austra99

[QUOTE=Sparky wife;5208561]Hi everyone,


Quick background on 136: TRA sent off in April, passed 3rd May.
Visa application received 29th May.
Still waiting for a number and case officer...19th August.

Now, from what I understand, it takes 6-10 weeks from the time your Visa application is received in Aus to be assigned a case officer. On Tuesday coming, I make it 12 weeks and nothing has come back to us, not even the number.

Hi Sparky wife,

A far as I know, it actually takes 6-10 weeks to get an acknowledgement letter, not the case officer. Once you have your acknowledgement letter, you need to wait for a month, two or even more.

Dorothy

[QUOTE=austra99;5430401] It does not take 6-10 weeks to get a case officer, it takes 6-10 weeks to get acknowledgement. Case officer is usually after about 5-6 months.

justcantwait

hi sparkywife
just wondered if you had a case officer yet?our visa was recieved 28th may and still waiting!!!!! :curse:

anne marie xx

The Beels

Hi Sparky wife, not sure if this helps but know the need for reassurance so here goes:

We've just been assigned a case officer today, after what felt like an eternity as hoping to leave in Jan...

136 Application (hubby's a carpenter) recieved 17 May, ackn 21 Aug so hopefully you'll not have to wait too much longer!

Good luck with the waiting game, can drive you a bit crazy at times and have to force myself to stay away from our laptop and this site as if I start whinging, I feel I'll never stop!

Best,

Helen

somme

Hi we started this process Jan 2005 and we will be leaving December 2007, so it can be a long process, I wish I had found this site in the early months it would have been so much easier, we are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sparky wife

Well, hello again all!!

Did post an update somewhere else on British Expats, but will do another.

We had a CO assigned to us on the 20th September, requesting our police checks and meds. We had our police checks all ready, so sent them via email and then on the 25th September we had our medicals. As far as I'm concerned, so far so good.

We sent our meds with DHL and with all the postal probs recently, am soooooo glad. They got there the 5th Oct.

So next stage is Visas I guess, then ARTC for Sparky hub, to enable him to apply for a licence once we are in Oz.

Our house is on the market. We had to change estate agents as the first would not provide a board (we don't think they had enough with the significant number of three beds going in the market due to HIPS).

We don't know if the house will sell this year now, but no point in getting stressed. We all know the situ here regards housing market, so won't bang on about that again.

When I originally started this thread, my OH was having a particularly bad day...hence my rather desperate post.

"Hi, Sparky Wife. Your husband needs to relax a bit. The visa takes a while to get, so being so impatient less than 3 months after sending the application in won't do him any good. In the time you're waiting, he can do some research on what he will need to do to get licenced here in Australia. Whatever state you move to will have different criteria for him to pass his Australian electrician's licence, so start there. It will save lots of time for him when you get here and he can get employed sooner."

Actually, we had determined the licence issues and different states before we had even applied for TRA and had established that the only way Oz was going to work was by landing in Adelaide, getting the licence and then taking a bit of a trip to get the feel for places. Long term we would like to be in a smaller place. We have heard horror stories of people landing in Victoria and Queensland, being an "apprentice sparky" for 18 months, on low wages and
then having to return to the UK due to financial probs.

So there you go...that's where we are now. Thanks for the responses everyone...feel for the people wanting to go to Canada right now. Our wait is nowhere near as long as theirs !!!

Sparky wife

Hello there!

Glad you finally got your CO, the wait can sometimes be unbearable hey? :curse:

Sometimes a taking a step back can really help I think...at the moment I feel that the Oz conversations need to be seriously scaled back with our family now.

Do you have a place to sell or are you renting? For us, we can see the house being the pain in the bum.

Thanks for your response

Sparky wife

Hope you get one soon Anne Marie...let us know when you do!

Am sending CO vibes your way

What were your plans with meds, police checks etc?

Sparky wife

Not long now then Somme until you depart!

This site for us has been incredibly useful and without it, Sparky Hub would have most def failed TRA. He needed to send off with TRA a specific completion certificate that had not been granted to anyone he knew who had completed the Electrician course, so had to request it. Despite having a JIB card stating that he was an approved electrician, it was not adequate even with the individual certificates for each exam.

How are you finding things now as you are winding up here?
Where are you landing?

somme

We are going to Brisbane to see my youngest daughter then going to Adalaide to do the peers course and back to Brisbane gold coast or sunshine coast.

That is the plan so far

justcantwait

hi sparkywife
meds arrived 27th sept,have police checks here am waiting till postal strike is well over before i send to agent as i haven't got a co yet not such a rush.congrats on your co glad things are moving on for you.thanks for the vibes need them at the moment having problems with middle child doesn't wont to go!!!

anne marie xx