Gollywobbler

Hi Levi Is there any reason why you would not be eligible for a Remaining Relative via> Please see below: https://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/115.aspx Also, are you American by any chance? If yes then may I suggest that you should have a chat with my friend Sandra Maxfield in New York? https://www.mara.gov.au/search-the-register-of-migration-agents/ If the link above is not good enough, please tell the MARA website to findd 'Maxfield.' That shows that Sandra is still an RMA and is still in New York. I *loathe* the way IT wizards continually fiddle with websites that worked perfectly well before the wizards "improved" them but if you have the patience to fiddle with it, the MARA website should provide Sandra's phone number etc, which might be easier than coping with time zone differences. It sounds to me as if you need somebody to help you to work out a detailed "migration strategy" for you. For this, the other person needs a fair amount of background information about the prospective migrant and his/her circumstances etc. The easiest way to get all the necessary info is over the phone, as a matter of fact, but that is a hopeless idea when the prospective migrant is struggling to stay awake because of a huge time zone difference! Hence I think that Sandra might be the best person to help you. Please make sure that you also have pen & paper handy. so that you can jot down visa-names and then check all the details independently, via the DIAC website later. Usually, when a parent wants to migrate and to claim that a now-adult child is a 'dependant,' one can expect grief from DIAC. Sometimes, the now-adult child is unable to work because s/he is disabled. Hmmm. If the child fails the medical for migration then the visa *must be* refused. I came across another situation where the family were from Pakistan. The daughter told me that although she was fit & well, the culture in their part of Pakistan precluded her from being able to work there but her widowed father refused to consider a Contrib Parent visa unless she could go with him. In that situation, Gill has taken it as far as I can by myself - I can describe the facts to a seriously heavyweight Aussie Immigration law specialist solicitor such as my friend Nigel Dobbie in Sydney. However, in that sort of situation, the Ausie lawyer really does have to knuckle down to a serious examination of the decided case-law etc. It is no time for mutts like me to bimble around just guessing vaguely! It is far more usual to come across a situation in which the prospective contrbutory parent(s) are quite young and the child who would otherwise be the family's Rem Relly is well below the age of 18. In that situation, the concession that you are describing works like a charm, but it becomes next-to-impossible when one tries to get square pegs to go into round holes, as it were. Pleae shout if I can help any further. Cheers Gill

Hi Rossy I remember you well! I'm soooo pleased to know that you are still trying to help other people who want to move to Oz. My own info is now rusty, out of date and obsolete, plus I went through a phase of loathing Australia's existence after my beloved mother had died. I know that that was not rational but, not sensibly, I had somehow believed that Mum would soldier on forever, I suppose. Cheers Gill

Hi All I had a bit of a "nasty accident," last year, in that I suddenly had a rather acute stroke when I was 56. My friend Camilla is an RMA in Perth. She & I met via this forum, originally. Camilla & I swapped a couple of private e-mails soon after I was released from prison (i mean hozzy) but then something went wrong with Camilla's ISP. I know she organised a new ISP but I'm not sure whether my e-mails to her also survived the switch, so I'm hoping to contact Camilla again via this forum, if possible. I think there might be probs with my now rather ancient PC. Many thanks Gill

Hi Levi I'm hearing alarm bells as I've read through your posts on this thread. It is actually very difficult to get a dependant adult child into Australia via Parent migration but the rule of, "One fails then all fail," continues, needless to say! If you care to divulge it publicly, what is the story with you, please? If you do not care to divulge details publicly then I would suggest a private chat with Nigel Dobbie in Sydney: http://visaspecialists.com/directors_profiles.php Nigel has a mind like a razor but he is also a very nice, very kind man. Cheers Gill

