Visas granted...what now?

[Lili0905]

So, we got the great news that our visas have been granted. We are ecstatic with joy and so grateful that we've been afforded this opportunity. The first day after hearing we got our visas, I couldn't stop smiling...and then realisation dawned. What now? What next? The immigration agency that helped us have done their part...but now the rest is up to me, and I have no idea what to arrange first.

Between looking at possible flights, searching for recruitment agencies to send our cv's and googling the terms "blocked rand account" and "mp336" form (apparently I need these to get my annuity and other funds across), I am so confused that I don't know whether I'm coming or going. 

 

Any advice from someone who's gone through this already? What is  most important to arrange next?

[TamTam]

1. Check on your visa grant what date you have to enter by to "activate" the visa. You have a 5 year travel facility on the visa - meaning you can enter and leave Australia for 5 years HOWEVER the first entry otherwise called the activation date varies and you need to be sure you adhere to this. Some people go to Oz on holiday and then only make the move later on (but within those 5 years) whereas other just go before that activation date and stay there.

1b. If you're on a 189 visa decide what State you want to live in.

2. If you own property decide whether you want to sell it or rent it - if it's the former then get it on the market.

3. If you want to take pets with be sure to start the process for getting them across.

4. Decide if you want to get a container or not for your household goods. You can use the inventory for the container as proof to cancel your Telkom account and TV License.

5. The advice I have seen the most is leave the job hunting for when you are here. 

6. You don't have to move your RA / annuities immediately - so I would get here first and settle and then tackle that next - but obviously your circumstances would dictate what you need.

7. Research flight prices - contact Qantas directly to enquire about an emigration allowance whereby you get an additional 10kg per person.

 

There really is so much and I am 100% sure I have left out some steps so check out the 100 steps to emigrating (just search for it on the forum)

 

[Justyna]

10 hours ago, Lili0905 said:

So, we got the great news that our visas have been granted. We are ecstatic with joy and so grateful that we've been afforded this opportunity. The first day after hearing we got our visas, I couldn't stop smiling...and then realisation dawned. What now? What next? The immigration agency that helped us have done their part...but now the rest is up to me, and I have no idea what to arrange first.

Between looking at possible flights, searching for recruitment agencies to send our cv's and googling the terms "blocked rand account" and "mp336" form (apparently I need these to get my annuity and other funds across), I am so confused that I don't know whether I'm coming or going. 

 

Any advice from someone who's gone through this already? What is  most important to arrange next?

 

Congrats @Lili0905 !  Great questions, thanks for asking them!  It's been almost 3 months since we have lodged our 489 visa application and I keep wondering about the same things!   Good luck with everything! 

[Gecko]

Im in the process myself right now.. got our visa's 2 Aug and leaving 11 Dec!!!!

 

This is what I have done so far;

 

1. Got in 4 movers to give quotes.. booked a mover and set a packing date

2. Got in 4 quotes from animal travel agents, booked one and Started the cat process

3. Booked plan tickets (@TamTam -  emigration allowance?? Really?? Oh the joy!! thank you for this!)

4. Told family and friends (good luck with this!)

5. Started selling household items that we will not be taking with. This takes a lot of time.. start asap!

6. Started sorting out our documents (making copies to leave with my mom etc)

 

But ja - I also feel like Im missing something. It feels like I have so much to do and I do.. but none of it can be done right now, only closer to the time. So what else am I missing??

 

[Lili0905]

@Justyna

@Gecko

So glad I'm not the only one worrying about this! Surely someone out there must have some kind of checklist for us rookies?😁😉

Where will you be relocating to Justyna and Gecko? 

[Gecko]

2 minutes ago, Lili0905 said:

@Justyna

@Gecko

So glad I'm not the only one worrying about this! Surely someone out there must have some kind of checklist for us rookies?😁😉

Where will you be relocating to Justyna and Gecko? 

 

We going to New Castle, NSW and yourself?

[Lili0905]

We're looking at Tamworth or Armidale...they seem to be the larger towns in our "allowed area" 😁

[Lili0905]

Thanks @TamTam. I had a look at the 100 point check list, very useful indeed. 

[Justyna]

6 hours ago, Lili0905 said:

@Justyna

@Gecko

So glad I'm not the only one worrying about this! Surely someone out there must have some kind of checklist for us rookies?😁😉

Where will you be relocating to Justyna and Gecko? 

 

We are hoping to move to Hobart, but with only 3 months since we lodged our visa... we have a long way to go I think and I have so many questions (house selling here / house building there / moving money / starting a business / activation visa trip tips etc etc...).

As soon as we get the visa grant, I'll send through a comprehensive list for sure:):):)   

For now, I'm just busy checking our ImmiAccount every morning driving myself crazy... I keep wondering how certain can we be that our visa will be granted...  and this thought stops me from de-cluttering our house for example!   

So fantastic that you are both at the last stage of this process!!!  Are  you shipping everything in a container OR are you selling things and taking only small bits... ?

That's another dilemma I have...

 

[Lili0905]

Just hang in there, @Justyna. It happens when you least expect it. I am sure you have nothing to worry about. We're gonna sell things off and go with only a few things...friends of ours who have already immigrated advised us that this would be better for us. 

 

Good luck! Keeping fingers crossed for you!

