riaanpdaddy Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Hi Everyone,Just a quick introduction. We have started the process of applying to Australia this week. We actually went through the whole process to go to Canada...... but subsequently we got cold feet - literally, I think our feet will be too cold in Canaidia.So we have turned our sights towards sunny Australia, specifically, and hopefully - Brisbane.Thanks for the great forum, already we have found so much great information and we hope to contribute. If anyone wants to know the process of applying to Canada, then feel free to ask - we went through the whole process (including an agent scam ) to only decide then that we prefer Australia. We also don't think we will get invited (not enough points) and jobs were really hard to find - unless if I wanted to go to Red Lake and work on a mine where the maximum temperature for the year is 12 degrees - yikes.So here we are.My wife, two girls and another (boy or girl) on the way is looking for an adventure outside of South-Africa and, I'm sure, we have the same reasons as everyone else for leaving the country. ie future for kids, education, safety, permanent power, a president that can count. You know, the usual Good luck to everyone and see you on the other side soon Riaan 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odendaal Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Hello! Ha we also tried for Canada first and what a joke. Jeepers the amount of hoops you have to jump through really is insane. We only had 418 points and quite frankly I got very tired of waiting around for Canada to take us in when Australia would give us visas within 6 months. But not to fret, you've come to the right place now and you'll be on your way before you know it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riaanpdaddy Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 That's great Odendaal thanks.I see from your EA Assessments you are both Engineers. I have a degree in Mining Engineering too although I have not been in typical mining for a couple of years. I actually only worked in production for 2 years and thereafter went into business development (mostly technology).I have applied for the EA assessment yesterday, how long does it normally take? (Barring all the documents I submitted are correct) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odendaal Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) Ours took about a month to 5 weeks if I remember correctly. Are you claiming points for work experience? If so, your degree (mining engineering) must link up with at least 3 years of work in mining engineering to qualify for the points. I stand to be corrected though...If you can't claim points for experience because of the above, it's not a big issue. As long as you have more than 60 points, as an engineer you'll be shap shap Edited October 14, 2015 by Odendaal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riaanpdaddy Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 I worked out the points I would get without any experience and without anything from wife's side and it looked like we would have more than 60 points, so we should be okay. So I didn't request work experience assessment with EA.Cool!Do we still need references done for work experience even if we are not claiming points for any specific experience? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odendaal Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) Nope no references needed if you don't claim for work experience. We didn't claim for work experience whatsoever and no references was needed because of this. Edited October 14, 2015 by Odendaal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riaanpdaddy Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 That is great news! Thanks for the awesome assistance Odendaal 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPanda Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 I don't know what you will be claiming points for, but it is possible to get your visa granted based on: Age-30pt; English-20pt; Degree-15pt=65pt. We were initially stressed that they would not grant a 189 if there was no work experience, but it's not a requirement. (this for the actual visa application, not the EA assessment)I have no idea what Canada is like with the immigration process, but I can tell you that Aussie is super friendly and if you match their tick boxes, it's SUPER easy to apply for a visa.Good luck guys!(Just keep in mind, Brisbane is like Durban, very hot with high humidity. But if you like that, go for it!) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charne Posted October 21, 2015 Report Share Posted October 21, 2015 Welcome and congrats on dodging the icy Candadian bullet!!Hope your Visa application goes smoothly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordy Posted October 21, 2015 Report Share Posted October 21, 2015 Welcome guys. The forum is a great place for support. Hopefully we can make your journey a little easier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frandri Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Hi Riaan, We went through the process with Canada and Australia and received our PR for both. We like Canada a lot as its really beatifull especially in summer and the people are very nice. ( as the joke goes: how do you get 100 drunk Canadians out of a swimming pool? You ask them politely.) On our activation trip we hired an RV and travelled about 8000 km from Calgary up north to Jasper, to BC, down south to Penticton, etc Our favorite place was Banff and would not mind to go back there one day. We also have very good friends in Calgary and Vancouver and it would have been quite easy to settle in Canada but in the end we decided on Australia not only for the weather but also as the cultures are probably more the same. The other reasons were that the time zones between Perth and SA are not that bad and we can travel to JHB with an direct flight if we want. Hope everything works out well for you and your familily . