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My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Hello All
I have just received my grant letter for a 189 permanent residency visa. I did a lot of Googling during the process which led me to these forums many times. Seeing as I took so much from here I feel it would be worth while telling my story in case this can help anyone in the future. Background Me and my partner decided to start the process in February 2014, we have been granted the visa on 11 September 2014. 7 months is a really quick time to get it but it could have been even quicker. I am a 29 year old chartered accountant (ACCA) and my partner works in admin and HR. We are not married so we thought that this would be the biggest problem with our application. Migration Agent Despite both of us being professional form-fillers we decide to go with a migration agent as we were terrified of paying the £3k visa bill and missing out over some silly error. I spoke to a lot of agents to get the scope for who I thought was best. There were some terrible sounding agents (who I won’t name), one even told me that I am not an accountant but a HR specialist (5 years of training to be chartered in an accountancy firm says otherwise). I opted to go for an agency called Go Matilda for 2 main reasons. The first being the quality of the emails I received from one of their agents called Marina Towner. She was extremely helpful in answering the initial queries and worries that I had. The other reason was that the head of that company had the same occupation as me, so no worries about being classed as a completely different occupation! GM were a little bit more expensive than some of the other quotes (About £1,900) I had but I got a lot more of a personal feeling from them and the quality seemed much better. I would not regret the choice I made to use Go Matilda. They have been great from the get-go and always reply to my questions (and there were a lot of them) very quickly. In particular, Alex Withers has been a pleasure to deal with over the last few months of my application. Process to EOI (Expression of Interest) To get to the EOI was basically just gathering all of the documents together (passports, qualifications (University onwards), birth certificates (we had to re-order these but this was straight forward) etc.) Some of the documents had to be certified by a solicitor but again this was easy and only cost around £25. I was lucky that my qualifications allowed me to gain enough points for the visa without having to provide any references or documentation from my places of employment. This really helped speed the visa up and let me carry on the process without having to inform my job right away. Once all of these documents were together, GM filled out the form and we had our EOI approved within a week of submitting it (I was told this was a lot quicker than it usually takes). Defacto Relationship As stated at the start of this I thought the proving of the relationship as we are not married would be the most difficult part but it turned out to be relatively straight forward. We just had to fill in a simple form and provide some evidence (we used our rent agreement, council tax bill and included some photos and invitations from weddings that we had been invited to for good measure). Post EOI Following the EOI we were asked to provide some further documents and information. I thought this bit would but straight forward but we encountered a delay here. Without the delay I imagine we would have had the visa by June (i.e. 4 months after starting the process). Medicals were fine and I believe some people are very apprehensive about this. Really simple tests which only take a couple of hours. It was just a case of having height and weight measured (but I believe even if you are huge that you will only fail the medical if you have any serious health issues), weeing into a pot, blood taken, reflexes tested, checked for hernias and a chest xray. I actually found it a really positive experience as I left knowing that I didn’t have any significant health issues to worry about! Besides this it was a case of getting UK police checks (again really simple process but another £50 or so spent). The Issue My other half’s parents live in Greece and over the years she has spent an accumulated time of more than 12 months in Greece over the past few years. This meant that she was required to have a police clearance from Greece. As I said, without this we would have most likely had the visa granted 3 months ago. The Greek consulate in London used to deal with such requests but they stopped doing this in April 2014 (1 month before we needed it!). I tried emailing an calling many different Greek consulates and embassies in different locations but kept being told that she would need to go to Greece. This was an absolute nightmare to obtain and meant my partner having to fly out to Greece to try and sort it and eventually hand over power of attorney to her mother. There was then a lot of waiting for the form to arrive (her mum had to go to the courthouse to get the form but every time she went they would say it wasn’t ready and to come back a few days later. This happened again and again). Eventually we had to get a Greek lawyer involved, who after about 6 more weeks was able to obtain the form. The lawyer did great work in getting it but obviously laywers cost money and the time delay wasn't ideal either. We then submitted the form to the migration department and then a few weeks later had a request from them to get it translated. We used a company called Straker translations to do this. You can upload your documents there to get a quote and they had Australian qualified translators on hand to deal with it. They were awesome! The Grant Only 2 days after submitting the translated version of the Greek document we now have been granted the visa and we are over the moon! The time it has taken to get the visa is unbelievable. When we started the process our aim was to get it done by Christmas so to have it now is amazing, especially considering without the complication it could have been even earlier. I was super organised with the whole process and tried to get forms over to my agent immediately after they requested them and I am sure that this really helped speed the whole process up. Overall, if you are going ahead with this just remember to keep yourself organised and keep working on it. Documents can be prepared ahead of time so you know what your next steps are. Problems will almost certainly come up with your application but keep pressing on the matter and you will get answers. I hope that this will help someone eventually, good luck everyone 😊 |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Originally Posted by Jaymondo
(Post 11402274)
Hello All
