My VISA Journey - An end-to-end review

[AlwynvZyl]

Good day everyone. I thought I would create this post to give back as I have been using this site extensively in the past few months. It helped allay fears and gave hope when things seemed difficult. It also provided helpful tips.

A little bit about my situation. My wife and I got married in March 2018 and started the Australian visa journey in May 2018. I have an Industrial Engineering degree obtained from the University of Stellenbosch, and as such qualified for the S189 visa on the MLTSSL list. For reference, I turn 32 in March this year.

 

I will share some actual costs and feedback with you as it plays an important part in the decision making and planning process. The timeline provided will be different for everyone, but I believe the overall steps are similar.

 

Important! Even if you are just thinking about it, get your documents from Home Affairs ASAP! I know not all the documents I obtained was necessarily needed, but I could have saved some money and reduced the time for the VISA application significantly. Get your marriage certificate and birth certificate, I got all of the unabridged versions. I know people always ask if the unabridged documents are need, they might not be but why risk it. It really is not expensive, just the time to get them might be long.

 

The first decision: Decide if you want to emigrate. I know it sounds simple, but be clear on this. This was something I was actually mulling over for a few years. My decision was based on a few factors; politics, building for my future, but most importantly my wife and I want to have children and I believe that the future I can provide for my children will be better in Australia. Once you have clarity on this you will also have the motivation to take on this process.

 

The second decision: Do I use an agent? For me this was a simple answer: YES. In hindsight I believe my case was pretty straightforward (you will see this when we discuss the timeline), yet I would still go with an agent. It gives you that little bit of comfort that they have been through this process before and can guide you. If you feel that your case is straightforward and you like admin, by all means do it yourself (I reckon it will save you in the region of R40 000). We went with Integrate Emigration and Katja was our agent with Maike handling most of the admin. I found them by going to the Australian Home Affairs website and looking for someone registered in Cape Town. They provided an excellent service. I will echo what most people on the forum say, go with a MARA registered agent. This is your future and you will spend a large amount of money on this process. Don't skimp on this if you go with an agent.

 

The visa application process - Start to Finish (Key milestones):

 

1.       17 May 2018 - Initial Assessment

This was a very professional document with a comprehensive analysis on my wife and I with recommendations. Decided on S189 Visa with myself as the main applicant.

 

2.       16 June 2018 - Primary Applicant Language Test

Integrate recommended the Pearson’s PTE test (if they did not I would probably have done the IELTS). I would also recommend the Pearson’s PTE test. It is cheaper, I believe it might be easier (have not written the IELTS) and the results are almost immediate. I obtained 90 in all sections and thus could claim full points for English. I would definitely recommend buying the gold package in preparation. If you do not know what to expect in the test it can go horribly wrong.

 

3.       19 June 2018 - Submit Skills Assessment to Engineers Australia

Once the language test was done, we submitted the EA skills assessment. Integrate did all of this for me. I provided my CV (they gave me a template to use), passport and academic qualifications. I opted for the fast track approach. I think this was an additional R3000, but it gets your assessment to a case officer within 20 working days, rather than the normal 7 weeks. I would recommend this.

 

4.       20 July 2018 - Positive Skills Assessment Outcome

Yay 😃 Almost exactly a month from submission to the outcome. Note that I only had my qualification assessed and no work experience. Once again, followed the agent’s advice, not sure how this works for every profession as I believe it might be different.

 

5.       30 July 2018 - Submit Expression of Interest with 75 Points

Age	25 – 32	30
English language	Superior	20
Education	Bachelor Degree	15
Experience	More than 5 less than 8	10
Total Points Claimed		75

 

At this point the agency advised us to start compiling all our documents required for the actual application, including police clearance. Not medical, this would only be done after submitting the application.

 

6.       11 August 2018 - Invitation Received to Submit Visa Application

As you can see, the time from EOI to invite was less than two weeks. This will be different for everyone. From this point we had 60 days to get everything in order for the submission. To give you an idea my wife and I already applied in May for our documents (birth- and marriage certificates) and had not received them yet. We also applied for our police clearance certificates at the beginning of August. We used separate police stations (not recommended). I got my police clearance back mid-August (used Milnerton station) and my wife still has not received hers back as at the time of me writing this (Durbanville station). She did however receive her unabridged birth certificate in the meantime.

 

As time passed I got really nervous about the documents and decided to use 3^rd party companies. I paid Docassist R1000 to assist with my birth certificate and marriage certificate. One week later I had the documents in my hands. The police clearance was extortionate. I paid R3500 to Visa Logistics to re-do my wife’s document. The funny thing is they got it done within a week! This included the fact that the first one for some mysterious reason did not have her maiden name on it. It just boggles my mind that my document was R114 and hers was R3 614.

