Hello from Johannesburg

[Andre S]

Hi All,

I must firstly apologise for not formally introducing myself before posting last week. I skipped the foyer completely out of frustration after hearing the points system was modified to do with English language ablity etc. Thank you for those of you who responded.

We are an extended family consisting of myself, my wife and my senior citizen widowed mother. I am the only living family member she has in South Africa. I also hold a British Passport obtained via naturalisation & birth. We filled out a skilled independent application for permanent residence as a family unit with my mother being a dependent over the age of 18. We simply submitted the required documentation with monthly financial statements going back four years to prove our case as well as a current rates bill and electricity bill in different names for the same property as proof of residence.

As stated previously, my wife and I submitted our complete application including skills assessments on the 24th of April 2007. My skills were assessed by the AACA and my wife's by VETASSESS. On that issue...Neither of the original documents arrived in our post box. I even had to send AACA another AU$50 to re-issue a letter for a positive assessment, and that was after paying around R7 000 for the initial service. Of course, I had to get another bank draft at a cost of about R350 including the minimum bank charges. I was very sour about this and found the AACA attitude quite arrogant. You'd think they would post important documents via recorded mail! The same problem with my wife's letter from VETASSESS. The original never pitched up but by then we were running out of time with my 35th birthday looming. By then we had lost about six months due to "not knowing" outcomes of skills assessments.We arranged for a courier company to pick up a copy of the letter at a cost of about R1 800! Jislaaik! Anyone else battle with their skills assessments? Is it a problem with the SA postal service or is it a scam to get extra income? I know our "Ceta" system is based on the Austrailan model and ours for my profession is in my mind a useless, money-making, counter-productive body designed to lower the bar of entry without really protecting the public as they claim to do.

We couriered the completed application & copies of documents off to Adelaide and simply supplied credit card details. About two or three weeks after delivery, the R11k or so was taken from my credit card account and an E-mail was sent to acknowledge receipt. A letter followed shortly afterwards. So far so good. Now for the long wait...

I am just a bit sorry that I didn't look for SAAustralia sooner. Found this site after looking at SACanada.org as a backup plan for the first time since 2004. I might have picked up some useful information such as who is deemed qualified to certify documents. I had all copies stamped and signed by my local police but subsequently read somewhere on a thread that the Australians may not accept that. We shall see...

Best of luck to those starting the application process. It is nice to know there are others also going through the same schlep!

Kind regards,

André S.

[DesV]

I might have picked up some useful information such as who is deemed qualified to certify documents. I had all copies stamped and signed by my local police but subsequently read somewhere on a thread that the Australians may not accept that. We shall see...

Hi Andre

I had all my documents certified by the SAP and it was accepted by the Aussies, it was a few years back but i am sure its still acceptable.

[Andre S]

Hi Des,

Thanks a million for that. It really is a load off my mind. Also, reassuring to see you also submitted your own application with success. If I had it my way, we too would have left SA years ago. Just didn't have enough money, work experience or 100% buy in from spouse.

André