Lulu78

Thanks for your advice. We have a 190 visa, so we shouldn't have to register our arrival so. Surprised about the drivers licence though, I thought you could keep current(Irish) one till it is due for renewal and then change over. I must have a look at the other banks!! tell me, does the list ever get any shorter ? thanks again x x

Hi All, I hope you are all well in the land of Oz. I know there has been various posts on this topic but I couldn't find them so am looking for your help (even a previous post bump would suffice). Thankfully we don't need accommodation. I am basically looking for a list of things that need to be done when we arrive: *Registering our arrival in Perth, where do we do this ? *Medicare? *Tax number? *Banking, I want to open accounts now but the bank a relative recommended (P&N) dont really do online applications. (No previous Oz address) *What else?? Thanks

We got our 190 visa and my partner has an under active thyroid and is on 200mg eltroxin per day, he was also on cholesterol med and has haemochromatosis but is healthy and well, a ok weight etc. Try not to worry, I did and it is a waste to time that you could be spending getting excited about the adventure.

I did the skills assessment with ACWA, under Welfare Worker and it takes about 8 weeks but I think it can be done quicker. A friend of mine who was in Oz had hers done quicker. Call ACWA and explain, they will tell you if they can do it quicker. Pm me and I can advise you on the assessment as the longest part for me was understanding what they wanted from me. I ended up sending a book of stuff. It's the five core competencies that confused me, as I didn't gave an agent but I can help if you need.

Ah, ok. Thanks for that. So they allow you to start without it! I am trying to get as much done from this end as possible. Ah well.

Hi All, just wondering if I can apply for a Police check and Working With Children check before I arrive in May? cheers Lulu

Wow Chris, you are there already. We had our visa granted 2 weeks ago and its only really sinking in. So, I look forward to hearing how you get on. Best of luck Louise

Hi All, we had our visa granted last week and am delighted but need to shift into the next gear. So, now wondering what the job scene is like? Are things really tough? Has anyone found a job recently ? Thinking of coming out in May 2014, we need to validate by June and want to save as much as we can. Any advice will be gratefully received.

Hi Jodi, Thanks for the info, I will defo start looking at other job titles. I think that for the visa application, your assessment has to be within the past 12 months. I will check through my stuff tomorrow but the 12 month figure is in my head. HTH

Hi Jodipodi, Thanks for the reply. From what I see on Ssek, ethical jobs etc, there is work but worried as want to hit the ground running. I had the same issue with refs, as got them for skills assessment in summer 2012, for visa app in summer 2013 and will need them when I get to Oz. I asked referees to email them so in future I can just change date and if needs be copy a signature as all refs were ok with this! They prefer this to writing another ref.

Anyone got a job? We just did our medicals and starting to get nervous as have been hearing that work is drying up!!!

Hi Jodipodi, It took me so long to get the pieces together for ACWA under Welfare Worker heading but I had no advice so kept throwing in the towel. In hindsight, it's straight forward enough. Put together a portfolio of 1. References, job descriptions, work you did while in those jobs; if you have newspaper cuttings of events/conferences or web pages, if you are named in publications that you contributed to etc. 2. Degree/ Diploma cert and transcripts and extracts from courses ( to show topics covered) 3. Write the piece on how you have met the core competencies. This took a while as there is no guide, so I gave a blend what I understood the competency to mean and an example of work that met it. 4. Your birth cert, passport and I think I put IELTS in. I had quite a bit of work experience unqualified so they seemed to take this into account except when they were assessing me for points. I would advise you to pay to have this done. I think it's $650 in total. HTH

Great news, well done

Out matching a salary to this. Cheers for the links. Lou

Thanks cjbchris, I think you are right, I need to work out how much my new life will cost and start thinking ab