Hi Steely My sister has lived in Perth for over 30 years, now, because she married an Aussie from there. Eventually, our widowed & now late mother also emigrated to Perth in 2006. Unfortunately, Mum died during 2012 but, by then, she was 92. I think she li ved longer because she had moved to Perth (from the UK) permanently when she was 84. We used a CPV143 for Mum and we did not use a migration agent. Parent migration (regardless of which visa) is actually very easy once you get your head round the unfamiliar concepts and jargon described on the DIAC website, I found. Are you OK on the Balance of Family Test, please? That bit is crucial and it *must not* be misunderstood or misinterpreted. (The BoF Test stuffed my mother up for several years after my father died but, in the end, the Aussie govt altered their migration legislation, which had the unintended effect of altering the BoF Test too.) As for charges, please see the link below: http://www.immi.gov.au/Help/Pages/fees-charges/visa.aspx Please add another $14K AUD for the Assurance of Support if you & Mrs Steely intend to migrate together and you also decide to apply for Permanent Residency immediately. Contributory Parent migration *is* expensive. The rationale is that the C/Parent has not spent several years forking out tax etc in Australia but s/he must be given whatever types of old age care his/her Aussie doctors might recommend in the future. Like all these things, everything is actually more complex than DIAC say but, for now, please just get your head round the basics. To start with, that bit is difficult enough, I recall, but everything *does* become easier thereafter. Cheers Gill

Has anyone asked a man called Bull Creek Bob, who used to be an active menber of the Poms in Oz forum?

Hi again, Nicole What you are really describing is just a vague idea that you might toddle out to Perth for a holiday, probably en famille, hubby might go and visit a couple of the utility companies in Perth whilst he is on holiday in Perth and..... bingo! One of them might offer to sponor hubby for a visa. The chances of this actually happening are exceedingly small as far as the job offer/work visa end of things is concerned. Sure, there is nothing to prevent you from going to Perth for a holiday. However, if you want the trip to include some possible job-interviews as well then the first thing to do is to narrow down exactly what Hubby's area of professional expertise actually is. It is impossible for me to try to suggest possible ideas when I have no idea what your hubby actually does in his professional life. "In the gas industry" is far too vague by way of a description. If you could be more specific then I can try to be more specific as well. Cheers Gill

Hi Nicole I have read through this thread and your other thread called "Help me." You say that your hubby works in "the gas industry." In what way, please? Do you mean that he is a central heating engineer or does he know about the things that happen on offshore gas-rigs or onshore gas-fields? I note that you have asked Ali about the gas utility companies in WA. All that they do is to buy the gas from the producers and then re-supply the gas to the consumers, so I don't know, from this, what your hubby actually does. (It must be admitted that the only thing I know about gas is to how to switch on my hot water and central heating, and how to phone a gas engineer if they do not work!) Depending on what sort of gas-occupation hubby actually has, Perth might not be the right location for you, so I think the first thing is to narrow down hubby's precise area of expertise. Then, whatver the job is called in the UK has to be translated into Strine! DIAC's ASRI list will do as a start. Does hubby's occupation appear on ASRI, please? If yes, what is it called, what is its code number and does hubby have the paper qualifications (ie the relevant, formal, British qualifications) described in the ASRI list, please? http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/a-z.htm If his occupation does not appear on ASRI, that is not necessarily the end of the world but it is important to get to the bottom of what the ANZSCO dictionary says that Hubby's occupation is in Strine. Please could you do this bit before you worry about anything else? If Hubby is not deemed to be sufficiently skilled and qualified, it may not be possible for him to emigrate to Australia at all. If that turns out to be the case then there is no point in worrying about his conviction, so please let us tackle your questions in one logical step at a time! Cheers Gill

Hi Mrs Mac I live in the UK but my sister married an Aussie from Perth, so she has been living in Perth for over 30 years now. My widowed mother obtained a Contributory Parent visa in 2006, so she has now moved to Perth as well. It is by far the best thing for Mum because her only grandcubs are two Aussie young men! Both of my nephews were born in Perth. I would suggest that you save up for the plane fare and that you consider getting a subclass 676 long stay Tourist visa: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/ It is possible to apply for a 12 month stay on a sc 676 visa. My mother had several of these before we obtained her Contributory Parent visa. Cheers Gill