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riaanpdaddy Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 I don't know what you will be claiming points for, but it is possible to get your visa granted based on: Age-30pt; English-20pt; Degree-15pt=65pt. We were initially stressed that they would not grant a 189 if there was no work experience, but it's not a requirement. (this for the actual visa application, not the EA assessment)I have no idea what Canada is like with the immigration process, but I can tell you that Aussie is super friendly and if you match their tick boxes, it's SUPER easy to apply for a visa.Good luck guys!(Just keep in mind, Brisbane is like Durban, very hot with high humidity. But if you like that, go for it!)Hi Redpanda,I was so excited to get my EA Assessment back and submitted my EOI only to find out I only got 45 points Turns out my writing IELTS mark is 6.5 and while the rest are over 8 - so I only got points for age (30 pts) and Degree (15 pts)Looks like I will have to redo the IELTS test and get my wife's education assessed too. She did Political Sciences at UP so I am not sure where to get the assessment done.If I can get over 8 for everything and get partner points then we will have 70 points.Sigh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPanda Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 (edited) Hi Redpanda,I was so excited to get my EA Assessment back and submitted my EOI only to find out I only got 45 points Turns out my writing IELTS mark is 6.5 and while the rest are over 8 - so I only got points for age (30 pts) and Degree (15 pts)Looks like I will have to redo the IELTS test and get my wife's education assessed too. She did Political Sciences at UP so I am not sure where to get the assessment done.If I can get over 8 for everything and get partner points then we will have 70 points.Sigh...Ok, but surely you knew what your IELTS score was before you submitted an EOI? The immigration booklet is very specific that you must score above the threshold in every section of the IELTS to claim the points. That is why so many people rewrite the test, just to up a single section. If you are doing the application yourself you have to be very careful to read the whole booklet, all the aspects that apply to your case. For the most part the Australian system works, so they know what's going on. So generally their rules are not the 'recommendations' that ours tend to be. Just read the requirements carefully and pay attention to the detail, because you can be sure they will.You are lucky that the EOI picks this up for you, if a mistake like this carries over to the actual application and it turns out you have fewer points than you claimed then your application can be refused(and no refund given), and you could be banned from applying for three years. I don't want to scare you, I just want to make sure you understand what could happen.Are political sciences on the SOL? If they are, cool, no problem(and the SOL will also tell you who assesses each listed occupation). But if they are not, then you won't be able to claim points for your partner. (Just check that her occupation is on the SOL, I am not familiar with it)It used to be Booklet 6: Points Based Skilled Migration (Subclasses 189, 190 and 489) visa, I don't know if it's still the same? But you should read that very carefully if you are doing your application yourself. Make sure that you fully understand how every aspect of your points claim will work. And if you are not sure, ask us, or better, ask a registered migration agent like TeeTMI or SD_MOA who are migration agents on this forum and who kindly assist forum members with the hard questions.Good luck/ Sterkte for the IELTS rewrite!Ps. I am not a registered migration agent, if you need help or advice with the actual application or EOI then I strongly recommend you talk to one. Edited November 19, 2015 by Mara Added writing in italics 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riaanpdaddy Posted November 23, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hi Redpanda,Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear - I wasn't *sighing at you or the forum but they way but only at my ignorance. Lol! This forum has been great and a wealth of information - we take it one step at a time and see how it goes.Booked my IELTS test for January and will take December to go through all the details online and on this forum to carefully plan our exit out of South-Africa:)Till then, all the best and thanks for the great information.Riaan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPanda Posted November 23, 2015 Report Share Posted November 23, 2015 No worries, that's how I read it. I didn't want to scare you off with my response, it's just really important that you know the Aussies play things strictly by the book. I would hate to hear that you tried the application yourself and then missed a detail or thought it would be ok, and they refuse it. Then you would lose all the application money. (It's a little bit like cautioning you to double-tripple check the receiving bank account number for a really large EFT that's a once-off payment.)Goodluck with the rewrite of IELTS. Since it it only the one section, you can read up on the forum, lots of good tips. They say especially writing follows a pattern, and you can practice with the online material and check where you lose marks. Then just concentrate extra hard on that.Go for it!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.