rhona

Hi john,
Im heading to adelaide in around mar/apr next year to set up a business. Thats how i did it, a 163 visa and did all the stuff myself so dont worry its doesnt have to be to complicated. I applied in March last year and had it granted by september last year. They contacted me by email in the June to tell us to get our medicals done then we had to sent some extra info in the july i think it was a reference from my bank manager and accountant. But there was at the time a 6 week delay due to a back log she said so maybe you could say on average 6 months.
Im sure they will be fine with you contacting them i did by email and everyone was really helpfull. At first i had sponsorship by Victoria but then i changed my mind and asked for it to be changed to South Australia and they couldn't have been more helpfull i even spoke to one over the phone, albeit at 5am!
Hope that helps you

Irish John

Hi Rhona,

Thanks for that, I was wondering whether to get the medicals done now in advance of being requested in order to speed the process through. I've already sent on the police checks. I have my sponsorship from SA, that was easy and they were brilliant.

I might try and ring the DIAC and see when they expect to get to my file.

Are you planning on starting from scratch with a new biz or buying an existing one? Learning the ins and outs again will be tough going initially.

John

rhona

Hi John,
We waited till they requested we got the medicals done and i think we got the appointment about 2 weeks later. The medical place send them direct to oz so maybe you'd better wait till you get the go ahead to go for them. They still dont tell you that you've got the visa they just ask you to get your meds done.
As for business it would be a brand new i think. Don't really know what yet tho. We run a couple of tipper lorries here in scotland and i would like to continue that but its so much different there i dont no. So we just decided to wait till we get there and see what happens.
Incase you hadn't made the connection its me on the adelaiders thread too!
What are you going to do out there?
Any thoughts on what bit to settle yet?

shirlw

Keeping up with the celts here,I am a Dundee lass but have been living in South Africa for 15 years OH is English and been here sine he was 7 or so.We applied for our 163 on 14th Jan 2008 and were granted our visa on 1st July 2008 and it only took that long because of OH PCC taking so damn long (2 1/2 mths).We are going to settle in QLD on the Sunshine Coast and we also have no clue what Business we will buy until we get there.Currently trying to sell our existing businesses in ceramic tiles and carpeting so possibly will stick with the tiles.This is such a scary thing to do to come out of our comfort zone and uproot our family but it is entirely neccessary for us.SA is beyond help and the future is bleak for white people.I am so intrigued though about the mass exodus to Aus from UK......what is happening there and why are so many people leaving ????

rhona

Hi shirlw

Yes scary thought starting all over again isnt it! I am glad we are not the only ones waiting till we get there to to decide what to do, sometimes think we're mad!
Im sorry about the state of things in SA for you it must be very frightening.
Things are really quite bad here financially and the government is doing nothing to help. They expect almost 2 million unemployed by xmas! In fact everyone(including the government) thinks things will get worse yet there just isnt any light at the end of the tunnel. Britain is a sinking ship and people are sick of the uncertainty and are bailing out.
Anyway keep in touch let us know how you go.

shirlw

Youch things are really that bad in UK ?The govt.seems to have been allowing immigrants from all over into UK and then add insult to injury by allowing them to live royally off the state IMHO probably THE biggest factor in the state of the country.Cow-towing to political groups with demands for special schools,mosques etc.was another few nails in the coffin.Sorry I digress and someone wil probably shout me down but WTH.It is still the country of my birth but am not feeling particularly patriotic right now.Australia on the other hand is intoxicatingly patriotic and one cannot help but get swept up into everything Aussie.Maybe my happy bubble will burst when I least expect it but for the here and now I just want to get there.SA has never been my country but only the place where I happen to live.Hopefully when we start afresh in our new home town with our new business,we can realise our dream and a second chance.The 163 is not for sissy's though and almost feels like one must buy their way in with the amount of assets and qualifying status required but we are up fro the challenge so bring it on.

Irish John

Just got the email requesting medicals. I put a call last week and was told they are now processing the July applications.

Once they receive the medicals, any idea how long it takes from there? I can't imagine it being too long.. a month?

I can feel the sun already!!

shirlw

Hi John,

we did our medicals end Feb and visa granted 1st July,it probably would have been much sooner though had it not been for our PCC delay and then we got caught up in their 30th June financial year end slow-down as they reached their quota.I would bargain on about 6 weeks after receiving everything so good luck.....where are you headed ?

Shirls

rhona

Hi John,
We sent our meds back at start of July and received visa first week in September but we were told there was a 6 week delay because of a backlog at their end. So I would say you'll probably be right with around 6 weeks in total. Good luck

BM615

Ah well - 3 years less 27 days after arrival we have finally submitted our PR application.

For the benefit of those chasing their 164 business visa - use a Lawyer - ours has submitted 256 pages of documents to make the case. I'm sure it can be done with less - but to dot the i's and cross the t's it certainly takes a lot of proving.

steveyp

Well done Brian, you will soon join an exclusive club!
We are eligable for citizenship in February apparently and are busy reading our history of Australia booklet. Meanwhile here I have moved the shop to larger premesis and am installing 1 pool a week, I can however always find room for more, so if you put the word around!
Cheers
Steve

BM615

Hey well done Steve - om both fronts.

We chose to wait till the end of FY accounts were done - it would have been so expensive to create sets of accounts just to apply for PR - it means it's added a year but no matter - we will look at citizenship in 12 months time i hope.

I will mention your name whenever anyone mentions installing a pool.

cheers

Bryan & Joyce

steveyp

Just wondered too how the current financial crisis is effecting business people out there.
We are seeing pretty much a return to trading patterns of 2006 turnover in the shop, 2007 was a real boom year. I am still managing to find new pool customers but I hear that the larger companies are finding it tough with their huge overheads.
Steve

midlife crisis

Hi Guys

Not been on for ages, but I do keep an eye on everyones news.

Just thought I'd like to let you know that we've just got our Permanent Residency. Hooray!!! Its such a relief after 3 years.

In the end we could not face to do the small business again so after both of us working for someone else we started to panic a bit on how we were going to stay here,

Found out about Regional Sponsored Visa and through my employer he sponsored me and 6 months later we are now permanent residents!! Easy as that,

We just wish we had known about this visa earlier so was so easy compaired to starting a business and so much cheaper!

So for those of you out there just coming over when you get here there are other options,especially with the current financial climate.

All I would say is that we have been told so many different things from migration agents and so called experts and a lot of the information has not been correct. In the end we did it all ourselves and saved a packet. We do not need to go off shore to validate and we now have permanent visas in our passport.

Citizenship next in 1 more year.

I still can't believe it really after worrying about it for so long, but now we are celebrating.

Good Luck to you all and I would love to hear any updates from you all,

S

DrWho

So far so good... We had a really busy winter and now with the imminent arrival of the heat we'll be OK for the next few months... But... I'm going to save every cent I can because I think next year could be nasty and I could see some months taking losses in 2009...