GreenFamily Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Hi everyone! This is my first post so please be nice . We have finally decided to take the plunge and start our visa application this year! My husband is an electrician and I am a HR advisor and we have 2 children aged 2 and 1. We were considering using a migration agent but it seems expensive. Wondering if anyone can provide advice or direct us in the right direction to a checklist/step-by-step guide to help with our application? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verystormy Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 There is no definitive guide as every case is different. While agents can seem expensive, I am a fan of using them as I see a lot of people on forums that make a simple mistake that results in a refusal for visa and the loss of the fees - expensive. These are the steps though. Look through immi.gov.au and look at the different visas and check your eligibility and calculate your points. There is a visa wizard on there that will help. Generally the best visa is a 189, then a 190 then a 489. If you are British you don't normally have to prove English skills, but in reality most people have to take ILETS for points. One of you will need a occupation on one of the two lists - sol or CSOL. Fortunately I know electrician is on the sol. So all good there. Then you need to get a skills assessment. It will be your husband who is almost certainly going to be the primary applicant, so he needs a skills assessment as an electrician. Then book ILETS. And he needs to revise. How well he will need to do in the test will depend on how many points he needs. Then you submit an expression of interest (EOI). You will then sit back and wait until you get an invitation to apply. Then you complete the application. Things to think about in the planning stages. Research a LOT. Look at your occupations and the availability for jobs. Save money. This is an expensive process and your husband will not be a qualified electrician here, he will need to work as a trade assistant for a while and go back to college. There are a few threads on this detailing what is involved. But it will be about a year. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hopeful Posted June 25, 2014 Report Share Posted June 25, 2014 Excellent guide vs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenFamily Posted June 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Wow that is fantastic thanks so much. It is exactly what I thought but just needed someone with experience to confirm it for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmsyEss Posted June 26, 2014 Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Hi GreenFamily! Welcome to PP and good luck with the PR visa process! We went through an agent (mainly because I was pregnant at the time and my husband was working 60 hour weeks so just didn't have the time and commitment to do it) We gained our PR last year and move in October with our 2 girls - also aged 2 and 1 :-) Hi everyone! This is my first post so please be nice . We have finally decided to take the plunge and start our visa application this year! My husband is an electrician and I am a HR advisor and we have 2 children aged 2 and 1. We were considering using a migration agent but it seems expensive. Wondering if anyone can provide advice or direct us in the right direction to a checklist/step-by-step guide to help with our application? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weasy Posted June 26, 2014 Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Hi, We didn't use a migration agent and it's quite simple to do yourself as long as you are very organised and methodical! The thing we found was that everything takes a lot longer than you anticipate. Until they give you an invite then it all moved very quickly for us. If you end up doing it yourself i wouldd suggest collating all your evidence when you submit your EOI as then it is ready when you get an invite, also make sure you can back up every point you say you have as this is a reason they refuse visa's. We downloaded to booklet which supports the 189 visa pplication and used it as a tick list. Also (sorry very bitty but the whole saga has just come flooding back!) when you submit your visa book your health and police checks, a lot will say wait for them to tell you to go but if you go and get this done it tends to speed the process. From lodging our application to grant was 4 weeks so it moves fairly fast if your a step ahead of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenFamily Posted June 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Hi GreenFamily!Welcome to PP and good luck with the PR visa process! We went through an agent (mainly because I was pregnant at the time and my husband was working 60 hour weeks so just didn't have the time and commitment to do it) We gained our PR last year and move in October with our 2 girls - also aged 2 and 1 :-) Thanks EmsyEss and congrats on your PR. We are in a similar situation as my husband works away during the week. Nice to hear we are not the only ones moving with 2 toddlers! Which Agency did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenFamily Posted June 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Hi, We didn't use a migration agent and it's quite simple to do yourself as long as you are very organised and methodical! The thing we found was that everything takes a lot longer than you anticipate. Until they give you an invite then it all moved very quickly for us. If you end up doing it yourself i wouldd suggest collating all your evidence when you submit your EOI as then it is ready when you get an invite, also make sure you can back up every point you say you have as this is a reason they refuse visa's. We downloaded to booklet which supports the 189 visa pplication and used it as a tick list. Also (sorry very bitty but the whole saga has just come flooding back!) when you submit your visa book your health and police checks, a lot will say wait for them to tell you to go but if you go and get this done it tends to speed the process. From lodging our application to grant was 4 weeks so it moves fairly fast if your a step ahead of them. Thanks Weasy this is so helpful. It would be good if we could do it ourselves and save on the migration agent fee. Its reassuring to hear from people who have done it on their own and tips greatly appreciated :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmsyEss Posted June 26, 2014 Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Thanks EmsyEss and congrats on your PR. We are in a similar situation as my husband works away during the week. Nice to hear we are not the only ones moving with 2 toddlers! Which Agency did you use? Hi again, we used visa bureau who were brilliant! Caroline was our case manager and was at the end of the phone constantly. She helped with every aspect of our application. My husband is a hotel manager and I'm glad we went through an agent as we had so much going on at the time. We were declined from Victoria as that was our first choice and she helped us to decide to go ahead and try WA. I'm now going through the fun bit of sorting through the house before our container arrives in august. It amazes me how much we have accumulated with two little ones! My youngest is 9 months and oldest turned 2 in May so only 17 months between them :-) good luck and happy to help any way I can! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verystormy Posted June 26, 2014 Report Share Posted June 26, 2014 Be aware though it is very easy to make an error that results in a refusal and loss of the fee which is a very expensive mistake. I have just seen two cases on PIO this morning. However we can help as you go along and check things for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.