BudBrain

Hi,

We're still in the 'thinking about it' stage, but we're just wondering how much it'd cost to just apply and see what happens.

Can someone please break down the costs of 'just applying'? If we did actually apply, we'd probably use someone like Ptlabs/Peter Chiam.

Bermudashorts

Applying for what?

BudBrain

Sorry, thought it was obvious Applying for emigration to Australia, we have friends in Perth.

I believe we'd have to apply for a skilled migration visa, and my skill-set is on the current SOL.

bcworld

What's the difference between applying and 'just applying'?

And do you need to use an agent?

Bermudashorts

Not that obvious as you are in the lifestyle not immigration forum. And definitely not obvious what visa.

I think it is quite an expensive process and whilst I am sure not everybody is 100% certain at the time they apply, it is perhaps a bit too costly to apply as a maybe.

I believe the skilled migrant visa application is about $3k these days. Skills assessment is a very important part of the process but that cost varies by occupation, mine was cheap a few hundred $, but some occupations can by over $1k. Medicals can be expensive ~£300 each, less for children. Using an agent could add another couple of k.

I think we spent about £3k in total, but that was for two people, with a cheap skills assessment, no agent and even medicals were a bit cheaper then. Would probably hazard a ballpark figure of at least £5k now if using an agent.

The costs are all in the applying, or the "just applying" whatever that means.

Pollyana

I'll move it to immigration

Dorothy

Do you qualify for a visa?

mrsgreenstar76

I'm not sure how much your skills assessment would be, as I don't know who would be assessing your skills! So I can only go by who assessed my husband's. His were done by Vetassess, and the cost now for applications outside Australia (without points test advice) is AUD $630 (online applications) or AUD $670 for paper applications. There is a service where they can give you advice on your points, but there are extra charges & it's not binding on DIAC. The information on that is here (I don't think this was available when we had the skills assessment, so I don't know much about it).

The medicals can vary a bit in price, so you'd need to ring around to find out the costs. There are fewer doctors permitted to do the medicals now compared to when we had ours done. You'll need to look at the list of panel doctors & choose one of them. Ours cost about £200 each in 2009 - about £120 for the medical & £80 for the x-ray.

The police certificates cost £35 for normal service (10 working days) or £70 for premium service (2 working days), and they are obtained through ACPO Criminal Records Office.

The cost of a 175 (permanent residence/independent), 176 (permanent residence/sponsored) & 475 (temporary residence/sponsored) is AUD $2960. If the adult dependent doesn't have functional English, a second instalment of AUD $4110 would be payable too. Bear in mind that from the 1st January 2012, some fees are changing.

If you require extra points, don't have an eligible passport, or are applying for state sponsorship that requires it, don't forget about IELTS. The cost seems to be about £125 - £130 (although I only checked a few of the centres, so you'd need to check with the centre that you were going to sit it at).

You'll probably need to get some of your documents notarised for the process. Definitely shop around for that! The first few people we called were asking over £600 for our documents, so we kept looking. We found a nice little solicitors that did them all for £20. A hell of a saving! If I recall correctly, colour documents don't need notorising but black & white ones do (hopefully someone can confirm or correct that).

This is applying without an agent. It'd cost a fair bit more with an agent, but you'd really need to have a look into that for the costs etc, if you weren't happy applying yourself. It can be daunting to do it by yourself, but if you're careful & organised, it's perfectly possible. It's completely up to you though!

Of course, I've put all this down in the assumption that you're in the UK! If not, I hope it helps anyway!

skinnygeorge

You are not that far from Ian Harrop in Burford, Oxon. Look him up and give him a ring He will happily send you a complete breakdown of costs ahead of you. As he said us there is no point leading you down the garden path and then finding out you just can`t afford it after investing so much. And it can be a lot. By the time we landed Visa,medicals, container,flights for a family of four you won`t get much change out of 12,000 pounds. Good Luck.