Rum & Dal

August 2005 I decided to complete the forms for immigration as having looked at the fees that agents were asking just to gather info that you are giving them anyway, seemed like a huge waste of money!! Agents don’t come cheap! and I’d looked into the forms and it didn’t seem like such a big deal. All the info you could want and need is on the immigration website So the first step was applying for a skilled VISA was to become a member of the Australian Computer Society (ASC) as this is what my background is in. They didn’t really ask for much, general education certificates, formal degree certificate and qualification signed and stamped by the university I was at and that was about it. They wrote back within a couple of months and I was a member.

At this point we were then able to start the main immigration forms and again this was just a matter of following the instructions and collating the information requested. It helped to keep folders of the forms and the different sections of info that needed gathering.The forms were ready by December 2005 and off they went. Knowing that it takes 6months to a year to hear from them we left them to it. December 2006 Â we decided to ring the immigration office only for them to tell me that the forms had been processed in August and that they were waiting for me to respond to the e-mail that I hadn’t received. They resent the e-mail and assigned me a case worker with whom I was in contact with from this point forward to resolve any issues.

By mid December we were ready for our health and police checks and at this point we were very much excited as we were at the very last step of the whole process.The health check and police checks went swimmingly with all results and forms being sent off by January. We were now simply waiting for a confirmation from my case worker! Little did I know however was that she was on leave now for 3 months… panic struck in and I was beginning to wonder if I would have to wait till April until I heard something.

I checked my e-mail on a daily basis and constantly e-mailed anyone else to find out what was happening. Having no joy whatsoever this way, I waited till late into the night and rang the Adelaide Office of Immigration and spoke to a very helpful lady who was surprised to hear that I was having these issues at such a late stage in my application. She advised me that she would get a manager on the case and that I would hear from them in the next 3 days. True to her word, I received an e-mail confirmation and a letter on the 19th February 2007 confirming our Visas had been granted.

All it took was a little bit of hard work and a whole load of patience!!! If you are considering migration then I would seriously consider completing the forms yourselves. Keep your money, it’ll only be double once you are over there.

I would also advise on not telling anyone as you’ll be sick of hearing the words “Any news yet?” and “when are you going?”. Its difficult to contain the excitement of that final letter coming through the door!