migrating to oz

hilisa

hi all, long time follower, first time posting,
me and my girlfriend have come home from oz early june and are planning on going back on perminent residency, we have already spent a few years there and have been told by an agency that we shouldnt have any probs as my girlfriend is on the skills list as she is a primary school teacher but also has special needs qualifications which is the main reason that we can be eligible and i am going defacto. we have been told that it will roughly take 7 months and at a cost of 7000 euro/$10,000au.
im wondering if anyone has gone about or has any experience in applying by themselves instead of going through an agent as it would cut the cost by thousands and is it true that one mistake on the forms means you cant rectify it and re apply.
and also being hearing that some people are waiting up to two years???
any advice or past exp would be greatly appreciated;)

niterain84

Do it yourself. Its not that difficult. I did it for me and my wife no bother.

It took me about 6 months in total so 7 months is a fair estimate

Of course agencys will say 1 mistake means your application is rejected. Its in their interest to say so. its to scare you into using the agent. you still have to do all the work, agent just tells you to do it.

Everything you need to know is on the Dept of Immigration Australia website. Follow info here and you wont have any bother. do it yourself , its easy

3 months is the processing time for PR visa. It can even be faster than that depending on how complex your case is, how busy Oz immi are etc..... mine took 3 months. There is no chance you will be waiting 2 years.

Total cost will depend on your circumstances. Mine cost about 4500 euro, thats including skills assesment, ielts, police certs, translations etc. But price varies depending on your skills assessment cost, if you do ielts, police certs etc..... I dont know cost or time involved of slills asessment for primary teacher. Again dept of immi will direct you to all relevant info.

Again, Everything you need to know is on the Dept of Immigration Australia website. Follow info here and you wont have any bother.

Good Luck

hilisa

yeah i had a look on the website and basicaly tells you everything. just think its mad to be paying a few extra thousand for a middle man when its not needed,
thanks for the info, really appreciate it.

aido79

hilisa wrote: »

yeah i had a look on the website and basicaly tells you everything. just think its mad to be paying a few extra thousand for a middle man when its not needed,
thanks for the info, really appreciate it.

Definitely do it yourself if you are comfortable with paperwork. Have a look at www.britishexpats.com and look at the Australia forum if you need any info. Think they have a teachers section there too.

Smellbourne

DIY for sure.
We and all our friends did it ourselves. All the details on the immigration site.
Once you apply of theirs a mistake your case worker just contacts you to correct it and resubmit that piece of info, easy!

S

Caveman1

Hey guys

When lodging your EOI do you need to have all your paperwork in order etc or do you apply and wait till you actually get an invite before you apply for the English exam and everything else that goes with it, absolutely clueless with all this stuff

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

Hey guys

When lodging your EOI do you need to have all your paperwork in order etc or do you apply and wait till you actually get an invite before you apply for the English exam and everything else that goes with it, absolutely clueless with all this stuff

Have everything ready before even doing an EOI. That's the best policy. Do your EOI when you think you've got everything ready to apply once you've been offered a place.

gitterbug

Do it yourself. It's not difficult it is just filling out forms. Most of the info you will need for it will be on your cv. It will save you about 4000!

You need to have all your info when you put in your EOI. Invitations are out twice a month.

My PR took less than 8 weeks to be processed which was great! All your docs can be scanned and attached online! Think it cost about 5500 for myself and partner

Good luck

Caveman1

gitterbug wrote: »

Do it yourself. It's not difficult it is just filling out forms. Most of the info you will need for it will be on your cv. It will save you about 4000!

You need to have all your info when you put in your EOI. Invitations are out twice a month.

My PR took less than 8 weeks to be processed which was great! All your docs can be scanned and attached online! Think it cost about 5500 for myself and partner

Good luck

Wow 8 weeks is pretty fast, I was reading in some places that it could take anywhere from 6 months to over a year.

It's my partner who will be applying with me a defacto, do I need to do anything for the application ? Or is it just based on all my girlfriends information ?

Sorry if these are stupid question just want to make sure we do everything right

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

Wow 8 weeks is pretty fast, I was reading in some places that it could take anywhere from 6 months to over a year.

It's my partner who will be applying with me a defacto, do I need to do anything for the application ? Or is it just based on all my girlfriends information ?

Sorry if these are stupid question just want to make sure we do everything right

People since July have been reporting longer processing times. It will vary case by case.

Caveman1

irishmover wrote: »

People since July have been reporting longer processing times. It will vary case by case.

Does it usually take long to receive an invitation to apply once you lodged your EOI?

