Pom considering coming to Perth!

[jojo1310]

Hello everyone!

 

Well, I am not sure where to start but I have just discovered this forum and thought it would be a great idea to join.

 

My boyfriend and I are considering moving out to Perth and we are in the early stages of researching the whole notion! We have been to Perth twice now; first time, on a working holiday visa where we spent 7 months living with family and working (in a bakers and as an electrician) and the second time as a holiday for 2 weeks. It wasn't long enough! But it reignited our desire to return and try it out for real!!

 

So, we're looking at the skilled 190 visa, as my bf is an electrician I will be his defacto. I just wanted to hear about everyone's experiences; good and bad. What should we expect, costs, waiting times, how hard/easy did you find the whole application process? Were the IELTS tests hard? How are you mejoying Perth if you are now there and settles. I have so many questions and just want to hear peoples experiences and gain some tips for when we start our application process!

 

Thanks guys and hopefully hear from you all soon!

 

Jo

[jojo1310]

Also, have people gone through a migration agent or are you doing it alone? I know the cost difference must be huge, but isn't your success more 'guaranteed' if you go through an agent?

 

thanks Jo

[StraighttothePoint]

Nothing is guaranteed in this life except taxes and death Jo...... Some use agents and some do not. If you are able you can do it yourself.

 

Anyway send me a PM and I will send you a budget sheet and a list of must read websites which includes the visa processing. Also read through this site as much as possible because as they say in sci fi land, "the answer is out there".....

[travelchic]

Hi and welcome.

 

I'm using an agent who is brill. Immigration2oz.com. If you're going to use an agent go with one that is MARA registered as well as recommended to you. There are a few agent recommended agents on here and PIO. I think I could have done the visa myself to be honest but as I don't have time on my side I decided against. Altogether, my visa is costing close to £6000. That includes my skills assessment, EOI, SS, visa, IELTS (twice), police checks, medicals and my agents fees. Think my agents fees are approx £2000. Your skills assessment may not be the same cost as mine as I'm a nurse but the rest should be the same. My skills assessment has taken about 4 months, and I think the rest will take another 4 months give or take.

 

The spreadsheet offered above is a good tool to determine wether you can actually afford to live in Perth. If you have an idea of what to expect then you can budget.

 

Ielts is £135. Takes up a whole day, usually a Saturday. You have to sit for 3 hours in exam conditions with about 100 others doing a listening, reading and writing test. Then you are given a time to return for the speaking test which takes about 15 mins. Now I consider myself to be good at English (grammar, punctuation, spelling etc) but didn't get the required results in all aspects. If you need 7's for your visa, you have to get at least 7 in all aspects. Although I wouldn't say it's difficult, I can't stress enough the importance of practice. There are lots of books, CDs and websites out there that can help. I personally used http://www.ielts-exam.net for practice tests. Levi (another PP member) also has some good practice material. I'm sure he'll be along soon to offer help.

 

good luck

 

Debs

[Soroka]

The visa is easy enough if you have a straight forward case I.e no complications.

 

Done my 190 myself and saved thousands with agent fees.

 

Im a spark so give us a shout if you need any help

[Loulou]

We did ours ourself , as Soroka says it is easy if no complications did your OH complete and apprenticeship as an Electrician and does he have full work history because that makes things easier. My OH is an electrician and I did ours no problems. The agent still requires you to gather all the info so depends on how you feel about form filling. You will get lots of help from this forum aswell.

 

Good Luck!

[jojo1310]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I'm new to this forum and its a bit fiddly but I will reply to you all in this message!

 

Thanks Straightothepoint, I will PM you and get that budget sheet! Sounds v.useful!

 

Thanks travelchic for your great reply! I know that the IELTS test is somethingt hats bothering me, and it's not me that's doing it! We have been given a DVD and a book from a couple who have just moved to OZ so we'll get revising!!

 

Soroka and LouLou, thanks for your replies I am seriously considering doing the 190 myself. I don't mind a bit of form filling in (may change my mind after this process!) but I think we could do it without an agent. My OH has been in full time work since he left college where he did his apprenticeship.

 

Does anyone happen to know the success rate of applying yourself instead of through a migration agent?

Edited August 14, 2013 by jojo1310

[Candygirl]

We did our visa ourselves, although we did pay a Skills Agent to obtain an AQF for my husband so that he could obtain his TRA assessment. As has been said, some use an agent, others don't. If you have an easy case, I would say do it yourself. There will be a lot of paper collating whcih you will still do yourself even if you have an agent on board.

 

I have spoken to lots of people who have used agents and have been incredibly frustrated with them always having to go through them. Although at times it was a bit stressful, I did like the fact that I could email/pick up the phone myself and speak direct to someone and without PIO I would have found it almost impossible.

 

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

[jojo1310]

Thanks Candygirl! Congratulations on your visa being granted, not long to go now! I am getting used to all of these acronyms, but what is a PIO? what is AQF? lol

 

I know it's each to their own, and some people will get on better with an agent. I just feel we could do it ourselves and we'd be saving heaps of money too! So its taken you just over a year and a half to obtain your visa?

[Sharon Adams]

Hi, I am 48 in september and my husband, daughter 26, and son 18 would like to emigrate to Perth to be with my niece. Im a qualified dog groomer and would like to buy an established business.

Can you tell me what visa's we would need and have you any information or links that would help us.

My daughter is a qualified beautician and has nearly finished a coarse on wedding planning, my son has just completed his first year training to be a chef, and my husband has completed a coarse as a patisserie chef, and also more recently a certificated coarse for blade sharpening.

Thank you

[StraighttothePoint]

Hi, I am 48 in september and my husband, daughter 26, and son 18 would like to emigrate to Perth to be with my niece. Im a qualified dog groomer and would like to buy an established business.

Can you tell me what visa's we would need and have you any information or links that would help us.

My daughter is a qualified beautician and has nearly finished a coarse on wedding planning, my son has just completed his first year training to be a chef, and my husband has completed a coarse as a patisserie chef, and also more recently a certificated coarse for blade sharpening.

Thank you

 

Send me a PM with an e-mail address and I will send you a lot of information / budget sheet and you can do the research. In ther meantime use this to look at visa options:-

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/visawizard/

 

Beauticians by the bucket load here but chef's in demand still.

[travelchic]

PIO is poms in oz forum. AQF I think will be the body who assesses your husbands skills. I'm a nurse and had to do mine through a different process so I'm not 100% sure but I'm sure someone will point out if I'm wrong.

 

Debs

[Soroka]

Vetasses is the body that will do your skills assessment, are you aware there are two classifications of electrician?

 

General electrician and special class electrician. The latter being a maintenance spark

[sparky69]

Hi would you mind pm me for that budget.sheet

Thanks Chris

[verystormy]

Do budget for the fact your partner will need to get licenced once here and can not work as a electrician until then. I am not sure how long this takes, but i think it is several months. There are threads on this

[StraighttothePoint]

Hi would you mind pm me for that budget.sheet Thanks Chris

 

Just send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will fire it off.