planningahead Posted February 5, 2017 Report Share Posted February 5, 2017 Hello everyone So I have decided to start keeping a journal to share my experience with future "planners" in the hope that it might give them some insight into the process. I do realize that this process is unique to each family's own circumstances, but I have drawn from so many experiences on this blog which helped me make sense of my own journey. I have to be honest and say that I'm keeping this journal not just for future "planners" but also to (hopefully) one day read back over my experiences and relive our experience. I have known for a long time that I wanted to move to Australia. For a long time I thought I would end up in Perth as that is where some of my distant family have settled over the years. Last year I got an opportunity to go work in Sydney for a couple of months and I just fell in love with the vibe of the city. I came back and talked to my partner about potentially starting the emigration process. The time was just perfect as I had reached the age bucket which would give me maximum points, I have worked long enough for the ACS to consider my experience as part of my qualification assessment and our relationship (we are not married) had just hit the 2 year mark (one year of which we were living together, satisfying the de-facto requirement). All of this made it the perfect time to apply in order to make sure we maximize our points. We kicked off the process in August starting with the skills assessment and language test and eventually in January 2017 we received our 190 NSW visas! In November 2016, I reached out to the company for which I worked for in Sydney to let them know that I am in process of applying for a visa and they were very keen to take me on. Over the past 2 months I've had interviews and a verbal offer and finally a written offer was made to me last week. The proposed start date is 13 March 2017! This is all very exciting and also extremely terrifying. I think it is worthwhile to mention at this point that my partner is still studying towards a degree and within the last three weeks we had to suddenly start looking at transferring him to a Sydney based university. After doing some extensive research it turns out that all the Sydney universities we are looking at will accept his National Senior Certificate results as well as his 2016 first-year tertiary education results in order to assess his application. His NSC results were ok (it meets the minimum requirements) but his 1st year varisty results are great so we are hoping that he will get admitted to his preferred university, Macquarie University. I just pray that we have understood the cost implications correctly. Based on numerous calls to various departments at various universities it seems like we will be eligible for a Commonwealth supported place as we are permanent residents. This means that the government subsidizes a portion of my partner's studies. The remaining portion, called the student contribution, we will have to pay up front each year as we are not citizens and are therefore not eligible to make use of HECS help and defer the student contributions until my partner starts working and can pay it off. It was really difficult to make a decision on whether I should accept the job while we are waiting for the universities to make my partner an offer. In the end we decided to take a bit of a leap of faith (keeping in mind his excellent first year varsity results and great reference letters from lecturers) and I accepted the job offer. In the meantime my partner will stay with family until June of this year in order for him to complete his second year first semester here in SA. and then join me and start the second semester in July in Australia (the degree have semester 2 take-ins). Thinking of being alone in Sydney for 3 months is extremely terrifying but if everything works out according to our plans this would mean that I get to set up an apartment in Australia and my partner gets to complete 4 more modules here in SA which we can claim credits for and not have to pay for in Australia (that's about a saving $3,800). With this major decision above being made earlier this week our lives got extremely crazy very quickly (I can only think of the meme "well that escalated quickly"). We have had to give our landlord notice of termination of lease, called for quotes for a shared container (Execumove and Movit are coming tomorrow to quote us), try to get my car sold, organize the driver's license letter so that I can convert my license to an NSW license, terminate accounts like gym and ISP and open an aussie (CBA) bank account. We also had to go ask my partner's family if he can move back in with them which terrified me as it felt like we were going over to ask them if we can get married. Luckily they said no problem! We still have a crap load of things to do before I leave and it is the only thing which is keeping me sane. Whenever I think about the fact that me (26 years old) and my partner (23 years old) are about to make a massive, live changing leap in the unknown I start sweating b@lls! It's good that there are still a ton of things to sort out because I focus on these whenever I start getting terrified. For the next week I will focus on things like cancelling medical aid and getting my partner onto a cheap hospital plan so that he is still covered for the remaining 3 months until he joins me. We will also sort out our possessions and start selling redundant furniture and appliances. I am also going to book AirBnB accommodation until shortly before our furniture arrive in Sydney. Only then will I start looking for apartments (although I have seen a really nice one which I would book now if I could live without furniture and appliances for 3 months!). Anyways, I will log off now as we have some family time planned for today. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted February 5, 2017 Report Share Posted February 5, 2017 Journaling is a great way to work through this very emotional time @planningahead I am sure it will also help other forumites. I have also been looking into the university fee system as my daughter will hopefully be doing 1st year in Melbourne next year. Think you have interpreted the fees correctly wrt CSP as a Permanent Resident. Sure all will go well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedPanda Posted February 6, 2017 Report Share Posted February 6, 2017 I know it's scary, but in the end it's ok. And then it gets better! You are very lucky to have a job lined up, I am sure it stand you in excellent stead! Baie sterkte met die laaste pakwerk en uitsorteer. Ons hou vir jou duimvas!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerhard11 Posted February 7, 2017 Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 My wife is planning on furthering her studies. Good to know that there is Commonwealth support Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
planningahead Posted February 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 7, 2017 @Gerhard11, my understanding is that Commonwealth supported places are only offered for undergrad courses. Honours degrees and above are generally not covered by CSPs therefore no government subsidy is provided... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose2014 Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 @planningahead thanks for sharing your story so far... I found writing on here very therapeutic and everyone's words of encouragement to be so helpful to set my mind at ease. Good luck with what lies ahead and keep us updated - I am guilty of neglecting my journal now that we're here in Aus. Sending only good vibes your way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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