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

Does it usually take long to receive an invitation to apply once you lodged your EOI?

Its usually the first Monday and third Monday of every month when invites go out. They have the dates on the website. You should be able to find the EOI invites without much trouble.

Caveman1

irishmover wrote: »

Its usually the first Monday and third Monday of every month when invites go out. They have the dates on the website. You should be able to find the EOI invites without much trouble.

Thanks for the info Irishmover

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

Thanks for the info Irishmover

No problem. Let me know if you can't find the dates and I'll do a google later. Can't help you with partner as I applied on my own and we're only investigated the 820 now.

Caveman1

irishmover wrote: »

No problem. Let me know if you can't find the dates and I'll do a google later. Can't help you with partner as I applied on my own and we're only investigated the 820 now.

Just another question, I'm on the immigration website now just doing some more research, when looking at the English language ability it states that you get 10 points for proficient English and 20 points for superior English.

But do you still have to sit the exam if you're from Ireland?

mandrake04

Caveman1 wrote: »

Just another question, I'm on the immigration website now just doing some more research, when looking at the English language ability it states that you get 10 points for proficient English and 20 points for superior English.

But do you still have to sit the exam if you're from Ireland?

You don't have to sit the exam for a visa but if you want the 10 or 20 points you do.

irishmover

mandrake04 wrote: »

You don't have to sit the exam for a visa but if you want the 10 or 20 points you do.

What mandrake is saying is that you get a 6 for being Irish with the IELTS which is the minimum requirement for the visa. Sitting an exam and getting an overall score of 7 gives you 10 points or 8+ give you 20 points. If you meet the 60 points before sitting an IELTS exam then you do not need to do the exam.

However if you've 40 points an 8 in the IELTS exam is a relatively easy way of acquiring 20 points to reach the 60 point visa requirement.

Caveman1

Oh ok that makes sense, so far this is what I've come up with any further advice would be greatly appreciated.
My partners info is as follows

Age -28 = 30 points
Bachelors degree = 15 points
Skilled employment (4 years exp in Ireland + 4+ months experience in oz for her occupation that's on the skilled list)= 20 points
Then 6 points for just being fluent in English

So am I right in thinking that's 71 points or am I mis calculating it ?

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

Oh ok that makes sense, so far this is what I've come up with any further advice would be greatly appreciated.
My partners info is as follows

Age -28 = 30 points
Bachelors degree = 15 points
Skilled employment (4 years exp in Ireland + 4+ months experience in oz for her occupation that's on the skilled list)= 20 points
Then 6 points for just being fluent in English

So am I right in thinking that's 71 points or am I mis calculating it ?

Drop the 6 points for english proficiency. You get 0 points for having an Irish passport (Score level 6 from IELTS). 10 points for score level 7 and 20 for score level 8+.

You wont get any points for 4 months experience in Australia.

Which visa was it again? The 189?

I've calculated 50 points for you currently. 30 for age, 15 for degree and 5 for 4 years experience in Ireland. I don't think there's anything else which is applicable to you without doing an IELTS exam. Aside from maybe partner being able to ascertain his/her own skills assessment? Which is worth another 5 points. Which I wouldn't bother with as you'll still need IELTS which if sitting once will be cheaper.


https://www.acacia-au.com/skilled-migration-points-test.php

Caveman1

irishmover wrote: »

Drop the 6 points for english proficiency. You get 0 points for having an Irish passport (Score level 6 from IELTS). 10 points for score level 7 and 20 for score level 8+.

You wont get any points for 4 months experience in Australia.

Which visa was it again? The 189?

I've calculated 50 points for you currently. 30 for age, 15 for degree and 5 for 4 years experience in Ireland. I don't think there's anything else which is applicable to you without doing an IELTS exam. Aside from maybe partner being able to ascertain his/her own skills assessment? Which is worth another 5 points. Which I wouldn't bother with as you'll still need IELTS which if sitting once will be cheaper.


https://www.acacia-au.com/skilled-migration-points-test.php

I should be paying you a fee at this stage Irish mover thanks for the info it's a huge help,


I had a feeling I was mis calculating it seemed a bit too straightforward, so basically if she takes the English exam and gets 10+ points should it be ok to go ahead and apply then ?


She already has her working with children form, Garda & VIC police checks, chest X-ray and all her certs, is there anything else that needs to be done ?

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

I should be paying you a few at this stage Irish mover thanks for the info it's a huge help,


I had a feeling I was mis calculating it seemed a bit too straightforward, so basically if she takes the English exam and gets 10+ points should it be ok to go ahead and apply then ?


