Satch_Boogie

My family and I are thinking of heading to Australia. I have the required number of points for the skilled independent migrant visa. Is it best to use an agent or do it yourself? Is it one application for the whole family or one for each of us (there is 5 of us in total)? I am a bit unsure where to start. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Australia_bound?

Use an agent if you're not that good at completing form and have little time to check everything twice. Or if you have a complex visa option? Otherwise try it yourself and save a few thousand and use BE to get answers to your questions

Tez and Daz

It would be one application for your whole family, you would be the main applicant obviousy as you have the points. Its not that difficult to do without an agent. It'll save you loads of money, just need to double check everything and then check it all again. Others may disagree though! You need to get your skills assessed first. This site is a great source of info. I couldnt have managed without it! Good luck, Bobbie

Bobbie

Sorry, my sister was logged in. Her and her boyfriend are going too!!

Satch_Boogie

Thank you so much. I think we will try and do this ourselves then. My wife is extremely organised and can do just about anything.

So, I need to do the skills assessment first? I shall get to work on that immediately.

Tez and Daz

No problem. What do you do and where are you thinking of heading?? Im a nurse heading for Brisbane hopefully by June/July time. Ive just been allocated a case officer so almost there now!

nickUK

Definitely the first step, as its a prerequiste to applying for the skilled migrant visa. Depending on your occupation, and therefore the agency doing the assessment, it can take up to 3 months for the skills assessment to come back.

Both the department of immi, and the skills assessment folk are quite particular on their requirements for what work references have to include, therefore making sure these cover the relevant info are essential.

Hope this helps.

Satch_Boogie

I am currently an IT Director for Service Delivery but am qualified in ITIL and Prince 2 for Project Management as well. I have done all bits of network administration and IT management. I have already spoken to all of my previous employers and have given them exactly what is required in my employer references. My wife was a finance director prior to staying home with our 3 young children.

We are not sure where we want to head to. We are up for a new adventure in every way.

I have found this forum so useful already and I appreciate everyone's help.

nickUK

For IT professionals the assessing body is ACS (www.acs.org.au). My background is IT Support, and more recently business analysis. I asked to be assessed against their 'not elsewhere classified' IT professional code as I had a bit of a mix.

The decision for which city to head to is a big one. Perth seems to be really popular with brits - it is a nice city though its a long way from anywhere. Sydney and Melbourne are where nearly all the big companies hq's are (with Sydney being the financial capital). Sydney is my favourite as it has a wide breadth of career opportunities, has beaches, the harbour and the year-round weather is more balanced than Melbourne.

571090

please excuse me iff i sound silly but could somebody tell me what exactly does a case officer do , are they the people who decide if you meet the criteria for a visa , [ also approx how long after being appointed do you actually obtain the visa . regards . karl.

571090

sorry mate think i have messed up my posting [ new to the forum ] will try and post it again, regards . karl

nickUK

the case officer is the person who reviews your application in full including all your supporting documents and then determines your score, and therefore whether you will get the visa. Prior to a CO being assigned your application is receipted - however this is just an initial sanity check that you're eligible for that particular visa and you've sent the correct docs, etc.

Check out this site for typical processing times... http://www.beupdate.co.uk/visa.php?month=Sep&year=07