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What Turned A Sceptic, The Decision To Go And The Journey That Follows.


HadEnoughofJuju

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Thanks New Ausie

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The gathering begins - skills assessment

The first time I read the checklist that our agents sent us I was completely overwhelmed, I must have read it at least 10 times before I started making any sense of it whatsoever. There is just so much information that ones brain can process at any given time. Gathering all the necessary documents for the skills assessment was the first step in this process that needed to be completed. The following is a list of documents and evidence that we were requested to get. Let me add at this point that we were told that the more evidence we could gather for my wife's work history the better it would be for the actual visa application. We have managed to get a complete history from the first teaching position she held almost ten years ago.

  1. Work references from each employer detailing work hours, salary, job description and responsibilities, that should match as closely as possible to that of the selected occupation on the SOL (Skilled Occupations List).
  2. Copies of all my wife's degrees and certificates from MIE (Managed Integrity Evaluation (Pty) Ltd.)
  3. Module detail and academic transcripts for all her qualifications as well as proof of 45 days teaching practical (this is not normally included in the module detail so you will need to request that they add it). Although the universities don't keep the original documentation and proof of completing your teaching practical, they do keep record that it was completed, how long the practical was and which schools you completed it at.
  4. She had to write the Academic IELTS (we wrote ours through the British Council in Johannesburg) and get an overall average band score of 7 with a minimum of 7 in each individual band.
  5. Unabridged birth and marriage certificates.
  6. Copies of her passport bio page.
  7. Proof of teacher registration with SACE (South African Council of Educators).
  8. Forms 956 for both registered migration agents and the AITSL (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership) Skills Assessment application forms.
  9. Her CV detailing all her qualifications, work experience including job titles, hours worked, tasks and responsibilities with details corresponding both to the academic transcripts and reference letters.

This was a rather exhausting exercise, both physically and emotionally and I remember thinking to myself that if this is how it begins how much more intense the emotions were going to get over time. I stated gathering all this stuff about two or three days after paying the agents and receiving the checklists (I didn't want to waste any time with the looming legislation changes on 1 July 2012). We also applied to home affairs on 8 February 2012 for my wife's unabridged birth certificate, our unabridged marriage certificate and all three our passports. I must say that I was pretty impressed with the progress we had made given the limited time we have. I managed to collect everything we needed that was available as well as request copies of the academic transcripts and module detail from the relevant organisations and I managed to do this all in just three weeks. The stuff listed here does not seem like much but let me tell you that once you start the gathering process it can turn out to be a mission and a half, especially if you don't know where to start or get the information from.

For those of you who are interested in where I managed to get the different documentation from, here is a list of the resources I found and used.

SACE Registration Certificate (which all educators in South Africa that work in government schools should be registered with) - Their head office is in Centurion in the same building as the new home affairs office.

My wife studied at the University of Pretoria and the company that handles duplicate copies of degrees, module detail and academic transcripts is called MIE. They also handle the documentation for UNISA. I found their service very professional and outstanding.

She also completed and ICDL (International Computer Drivers License) Their Head office is in Cape Town. I sent an email to Beauty on a Monday morning and received a response not even 10 minutes later requesting my wife's ICDL Passport Number, ID number and full names, which I sent to her immediately. She then responded again within 10 minutes of my second email with scanned copies of the academic transcript and duplicate ICDL certificate as well as a registered post tracking number. The package arrived that Thursday morning and it didn't cost me a cent. This was a welcome reprieve to all the other hidden costs of immigration that have reared their ugly heads. I was astounded and appreciative of the excellent service we received from them. A rare thing in this country of ours.

The rest of the required documents are pretty self explanatory and you should know where to get them. For us the difficult and probably most expensive documents to get hold of were the academic transcripts and module detail. At the time we applied for them it cost R850.00 per qualification (my wife has three so we had to cough a bit for those) plus R65.00 collection/courier fees and they take approximately 25 working days to process the application (although hers arrived via courier within 13 days and not working days that is).