She already has her working with children form, Garda & VIC police checks, chest X-ray and all her certs, is there anything else that needs to be done ?

Not at all. I've gotten plenty of advice on here over the years from regular posters. Its the way it works!

So its your partner who is applying and you'll be defacto? Has she completed her skills assessment with the relevant assessing authority for her profession?

With a 7 from IELTS she should be at the 60 mark but without the skills assessment the points won't matter. Very first thing she needs to do is get that sorted which can take over a month.

Caveman1

irishmover wrote: »

Not at all. I've gotten plenty of advice on here over the years from regular posters. Its the way it works!

So its your partner who is applying and you'll be defacto? Has she completed her skills assessment with the relevant assessing authority for her profession?

With a 7 from IELTS she should be at the 60 mark but without the skills assessment the points won't matter. Very first thing she needs to do is get that sorted which can take over a month.

Yeah she's just sorted that out so should she go do the English exam now while she's waiting for the skills assessment to come back ?

I thought it seemed really confusing but you've explained everything perfect, thanks a lot we were getting pretty stressed over it all.

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

Yeah she's just sorted that out so should she go do the English exam now while she's waiting for the skills assessment to come back ?

I thought it seemed really confusing but you've explained everything perfect, thanks a lot we were getting pretty stressed over it all.

If she's remotely confident she'll get the skills assessment she should book an IELTS exam and start studying. Its reasonably easy to get a 7 in the general exam but I'd still recommend doing a good amount of studying and book it s couple weeks from now so she will be reasonably prepared.

It might quicken up the process a small bit.

gitterbug

Caveman1 wrote: »

Wow 8 weeks is pretty fast, I was reading in some places that it could take anywhere from 6 months to over a year.

It's my partner who will be applying with me a defacto, do I need to do anything for the application ? Or is it just based on all my girlfriends information ?

Sorry if these are stupid question just want to make sure we do everything right

You just need your passport details, police checks in Ireland and here.... and then medicals. You will prob need loads of proof of your relationship so I would def recommend start gathering up as much as you can now as it is a bit of a pain trying to find it when you actually need it.

You can scan it and save it on your computer! ( this saved me so much time as they asked me to send the same things 3 time!!! ( no idea what happened there)) if it's on your computer it's all signed and justified so you don't have to trapse around trying to get things signed again and again!

If you have only 50 pts i def recommend your gf to do the IELTS exams. It's a joke to be honest for native speakers to be allowed to do this ( but on the other side easy points) you could do some research on how the exam is set out and then take it. I felt the phrasing of the questions really deceiving!

Maybe print off the app form fill it out and you'll see exactly what you need to find to apply!

Good luck

Caveman1

gitterbug wrote: »

You just need your passport details, police checks in Ireland and here.... and then medicals. You will prob need loads of proof of your relationship so I would def recommend start gathering up as much as you can now as it is a bit of a pain trying to find it when you actually need it.

You can scan it and save it on your computer! ( this saved me so much time as they asked me to send the same things 3 time!!! ( no idea what happened there)) if it's on your computer it's all signed and justified so you don't have to trapse around trying to get things signed again and again!

If you have only 50 pts i def recommend your gf to do the IELTS exams. It's a joke to be honest for native speakers to be allowed to do this ( but on the other side easy points) you could do some research on how the exam is set out and then take it. I felt the phrasing of the questions really deceiving!

Maybe print off the app form fill it out and you'll see exactly what you need to find to apply!

Good luck

Thanks for the reply Gitterbug

We've been together 5 years and have basically brought lease agreements & proof of utility bills etc with us to show we've been loving together for 3+ years, is there anything else we should have ready ?

irishmover

Caveman1 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply Gitterbug

We've been together 5 years and have basically brought lease agreements & proof of utility bills etc with us to show we've been loving together for 3+ years, is there anything else we should have ready ?

This should cover the same checklist for you I think! Might be a couple of things not needed.


http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/checklists/820-801.aspx

gitterbug

I tried to find the list they sent us but can't at the mo. It was something like this

Proof of relationship: rental agreements
Joint bank accounts
Joint assets
Utility bills
Documentation going to the Same address
Evidence of participation in a club( we used a GAA one)
Photos with dates
Evidence you have announced/recognised the relationship ( can't rem how this was worded but something like are you linked on Facebook. Can't rem who you officially have your relationship recognised by.. It a document you get signed.)

Photos with dates
Invitation
Cards

Hope that helps! At least if ya have loads of info ya can keep sending it. I'd sent what you have and let them ask for more if they need it!