Hi Philly The ONLY people who do not need visas for Australia are Australian Citizens. Everyone else needs a visa. Your mother will need her own visa. Since you yourself will only be a Temporary Resident, via your sc 457 visa, for the time being it is premature to discuss Parent visas. I would suggest that you consider getting a subclass 676 long-stay Tourist visa for your Mum, to begin with: http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/tourist/676/ If she is British and she can afford to support herself for as long as a year without being able to earn any money in Australia then DIAC would probably agree to let her spend 12 months in Oz on a sc 676. Please just note that it is illegal for the holder of a tourist visa or a visitor visa to do any paid work whilst they are in Australia. If it is essential for Mum to be able to work part time then the only real option for her would be a Student visa, probably: http://www.immi.gov.au/students/ What does Mum do for a living? If she is a nurse and she is willing to work full-time then it may be possible to get one of the hozzies to sponsor her for a sc 457 visa - there is no upper age limit for those and Australia is desperate to attract more nurses. However, not everyone's Mum is a nurse - mine isn't! Cheers Gill

Hi admich Are you using a MARA-registered migration agent? https://www.mara.gov.au/agent/ARSearch.aspx?FolderID=394 If not, are your agents based in the UK? If you are using un-registered agents based in the UK, do you have any sort of written agreement with them? I'm asking because I'm trying to discover whether threatening to sue them might give them the necessary kick up the jaxi. If it is an agent in E&W and you have a proper service agreement with them, it should contain a "jurisdiction clause" that says words to the effect of, "the provisions in this contract are governed by the Law of England & Wales..." It should also state exactly what they will do in return for your money etc. Please let me know. Cheers Gill

Thanks very much for the information, Phil. (I'm not even trying to understand anything about SkillSelect or the new skilled visas until after 01 July 2012. I can't cope with scrappy bits of paper pushed out by DIAC, so I'm waiting for the details to appear on their website, which I like.) Pipmcrae, please have a gander at the ASRI list below: http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/ There are Solid Plasterers and Fibrous Plasterers, so please look under S and F in ASRI. ASA also provide a bit more information: https://www.australianskillassessments.com/constructiontrades.php Both types of Plasterer have to have an Aussie AQF III or its overseas equivalent. Your own paper qualification is an NVQ2 which is not high enough. However, if you have at least 4 years of relevant experience then you should be able to get an AQF III, so I'd say that your first step should be to contact Darren Le'ake at ASA and ask him for more information (including about price.) Then contact Jonathan Skerratt at Silver Trowel as well and ask him about price too, so that you can compare the two quotes. I know a Plasterer who went out to Perth to get an AQF III from Silver Trowel a couple of years ago. Apparently doing that was cheaper than doing it in the UK. The whole of the paper-based RPL assessment can be done whilst you are still in the UK but you have to go to Perth for the practical assessment. Silver Trowel arrange the equipment and the venue - you do not have to take your own tools to Perth unless you want to. If you can stand it, Air Asia does low-cost flights from Stansted to KL and then another flight from KL to Perth: http://www.airasia.com/ot/en/home.page Some friends of mine said that they use Air Asia a lot between Perth & KL. Long-haul from London to KL, don't expect luxury but you can expect much better than you would get on the average train in the UK. Take a book! That's what my sister and I used to do in the 1960s & 1970s when we were flying between London & KL three times a year for the school holidays. Sure, its tiring and boring but it is by no means impossible to cope with it! Cheers Gill

Hi Shelley The IELTs can be done in the UK if you are in the UK? Some of the Further Education Colleges do it: http://www.ielts.org/ The IELTS website is good - very user friendly imho. You might have to travel some distance from home in order to be able to sit an IELTS promptly but if you are willing to travel around the UK then it is usually possible to get one of the providers to help out by letting you do it quickly. Cheers Gill