There have been several little miracles during this process. The academic transcripts arrived in a much shorter time than they normally would have, we received my wife's passport and our unabridged marriage and birth certificates within 10 working days of application, I stumbled on her original SACE registration certificate in our filing cabinet while searching for other documents, which she got when she first started working 10 years ago and we though had been lost, I also found all the originals of her degrees and certificates at the same time including her original ICDL Passport, which cannot be replaced and although we had to drive through to Johannesburg to write the IELTS test we managed to get in at relatively short notice.

Even though we have only been at this for just over 2 months now, this process, however simple it may sound, has been very taxing on both our mental state of mind and emotions. The thing that gets to me the most is the waiting game they force you to play. We had to wait for the IELTS results before we could send the file, then we had to wait for the confirmation that the file had arrived, now we have to wait until 20 April 2012 the get a report back from the agents on the progress of the skills assessment. Given what I know now (they say hindsight is 20/20) I probably would have opted to go the self service route. Unfortunately we have paid the money over to the agents already and are now at their mercy and I am sure that's just where they want us at this stage. I have discovered one thing so far through all of this, all these hoops we are being made to jump through (whether it be the agents hoops or DIAC's hoops) have been put there to make sure that only those people who have the tenacity and force of will to stick it out are the ones who will be successful in the end, after all would you not want to hire someone who was willing to do anything to get the job?

All we can do now is wait for the skills assessment outcome and state sponsorship result before we send the visa application file which should be around the middle of May sometime. We have been assured by our agents that the final visa application will be submitted before the 30 June 2012. I guess we just have to have faith and trust that they will do what they have promised to do, after all they have a code of conduct to follow and reputation to uphold.

Edited by HadEnoughofJuju
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After reading your post, I've all of a sudden got Highlander flashbacks...

I am very interested in the ICDL part as I completed my ICDL a couple of years ago but never used it as such in South Africa as very few people and places (outside of the education department) seem to be aware of it.

I would very much like to obtain all the necessary docs & info prior to our departure for Australia, especially if it may help me to obtain a job, etc. that side. Can you please send me the e-mail address & name of the contact person with whom you corresponded?

Thanking you in advance,

Chantell

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FWIW ICDL means nothing in your application..not sure if it will help on the work side of things though..might just. I also have it..wasn't even looked at or considered and I'm in IT. That being said, with you on all aspects. Same reasons for us. I have a daughter now 12 in Private school because we just could not get anything decent out of the education in the government schools by us. My son is 5 and going to grade 0 next year if we are still here. In Australia he will go into Grade 1. We made the decision 3 years ago to give up any social life we had (and it wasn't much then) so we could send our kids to a private (and this is a CHEAP private school) school. I think we have been to movies 3 times in the past year and that is it. Other than that it's home only. I am so tired of this way of life and I don't know if it will make any difference to my kids anyway becasue even if we manage to be able to send them to varsity, will they be able to do what they want, and will they even be able to get jobs, especially my son.

It takes it's time BUT it is all worth it. They are rushing the 175 visas right now as well in lieu of the changes and are already on Aug 2011 applicants so even if your agents go that route you will probably have answers by the end of the year. They can only go the 176 route if by the time you get the skills assessment done there is states open for teachers. If not they have no choice but to do the 175. I hope it is soon.

On an aside, if you are applying for point for 8 years experiance (I don't know if you are), start getting together payslips and IRP5's now covering that period of time to prove your wife was employed. I have been with one company for the last 9 years, but my CO wanted payslips/IRP5s as well for the last 10 years. I managed to get for 8 out of the 10 years..sent 8 IRP5's and 2 payslips for every year from 2005 that I could find. This was in addition to my letter from my company detailing that I had worked for them since 2002.

It will all be worth it in the end.

Just an FYI as well. I also have a British passport and just recently renewed it. You can no longer go to Pta to do it. You HAVE to send the completed form with your old passport and photos (2), via Courier to the birtish embassy in Pta. They then send it onto Britain, and it gets courier'd back from the UK. Am still waiting mine and my mothers. Cost is R3800 for the passport and then a R200 something fee for the couriering back. Add another R180 for supaswift to pick i tup and take it to Pta. Takes 4 - 6w now they say.

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Hi Chantelle.

I would very much like to obtain all the necessary docs & info prior to our departure for Australia...

