John S

We booked for 19 days and found a rental in that time and that was with us viewing a few properties and waiting for the perfect one. When it did come up we went for it and got it, so it is possible to get a permanent rental in a couple of weeks. We have used Tracey at ozhouserental.com twice. First for visa activation and then secondly when we moved over, Tracey was fantastic and very helpful. John.

Ozhouserental Tracey is fantastic.

I think it was something like this, excluding all of the other visa process. 1. Get your skills recognized by sending certs and ref's to Vetassess. As mentioned, you need to have so many years experience. 2. Take the Vetassess skills test. 3. None of your certificates will be recognized in Australia per se, including CompEx. You will have to do up to one year gap training and take more exams in Australia - if you are the main applicant on the visa. Although you have UK certificates they don't really mean much in Australia, they will be acknowledged but don't really mean anything and you will have to re-train, so to say. It will be difficult to get a job as a TA (trade assistant), as there is so many people doing it. I have applied for loads of jobs just to see how it goes but have heard nothing back from anyone. I currently work in Saudi Arabia but have a job lined up on the mines through a mate, as a TA until I get my license. Rough cost, thousands of pounds. Maybe cheaper if your partners job is on the SOL.

Ian, I have sent you some stuff, if you need anything else then just let me know. There will also be calculations involving transformers, these are all straight forward. Hope it helps. John.

We did our medicals over a month ago so I have asked my agent to check to see what it said about them. This is the reply. There are no means for us to check whether medicals are cleared or not, which is annoying. When I log in to your application it states “No health examinations are required for this person for this visa subclass based on the information provided to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.” This is confirmation that they have received medicals for everyone otherwise the message would say “ organise your health examinations”. Can anybody tell me if the message saying medicals are not required mean that they have been cleared / passed? Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

We lodged our 190 visa application on June 21st. In the process of gathering police checks, I need four of them after spending time working or holidaying more than a year in different countries. So that means four police checks from four different countries. I can not get one from Iraq, where I worked for eighteen months, so have to write a declaration for that one. Two of the others are in the process of being done and another needs to be applied for, so they will not be completed until August / September time. I am currently overseas working again so can not do medicals until about August / September as well. So it looks like I will have to wait a little while to complete that side of things. Even though I have just completed a medical for work it won't be of any use to me and have to get another one. Hoping to have the visa by end of the year and start the move in the new year. We are planning on relocating to Thailand for a few months after leaving England and travelling from there to activate visa and fly back. I have to apply for my electrical license which is going to take a while so cheaper to sit in Thailand and fly back and forth while waiting for this. I already have a rental planned, off a mate, for when we do decide to move for good, so things should be smooth that side of things. So, as the saying goes - hurry up and wait some more.

Hi all, I have been looking around at car prices in Australia and they are way more expensive than in the UK. So on the whole would you say it is cheaper to buy a car, Audi, Merc, BMW, etc, in the UK and it would still work out cheaper, after shipping, import tax, etc, than buying the equivalent in Oz? I currently own a BMW which is 13 years old now but still in mint condition. I had been thinking of buying something newer but decided not to because of the move to Oz, as I didn't want to lose money on it. I do not expect to relocate until next year. I am busy doing the paperwork now, skills assessment is booked for April. Then State Sponsorship, medicals, etc. I will be moving over before the wife and son come over which is not scheduled to approximately next (UK), summer. So could I buy a car in the next couple of months, wait a year and ship it over in a years time? I was thinking of buying a similar car in Oz, a BMW, Audi, convertible, etc but you would probably pay about £20k for a car you could buy for £8-10k in the UK. So if it is more viable to buy in the UK and ship I would be very interested in that. Is there any pitfalls? If we activate the visa at the end of the year but do not relocate then, would that effect the one year car ownership rule? What is the regulations for finally moving to Oz, all three of us, that could effect the one year rule? Or, is everything ok as long as I have owned the car for one year in the UK, then ship it over? Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give. John.

Well, after lots of back and forth emails and phone calls with Vetassess I have finally got my assessment date for April 27th, in London. Can't wait to get it over and done with then apply for State Sponsorship. If everything goes to plan I should have my visa application in before the end of the visa year.

Hi, A word of advice on the writing test. Try not to be to opinionated, I used to write, "in my opinion", rather than stating things as fact. I totally agree with an earlier post, the writing test is subjective and this is what worried me about it. Depending on the test and usually the second topic, try to give a balanced account of both sides of the coin. Write short sentences, rather than long drawn out ones. If you have an IELTS revision book, read the comments of the examiner for previous test papers. The writing test is not an easy test. I wrote down parts that I wanted to add into the topic in chronological order and went from there. Don't take too long thinking about the topics though as the time gets eaten up pretty quickly. I also would count how many words I had written in each paragraph and noted it down. Remember, too few words, in either topic, = fail!!! Best of luck to all, John.

