Pounce! Hello...

[RedPanda]

Hi All,

I'm just writing a summary of our process, and some background, so that it's not just the Illusive-Red-Panda-reading-online:

Last year January my husband and I did our LSD trip, after deciding that moving to the UK (like his sister did) is not for us. We spent a month in Australia, two weeks in Brisbane with my aunt and her family and the remaining two weeks traveling down the coast in a rental car to Sydney and Melbourne with a pitstop in Canberra. After the trip we decided that Melbourne appeals to us the most.

The moment we got back to SA I started researching the process of applying for a 189 visa, and we slowly started getting everything we needed, IELTS first, because that would be the determining factor in our points total. After the results came back we started with all the rest: police clearance, unabridged birth certificates(they lost my husband's records, waited several months to tell us what the problem was, and then "just believed" the information on the new form he had to fill in for them to capture the data from scratch), and Australian accreditation for my degree.

We finally had it all together and submitted an EOI in November, and got an invitation two days later. I had to wait for a new passport, and then we submitted our application, which was granted in mid January.

We didn't use an agent because our application was so straight forward, with 65 points being claimed for: English, Age, Degree. So for anyone who is curious, no, work experience is not a prerequisite for a 189 visa.

Before our LSD trip we attended a seminar by ImmagineAustralia, after which we spoke to one of their immigration advisers/agents. I think it does them tremendous credit that he advised us against using an agent since our application was so simple.

We are doing our activation trip this June, and will be going to Melbourne since that is where we want to move to finally.

I did my bachelors degree in electrical engineering (still busy with masters), and my husband is working as a statistical analyst.

We have known since high school that we want to emigrate from South Africa as soon as viably possible. At that stage it was already apparent that the currency was going one way only, the crime was going in the opposite direction, and the 'pale male' was becoming a hot potato for employers. Since we had friends and family in the UK we looked at that first, but realised that immigration was going to be difficult and uncertain, and after taking a very honest look at the lifestyle we decided that we didn't want to go there. So we started to take a serious look at Australia, and after sufficient research decided we like it, a lot!

I joined this online community following a recommendation by an acquaintance that is also moving to Australia (she might actually be there already, time flies). At the moment I am primarily reading (a lot) about the activation trip and what to do first, once landed. After I've gained more experience, I will probably share some of it back into the group.

And that's us, in a very large nutshell.

[EmNew]

Welcome to the forum It is a great community full of supportive and sympathetic people - it's kept me as sane as is possible since I joined last year !

We're also heading to Melbourne - haven't set a date yet though - will depend on sale of our house and when transfer takes place to get our equity out of the house and then into an Aussie bank.

We used an agent mainly due to the convenience factor, and there was an aspect of our application that had the potential to be a stumbling block if not handled correctly.

We also decided that the UK was just not for us , despite its convenient location for trips to Europe.

[Guest]

Hello Red panda and welcome to the forum. I am a British Citizen and so the Uk was always an option for us, but we decided on OZ. We now have our PR visa and are just waiting to tie thigns up this end. We may have the opportunity this year to go to OZ for 3 months for a LSD trip so this will be fantastic if we can go and try and find work before leaving everything behind. I think the biggest fear for us is going and not finding work. We will just have to wait and see what happens though, but fingers toes are crossed that we can.

Good luck with the journey and look forward to further updates

[RedPanda]

Thanks for the welcome!

All the people I've spoken to have told us it might take some time to find work, and that the Aussies are much more specific than South Africans about what skills they want for a given position. Also that there are way more people in the job market that have good qualifications and skills. But nobody said we won't find work, only that it might take longer than expected (worst case, 9 months-1 year). So the plan is to save up (our current finances, and a small amount of thriftiness make this feasible) and go over around December 2016. We will start applying for jobs from this side after our activation trip, but we know the chances are slim of getting one while you're still in SA. Still, slim chances are not zero chances!

I also think the time it takes you to find work will depend on how much in demand your skills are, so maybe you're lucky?

And yes, I've already read some very helpful posts and some insightful discussions. I think this community will be an invaluable resource for the process of converting a South African mindset to Australia.

[SurferMan]

Welcome RedPanda,

We will see you shortly then hey? good on yer and welcome to Aus!