Did you get the PM I sent you regarding the ICDL?

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FWIW ICDL means nothing in your application..not sure if it will help on the work side of things though..might just. I also have it..wasn't even looked at or considered and I'm in IT.

This may be so but at this stage we are doing everything that the agents have asked for. They said we should include any course or certificate that was one year or longer.

That being said, with you on all aspects. Same reasons for us. I have a daughter now 12 in Private school because we just could not get anything decent out of the education in the government schools by us. My son is 5 and going to grade 0 next year if we are still here. In Australia he will go into Grade 1. We made the decision 3 years ago to give up any social life we had (and it wasn't much then) so we could send our kids to a private (and this is a CHEAP private school) school. I think we have been to movies 3 times in the past year and that is it. Other than that it's home only. I am so tired of this way of life and I don't know if it will make any difference to my kids anyway becasue even if we manage to be able to send them to varsity, will they be able to do what they want, and will they even be able to get jobs, especially my son.

Social life, what's that? Can you eat it? As for the movies, I think the last one I saw on the big screen was E.T. and the education department, we work for it and we can't get anything useful out of them either never mind the education our child will receive if we don't go. Someone said to me the other day that we as parents have largely had our opportunities, it's now up to us as parents to give the best possible opportunities we can to our children. That's our main motivation for going.

It takes it's time BUT it is all worth it. They are rushing the 175 visas right now as well in lieu of the changes and are already on Aug 2011 applicants so even if your agents go that route you will probably have answers by the end of the year. They can only go the 176 route if by the time you get the skills assessment done there is states open for teachers. If not they have no choice but to do the 175. I hope it is soon.

I also hope it's soon, this waiting is driving me nuts! :jester: It's also encouraging to hear that they are speeding things up in lieu of the changes. I also heard the other today that the assessing authorities also seem to be speeding things up for the same reasons (don't know how true this is though). We will just have to wait and see.

On an aside, if you are applying for point for 8 years experiance (I don't know if you are), start getting together payslips and IRP5's now covering that period of time to prove your wife was employed. I have been with one company for the last 9 years, but my CO wanted payslips/IRP5s as well for the last 10 years. I managed to get for 8 out of the 10 years..sent 8 IRP5's and 2 payslips for every year from 2005 that I could find. This was in addition to my letter from my company detailing that I had worked for them since 2002.

Our visa application file is complete, I finished collecting all the necessary documentation about 4 weeks after we received the checklist (8 February 2012) from the agents (except of course for the DIAC forms that we have been told to only fill in a week before we send the file). I have managed to rustle up all except 3 of my wife's payslips since she started working in the May of 2002. It's almost 10 years worth of payslips, IRP5's, ITA34's (the printouts SARS send you once each assessment has been completed, starting from when she was registered for the first time in 2005, sadly before that she did not earn enough to qualify for registration), bank statements for that entire period even from a bank account that was closed almost 10 years ago and reference letters from all 3 of her employers.

It will all be worth it in the end.

It had better be (and I'm sure it will) after all we have been through in this short period of time and all the stress we have been through, currently experiencing and will probably go through in the coming months.

Just an FYI as well. I also have a British passport and just recently renewed it. You can no longer go to Pta to do it. You HAVE to send the completed form with your old passport and photos (2), via Courier to the birtish embassy in Pta. They then send it onto Britain, and it gets courier'd back from the UK. Am still waiting mine and my mothers. Cost is R3800 for the passport and then a R200 something fee for the couriering back. Add another R180 for supaswift to pick i tup and take it to Pta. Takes 4 - 6w now they say.

See, leave it to the people of Africa and eventually it will get broken. About 3 years ago I applied for citizenship, I was told it would take 3 months and 3 months to the date I go an email confirming that I had been awarded citizenship and had to choose from a list of dates to go and take part in the swearing in ceremony. We also had to apply for our passports at the same time which I did and it took exactly 7 days, including the weekend (applied on the Monday morning and was told to come back the following Monday - and behold it was there - I was amazed)

Anyway - enough of my moans and groans. Yes I do believe that in the end this will all be worth it and it will all work out.

