english-rose

hi all

we have decided to move our young family to OZ.

i have no idea which way to do it and am totally confused by it all.

my husband will be the main applicant, he is a structural engineer with lots of experience, he is 29 and we have 3 kids 1-6 yrs old.

should he get a job first?
how does sponsorship work?
would he need to apply for a visa with sponsorship?
should we go through the visa route?

im so confused that i dont really know what to ask!!

any help would be welcomed.

thanxhttp://britishexpats.com/forum/images/smilies/confused.gif

JAJ

Skilled independent migration is the best way, start at http://www.immi.gov.au

If still confused you need some good professional assistance.

allankate

Hi you will certainly find lots of answers here.

It looks like if your husbands occumpation can be found on the Skilled Occupations List http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1121i.pdf you would have the required points to get in without a sponsor, your age etc are all in your favour.

He wouldn't need a job first.

You first need to have his skills assesed by the relevant skills assesment center detailed on the above link, relevant to you OH's occupation. Once you have that you can apply online for the visa probably a 175.

The http://www.immi.gov.au site has most of the onfo you need it can just be a little tricky to find some times.

Best of luck I'm sure you won't regret it

Allan

english-rose

thanx very much for your advice.

i see u are headed for perth?
thats where we want to go, good luck and maybe one day we can all meet up and have a beer.

still bewildered by it all.
and scared of starting it!!!!

english-rose

also allenkate, i see ur in stafford? we are in birmingham can u suggest a good agent?

allankate

Hi we didn't use an agent, thought they were just way to expensive (in the region of £2 to £2.5K for everything) also at the moment kinda glad we didn't as most of the comments people have posted about agents recently seemed to imply that they don't know anymore than the rest of us, as a new on-line processing system started in September and things appear to be moving way faster than the old paper based system.

The hardest part for me is the skills assessment, the actual online visa application is just form filling (a big form I admit, but form filling all the same), so I'd recommend you contact whoever it is that would need to asses your OH's skills and find out what they actually need as evidence, it may be pretty straight forward (employers references, training / exam certificates that kind of thing).

I did my assessment through the Australian Computer Society, but as I didn't have a degree, but did have 8 years experience, I had to write a monster 40 page A4 report on how I'd learned everything that is in a degree, through on the job training and IT exams. This took me 4 months, but to honest an agent couldn't write it for you, only give you some pointers.

So in my humble opinion if you are prepared to do a bit of research about the required skills assessment and you clarify anything on these forums, the money you would've paid to an agent you can save for your flights over

Good luck, it's a long and frustrating process, did I mention long and frustrating?!
Allan

bundybell

We used an agent couldnt have done it with out her.
Shes called Julia at migrate australia shes based in Perth and is a very knowledgable person in the immigration process.

We had our visa granted yesterday and shes still helping us.

Email her she will tell you best route to go, she gives a free initial assessment
[email protected]
Good luck
Teryna

alipally

Hi English Rose.

The best thing you can do is take advantage of some of the free consultations that migration agents offer...

They'll usually give you a good idea of the best route for you...
Then go home and have a look at all the requirements yourself. Ask any outstanding questions on here that may be still worrying you.
After you've looked at the forms and work involved make a decision about whether or not to use an agent.

Plenty of people do it without, you don't need one to make an application, but if form filling stresses you out, you just don't have the time, energy or inclination to do it yourself or you have complicated circumstances (eg Health issues, previous marriages with step children or complicated work history with mixed experience) then you might want to consider using an agent....
There are plenty that post on here and are freely recommended.
As far as I can remember they are

Tony Coates (AKA Welsh Tony)
George Lombard
Alan Collett
JAJ, who has already posted is now retired!

We are going it alone and have always found the advice and support on here is excellent!

Good luck!

english-rose

thank you very much, i have been in touch with an agent in perth who was recomended above, she got to me really quick and she seems very helpful.

we will defo take your advice and we will proberbly go it alone.
cant see my OH forking out for someone to do it for us!!!!
i dont mind form filling its the waiting thats going to get to me.

but hey, its worth it right?

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http://britishexpats.com/forum/images/smilies/ohmy.gif

bundybell

Hi english rose,
before you decide to go it alone i would download the application form and see if you think you could manage to fill it in yourself .
Also the skill proving and recognition can be a little trickie i believe.
Im a nurse so mine was straight forward but i still needed the right documantation to prove my role at work etc.
Basically its the same as said before it all depends how straight forward your application is.
I have adult children, divorced and husband treated for TB 20 yrs ago.
All this and Julia was able to guide us through our application process step by step she even seemed to take the majority of the stress away from us.

I belive she was worth the money.

She was the 3rd agent we contacted if we had gone with any one of the other 2 i do not believe i would have the perminant visa i have today.
They both wanted me to go for temp visa quickest route but would have not been the best for my family and myself once there. A collegue of mine went down that route last Oct and is having to pay again and wait for her perminant visa application to be processed over there now.

Good luck
Teryna

english-rose

that is just what i DONT want to do [get a temp visa], would hate to have to re-apply again in a few years time.

im going to wait and see what julias says before making the decision, our situation is quite straight forward, no previous marriges, illnesses etc, jobs easy enough to proove, but i dont even know if we will be able to apply yet let alone know which visa.

keep all ur fingers crossed for us wont u? xhttp://britishexpats.com/forum/images/smilies/ohmy.gif

Wendy

I had no previous marriages, no extreme circumstances, my Oh's job was on the MODL list etc etc - but we employed an agent.

I spent 4 months getting the TRA info together for a sparky, and I thought it was really good - I didn't see how anyone would think he wasn't the bees knees and knew his job inside out.

How wrong was I? Our application would have probably failed if we hadn't have had an agent to look over it. I had to re-write most of it because although it would have got my OH a brilliant job it just wasn't what the TRA wanted.

Our agent saved us $300 plus 16 weeks on our application because it wouldn't have passed the basic criteria.

An agent in my opinion is worth their fee. You could spend their fee in assessments, especially if you don't really know what they are looking for, and especially now with the closure of TRA pathway D and also with the new Vetassess asssessments, which only the agent really know the criteria of.

If I had to do it all again, I would without a doubt spend a few grand on an agent, even though I probably know a lot more now than I did then.

bundybell

Will do
Teryna

Sally Simpson

Wish you luck with the whole process & get used to waiting, it's par for the course!
I think that you can use an agent just for the TRA part & may be worth doing if you have any doubts. I am nurse, so was quite easy for me but I know that l;ots of the trades are not so straightforward!
Good luck to you though

mad city fan

Hi my OH is a brickie and we did not use an agent got all our information from the great peeps on here any question you want to ask, ask on here an you are sure to get an answer within minutes, Good luck with what you decide to do