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Starting the process


TinaB

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Hi All

My husband and I and our two children are just about to start the process of lodging our EOI.

We actually started in June last year but it's taken so long for my husband to do his Vetassess and he's just completed the IELTS last Saturday. Once we have the results from IELTS, we can hopefully get all documents certified and lodge. We are working through an Agent (Immagine), who have been very helpful so far. Not sure I would have managed this without them.

So I just want to try get an idea of a time line.

How long from when you lodge to when you are invited to apply?

How long from when you apply to being sent for medicals and police clearance and how long do those take to get?

And then once PR application is submitted, how long before visa is granted?

As we approach the middle of the year, we have to obviously be quite careful about when we arrive in Australia as we don't want to get there in December and have no money, nowhere to live and no jobs.

I've been reading this forum constantly for the last few months and hope that our journey will be as happy as most of yours.

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Hi TinaB, welcome to posting on the forum!

The answers to your timeline questions are not so straight forward and simple :

The EOI to invite will depend on a few factors : your total points, how many spaces left on quota for your nominated occupation and the invite round dates set by DIBP ( check their website for the current round of dates )

We lodged mid December 2014, after the last 2014 round of invites, and were lucky to get ours in first round of 2015 - 3 weeks' wait and they were closed for 2 of the 3 weeks

As far as application to grant timeline, it would appear that the recent historical turnaround is 2 months from date of submission to appointment of a VPO. You may be lucky at the 2 month point to get a direct grant, or your VPO will require further information, which will extend the period waiting for actual visa

As soon as we lodged our actual application, we could get our medicals booked by generating a HAP ID on our online immi account , and we waited about a month after lodging to sort that out as we knew about the 2 month VPO appointment timeline. We applied for our PCC's soon after lodging, so that the timing of the medicals and PCC dates would be close for our activation date. ( the activation date is 1 year from date of earlier of PCC or medical tests , so if you get one sorted out quickly ,that will determine your activation date )

So given your wish to miss December, you should be fine, as if you only do PCC's and Medicals May / June this year, you only need to activate May / June next year.

Hope that the IELTS results are what were needed and that you get your EOI soon! :)

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Thanks for the response.

We are actually hoping to get to Australia before the end of the year. I've checked with our agent and my husband's occupation is on the skills shortage list in all states. There are apparently still over 1000 spots for airconditioning technicians so I think we're ok there.

Points will be determined by the IELTS test score - he needed 7's at least to get the minimum points.

If we do find we are getting close to December then my husband will go alone and try secure work and a place to live while I stay here with the kids while they finish school.

It's all so stressful right now!

And I keep thinking this should be the easy part. The stressful part will be when we arrive :)

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And I keep thinking this should be the easy part. The stressful part will be when we arrive :)

You are actually in the stressful part ;) . The uncertainty makes it hard. Its easy once you get here; the only uncertainty when you get here is finding a job.

Sure, finding a rental is a pain but once you have a job that becomes easier. Finding friends is hard... but you just need to work at it. There is a lot of admin too (e.g. converting your drivers license) but that kind of stuff you just need to go and do.

And, if I were you I would wait and move together. I am sure you want to be there making decisions on where you will live, what schools your kids will go to, etc.. Its hard to do that from here. Remember you will be stuck with those choices for years to come. If you are stuck in RSA for 3 more months, then so what?

Also, as the forum members have said several times... the job market is dead over December. Add to that, you will probably need a job to get a rental in a competitive market like Sydney or Melbourne :)

Cheers

Edited by monsta
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I agree with Monsta, December and january are not good months to arrive in Australia, everything and almost everyone is on holiday. Best time to arrive then would be around the middle of January, so you can get a rental and get the kids settled in school.

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Just checked my husband's IELTS results. He got 8.5 overall with 7.5 being his lowest mark.

So that's it!! Now to just complete the million forms and certify everything and we're good to submit out EOI. YAY!!!

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I agree with Monsta, December and january are not good months to arrive in Australia, everything and almost everyone is on holiday. Best time to arrive then would be around the middle of January, so you can get a rental and get the kids settled in school.

Quick question for the forum:

How do you get a rental if you havent yet got a job. Don't you require a letter from your employer as part of your rental application? Is it possible to get a rental then or do you have to Airbnb it until you get a job?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quick question for the forum:

How do you get a rental if you havent yet got a job. Don't you require a letter from your employer as part of your rental application? Is it possible to get a rental then or do you have to Airbnb it until you get a job?

Hi forumites.

Please could someone shed some light on my above question.

Thanks.

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You don't need a job. But it depends on your profession and what you are trying to rent.

So, if you rent a modest place to start with, then you may get a rental before a job.

Remember its a lot easier for the letting agent to deal with a South African family than a family from Asia who speak English as a 3rd language. Never underestimate an Aussie's lazyness ;)

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Offering a couple of weeks/months rent in advance will help. We secured our current rental without jobs by initially signing a 6 months lease and paid it all up front. I appreciate this is not always possible, but if you can offer something in advance it might convince the owners to go with you.

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Thanks Monsta and Leeferg1.

Much appreciated.

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