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I know this is an open ended question but would like to hear from other members that have taken their pets over We were quoted R 112'000 for our 2 Jack Russels to Brisbane (comprehensive package) by a company suggested in the feedback above. I knew it will be expensive to take them with but R112k feels like a lot.

Well almost weekend. Off to buy some beer for the braai tomorrow (luckily with new lockdown rules we can buy on Friday's) Had a long chat with my youngest brother this week, and I was overwhelmed by the support and excitement from his side. Fully understand and supports us, but has requested a few extra braai's before we leave. * Any members on the forum that stay in Springfield, Brisbane? Our offices will be in Wacol, Brisbane

Ok got you.I guess in hindsight i should not have registered him and left it for later on if needed. Thanks

No only if you registered him, my daughter was born here and South Africa will never know she exists.

I found this rather humorous as well. I nearly got refused entry into Botswana because in was In Nigeria a few years back. I was on the border and my yellow fever booklet ("passport") was back in Cape Town. Thankfully my wife had a photo of it on her phone.

Thanks @ChrisH, so is it safe to assume that he would be a South African Citizen because we are. Its all such a grey area in terms of what to do and what they will do upon entry.

It depends on whether he/she is a South African citizen, if yes then technically a South African passport has to be used. I've heard mixed stories, sometimes they don't care and just wave you through and some people have been detained and given plenty of grief by the South African border police. I was going to say they probably wouldn't know that he/she is also registered as a South African citizen but if you are using your ZA passports they might be able to see your kids records on the system.

Hi All, So my child(under 2yr) is an Australian citizen and was born here. I have also registered his birth in South Africa. When traveling to SA would he need a SA passport or not? He does have an Australian passport. I'll call the embassy to see if they can give me the answer but checking here first and for anyone else's benefit. Thanks

Pearson PTE English Test - UPDATE Changes to PTE Academic testing announced - from 16 November 2021. The following changes will occur to the PTE Academic test: - the test will be reduced to two hours duration - questions will be reduced from 70-82 to 53-64 questions NB: the shorter version will still test all four language skills and include the same question types as currently seen. The method of assessment and scoring will not change.

Well done on the progress, the fact that he has articles pretty much lined up and ready to go as soon as you mention certain countries means that he must suspect it already. You should refer him to the fact that South Africa itself actually requires proof (call it a vaccine passport if you will) of a yellow fever vaccination. I particularly love this part: South Africa considers a one-time dose of yellow fever vaccine (properly documented with an ICVP) to be good for the life of the traveler. Any traveler not meeting this requirement can be refused entry to South Africa or quarantined for up to 6 days. Travelers may also be vaccinated on entry. Source

Thank you @FutureSydneysider, we have both our abridged certificates and this is really good news!

Hi, We made an effort to get me and my wife's unabridged certificates, but we never needed it and abridged was good enough for our lodgment. I think unabridged is needed for citizenship.

Yeah, I also don't read to much into that type of news. We have a very clear goal on why we are making the move and these other factors will not have any influence. Almost time to get our 2nd vaccines so any talks of vaccine passport or requirement to be vaccinated to work does not affect me anyway. Just had a great meeting with the office in Australia (company I work for). Will be "moving" within the company. Extremely excited about this move, and about advancing my career in Australia. Taking one step down within the company, but I honestly feel like this is a huge step upwards 🙂

Good day all, We have unabridged birth certificates for both our children but only abridged birth certificates for me and my husband. Do we need unabridged birth certificates for ourselves as well? Kind regards, Erisha Vorster

Glad you could get passed this step. We've also had great support from the majority of people we've told so far. Good luck going forward.

Hi @PieterleRoux Well at least you started the conversation. I wouldn't be surprised if your brother and sister in law have also thought about moving overseas. 🙂 I bet they will be the first to come and visit you here and then it won't be long before they are asking questions on how you got here and the process. Happens a lot of the time. As for the news articles etc....well I personally always take that with a pinch of salt as I just find that the news sometimes likes to create drama (Suppose that is how they sell the news / get people to watch)....I think every country in the world is trying to figure out how to have a vaccine passport and since this is really new territory for a lot of countries - I expect there will be hiccups or small issues...but they will get sorted in time. Good luck with ironing out the smaller details and hope it all goes well for you.

So we had a braai this Saturday at the in-laws. Tried to ease into breaking the news (yeah I know I am terrible at this). Both in-laws where not too resistant of our ambitions to move overseas. But as soon as I mentioned Australia my father in law laughed. Had to show me some videos and news articles of Australia (that "New World Order" video from NSW and the vaccine passport etc.) Tried to talk around this but he was getting too caught up in this so we backed off a bit. Informed him that we intend to still move there but I don't think the penny dropped with them yet on how serious we are about this move. Immigration has always been a topic discussed around the braai, and I've got this feeling that he thinks this is just a phase we are going through, especially after all the drama in RSA recently. My brother and sister in law where very supportive of our move. Spend some alone time with them as well to discuss our plans. I was pleasantly surprised at the support received from them. Ironing out some smaller details with the work this week. This should give us better idea on possible timelines and other arrangements around our move

One of the issues is that given the borders and quarantine facilities are limited many permanent resident visas are not being processed. The pressure on quarantine would be significant if PR processing in all the various categories had continued as normal.

Anyone heard anything about that queue moving again soon? I'm guessing we'll only see some action once the pandemic has passed a bit.

Yes, that is likely to be the case. They have placed applications up to Sept 2018 into the Queue - but are still at around May 2016 with regard to processing applications towards granting the visa.

We applied in July 2018 and received a queue letter last month (August) We think that there’s still quite a few years of waiting once you get into the queue 🤔

My mom applied Aug 2018 and has received a Queue date letter earlier this year.

Did anyone who lodged the visa after May 2016 hear back something from the immigration?

Oh ok, thanks @TeeTMIfor the information, really helpful to know.

At the current time as a generalisation the Australian borders are closed. Exemptions are being provided to some 'Priority' occupations (PMSOL and potentially some critical positions) where a person is sponsored by an employer. Outside of COVID-19, within the skilled visas, there are generally two pathways 1) applying for a skilled independent visa yourself and 2) applying for an employer nominated visa. To answer your question relating to employer nominated visas - he would first need to locate an employer that has a suitable position that are eligible. The employer and the position would need to be approved before a visa application can be submitted. Electrician (General) is not currently on the PMSOL.