 

[Gecko]

We selling quite a bit but also taking with a lot LOL, if that makes sense.. they estimated that we will have about 87% of a 6m container. Most of it is boxes through, not alot of furniture. We worked it out that it will be cheaper to ship stuff over than buy new there as starting up costs there will already be high, so buying all the appliances again will not be helpful. Beds we are buying new there through, so basically for the 1st month and a half, we will have a fridge and beds and thats about it until our container arrives lol good times!!

[Tntaglia]

I don't know if you're familiar with Trello at all (great business tool), but @Mauro created a Trello board for immigration - I'll post what he said below, but you can find the original here: 

We used this extensively in the last 3 months before coming across, and it gave us great details that we would otherwise have missed.

 

Hi,

 

About 2 years ago we started to investigate moving to Australia, but due to various events we have been delayed. However, we are now ready to pick up from where we left off.

 

When we first started, I created a Trello board which we could keep track of all the things that needed to be done. For those of you who don't know Trello is kind of a task tracking/project management tool that is available for free. I have made this board publicly available so that anyone who is looking to make the move to Australia can copy it and hopefully it will make things easier for you.

 

How To Get Started

The first thing is that you need to create a Trello account here. Once you have created an account, click on the following link, which will open up the Australia Immigration Trello Board. I have shared this publicly so anyone can view it. In order to make a copy of the board for yourself, click on the Show Menu link in the top right hand corner. Then click n the Copy Board button and make sure the Keep Cards option is selected. Lastly, click Create, as per the image below.

 



 

Now you have made your own personal copy of the board, you can change and adjust it to suit your needs.

 

How Does The Board Work?
 

As you can see there are a series of columns each labelled with a number of months, Eg. 6 Months. What this means is the tasks in that column need to be completed 6 months before you intend to leave. The board was designed with the time frame of 1 year to move from SA to Australia. However, you are more than welcome to adjust the number of months in the header of each column to what you see fit.

 

One thing to note is that if you are planning on taking pets, the timing is quite important, so you need to make sure you do the items are the time specified on the board.

 



 

You will also notice that all of the cards in the columns have a colour label associated with them. Each colour represents one of the following:

 

• Red - Items that relate to Australia
• Blue - Items that relate to South Africa
• Green - Items that relate to pets

 

So if you are not worried about taking pets to Australia, then you can simply remove all the items with green labels. You will also notice that you can assign cards to people so you can see who needs to handle a particular task.

 



 

Card Details
 

If you select a card, you will be presented with the details of the card.

 




The top highlighted section gives you notes and information as what needs to be done. Sometimes you are required to obtain certain documents, copies etc and these have been added as checklists. This makes it easy to keep track of what you still need.

 

Lastly if the card is complete, you can archive it so it doesn't show on the board anymore. If you ever do want to view the archived cards, you can do so from via the Show Menu button.

 

Why Did I Do This?

 

I created this board to assist my family in moving overseas. It was created from all the information that I have obtained by reading various posts and comments on the forum, so without everyone's contribution this would not have been possible. As such, I thought I should share this with all of you and in doing so paying it forward.

 

Just one thing to note, even though I have tried to make this as accurate as possible, it may not be 100% complete/accurate, so please only take this like a guide. If there is anything that is incorrect, just let me know and I will fix it on the original copy so that going forward it is correct.

 

Lastly, if you have any other comments/suggestions, just let me know.

 

 

 

[TamTam]

6 hours ago, Gecko said:

We selling quite a bit but also taking with a lot LOL, if that makes sense.. they estimated that we will have about 87% of a 6m container. Most of it is boxes through, not alot of furniture. We worked it out that it will be cheaper to ship stuff over than buy new there as starting up costs there will already be high, so buying all the appliances again will not be helpful. Beds we are buying new there through, so basically for the 1st month and a half, we will have a fridge and beds and thats about it until our container arrives lol good times!!

Just remember to get your plugs changed by a licensed electrician. If you change them yourself and there’s an electrical fire your insurance won’t cover you. Moreover if there’s an electrical fire that’s not even caused by the plug but by the appliance itself the insurance will latch onto that as the cause...and then not pay out. 

[Gecko]

5 hours ago, TamTam said:

Just remember to get your plugs changed by a licensed electrician. If you change them yourself and there’s an electrical fire your insurance won’t cover you. Moreover if there’s an electrical fire that’s not even caused by the plug but by the appliance itself the insurance will latch onto that as the cause...and then not pay out. 

 Yup, thank you, Ive heard this before too.. I have warned my husband, he smirked! Im concerned.. and we carry on lol No, I will sort this out, regardless of his smirking

 

Thanks!

[Sunet]

48 minutes ago, Gecko said:

 Yup, thank you, Ive heard this before too.. I have warned my husband, he smirked! Im concerned.. and we carry on lol No, I will sort this out, regardless of his smirking

 

Thanks!

My hubby and I had the same conversation, hiehie!

 

The big pack and load is happening next week! 

 

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at this stage, organizing things, still throwing stuff out.... Never ending story!  

[Gecko]

Shew, next week!! Good luck but oh so exciting at the same time! Remember to keep a sense of humor and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel!

 

[Justyna]

On 8/24/2018 at 1:45 AM, Tntaglia said:

I don't know if you're familiar with Trello at all (great business tool), but @Mauro created a Trello board for immigration - I'll post what he said below, but you can find the original here: 

We used this extensively in the last 3 months before coming across, and it gave us great details that we would otherwise have missed.

 

Thanks @Tntaglia  Thanks @Mauro !  Great idea!!!    Setting up a Trello account will hopefully stop me from visiting our ImmiAccount 100 times a day!!!