 

Personally, I should have gone with Docassist from the start. I think it would have been cheaper, but Visa Logistics’ turnaround time is what I needed at the time. Once this was done we had all the documents ready for the application. Keep in mind that we provided all our information to Integrate at the start of the process and they completed all the admin (including Form 80). This is where you will have to invest some time if you have not gone with an agency.

 

Note: For work experience I submitted signed letters (using the template provided by Integrate) from all my previous employers, pay slips, IRP5’s and pay slips.

 

7.       02 October 2018 - Submission of 189 Visa Application

Integrate submitted the application. They always sent proof if they submitted something on my behalf and it was always the actual response from the Department of Home Affairs. We aimed for a direct grant by providing all the information with the application. You can submit the application without all the documentation and wait for a case office to request it (this is how I understand it).

 

8.       18 October 2018 - eMedicals Completed for Visa Application

Once again, the agency completed all the online documentation and provided us with our HAP ID numbers. You need this to make an appointment at the most convenient registered medical centre. We chose the Intercare at Tygervalley in Cape Town. We made the appointments and paid onsite. After a few days I requested a copy of the medical report (the nurse advised us to do this). This is just proof that they actually completed it on the system. After this, everything that could be done from our side for the visa application was done. Now we just wait.

You can create an account on MyImmi Tracker to see when other people submitted and received their visas. You only need to provide high level information (no personal information) so don’t worry about registering on the site.

 

9.       10 December 2018 - Subclass 189 Visa Approved

This caught us completely by surprise. I estimated best case to get the visa in May 2019. Normally this can take up to 9 months (can be longer). Our first date of entry has been set to mid-August 2019. I think we are lucky in this regard as I am still debating an activation trip or just going permanently. This gives us some time. The lady from the agency phoned me as she didn’t just want to forward me an email (I found this to be a very professional and personal touch). You can use the detail from the acceptance letter to verify your details on VEVO (their Home Affairs online tool).

 

Our total expenses (I share this with you because most people normally ask me this. I hope it helps):

 

Date	Company	Reason	Amount
2018-05-17	Integrate	Initial Assessment	R 1,783.00
2018-05-30	Vue Novell	PTE Official Test (Alwyn)	R 2,645.00
2018-05-29	Integrate	Australian Migration 1st Instalment	R 9,560.00
2018-06-19	Institute of E Barton	Engineering Skills Assessment	R 7,380.36
2018-06-11	PTE Practice.com	PTE study guide and test	R 810.57
2018-07-09	SA Department of Home Affairs	Alicia new ID and Passport	R 540.00
2018-07-23	Integrate	Australian Migration 2nd Instalment	R 12,650.00
2018-08-04	Vue Novell	PTE Official Test (Alicia)	R 2,645.00
2018-08-06	SAPS	Alwyn Police Clearance	R 114.00
2018-08-07	SAPS	Alicia Police Clearance	R 114.00
2018-08-07	PTE Practice.com	PTE study guide and test	R 828.33
2018-08-14	Integrate	Australian Migration 3rd Instalment	R 17,250.00
2018-08-21	Docassist	Expedite birth-and marriage certificate	R 1,038.00
2018-09-04	Visa Logistics	Fast track Alicia police clearance	R 3,500.00
2018-10-02	AUS Dept of Home Affairs	Visa Application Fee (both)	R 60,285.69
2018-10-12	Pathcare Tygervalley	Blood Tests (both)	R 444.80
2018-10-12	Drs Wolfaardt	Medical Exam (both)	R 2,220.00
2018-10-12	Bergman Ross	X-Rays (both)	R 1,280.00
Total	R 125,088.75

 

Advice:

• Get your documents from Home Affairs ASAP (even if you are just thinking about emigrating).
• Get a 3rd party to handle the police clearance (it costs more, but the turnaround time is significantly shorter and you will save yourself a lot of frustration).
• Budget the entire process. Make sure you are in a financial position to do this and include at the very least an estimated activation trip. As you can see from my timeline everything happened within 6 months. If I estimate an activation trip and the money spent on the application it will be somewhere in the range of R160k – R200k for two people that is spent in less than a year.

 

Final thoughts:

Throughout this process you will have frustrating days, you will have doubts and you will get impatient. The best advice I can give is to continue with your life as normal and remind yourself of why you are doing this.

For myself it is onto the next phase. Finding a job and making the move. Luckily I have a few connections in the corporate world on that side.

All the best of luck to anyone currently busy with this. I hope all goes well and that you are successful.

[Aleku]

Thank you very much for logging this.

[Titus]

Fantastic summary of the process! I'll definitely be referring friends to this post rather than trying to recall everything.....

 

Congrats and best of luck for the next step!

[SinWolf]

Thanks Alwyn for the info... I sent you a PM