I have just received my grant letter for a 189 permanent residency visa. I did a lot of Googling during the process which led me to these forums many times. Seeing as I took so much from here I feel it would be worth while telling my story in case this can help anyone in the future. Background Me and my partner decided to start the process in February 2014, we have been granted the visa on 11 September 2014. 7 months is a really quick time to get it but it could have been even quicker. I am a 29 year old chartered accountant (ACCA) and my partner works in admin and HR. We are not married so we thought that this would be the biggest problem with our application. Migration Agent Despite both of us being professional form-fillers we decide to go with a migration agent as we were terrified of paying the £3k visa bill and missing out over some silly error. I spoke to a lot of agents to get the scope for who I thought was best. There were some terrible sounding agents (who I won’t name), one even told me that I am not an accountant but a HR specialist (5 years of training to be chartered in an accountancy firm says otherwise). I opted to go for an agency called Go Matilda for 2 main reasons. The first being the quality of the emails I received from one of their agents called Marina Towner. She was extremely helpful in answering the initial queries and worries that I had. The other reason was that the head of that company had the same occupation as me, so no worries about being classed as a completely different occupation! GM were a little bit more expensive than some of the other quotes (About £1,900) I had but I got a lot more of a personal feeling from them and the quality seemed much better. I would not regret the choice I made to use Go Matilda. They have been great from the get-go and always reply to my questions (and there were a lot of them) very quickly. In particular, Alex Withers has been a pleasure to deal with over the last few months of my application. Process to EOI (Expression of Interest) To get to the EOI was basically just gathering all of the documents together (passports, qualifications (University onwards), birth certificates (we had to re-order these but this was straight forward) etc.) Some of the documents had to be certified by a solicitor but again this was easy and only cost around £25. I was lucky that my qualifications allowed me to gain enough points for the visa without having to provide any references or documentation from my places of employment. This really helped speed the visa up and let me carry on the process without having to inform my job right away. Once all of these documents were together, GM filled out the form and we had our EOI approved within a week of submitting it (I was told this was a lot quicker than it usually takes). Defacto Relationship As stated at the start of this I thought the proving of the relationship as we are not married would be the most difficult part but it turned out to be relatively straight forward. We just had to fill in a simple form and provide some evidence (we used our rent agreement, council tax bill and included some photos and invitations from weddings that we had been invited to for good measure). Post EOI Following the EOI we were asked to provide some further documents and information. I thought this bit would but straight forward but we encountered a delay here. Without the delay I imagine we would have had the visa by June (i.e. 4 months after starting the process). Medicals were fine and I believe some people are very apprehensive about this. Really simple tests which only take a couple of hours. It was just a case of having height and weight measured (but I believe even if you are huge that you will only fail the medical if you have any serious health issues), weeing into a pot, blood taken, reflexes tested, checked for hernias and a chest xray. I actually found it a really positive experience as I left knowing that I didn’t have any significant health issues to worry about! Besides this it was a case of getting UK police checks (again really simple process but another £50 or so spent). The Issue My other half’s parents live in Greece and over the years she has spent an accumulated time of more than 12 months in Greece over the past few years. This meant that she was required to have a police clearance from Greece. As I said, without this we would have most likely had the visa granted 3 months ago. The Greek consulate in London used to deal with such requests but they stopped doing this in April 2014 (1 month before we needed it!). I tried emailing an calling many different Greek consulates and embassies in different locations but kept being told that she would need to go to Greece. This was an absolute nightmare to obtain and meant my partner having to fly out to Greece to try and sort it and eventually hand over power of attorney to her mother. There was then a lot of waiting for the form to arrive (her mum had to go to the courthouse to get the form but every time she went they would say it wasn’t ready and to come back a few days later. This happened again and again). Eventually we had to get a Greek lawyer involved, who after about 6 more weeks was able to obtain the form. The lawyer did great work in getting it but obviously laywers cost money and the time delay wasn't ideal either. We then submitted the form to the migration department and then a few weeks later had a request from them to get it translated. We used a company called Straker translations to do this. You can upload your documents there to get a quote and they had Australian qualified translators on hand to deal with it. They were awesome! The Grant Only 2 days after submitting the translated version of the Greek document we now have been granted the visa and we are over the moon! The time it has taken to get the visa is unbelievable. When we started the process our aim was to get it done by Christmas so to have it now is amazing, especially considering without the complication it could have been even earlier. I was super organised with the whole process and tried to get forms over to my agent immediately after they requested them and I am sure that this really helped speed the whole process up. Overall, if you are going ahead with this just remember to keep yourself organised and keep working on it. Documents can be prepared ahead of time so you know what your next steps are. Problems will almost certainly come up with your application but keep pressing on the matter and you will get answers. I hope that this will help someone eventually, good luck everyone 😊 |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Thank you for posting this, I won't be applying for another year but when I do I will defiantly use this thread! And I'll look up go Matilda too. All the best x
