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Nothing more amazing than the kindness of strangers. Thank you Saaustralia. You guys truly are fantastic!

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Thinking of you HEOJ and onyellowbrickroad, I truly hope your story has a happy ending. I have no words or advice. I can try to imagine the anguish you go through each month, as the one thing i understand is how important that visa is. This is so unbelievably difficult and emotional. I had the same agents as you and I think they are scum. You deserve better, so much better. Sending you blessings.

Elmarie61,

For interest sake, who are the agents you are referring to? If you don't mind disclosing that information.

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I would prefer not to say- but as HEOJ has named them in another thread I guess their name is out there anyway. They are called Asa.

Unfortunately HEOJ as well as myself have had bad experiences with this group. :(

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You guys should be entitled to a refund! :-(

Agreed!!

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I kid you not, as if it could get any worse for me today. IELTS - British council have just sent my wife an SMS to say, and I quote "Due to system failure results for 25.08.2012 will only be released on 17.09.2012. We apologize for any inconvenience caused." Inconvenience, :angry2::censored: :cry:now we get to miss the second bunch of invites sent out in September.

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I kid you not, as if it could get any worse for me today. IELTS - British council have just sent my wife an SMS to say, and I quote "Due to system failure results for 25.08.2012 will only be released on 17.09.2012. We apologize for any inconvenience caused." Inconvenience, :angry2::censored: :cry:now we get to miss the second bunch of invites sent out in September.

Same for us... my wife is seriously pissed :(

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I resat my IELTS on the 25th too, as a precaution in case I didn't get an invite before my 40th. The test was supposed to start at 0900, but the centre introduced a new - electronic - registration system. One laptop trying to process 100 candidates from 0800-0900 :whome:

Suffice to say, we started almost an hour late. It was extremely unprofessional consideing the high cost of the exam, but hopefully this will be one of the final examples of SA greed and inefficiency we have to endure.

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I kid you not, as if it could get any worse for me today. IELTS - British council have just sent my wife an SMS to say, and I quote "Due to system failure results for 25.08.2012 will only be released on 17.09.2012. We apologize for any inconvenience caused." Inconvenience, :angry2::censored: :cry:now we get to miss the second bunch of invites sent out in September.

The SMS I got was from the Britsh Concil (sic). It was followed by another, promising results by 10.9. But I'm going to ask for my money back because they can't spell "council".

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The SMS I got was from the Britsh Concil (sic). It was followed by another, promising results by 10.9. But I'm going to ask for my money back because they can't spell "council".

I have to agree, the people that do the "International" English test can't even get the spelling and punctuation in their own SMS right. I give them a 1 for writing.

They must have read the forum yesterday and seen how "annoyed" people were and decided to change their minds about releasing the dates earlier, my wife got that same SMS. I just hope they stick to their promises.

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O gravy... now I've got a lot to look forward to for the 22nd :(

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When I wrote IELTS, I could barely understand the examiners. Still don't know how I got 8 for everything. I made a big stuffup on the writing section by starting on the wrong page. Only realized when I had to turn the page. I had to re-write everything onto the first page and wipe everything out on the second page so as to be able to continue.

In addition, I work in IT, the closest to writing (by hand) I get is items on the shopping list, and even then I write in BLOCK LETTERS so that I can at least make out what I wrote later.

I did not finish and did not think I'll even get a 6 for it. My last lines were something like:

word word word... Oh crap!!! Time's up.

Now I see it is getting tougher: http://www.immagine-immigration.com/immagine-australia/our-blog/post/teachers-and-first-pool-draw/

In another thread I previously expressed our situation in South Africa. Having a qualification, does not guarantee you a sufficient income to survive in RSA. This is probably one of the biggest lures to Oz. The fact that in Oz you can still do what you love and make a good honest living. I know a few highly paid(read overpaid) people in RSA that also had a look at immigrating but decided against it, as they would have either had to cut down a lot on their lifestyle or their partners would also have to work. In RSA we have a very big divide between the have's and the have not's, and this divide is growing.

On the matter of advice. None of us really know the full extent of each others situation. So instead of me dispensing some advice that may or may not have already been considered, how about this:

HEOJ and OYBR, how can we help you?

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hi guys! how long did you wait for ACS skills results ? we are waiting for ielts and acs, then we can lodge eoi..... :)

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hi guys! how long did you wait for ACS skills results ? we are waiting for ielts and acs, then we can lodge eoi..... :)

It took me about 6 weeks as far as I remember.

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also got the sms for the 17 th, but not about the 10th :(

My wife also got something about the 17th... she was spitting out curses about stupid incompetency etc. Can't blame her :o

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I still can't believe I had to do the IELTS three times to get all 8s.

*hides face in shame*

Well, I'm trying for a second time now to at least get my reading score up... if I don't make it... then they can kiss my behind :(

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I still can't believe I had to do the IELTS three times to get all 8s.

*hides face in shame*

Hope we don't have to go for three.

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I'm probably throwing a cat in amongst the pidgeons here, but just a quick question - how hard is it to get a visa for NZ? I am just wondering as I have never looked at it before (but a family member just got a sponsored job offer so I looked briefly at a NZ forum for him).

I really feel for you guys at this point, but I admire you all for learning the new rules so quickly, and doing everything you can to get that Visa.

Sometimes I wonder if it's a money making thing........ Some of the questions are deliberately meant to trick you.....I find that annoying, and certainly not an indicator of comprehension .........IMHO

I really felt sorry for people who wrote the test with English being their second language... The recording we heard had a VERY thick English accent.....even I found it difficult (stressful) to listen to..... (and it's my first language)

Edited by Lisle
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I'm so cheesed off ---- I'll need to do the ielts again-- got a 6.5 for listening for the 2nd time. It's so disheartening and another R2100. One should be able to rewrite a band and not whole thing. Price for peace one day I hope.

Edited by flowman
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I agree flowman - it's such a waste. The person you evaluated my speaking part was'nt even English, so how do we know what the persons English is like who marks the written work?

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I agree flowman - it's such a waste. The person you evaluated my speaking part was'nt even English, so how do we know what the persons English is like who marks the written work?

That is a bit of a wild statement, suggesting that one can only teach English if you were born such.

I have a mate who is a qualified IELTS trainer and examiner. He is teaching English in Taiwan, and is considered to be amonst the best in the IELTS program.

According to your statement, he should not even be in the program.

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It must be very frustrating, especially since Australians aren't considered (by me, haha) to be very good at English. My apologies to the Aussies on here, but it is my honest opinion that the standard of English here is quite poor. The majority of visa applicants would not need anywhere near the English skills being demanded, in everyday life. I think the whole visa system is one big money making, job creating rort. Is rort actually a word? Hmmmm

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