ljk888

I'm in the process of applying for the skilled designated area sponsored visa (application hasn't been sent off, but skills test was sent at the beginning of March)...

Has anyone applied for this visa, or are in the process of doing so?

I'd just be interested in timescales (I know about the timeline website, but I was hoping for something a bit more detailed) from the beginning (e.g. skills test) to the end (visa application approved) and if anyone had any advice (or experiences of difficulties they've experienced) for this particular visa category.

My cousin is sponsoring my partner and I (and hopefully filling out form 40 as we speak), and my partner satisfies the basic requirements...

Hoping to be off to Oz in about a year - is this do-able do you think?

Cheers
Laura

John & Maggie

Hi,

We applied under designated area sponsor and our visa was granted after 5 months, the whole process took approx 12 months (althoughit seemed a lot longer). We were also sponsored by my cousin so I was the main applicant but the skills assessment was done against my partner. We went on a defacto basis. Our timeline is http://www.austimeline.com/austime/a...pp.jsp?id=1698
we started the process off at the beginning of the year 04 and it seemed to take forever to get the skills assessment references back but the skills assessment was submitted in (I think May) it took around 6 weeks and then we had a bit of a delay submitting our visa application as the rules were changed and the sponsor bit was changed to Centrelink, this caused loads of confusion and it introduced an interview for our sponsor, which wasn't good as it was conducted in Melbourne although she lives nearer Geelong.
Anyway we finally submitted (front loaded in Aug) and just over 5 months after submitting the visa it was granted. As the visa was granted and received in our passports beg Feb we done nothing about moving until this came through. You should have no problem going within a year as you have to go within a year of medicals (validate anyway) its just hard to organise anything until you have a visa as your always unsure if its going to be granted. We used an agent but until we had the paperwork we did not believe it was going to be granted. Anyway good luck, its a long process and I am sure we are only just at the beginning!
let me know if you need any further info
Maggie

biggy

we went under this visa...took us 6 months from our awknowledgement letter but we held it up by a good 5-6 weeks gettin meds done

sudds

We are at the moment going for our medicals on the same visa class. The main application was submitted on 10/02/05 and will hopefully finalized end of may mid June.
Hope this is of some help
Sudds

ljk888

Thanks for that Sudds

That's quick! How much are you paying for your medicals? I've seen the prices range from £85 - £200 per adult! Have you done the assuror bit yet - that sounds like the worst part...

And Vetassess have just lost our certified passport photos

1 more silly question:
Did you send everything Royal Mail or use someone else?

Laura

sudds

medicals are costing around £1,300 for 5 of us three adults two teenagers.
The assuror bit is in place to react as soon as requested as are the police checks.
We have used an agent as it is quite complex ....i am a commercial fisherman with a degree in marine biology (conservation), quite a rare animal. So getting skills assessed needed some expreience.
Fire away with any questions if we can help
Sudds

ljk888

Thanks for your help!

Is that cost including x-rays and blood tests? Did you get them done in the same place?

I was wondering if you knew exactly what we needed to get done in terms of the medical assessment, or if we phone doctors for quotes they will know exactly what we will need? e.g. types of blood tests, x-rays

We were thinking of getting the medical done before it was requested to try and speed up the process

Cheers again
L

Fiona&malc

My signature below shows my timeline for 139...

sudds

I think there is a list of designated drs you can use for the medicals and they know whats needed, i presume the list is available from the DIMIA website
As i said we are using an agent so most of this is being sent direct to us and we just make the appointments and attend
Sudds

biggy

there is a list of panel docs on the DIMIA website....you MUST go to a registered [anel doc to have your meds and x-rays done.............

Sherie

Hi there,
applied for the same 139visa with a cousin in Altona, Melbourne, sponsering us exactly a year ago. Skills assessment went to TRA in March 2004, had a positive result by end June, sent visa application to DIMIA 3 August 2004 and visa approved by 30 th Jan 2005,.... so within a year looks very likely although some skills assessments/visas obviously take more or less time and its best not to add to the stress by relying too much on being in a certain time frame!!

Once your visa application goes into DIMIA be prepared for quick request for meds, police checks and the AOS bond. DIMIA contacted us after only 3 weeks for these which was a real shock!! So you need to have sorted some means of paying your bond. In fact our only delay in the whole process was Centrelink who couldn't offer my cousin an early enough appointment for us to keep within the 2 month deadline DIMIA gave us to sort out meds police checks and bond.
In the end we went over DIMIAs deadline by 3 weeks but everyone else applying for a 139 visa recently has been affected the same so it didn't affect us in any way. Sorting out your bond should improve as Centrelink gets more used to dealing with bonds as it has only been dealing with these since last July so you might be quicker if this is the case.
The worst bit is obviously waiting for a final decision once you've done it all and paid the bond....but getting approved is the best feeling of all!!!

Best wishes

Sherie

ljk888

That's great Sherie, thanks. Do you know if it's possible to book the appointment before it's requested that you have one? Also, for the bond it's done through the Commonwealth bank - the assuror will open up an account, pay the bank $150 to look after the bond, as well as depositing the bond money, and that's it - is this right?

Cheers
Laura

Sherie

Sorry don't see how you can book an appointment early as your sponser has to take a copy of your bond request letter from DIMIA with them to the initial interview.

I think our case is the same for everyone but our sponser had 2 interviews with Centrelink. At first one Centrelink explains how much income the sponser needs to show depending on how many of you are emigrating in your family.A second interview is then arranged about a month later when the assurer has to show income for previous 2 years and that bond account has been set up and money paid into it.
We paid my cousin and sent the money to his commonwealth bank account and my cousin asked us for $200... to cover his bank charges etc for paying in and setting up the account.
To be honest when you get to that stage you don't mind how much it costs to sort the last bit out, you are nearly there and theres nothing else to do then other than sit and wait for the final outcome.

When you first start, it seems like ages to get to this stage but take it one step at a time and don't give up its worth it in the end.

Sherie

Paul and Chloe

Hi..

We recently moved to Perth on a 139 visa. It took 6 weeks for skills assessmnt to be approved and sent back, then 7 months for the main application, although our application crossed over the period when Centrelink took over the AoS component and as such our application took longer than some peoples who applied several months after us.

We lived in East Sussex and had our medicals done in Brighton, very quick to organise and get done, think it was about GBP175 per adult and around GBP75 for the kids (both under 4 years old).

My cousin sponsored us and an friend was our assurer, everything was fairly straight forward in that area, if you are sending over the AoS fund just make sure you include enough money to cover the admin fees that Centrelink charge (think around A$150ish).

We used a migration agent for the skills assessment and then did the main application ourselves, did not have any issues except the delays associated to Centrelink becoming involved in the process.

If you need more info, let me know!

Cheers

Paul

sudds

Weve just done our medicals and recieved our police checks and changes form so will be sending these to our agents and dimia. The assuror bit is a little complicated as our assuror has just started his own buisness recently but we have a standby if needed. We are on the wire with our sons age i.e. he is 18 in July so will possibly have to prove dependency if we overun that date.
Cant believe how this process starts to eat away at the life at home for example the way it feels all is on hold at the moment
Sudds