Hello Pipmcrae An NVQ2 is deemed to be lower than the Aussie AQF III. NVQ2 and AQF II are deemed to be about equal, I believe. I don't know anything about SkillSelect but I suspect it is unlikely that SkillSelect would accept something lower than the equivalent of an AQF III? (I'm hoping that Phil Olsen will correct me if I'm wrong about this?!) If my hunch about the above is correct, I think you should investigate whether or not you would be able to obtain an AQF III. This can sometimes be done without the need to leave the UK: http://www.australianskillassessments.com/ Alternatively, I know that Silver Trowel in Perth are also able to help people to obtain the AQF III via the RPL route described by ASA. RPL = Recognition of Prior Learning. ASA (which is run by an Aussie named Darren Le'ake) provides the clearest description that I've found about how the RPL route works. I know for a fact that Silver Trowel are also able to do these RPL assessments but the candidate has to go to Perth for the purpose if Silver Trowel are chosen: http://silvertrowel.com.au/ Silver Trowel is run by an Aussie called Jonathan Skerratt and his wife. I can't remember Mrs Skerratt's first name though I think it might be Anne but I'm not certain about that so "Mrs Skerratt" will do as a form of address until you are sure, I would suggest!. I hope this is of some help. Cheers Gill

Hello Claire, I've only just read this thread. I'm not a migration agent. I've just been around the several "move to Oz" forums for quite a while now. My close family live in Perth. Over the years I've known dozens of British Nurses of all sorts (RMN, RGN, Midwives etc) who have moved to Oz. I'd say that about 60% of them went to Oz on employer-sponsored visas, usually the 457 visa to start with and then they have obtained Permanent Residency either visa the ENS or the RSMS visas depending on location. I've never heard of a British nurse having any problems with this route to PR in Oz. The remaining 40% or so went out on skilled independent visas, including Ali. Out of this group, about half do their visas on their own (Ali did and she's not alone by any means.) The other half have used migration agents to give them a hand. The choice mainly depends on how much time the Nurse is able to spare, whether or not s/he finds it easy to understand the DIAC website and whether or not the Nurse feels nervous about tackling the visa end of things on his/her own. Ali is one of the Moderators on this forum. She's an RMN and she moved to Perth on a skilled independent visa in about 2006. Ali might be able to help you by offering pointers, names etc depending on what sort of work Russ wants to do. I believe that Ali has always done community-type Nursing whilst she's been in Oz. What sort of RMN work does Russ do in the UK / want to do out in Oz, please? By this, I mean is he the type of RMN who prefers to work in a hospital or does he prefer the community-type thing where he goes to visit people in their own homes? (I've never been involved with Nursing myself so I'm sorry if my question is vague and clumsy but hopefully you will be able to get the gist.) The answer to my question might drive which type of visa would be best for you. My guess is that even after the 01 July 2012 visa shake-up, British-trained Nurses of all types will still be in top demand by the Aussie Govt though I don't know how long-winded it will all prove to become. I've got bored with trying to follow all the constantly-changing rules about skilled immigration. With the 457 visa, the hozzy in Oz's HR Department usually seem to organise the whole thing and all that the Nurse needs to do is to follow the instructions from HR in Oz. Later on, HR seem to organise getting the PR visa as well. With the employer-sponsored route, the hozzies sometimes organise attractive relocation packages as well. Several seem to provide free accommodation for the first month in Oz. Some seem to pay all or some of the costs of having the immigrant Nurse's personal effects shipped out to Oz etc. Of course, the employment contract contains claw-back provisions about these types of costs unless the employee stays with the employer for however long has been agreed. That said, though, this sort of option is the cheapest way to do it. With the skilled independent visas, for the minute I'd be inclined to think about using a migration agent because the new rules do look fiddly to me and I don't think it will become easier to understand until DIAC alter their website, which I guess they will do sharp on 01 July 2012 - though DIAC's IT guys are probably biting their nails, testing everything etc to make sure that nothing will go wrong while they make the changes. I'd guess that they might take the DIAC website off-line for a few hours just in case it needs IT-type tweaking at the last minute. DIAC have a very keen understanding of the fact that nobody wants a website where the links in the thing don't work etc. If Russ were, say, a Plasterer then I'd be screaming that a skilled independent visa would probably be best for him but the employers never seem to let British Nurses down so I think which visa is probably an evenly-balanced question in your own case. Has Russ been in touch with any potential employers in Oz as yet? Cheers Gill