Hi, The information already given is the best. Be sure to revise as much as you can. I thought the listening test was the hardest as you have to read, write and listen all at the same time. Make sure you practise this one thoroughly to give yourself the best chance. I needed to get 8 out of 9 in each subject and I got L 7.5, R 8, W 8 and S 9. So I had to take the test again. The next time I got 8.5 in each subject except the speaking, I only got 8 but it was a pass mark. I got asked a tricky question to talk about a film set in the future that I had seen recently, I hadn't seen any and my mind just went totally blank. Luckily I still spoke well enough throughout the whole interview to get the pass mark I needed. As for the writing the first part is to usually write a letter to a friend. The next part could be about anything from how does a social activity such as shopping have an impact on society compared to more traditional past times? Or, how do large supermarkets have an impact on society compared to small shops? Stuff like that. I did speak to an IELTS examiner and he says some of the tests in this category can be really hard. I took my IELTS tests in Bangkok where there was at least 300 people taking the test at the same time. The vast majority of the people taking the test were of Asian descent, how on earth they manage to cope with the exam is beyond me, and the IELTS examiner. Although they do not need to score as high a mark as us it can not be easy for them all the same and the test should not be underestimated. With plenty of revision it won't be to difficult, I had to fit the test in on an R&R for work. After 4 months in Afghanistan revision was the last thing I wanted to do but had to put beer second on my list of priorities after failing the first time - a lesson learned I suppose. However, I managed to do it and got the mark I needed. Best of luck, John.

Sparky69, When is your assessment? I had booked and paid for one for April then a week later Vetasess emailed me and told me it was full and booked me on the March assessment, a date I can not make which they knew I couldn't as I work overseas and had refused that assessment date already. I even offered to go to Cape Town to sit the assessment there and they told me that one was fully booked. My agent is working on securing another date for me as Vetassess have told me lie after lie about why they cancelled my assessment. Anyway, I have a lot of information on PDF, books, HNC course work, etc, about most of the calculations required. We can wok together on it if you like? Osmond8, Is the DOL starter single or three phase? It's all easy enough really but would just like to know exactly what they want you to do. And what kind of questions do they ask you for the star-delta motor? Can you also give a bit more info on 3 phase calculations? I assume it's Sqrt3 stuff like that. The RMS value is 0.707 and the average value is 0.637. This is used for calculating the 'form factor'. The 'form factor' of an alternating waveform is an expression of the ratio of r.m.s. value to the average value: 0.707 / 0.637 = 1.11. The form factor can be used for converting r.m.s. values to average values and vice versa, e.g. for a sine wave: Average value = r.m.s value / 1.11 r.m.s value = average value x 1.11 Is that the kind of questions they ask you? Thanks for any help you can give. John.

Vetassess are the most unprofessional organisation I have ever heard of and had the displeasure to deal with. They are also a bunch of liars. I am an electrician, I work in Afghanistan and receive very little time off from work. So it was imperative that I be able to do my skills test on one of my R&R's. My agent has been in touch with Vetassess since last November to secure an acceptable date for me to do my assessment. They did not have one until February, I could not make that one. They then informed me of one in March, I could not make that one. They were informed that I could not attend any of the prior assessments and were made fully aware of my situation by my agent in 2012. They then informed me of an assessment in April, this was perfect. I accepted straight away and paid the money for the assessment. One whole week later Vetassess emailed and said the April assessment was full and I could not take the assessment at that date. I noticed they had an assessment in Cape Town, I asked if I could take the assessment there. I was told that venue was full. I then emailed Vetassess and called them and asked, how can the UK assessment be full when I paid the money for it a week before I was told it was full? The April date was not even listed on Vetassess website as I was told well in advance that there would be an assessment, my agent had been working on this since November 2012, by the way. Vetassess then told me that there was an overspill of people that had been waiting for an assessment since Christmas. I asked, if there is overspill from Christmas then how come they weren't booked onto the March assessment? March does come before April after all. I was then told I am booked onto the March assessment and that if I didn't cancel it I would be charged to reschedule the assessment date. I informed Vetassess that I did not ask for a March assessment so how can I be booked on it and how can they charge me for it when I didn't even ask for it and they didn't even inform me I was on it? My agent, who is an Australian barrister, also called them and spoke to a manager and I still had no progress. He called again and was told that the April assessment was scheduled before the March assessment and that is how the April assessment is full and the March was added as an extra date, after the April assessment became full. I told him this is a pack of lies as I have an email from Vetassess informing me of an March assessment one month before I was informed of the April assessment. The March assessment was also advertised on Vetassess website before I was told of the April assessment, which is only natural given the laws of time and that March comes before April. So needless to say I have caught Vetassess out multiple times completely lying to me. They took payment for an assessment that they claimed was already full, even though it wasn't even advertised, and did not give me the assessment date that I had booked and paid for. The email they sent me for the April date even has a stipulation that the date is a tentative one and that it would only be held if there was sufficient interest in it. The date they claim was full before the March date was issued????? They then booked me onto a different date that they knew I did not want and could not attend, they didn't even bother to tell me I was booked on it. I only found out because I called them myself. That is a case of obtaining money by deception, a fraudulent business dealing. My agent has to call Vetassess again next week to speak to another manager. I have told him enough is enough, I want the assessment when I want not when they want. They have taken my money and done nothing but lie and try to deceive me. I have also instructed my agent to contact Victoria University to take my assessment through them. If Vetassess can not accommodate me and provide the service I paid for then I will be contacting TRA and DIAC to complain about the fraudulent behaviour. Trust me, if I new Vetassess operated this way before I went through them I would have avoided them like the plague. I believe Vetassess have some underhanded deal arranged and that is why they cancelled my booking, there is no other explanation. They are nothing but a bunch of unprofessional cowboys and a pack of liars. I would advise anybody else to look elsewhere rather than use this mob for an assessment. John.