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Immigrating to Gold Coast During Pandemic


ThatMorneGuy

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Hi Everyone,

 

This is my first time joining and posting on this forum.

 

I have been fortunate enough to have been offered a job at a company in Gold Coast QLD, and they will be sponsoring my Temporary Skill Shortage visa (subclass 482). My girlfriend and I have been living together for almost 2 years so luckily she qualifies for a Partner Visa.

 

Having not left South Africa before this is a big step, but we're excited. We will be selling all of our furniture, etc. here in SA and just take the necessities in our luggage, so the move will be a complete fresh start.

 

If there is anyone here living in Gold Coast, could you please recommend some areas that you think are best. My office will be in Surfers Paradise.

 

Also, has anyone here applied for a TSS Visa in 2020 and have had it approved? How long did it take?

 

Based on the employers and immigration agents estimations they expect us to move somewhere between mid to end January. Apparently since its an IT Professional position, there are exemptions for travelling during the pandemic, and priority on the Visa processing. Not sure how accurate that is.

 

 

Hope to hear from you all.

 

Kind Regards,

Morne

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On 11/19/2020 at 7:48 PM, ThatMorneGuy said:

Apparently since its an IT Professional position, there are exemptions for travelling during the pandemic, and priority on the Visa processing. Not sure how accurate that is.

 

Welcome to the Forum Morne

 

Your agent is correct there are some exemptions/prioritisations for some IT professionals.  Your agent will have a better idea of how things might move for you as they know your and your employers circumstances.  But I have seen some 482 visas processed within days where they meet the prioritisation/exemption requirements. 

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On 11/25/2020 at 8:06 AM, TeeTMI said:

 

Welcome to the Forum Morne

 

Your agent is correct there are some exemptions/prioritisations for some IT professionals.  Your agent will have a better idea of how things might move for you as they know your and your employers circumstances.  But I have seen some 482 visas processed within days where they meet the prioritisation/exemption requirements. 


Thanks Tee, sound like things will go very fast from here

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  • 1 month later...

Just an update for those interested.

Our Visas were lodged on Friday the 18th of December and we received our notification of grants on Wednesday the 23rd of December.

 

We are now just waiting for our travel exemptions to be processed then we can book our flights.

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@ThatMorneGuy congrats!

We landed in Brisbane on the 23rd of December and currently we are in Hotel Quarantine near the Brisbane Airport.

In order to prepare for your journey and get the latest information on what is happening with regards to flights, entry requirements, caps etc.. do yourself a favour and join the following Facebook groups if you haven't already. (There is a lot of information there, some might annoy you, others might be valuable, use your own judgement, always fact check and if you use a travel agent make sure they are reputable!)
Australians/New Zealanders Stranded in Southern Africa

Queensland Quarantine 2020

Australians Stuck Around the World

Landed: From South Africa to Australia

 

Also make sure that you keep an eye on the following web pages for updates:

COVID-19: Trying to get home | Smartraveller

Quarantine for International Arrivals Direction | Health and wellbeing | Queensland Government (www.qld.gov.au)

What I need to do before I travel | COVID-19 and the border (homeaffairs.gov.au)

 

There is currently a whole heap of boxes to tick, also a lot of false information going around, so please make sure you always follow and act on information that can be tracked to official sources. It is a mad time. It is tough and not always "lekker" but worth it. Read as much as you can about the quarantine process, requirements and costs, it is the toughest part of the journey, come prepared! 

I have another post on this forum that I will update with our trip details as soon as I have a moment, I will post the link here once done.

 

Good luck!

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