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Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Thanks guys and I hope it helps you next year Hanalou. Anyone who is reading this who is in a similar position to me can feel free to ask any questions
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Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Originally Posted by Jaymondo
(Post 11402343)
Thanks guys and I hope it helps you next year Hanalou. Anyone who is reading this who is in a similar position to me can feel free to ask any questions
|
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Hi guys,
I'm an accountant looking to do exactly this. How much of your work experience counted? I passed my CIMA in June (had been a passed finalist for 2.5 years, but never got round to completing the log book until then). Have been working as a Management accountant for 8+ years. Essentially I'm wondering if I'm going to score any points at all on the work experience part. Also, how do I go about getting the work experience bit - do I need a reference? Thanks, Regards, Chris. |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Originally Posted by chrisjm15
(Post 11422134)
Hi guys,
I'm an accountant looking to do exactly this. How much of your work experience counted? I passed my CIMA in June (had been a passed finalist for 2.5 years, but never got round to completing the log book until then). Have been working as a Management accountant for 8+ years. Essentially I'm wondering if I'm going to score any points at all on the work experience part. Also, how do I go about getting the work experience bit - do I need a reference? Thanks, Regards, Chris. For my application I did not have to claim any points for my work experience. To get to a qualifying points level I used: -My ACCA qualification and Bachelors Degree -Age (I am 29) -IELTS score of 8 and above in each category This was really handy as it saved me the hassle of getting letters from work. I did have to do a skills assessment with the Aussie equivalent of ACCA though. Let me know if you need any help or PM me your phone number if a chat would help. Good luck James |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Congratulations, your story inspired me a lot especially I am still in the starting point.
I want to ask about something. You did not need to get your work experience evidence. What I have understood is that the more points you get, the higher chance you have. Is that right ? |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Originally Posted by Amr Yahia
(Post 11423719)
Congratulations, your story inspired me a lot especially I am still in the starting point.
I want to ask about something. You did not need to get your work experience evidence. What I have understood is that the more points you get, the higher chance you have. Is that right ? I thought that this was the case too regarding the points but my migration advisor said that once I had enough points through education that there was no need to claim the extra points. She seemed to be right as well because the visa was granted quickly. Maybe someone on here with more experience of this can confirm? |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Originally Posted by chrisjm15
(Post 11422134)
Hi guys,
I'm an accountant looking to do exactly this. How much of your work experience counted? I passed my CIMA in June (had been a passed finalist for 2.5 years, but never got round to completing the log book until then). Have been working as a Management accountant for 8+ years. Essentially I'm wondering if I'm going to score any points at all on the work experience part. Also, how do I go about getting the work experience bit - do I need a reference? Thanks, Regards, Chris. But in all honesty, I wouldn't risk it. Can you get 60 points without your experience? If so, then do so. |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
This was a really helpful post. Thank you.
I have just qualified (CIMA) and about to start applying for 189 visa. I plan on using CPA for my skills assessment. I was under the impression I just opt for a skills assessment on my qualification, now I am a bit confused about the employment evidence part. I don't have any post qualification experience (I am currently on maternity leave and only just qualified) does that mean I wouldn't be able to get points for my work experience anyway or can you get pre-qualified work experience verified? If I get enough point for my qualification, english test and ago does that mean I shouldn't have to get work experience assessed? Many Thanks Laura |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Originally Posted by laura644
(Post 11442602)
This was a really helpful post. Thank you.
I have just qualified (CIMA) and about to start applying for 189 visa. I plan on using CPA for my skills assessment. I was under the impression I just opt for a skills assessment on my qualification, now I am a bit confused about the employment evidence part. I don't have any post qualification experience (I am currently on maternity leave and only just qualified) does that mean I wouldn't be able to get points for my work experience anyway or can you get pre-qualified work experience verified? If I get enough point for my qualification, english test and ago does that mean I shouldn't have to get work experience assessed? Many Thanks Laura |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
So if I am not applying for skilled employment assessment from CPA then they will not ask me to provide additional information from my previous employers to confirm I have enough experience in certain areas.
I am just confirming this as I spoke to a migration agent yesterday and they said CPA may come back and ask for a reference from a past employer to confirm I have specific budgeting experience (for example).... Maybe they were referring to a skilled employment assessment...? |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
Originally Posted by laura644
(Post 11442640)
So if I am not applying for skilled employment assessment from CPA then they will not ask me to provide additional information from my previous employers to confirm I have enough experience in certain areas.
I am just confirming this as I spoke to a migration agent yesterday and they said CPA may come back and ask for a reference from a past employer to confirm I have specific budgeting experience (for example).... Maybe they were referring to a skilled employment assessment...? There is no requirement for anybody to have work experience assessed. |
Re: My 189 Visa Story - Accountant to Australia
I will be a fully qualified CIMA by the time i do the skills assessment (just waiting for my PER to be signed off!)
Many Thanks, that's really re-assuring Laura |
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