southcavenews

DAVE AND ANGIE, YOU LUCKY LUCKY DEVILS.WE DON'T WORK IN THE SHOPS OUR STAFF RUN THEM.IF YOU GIVE ME THE DAY AND TIME WE WOULD LOVE TO MEET WITH YOU'S.WE CAN BE AT THE SHOP WHEN SUITS. WOULD BE GREAT TO MEET AND TALK,AFTER ALL WE COULD BE NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOURS.ANY TIME WILL DO AND ANY OF THE TWO SHOPS.
HOPEFULLY SEE YOU SOON
JACQUIEXX

wildmark

Hi Jacquie,

Please don't take this the wrong way but typing in capitals is like shouting - I'm sure there is an internet word for it, but just thought i would mention it.

Regards

Mark

southcavenews

Sorry everyone! you can tell I've just started using the pc.thanks mark for the info.You learn something new everyday.

Thankyou kind regards Jacquiex

wildmark

No worries, been there-done that-got the t shirt.

wildmark

hello ....heeeeellllowwwww (echo)!!!!!!!

BM615

Blimey - that woke me up!!

That's the problem with living halfway round the world wildmark!!

Just to let you know that Joyce & I have booked a trip to your old stomping ground. We always promised ourselves a ski trip to Lake Louise. So we thought we'd wait until we moved further away from it so we could spen 30 flying hours to get there and pay twice as much as we would from the UK - silly us!!

But in January,we are off to ski - can't wait.

cheers

B & J

The Vallies

G'Day!!!

Ok, ok, little update from the Valllies (if anyone is interested - prob not, but tough ).

Life is FANTASTIC!!!!!! Perth is GORGEOUS!!!!! The weather is INCREDIBLE!!!!

Andy's business is doing pretty well, he is working hard during the week, but still home in plenty of time for the family in the evenings, and no work over the weekends!

The kiddies are settled into their schools brilliantly, made loads of lovely friends, had sleepovers, and still do more sports than they could ever imagine doing in the UK.

Austin has just been chosen for the Interstate Team of Tee-ball (as well as his regular team), so that is just brill (considering he has only been playing a few months), and Hannah is a little teeball player too!! Its great fun to watch.

I now coach two boys teams for Teeball, which I love, and help Andy with his paperwork.

The only bad thing that happened to us was when our gorgeous little puppy Frodo (who we got from the RSPCA about 4 months ago), was run over by a car! That was really sad

Oh, and a scary thing......... I went to put my hat on on Sunday, only to find a HUGE huntsman nested in it!!! :scared: !!!!

Oh, and we are picking up two jet skis this weekend, for some fun in the sun - cant wait for that!!!!

All in all, best move we ever made, and I hope that those of you coming over find it the same!

Any more updates peeps???

Nicola

wildmark

Sounds like your very busy, great to hear your loving the life, were getting closer and closer, our visa goes off on the 22nd December and we should get it back 14 days later, we then have an appointment to get our visa stamped then it's the NEXT FLIGHT OUT OF THIS HELL HOLE, sorry to all those who think the UK is heaven...your welcome to it!!!!!

Mark

Stevef1968

!!! Urgent call to all you successful 163'ers !!!

Some of you may recall that we've delayed submitting our visa application for family reasons, we are however now nearly ready to submit (yipeee!!). This will need careful timing as we have a trip to Oz booked for next April and DO NOT want to use that trip to validate our visa if we're successful.

It would be really helpful if anyone who's been successful in getting a 163 could reply letting us know:
» Month and year of application
» Did you front load med/Police checks
» How long it took to process the application and hear you'd been successful

By taking a judgement on processing times we'll try to submit at a sensible point in time without delaying any longer than necessary - it feels as if we've been waiting to do this forever already and we just want to be on our way.

Great to here all the positive messages from those of you already living the life, it really helps to lift the spirits in moments of frustration for those of still stuck here - keep on posting!

Many thanks in anticipation of your replies.

Stevef

julesandco

Hi Steve,

This is our 'rough' time line, although we went State Sponsored through WA:

Reccie visit to WA Januaru / February 2005
State Sponsorship applied for February 2005
Above granted March 2005
Visa applied for late March / early April 2005
Meds and PCCs front loaded September 2005
Telephone interview 19th October 2005
Visa granted 21st October 2005
(roughly - the dates are not 'gospel' I've tried to erase the stress from my long term memory where possible!)
Left the country for good 17th November 2005.

Don't go by the Rogues though who had their main visa granted in about 42 days, or something daft - that could really scupper your plans - although this isn't the 'norm'.

Good luck with everything. Why don't you want to validate in October then - want to give yourself some more time to sort the UK stuff? We sold everything, business, house, etc and left within a month of visa grant. I'm a now completely bald through stress related hair loss

Very excited today though as Mum is currently in the air and her ETA is 17.30 at Perth - WooHoo!! Kids don't know yet - god knows how I've managed to keep my mouth shut this long! Got her booked for babysitting already though - off to see Kylie on Monday - camp as Christmas!!!

