OE for one of their free assessments and they are confident my OH would clearly pass the 120 points mark. So, the next step is to get his skills formally assessed which we’ve looked into and it seems pretty straight forward.
We’ve made the decision to do as much of this ourselves to avoid agent fees, at least until we run into any problems. I personally would prefer to go through an agent but I can’t justify the extra spend at the moment as our budget will be fairly tight. What do you think about this? Has anyone else done it themselves and how did they find it? Also, for those who used agents, did you find their services to be worthwhile, would you use them again and how much did they charge you?
Anyway, it’s good to know there are forums like this ‘out there’. We have no family or friends who have done this before. No family in Australia and we only barely know a couple who live in Newcastle who lived over here for a bit. It’s all a bit scary stuff, but it’s good to know there are others who have done it against all odds.
Hope to speak to you all a lot more in the future. Emma x
We used an agent cost about £3500 all in. Lots of money but well worth it. They more or less filled in every form for us and without them we would have most deffinately fell at the first hurdle. We are at the med and pcc stage.
All in all would probably use an agent again.
Sam
Feb 7th 2007, 1:37 pm
#4
on the Goldie
Joined: Sep 2006
Location: 4226.au
Posts: 12,364
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hi and welcome to the mad house
we used an agent and it cost about £ 3000 including all application fees to TRA and DIMIA. we used them as OH is self employed and in all it took 8 months from TRA application to PR visa grant. however if it was straight forward i don't know if we would have or not - although using an agent i have found it a very stress free experience.
all the best for your new venture
we used an agent and it cost about £ 3000 including all application fees to TRA and DIMIA. we used them as OH is self employed and in all it took 8 months from TRA application to PR visa grant. however if it was straight forward i don't know if we would have or not - although using an agent i have found it a very stress free experience.
all the best for your new venture
Feb 7th 2007, 4:54 pm
#5
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Sep 2005
Location: Gold Coast
Posts: 1,343
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hello and welcome. We also used an agent as it was "NO visa, No fee" and we did not want to make any mistakes and delay our application. It cost us £1500 plus V.A.T but there service was excellent. www.1stcontact.co.uk
If you are not in any rush to obtain your visas I would say have a go at it yourself but be very specific and include as much information as you possibly can. Good luck and if you need any help you will find this site very useful. Also please feel free to pm me and I will try to help.
If you are not in any rush to obtain your visas I would say have a go at it yourself but be very specific and include as much information as you possibly can. Good luck and if you need any help you will find this site very useful. Also please feel free to pm me and I will try to help.
Feb 7th 2007, 5:14 pm
#6
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 16,652
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hi Emma,
Welcome to the site. We are only just starting on the journey ourselves and have decided to use an agent as we don't want to mess things up! Before signing up however we rang loads of agents to compare prices and services - they seem to vary from about £500 for the really basics to £4K for pretty much everything you could think of (and then some!)
I can understand why you wouldn't want to pay thousands - especially as most of the questions can be answered on here! - but might be worth paying a bit just to get someone to check the forms for you.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Rachel.
Welcome to the site. We are only just starting on the journey ourselves and have decided to use an agent as we don't want to mess things up! Before signing up however we rang loads of agents to compare prices and services - they seem to vary from about £500 for the really basics to £4K for pretty much everything you could think of (and then some!)
I can understand why you wouldn't want to pay thousands - especially as most of the questions can be answered on here! - but might be worth paying a bit just to get someone to check the forms for you.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Rachel.
Feb 7th 2007, 5:45 pm
#7
Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Location: Gold Coast, Qld
Posts: 1,074
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hi Emma
Welcome to BE, We done our TRA & Visa application ourselves, we are at the final stages now and have spent about £1500, If yours is a straight forward case then its just a case of filling in forms. Good Luck
Welcome to BE, We done our TRA & Visa application ourselves, we are at the final stages now and have spent about £1500, If yours is a straight forward case then its just a case of filling in forms. Good Luck
Feb 7th 2007, 6:16 pm
#8
Just Joined
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 1
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hi there,
We are new too. We have decided to also take the plunge and set the wheels in motion. We have had an assessment done which has come out favourable. We are still deciding whether to go with a Bureau or do it ourselves, but I'm for the bureau cuts a lot of the hassle out (anything for an easy life
) We have been informed to go for 136 Visa as hubby is a Skilled Metal Machinist.
Does anyone have any reservations, I know its a better life and we have nothing holding us here in the UK.
Good luck all newbies!
Karen
We are new too. We have decided to also take the plunge and set the wheels in motion. We have had an assessment done which has come out favourable. We are still deciding whether to go with a Bureau or do it ourselves, but I'm for the bureau cuts a lot of the hassle out (anything for an easy life
) We have been informed to go for 136 Visa as hubby is a Skilled Metal Machinist. Does anyone have any reservations, I know its a better life and we have nothing holding us here in the UK.
Good luck all newbies!
Karen
Feb 7th 2007, 7:31 pm
#9
Forum Regular
Joined: Nov 2006
Location: Bunbury WA
Posts: 84
Re: Newbie saying Hi! & a bit of Adivce Pls.
Hello and welcome!!!!! wow so you've made the first hard decision to actually do it!!! we went through a caseworker to be honest i couldnt of done it without them, they were always there at the end of the phone, always there to check your work over and tell you where to improve etc etc and more importantly to constantly reassure me!!! at the end of the day this is probably the biggest decision you will ever make and if theres a way you can make it that little bit easier then i would and these guys deal with it everyday and are experts. feel free to PM me if you need any help. good luck!!!!!
