Help!

[Tracyw]

Hi there,

We are 32 & 33 from PE with 2 small children.

I have a Degree in Marketing and Sales & 10 years experience in Automotive with some years at senior manager positions at huge organisations. My husband has no formal education (not even Matric) but has successfully run his own business for the last 10 years - the latest venture for the last 3 years being a Paving Business (domestic & Commercial).

We have applied for our visa's via an immigration consultant but fall into the category - Applications from people who are nominated by a State/Territory government whose nominated occupation is not listed on the Critical Skills List. We are told by the agent that our visa's will only come through ina proximately 3 years and obviously we are worried that the requirements might change and we get kicked out.

Any advice, any-one? We feel like we have been doing this forever and are making no steps forward.

THX

TracyW

[JackieO]

3 years is a long time. But unless you go on a visit and try procure a job where you can get ENS then I dont see much else you can do.

If it was me being told I have a 3 year wait, I'd look at NZ and also look at what degree I could do that would get me onto the SOL or CSL, that way at least in 3 years I'd have a much stronger chance if requirements did change.

Sorry, its a tough position to be in.

[Michelle Taylor]

We lodged our 175 in October last year. My husband is a Plumber and was previously on the MODL list which has now been scrapped. He is still on the SOL atleast but not on the CSL. So yes, our agents also told us that we can only expect our visa to be granted by 2012. Which is not good as our IELTS would have expired by then and who knows what else will have changed by then.

When we found out about this, we got a guy's number and we contacted him (round-about December 2009) and he took on my husbands case and started looking for sponsors. Well, Friday before last he phoned Johnny and told him he got us a sponsor. So, we will probably fly in about 3 or 4 months. The employer is also willing to sponsor us for the RSMS visa (which is a permanent resident visa, only thing is you have to work for the employer for a certain amount of time).

It took a very long time, from December to now, I had actually lost faith that we would ever find anyone willing to sponsor us, but it happened.

If you are interested, his name is Ian and his number is 0061 8 8357 1882. He is situated in Adelaide, South Australia.

I hope you come right.

[Alida]

If I understand correctly, a visa is processed under the conditions that was valid at the time of lodging. If you lodged before 7th of May this year, your visa will be processed according to the conditions valid up until the 7th of May. The changes will only affect visas that will be lodged on a later date.

[vita nova]

Hi Tracyw

Welcome to the forum. We are also new on the forum and also have like so many other our own issues with our immigration.

But you are at exactly the right place for support.

The feedback, advice and general camaraderie on the forum is great.

If the processing conditions at time of lodgement has changed, the advice given by JavaJackie is really something to consider seriously, if I had followed similar advice when we initially thought of immigrating, I would have been finished by now and here I am still in good ole SA. I would most probably also have had a much less stressfull aplication process. And yes NZ is also an alternative for us, if we do not manage to get to Aus.

Good luck to you and your family with your process.

Regards