JoJo1301

carcajou

1. What visa do you have? You are not moving to Australia without a visa.
2. A skills assessment is not a visa. A skills assessment is a pre-requisite to being able to submit an expression of interest, that may lead to you being invited to apply for a visa if your application is drawn.
3. Have you used the points calculator? How many points do you have? Generally speaking 75 points is what is needed for your application to be drawn.
4. Have you done IELTS yet, and what was your score?

JoJo1301

jon111

you many aswel book the skills assessment now and do the english test, took me 6 months to get a skills assessment. Then do eoi. Also a heads up if you think your husband will get top marks in the english test and your basing your points on that you had best do that first and see if he can, i didnt get top marks in all 4 areas and i thought i was 'ok' at english lol.

good luck with your journey

plenty of work around the gold coast/brisbane area

are you going for 189 visa?

JoJo1301

carcajou

You can do the skills assessment and English test in either order. They must be done before you submit your Expression of Interest.

The queue for the English test can also be several weeks or months long.

Note - having enough points to "apply" (which is 65) is totally different from having enough points to "receive an invitation" (which in recent times has generally been 75). This is not a case of "65 points and you are in."

Applying on 65 points is not likely to get you a visa. When the draws are done, the EoIs they have are ranked by points total, with the highest points totals getting invitations first, regardless of when they were submitted. This means you can have enough points to apply - but then never get a visa, and many people fall into that. This also means that someone applying well after you, but with a higher points total, will jump you in the queue. You need to check the Home Affairs web site to see what points total the most recent invitation rounds have gone to. I haven't checked in a few months but it has been consistently 75 points for a long time now, very, very occasionally dipping to 70. Again, this means someone applying with 65 points, and probably 70, will not be drawn.

moneypenny20

There's a lot of building going on (sadly from a local's point of view!) As to whether he'd find work, I have no idea. I honestly can't imagine he'd get sponsorship, there's no need for employers to go to the time and expense of hiring someone whose work they've not seen and who isn't able to start for xx months. Most tradies are casual workers so if they finish a job, there may not be another one immediately and therefore they don't get paid. Don't get holiday or sick pay and most building work shuts down over christmas so no work then either.

Schools - I consider the high schools on the coast to be of a good/high standard. There are one or two I wouldn't send my kids to but that's a personal choice, not for any particular educational/behavioural reason. Both my daughters enjoyed school as much as most kids do. I only had experience of one year of UK high school with my eldest before we moved out but going by what UK friends have said, it's all much of a muchness.

The quality of life and better life comments are, without meaning to be rude, pretty pointless. I personally love the climate and have no problem doing what I want when it's 'hot'. However many people rely on air con and keep the kids inside a lot because it's hot. It's a common fallacy that because the sun shines a lot, families moving over will spend more time together outside. If you're not doing family stuff outside now, it's unlikely you'll do it here - in my experience anyway. I don't know what quality of life really means. You're still working to pay the mortgage, the kids are in school, bills are still needing to be paid, shopping still needs to be done etc etc etc.

Don't get me wrong, we're very happy here, but we were in the UK, we moved over because we could and treated it as an adventure. Been here 13 years now and I still miss people and England. Not to the point that I'm miserable, far from it. My eldest daughter moved back to the UK a couple of years ago so that's not fun. You could come over and find it's fantastic, that you're all having wonderful lives but you're more likely to find it's the same life, just doesn't get cold in winter (although if it drops below 16 degrees we have to light the woodburner).

I don't mean to sound negative at all, but what I will say is that if we were thinking about doing it now, we wouldn't. We were able to sell our UK house for a massive profit and come over when the rate of exchange was 2.5 so were relatively loaded when we arrived. If we didn't have that, it would have been a massive struggle and life would have been bloody hard.

LitePay Mark

Hi Jojo.
Gold Coast is very lifestyle oriented and you have EVERYTHING in close reach. I understand it is the fasting growing area in Australia over last 10 plus years but I can go back to the 70's and it was fast growing then! Kids will be High School age? - there are plenty of government schools in all areas where kids get an education. For 'higher education' you can look at selective high schools (certain pass-mark criteria) or private Schools (Your version of public schools with tie and boater hat etc, Expensive but generally higher education standards and results) There is public transport on the Gold Coast but it's sparse and not what you're used to. You must have a car there. Plenty of good shopping and availability everywhere on the GC, well serviced with hospitals, entertainment, sports/sporting teams, golf especially, theme parks and of course beaches. You all need to be able to swim - don't enter the surf here if you are not proficient. (The beaches are Life Guard patrolled - but you need to be able to swim) There is always construction going on so being a carpenter is an asset. Unsure what licence qualifications are needed - you can find this on the net - there is a 'Gold Class Tradesman' ticket available for example. Suburbs such as Robina, Labrador, Runaway Bay, Nerang are family friendly at varying degrees of cost. Search on Domain or Real estate .com. It is hot there - all year around. You need A/C in your home and a house with a pool is the norm. rent and housing costs generally cheaper than say Sydney and Melbourne. The GC is home to many expats from UK and others, also expats from southern states who have retired or came to the 'coast' for a sea-change. Nice choice, you will enjoy Australia and especially the Gold Coast. Mark.

Angelique Bonita

Is there any truth in the rumour doing the rounds that OZ will soon refuse residency to expats if they are obese?

spouse of scouse

The health requirements haven't changed https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help...rements/health

Angelique Bonita

Hello Concierge

Thank you so much for your reply. I already know they have not changed at the moment. But I have heard some say they are going to. OZ does not want anyone who is going to be a drain on its state healthcare and that includes obese burger king addicts.

spouse of scouse

The reason for the medical examination required for most types of visas to Australia has always been to ensure that new arrivals are not a burden on the country's healthcare system or risk to public health. It's up to the medical examiner to determine whether or not this would be the case, that has not and will not change.

Angelique Bonita

Hello Concierge

Thank you so much again for your reply. That certainly makes sense. I reckon I would be OK size 12 and 10 stone, a bit heavy at the top end. But still a good ping-ponger.

What about these two? Would the medical examiner say no probs, but could be difficult finding clothes.


We love OZ.

spouse of scouse

Do you have a particular reason for continuing to ask about people's weight and medicals for Australian visas?

Angelique Bonita

Oh Concierge I am really sorry, I never meant to inconvenience you. I was only ever asking a normal forum question if being obese was a health consideration for OZ residency. If you don’t know and haven’t a clue you never needed to take the time and trouble to post. Some other member may well know the answer.

I am new to the forum and only learning, have I broken any forum rules or terms and conditions? Please advise kindly.