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Hi HEOJ (wow what a name :) ),

Your posts are wonderful to read, I remember those days of getting everyting ready, it was a thrill for me. It felt like I was actively doing something. The worst part was after submitting your application, the wait. I was unable to sleep for months. During the night, around 2am I would sneak a peak at my emails to see if there isn't a mail from Oz.......

When I read about the big company that changed your mind, I flinched....I'll be brave and admit I work for them. Years ago I started working at the Council in Centurion and I was proud of what I was doing there. Now, I am ashamed of where I work.

I would probably be suspended if I talk to much about what they are (not) doing, but things are hectic. EE and AA and BEE and all those things are depressing. I work in recruitment so I see people every single day, getting jobs that they dont deserve and are not suitable for, or people being passed over solely based on skin-colour, nothing else.

It gets me sometimes, the way I am treated by fellow employees. There is a culture of arrogance and corruption. You will not believe the things going on. But let me stop, I need them to pay me for a couple of months still... :)

I have to add, regarding the financial issues you mentioned. I know they had some trouble, but it seems that they are managing. They have hugely overspent on the salaries budget because of the labour-broker issues.

We had thousands and thousands of labour-broker personnel, and after a shady agreement between them and one of the unions, it was agreed that the council would absorb these labour-broker personnel, and start paying them permanent salaries, and phasing in benefits. So this was an enormously expensive exercise.

Good luck with your preparations :)

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Toitjie I can well believe the things that are "going on". My niece was employed early last year as a legal advisor to the Cape Town government. She lasted a year. She is now lecturing at UCT because she could not take what was going on anymore in the government departments. Some of the issues she spoke about are HAIR raising to say the least and more feul to the fire on why we want to leave. It's a joke some of the things she had to endure like being forced to have an "evaluation" every month, then being rated very poor on her computer skills by her "manager"....when she didn't even have a computer to work on as they had not supplied her with one. She had to provide legal advice on cases where the dept was taking another employee to court, who was sitting at a desk just down from her..she had no office, had nothing that even locked in which to store "evidence" or anything, was not allowed to take documents home or out of the building, so had to leave all of this in plain site for the other person to be able to go through at will. It's no wonder that no one gets brought to book for the corruption that is going on. She also used to have such respect for the DA and what they were trying to achieve. She said working for them for a year opened her eyes and she says make no mistake they are just as bad and she wouldn't vote for them at all again.

I laughed at the sneaking to see if you had an email. I'm at that stage. Our final medicals were sent and received on the 3rd April. My hubbies is listed as received, mine and the kids are STILL sitting as referred...9 days of waiting is just too long LOL. I'm so anxious to just know we have that visa in our hands

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Hi Toitjie

I am already sneaking peaks at our control panel that was given to us by the agents when we signed up, it's their way of communicating and keeping us up to date with what's going on (and it's only been a very short time for us so far). The gathering process has been exhausting and I am glad it is mostly complete, apart from one or two IRP5's and some other minor documentation I am waiting for.

My sympathies go out to you and anyone else in your position, I have a friend who was in exactly the same position. He was passed over several times for promotion because of his skin colour and gender and still had to do the work because the person who got the promotion was completely useless and unqualified for the position. Thankfully he has managed to find a better position within the same company.

I must say that the whole "issue" would have gone completely unnoticed if it was not for one of our staff members knowing someone who knows something. There was absolutely nothing in the papers about it. Maybe that was a good thing. Imagine the panic that would have been incited if it were public knowledge. The corruption and reverse racism that is going on in this country, I think, is the reason for many of us leaving.

Congratulations on getting the visa and I hope that all goes well for you and your family in the following months.

P.S. Thanks for the kind words and support.

Edited by HadEnoughofJuju
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Love your Posts, really insightful and so wonderful to realise how "not alone in the world" we are. Thank you for sharing your odessy. There is not much else to comment on except this. In nature, parents, be it plant or animal have evolved stratergies to give their off spring the best chance in life, it is also true for most humans. We are facing a great difficulty, worse than what has happened and parents feel the urge now more than ever. We need to pursue the best chance of life for our children.

look forward to your next post

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@Roxandall

Thanks for the kind words. This forum has also helped me to realize that we aren't alone in our journey which has definitely made things a bit easier to deal with. It's a long journey for most of us and a tough one for everyone. It puts a huge amount of strain on one emotionally and it's nice to have support from an a group of people who understand what we are going through. Good luck with the kid on a plane thing, we will eventually have the same thing to deal with so please let us know how you coped.

