aatucks

brilliant, thanks

aatucks

Ok, more questions!!
The skills assessment through TRA says the fees are $300 but looking on various forums, several people have said there are further fees which can range from $2000-$6000! Is this correct?
We were going to go for the 175, well the new replacement, under the occupation plumber (general) are there any other fees?
Plus the fees for the IELTS, then theres the fees for the actual visa, IF you get accepted to apply.
Is it really this expensive to try to move to Australia?
When you add all the costs after youve got the visa, like flights, accomadation, shipping costs, etc. etc. etc. how do people afford to do it?
I'm hoping that some of the fees don't apply to us or theres another route we can go down??
Completely and utterly baffled!!

mrsgreenstar76

It's certainly not cheap to emigrate. I don't know how much your skills assessment is, but the current visa fees are AUD $2960 (£1995). IELTS is about £125 last time I looked. The medicals are roughly about £300 per person (it varies on where you go & if it includes the x-ray). The PCC (police check) is £35 per person (standard service - ten working days) or £70 per person (premium service - two working days).

Shipping depends on how much you take with you & if you are sending it by sea or air, but it can be in the thousands. Not to mention having enough to set yourself up when you get there. Plus there's obviously the flights.

I really can't see how you thought these fees wouldn't apply to you.

Dorothy

Yes. The basic fee is about $300 AUD, but if your husband needs to do a practical test you can add that.
Yes. You'll have to pay for certifying documents, police clearances, medicals & x-rays

Yes. Yes it's very expensive.

We sold our house and used some of the proceeds from the sale to fund our move. Add another couple of thousand $$ for things like the inevitable unemployment when he first arrives, licensing in your new state (each one has different licensing requirments), setting up a home here - rent, food, school fees, etc.
Yes, the fees all apply to you and every other applicant. Why wouldn't they?

The only other route you could go down would be for your husband to be sponsored by an employer which is really unlikely for a tradesman. Check if his skill is on the ENSOL (google it) and then get sending out applications. Although, like I said, employer sponsorship for a plumber is extremely unlikely. Most trades here are self employed.

Bermudashorts

I had mentioned on another thread that you were looking at up to GBP 20k to make the move. You had mentioned, pets, children and container so I had roughly broken this down as:

visa process - 6k (incl skills assessment / medicals)
container - 4k
pets - 4k
flights for family - 4k

This just gets you to the airport in Australia, you then need to budget temporary living costs for arrival and many people want a car straight away, then you need living expenses until you find work.

It is an expensive business and many people make a huge investment in their immigration. Of course there will be people that did it on a shoe string, but not so many families do it that way.

aatucks

It wasn't that I didn't think the fees applied to me, I just hadn't realised there were so many and they were so expensive.
We had decided to keep the house and rent it out because the market is quite bad but looks like if we want make this move we will have to try and sell.
Both mine and my OH occupations are on the ENSOL list so maybe I'll have a look at that option and all it entails.
I'm sorry if I offended anyone, I just hadn't realised there was so many fees. I feel like my braincells are depleating whilst doing all this research and I'm being a bit stupid!!
Thanks everyone though