Love,

Jules x

Dave and Angie

Steve,
We have recently got our visa so I think I understand why you might not want to validate it during your visit in April,..... the additional 20K of luggage? As I understand the rules, to qualify you have to be emigrating to Oz hence an unused visa, and have a one way ticket.
We are in a similar situation to yourself and having got the visa evidenced, it is now in our passport. We are travelling to Oz in January with our daughter who is moving out there under her own seperate visa (so she already has her additional baggage allowance on her one way ticket - alright for some!) having helped her settle in we will then return, sell up and move out there asp. The obvious dilema is that when we do move out there for good, we will have already validated the visa. Therefore although we will have a one way ticket, our visa will be 'used'
Sounds like bad planning but we didn't expect our visa to be granted quite so quickly, and not accompanying our daughter on her move was never an option. I have spoken to Emirates about our situation and the nice lady confirmed that we wouldn't be able to score for the extra 20kg on our January return flight or our later single journey. I asked if this was a ruling by Emirates (thinking of talking them into being nice to me) but she said it was an agreement between them and the authorities that had to be followed. She suggested talking with the High Commission/Embassy to see if we could travel on an ETA visa in January and keep our 163 visa clean for when we go properly, but having gone through all the hassle to get this bit of paper I don't intend jeapordising it for a few quid! (20kg is only a medium suitcase anyway, we'll buy new clothes when we're there - it's only money! )
In a long winded answer to your question,
Applied July 10th
Granted November 17th
No Frontloading

Hope this helps,
Good luck!

foxychic

We applied state sponsorship from SA Dec 2004, Got sponsorship same month. Applied main visa I April 2005, Got it 17 weeks later. STILL IN THE BLOODY UK.

Quick update, as we are so fed up at the moment, business sale looks to be going belly up, have advertsied extensively now, so are waiting, waiting. May have to put a manager in. House sale, buyers are idiots who are not moving forward yet want (that should read demand) to visit all the time. eg this morning, insisted on 2.30 sat when I had already said I was working a night shift Fri night - they expect me to just get up and accomodate them even when I say, no not convienent! about ready to tell them to stuff it, we already dropped 17k for them as they weren't in a chain, but I hate them.

Glad to hear all of you in Oz are settled, just so fed up want to get there NOW, but not to arrive with massively decreased funds because we have given everything away! Is this a sign we should be staying put??

foxy

southcavenews

Hi Foxy,we sort of feel the same.We haven't sold the house yet ,haven't been passed yet and fed up waiting.1thing positive you have ur visa we were passed for state sponsorship verbally on 17Oct and 2day have just been sent it in writing,so hang on in there.It seems that u have had all your bad luck now i predict good things to come.Things are meant for a reason now it's your good luck time.Oct

The Vallies

Hi Foxy

So sorry to hear about all this cr@p you are having to deal with!! What a flippin nightmare! I thought an employee was interested - guess it fell through huh!

Re: the house sale, I know it must be tough, but if you can grin an bear it, for the sake of not starting again for the sale etc., then do your best tempting as it is I am sure to tell them to get stuffed - however, if they really want the place, they should be going out of their way to look after you guys so you dont sell to someone else - maybe use your agent to his best advantage in this score? Thats what they are paid for, after all!

I would think very carefully about putting a manager in, in case he/she is rubbish/leaves blah blah blah....., you will be a long way to sort out any mess.I know we considered it big time, when we were struggling to sell, but decided we wanted every penny we had out of the UK to invest in Oz and start in a strong position from the out, so just had to wait the wait - painful as it was, and nowhere near as long as you guys (9 months in the end, from 'on the market to exchange).

Not much else to say mate, except I wish you all the best and lots of luck for the New Year, who knows what is round the corner!!

Keep us posted, and hopefully some good news is on the way!

ATB

Nicola
x

Stevef1968

Jules, Dave & Angie and Foxy,

Many thanks for the replies they will be helpful in deciding when to submit the application. Perth BSPC advised today 39 weeks processing time but your experiences seems to be considerably less - thank god!

Any further replies with dates would be appreciated.

Jules I can imagine how excited you must be but completely understand why you haven't told the kids, they'd have been manic I'm sure. By the way, not wanting to validate in April is because of needing to sort stuff out here and wanting to give ourselves as much flexibility as poss.

Foxy, don't let the setbacks persuade you to give up on the dream. I'm sure that in the end all the stress and frustration will fade when you can live the life in Oz. As for the house purchasers my advice would be to smile sweetly whilst imagining all the evil things you'd like to do to them. After all you need them and a little fawning in the big scheme of things is probably worth it, just get to exchange of contracts then drop the nice guy act. Chin up and keep smiling!

Dave and Angie - Sounds like a no win for you with baggage allowance, as you say a small price to pay. I'd certainly say not worth considering getting an ETA and jeopardising your 163. I'm pretty sure that it's not possible to hold two visas at once so the ETA would cancel the 163. Yikes!!! what a thought after all the hassle of getting it.

Thanks again,

Stevef1968.