Edited by HadEnoughofJuju
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Hi Toitjie

Thanks for having the courage to speak up about your difficulties at work. I'm in the same boat and have had to sign a confidentiality agreement with my employer. It is SO hard to come home and not be able to vent to friends and family in case they repeat anything and it gets to the media! The reason I haven't competed my degree is because I can't get time off to study with my colleagues when they do, and I wouldn't be able to get a promotion to gain work experience at that level anyway, that's been made perfectly clear. On Friday one of my staff who's been back from maternity leave for 3 days blatantly told me to take a walk in front of everyone when I asked her to correct something and then they all laughed at me. I am so tired of being humiliated and laughed at and talked about openly without having any authority to do anything to contol the situation. I've been told it's a sensitive issue so can't be tackled! I love the work I do and wish I could enjoy going in each day and be a part of something to be proud of. I miss feeling that way. One day I will work for a council or utilities company in Australia and I know I will feel proud of the contribution I'm making in the community I share.

That's my vent for the day. Thank you SA Australia forum!

D

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Thanx Deanne. I have the same experience, there is a lack of trust, a lack of understanding differences, but again, those cultural differences are sometimes used as a weapon, and there is a general lack of respect. Very difficult circumstances to work in, and i most definately dont want my kids to work like this.

I never expected to be treated like this when I was studying, working towards my career. You just never expect that things like this can happen. It was said in a meeting by a very senior manager, to my subordinates that I (Toitjie) can unfortunately not be killed, so they just have to accept that for the time being I will be their manager.

I was very hurt by this, and VERY angry. But I was also warned not to take it further, I might get hurt. *sigh* But I will admit, I do love my job, I love recruitment, and its not like this every day, you sort of get used to is (am I the frog in the hot water) :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

The gathering ends - visa application file.

So we got the skills assessment file off to the agents on 23 March 2012 and the IELTS arrived in Perth on 29 March 2012 (and the file was complete), as suggested by the agents we took a couple of days off from collecting, compiling, checking and double checking paperwork before we carried on with the visa file. I had already started collecting and filing what I could and admittedly the visa file was also almost complete. The list of stuff we had to collect is amazing and I still don't really understand why we had to get all the documentation that we did but we have managed to do it despite all the challenges we faced.

As I may have mentioned before my wife has been teaching for almost ten years now and as part of the process we have had to accumulate as much evidence of employment as possible. Bank statements, pay slips, tax records, superanuation documentation (I later found out that this meant documents from her pension fund showing her employer details - which Sanlam refuse to do by the way). I have successfully managed to get all her pay slips (from three different employers) for the last ten years, barring three, bank statements for the last ten years, from three different bank accounts - one of which has been closed for more than nine years, IRP5's, ITA34's (which are the remittance advices and breakdown of each tax assessment) dating back to the first year my wife was registered and letters of reference from the three schools she taught at.

This post may seem a bit disjointed, largely because this is how my brain feels at the moment. We are now in a state of limbo, the skills assessment is with the agents and we are awaiting an outcome for that as well as a decision/outcome for the state sponsorship (which at this stage we have no idea where it will be or if they are going to apply for one) and which visa the agents will eventually lodge, 175 or 176SS. We are very frustrated at the fact that we just have to wait and wait and wait. A close friend of mine told me today that we just have to trust that the agents know what they are doing and that they have a reputation and track record to protect and that no matter what we need to be patient.

All that we have left to do now is have the copies certified and wait for the agents to tell us to download, fill in the DIAC forms and send the file, until then we just have to wait (and see if things happen the way we want then to).

Edited by HadEnoughofJuju
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  • 2 weeks later...

