coastie

You can hold dual citizenship in the UK. Some other countries you can't. Certain government jobs won't allow dual citizenship and you have to hand back your citizenship but these are relatively rare.

A skills assessment is a prerequisite to submitted an EOI for 189 and 190. Have a look on the occupations list and it will tell you who the assessing authority is for your profession. The skills assessment is the hardest part. For me it was anyway. Good luck.

Are the houses still sinking into the sand there too?

I've always want to drive a train.

You are invited as soon as you gain WA state sponsorship. The invitation rounds are for 189 visa. Cost for migration agent - $4,000 for me.

I'm not there yet. I got my visa a few weeks ago. I'll be staying with my cousin in Waikiki. A lot of things are double the UK prices but some things are cheaper. I found the local markets good value.

The immigration department must act within the Australian Immigration Law. The law clearly states that the applicant must meet the criteria described by the act. They can't just set up a personal interview just for you. It is an open and fair process for everyone.

I don't know the route for nurses but I'm an engineer without a degree so I went with an agent who helped me a lot to get a successful outcome. It may be easier for nurses but I've no idea.

As for costs. It's not cheap! From memory (189 independent skilled visa).. IELTS (English exams). - £150 Skills Assessment - £500 Visa - £2000 Migration Agent - £3000 Shipping container - £6,500 Car shipping - £2,000 Cat shipping - £2,000 Sell house - £4,000 Doing house up to sell - £4,500 You'll also need enough money to survive for at least 6 months as you won't be able to claim benefits.

Hi. I would start with the immigration website. http://www.immi.gov.au Try the wizard and see what visas are available. Then have a look at what you need to fulfil the requirements. IELTS, skills assessment, etc. Then get back here with any questions. If you want to do it without a migration agent then you'll need to do a lot of reading yourself. Best of luck!

It doesn't matter how good you are or how determined you are. The visa process is based on hard facts. The first one and most important is age. Very few employers will employ someone in their late 50s.

It's Waikiki. 5 mins from the beach

Less than 24 hours for me.

My first kangaroo sign

The road I'll be living in this September

Waikiki Beach

I went just the once for three weeks. The visit just made my mind up from 100% to 200% !!

Hi. It all depends which route you chose. Did you go down the CDR route or was your degree recognised by the Washington Accord? The CDR takes a lot longer for Engineers Australia to assess. With Washington Accord degrees, they just have to look up the degree on their database. Coastie.

I don't know about withdrawals but NAB don't charge monthly fees and its very easy to setup an account in the UK.

Have a look at redbook.com.au and see what your car is worth over in Oz. 20ft container will cost about £4000. 40ft will be around £6500. (That's what I've been quoted) You have to apply for approval to ship the car before it can be loaded in the container. Have a word with Iron Lady imports. ironladyimports.com There are other fees but can't remember what they were exactly but they were about $1000.

Well done and congratulations!

I can't believe you've waited since July for an invite! You could have been on the beach by now. I'm still waiting for my visa. I applied for state sponsorship but got an invite for a 189 visa the day after I paid $200 to WA. I cancelled the state sponsorship and applied for 189. I also did a reccie in March. I visited Melbourne and Perth but Perth was the place for me. Much more laid back and far better weather. The 40 degree heat didn't bother me at all. I've also got a lot of family in Perth (over 30 of them!). Good luck with your application. Coastie.

Yes. The case officer will request them. It's up to you if you want to do them earlier but you will only save a few weeks.

Yes. The invites arrive very soon after you've got state sponsorship. The application form for state sponsorship is all done online. You have to fill in everything you mentioned above. It's not difficult. currently it looks like the application takes 5 weeks to get a case officer assigned and then another couple of weeks after that assuming all your medicals and police checks are fine.

Yes. All states are different. For WA you put in your EOI first and then apply for State Sponsorship from WA. After a few weeks, if you are successful, they will send you something to sign and send back. Very shortly after that you will get an invite.