The Waiting

Since the skills assessment file (and IELTS results three days later) arrived in Perth on 26 March 2012 we have had very little feedback from the agents, if we want to know something we have to ask. We have now asked the question "when will the skills assessment be lodged" several times (four to be exact) and every time we seem to get a vague answer. This is starting to frustrate the living :censored: out of me. All I want is a date and an idea of when we will get a result back. Judging from what I have been reading the skills authorities and state sponsorship's seem to be on hold although I do not know how true this is. After sending an email last night to our new consultant/lawyer (when I sent the last email asking what was going on, we were reassigned to a new consultant/lawyer) asking when then skills assessment would be lodged, we yet again got a rather vague response "the legal work on your file has been completed and I am waiting for authorisation from our accountant to lodge", no date or time frame which is driving me insane. Do all Australians have this laid back, nonplussed, happy go lucky, what will be will be attitude. I guess this is the impatient Joburger in me coming out. I am definitely going to have to learn to slow down and go with the flow once we eventually get there, if we get there at all.

The positive thing out of all of this is that we have a new consultant/lawyer who responds almost instantly to our questions and seems to work very strange and late hours. All we can hope for now ist that we will still be able to get to Australia after the legislation changes on 1 July 2012. I do not see us getting a skills assessment result back before then and even if we do, there is no way they are going to get our file processed and submitted by 1 July 2012. There is not much happening at the moment so I am going to end this thread and will update you all when we have more news.

Cheers for now

HadEnoughofJuju (AKA Steven)

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Asking when then skills assessment would be lodged, we yet again got a rather vague response "the legal work on your file has been completed and I am waiting for authorisation from our accountant to lodge", no date or time frame which is driving me insane. Do all Australians have this laid back, nonplussed, happy go lucky, what will be will be attitude.

No, your guys seem to have a very strange way of dealing with a deadline. The above quote reads to me like the person dealing with your stuff is waiting for the accounts department to verify that you have paid your bill in full and then they can proceed. Hey, but that is just me reading it, they might be going on about something else. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you and your family. You have collected quite a few virtual passengers on your roller coaster :wacko:

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Hi Rozelle

Sorry for the confusion in the post, the consultant is waiting for the accountant to get confirmation from the AITSL (the skills assessment authority) that the fees have been paid so that they can submit the paperwork. We have paid the agents in full and their fees include all the skills assessment and DIAC fees so they are the ones that now need to do the paying. Thanks for the support and encouragement and taking the time to read the posts.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Loved reading your posts. Could be part of our story, just not working in the same industries. My husband works in the motor industry and I work in the medical aid industry, not the two greatest industries to be in at the moment! And where we were "comfortable" not so long ago, we are certainly quite "uncomfortable" now! It is a fight to make ends meet from month to month and not getting any better.

We were very fortunate that I am an Aus citizen and therefore we could apply for citizenship for our children. Being that we have been married for 15 years and we have 2 children, my husband was granted PR and fortunately has not been as costly an excercise as it could have been.

Where are you planning to head to in Aus?

I hope things speed up for you and you get your answers soon.

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Hey JellyTots

Thanks for the kind words. This has truly been a roller coaster ride emotionally. We were hoping to get our skills assessment back and visa application in before the 30 June 2012 deadline but it does not look like we will and are more than likely going to have to apply under the new SkillsSelect program. As for the standard of living, we are now living below the bread line and it just keeps getting worse with no light at the end of the tunnel, moving to another country has become our only option, rather drastic but necessary. Be grateful (as I am sure you are) that you had a relatively easy open door, you must be looking forward to going home. Good luck with the plans and I hope everything comes off without a hitch.

We have not really decided where in Australia we want to go, at this stage I'm telling people "I just want to go" and "anywhere would be good for a start". I guess once we know whether or we are going to get the opportunity to go we will start seriously looking. Someone asked me the other day what the perfect place would be in Australia and my response to that was "A place that has the Cape's scenery, Pretoria's summers and Durban's winters, sadly I do not think that this perfect place exists anywhere in the world.

Edited by HadEnoughofJuju
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Fighting Back.

After much waiting and begging and pleading with the agents to tell us when they were planning on submitting the skills assessment and not getting much in the way of straight answers, we decided (after many people on this forum including an agent or two suggested it) to lodge a formal complaint with MARA (Migration Agents Registration Authority).

Up until today (22 May 2012) we have not dealt directly with any of the RMA's at the company we are using. We were first contacted by the CEO (who is not a registered agent) after registering online and then handed over to a consultant (also not registered) and then again after asking the same questions over and over and either getting vague answers or no answers at all, got reassigned to yet another consultant/lawyer (yup you guessed it - also not registered). We then penned a rather heated, get of your :censored: butts and start doing something or we are going to report you to MARA email which also did not really get a definite response. So guess what, we reported them to MARA on Friday evening (18 May 2012). Surprise surprise, the agents are now off their lazy butts and we have finally been assigned a registered migration agent who is handling our case from here on out. The emails have flown and the responses sent and finally we have confirmation that the skills assessment has been lodged. The only disappointment now is the fact that AITSL takes 10-12 weeks to process the skills assessment which means we will only get a result back sometime in July which also means that we will miss the 30 June 2012 deadline and will have to apply under the new SkillsSelect programme.

We are going to stay positive (because at this stage if I don't I am going to end up in a little white padded room with a nice white jacket) and hope that a miracle happens and our skills assessment application lands on the desk of a very nice hardworking individual who feels sorry for us poor soles here in South Africa and processes the application in record time so that we can apply for our visa before the deadline.

Edited by HadEnoughofJuju
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Good luck

Hi Beebop

I know this is a bit of a delayed response but thanks for the wishes.

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Missing the deadline

Well we kicked and screamead and threw our tous out of the cot and unfortunately (even with the hoping against all odds that a miracle would happen) we or shouls rather say our agents did not get the visa application in before 30 June 2012. Disappointing I know but maybe it will all end up turning out for the best. Well for the sake of the agents, they hope it all works out. I have decided that I am going to be like a bad rash and hound them every day after the skills assessment result comes back. I will send an email every day if I have to to find out when they plan on completing the EOI (which by the way I have created, filling in all the details except for the skills assessment date and leaving it in draft format because I know that if we wait for the agents it may be another 60 days before anything happens). If I have to as far as applying for state sponsorship myself then I will do that and just let them try and fire me, I will make them regret lying to me.

I know we have paid a lot of money to them to render a service but at this stage I am seriously tired of waiting and if I can speed things up by irritating them into doing their job then that's what I am going to do. If you are using an agent lay on them until you get what you paid for.

Edited by HadEnoughofJuju
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Um... How is doing all the work yourself going to irritate them. They're just going to think that they've really hit the jackpot - you pay them AND do all their work for them. Doesn't really make any sense. You should be complaining to MARA if they're not doing their job according to the charter of migration agents.

You probably don't want to hear this, but I'm going to say it anyway because I think you need to hear it.

The process of emigration is a real test in patience. You seriously need to take a step back and learn to be patient. Getting angry and lashing out at everyone else because things aren't happening the way you want isn't helping your case. By this same logic, perhaps you should kick yourself for not starting the process sooner instead of having unrealistic expectations on an agent when thousands of other people were pushing to get their own very important, life-changing visa lodged by 1 July. But that thinking is not going to help your situation as it stands this minute.

If you don't look at this whole process philosophically, you will drive yourself to a heart attack before you even get that visa approved. Look at some of the forum member's time lines. Most of us have paid our school fees in mistakes, spent years learning the art of patience, tested our relationships to breaking point and still come out the other side stronger than ever and able to tackle the challenges on this side of the pond.

Let the agent do their job in the background. Trust me, once you get that visa, you are going to wish you had more time. So start preparing. You've already said that you're battling financially & have used all your savings to pay for the agent. So devise a plan to relieve the financial situation and start saving some money for your move. It's another goal to focus all that pent up anger on - go at it like a bull to a red flag. I can't remember the details of your circumstances, but perhaps you could consider selling your house (you've seen how some people have struggled for months & sometimes years to sell their houses). Move into a cheaper, smaller rental and pay off your debts. Live below your means so you can save some money for your move. This could well be your best preparation for the move as you'll probably be taking a step up when you arrive instead of a step back as alot of people do.

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