The Lambs Story:

This is therapy for me as I'm in application limbo and need to have a moan.  It's the not knowing
thats worse and our case is different in that we have applied for the contributory parents visa.  
We're over 45 you see.
We hear a lot about people going out on skills visas and having a work life to look forward to but we
don't seem to hear much about people in our position and I hope though contacting you we may do
so.
For anyone who doesn't know what the contributory parents visa is, it's one for parents who are
willing to pay their way into the Australian health system. It's not cheap but there are far more places
available and it's a quicker route than the parents visa which can take about 10years.
Our only son has lived in Adelaide for over 2yrs now and as soon as he was able he sponsored us
to go. We put our 1st application in on 1/5/06 and then found, instead of it going through in about 6
month from getting a case worker, that they had a backlog of applications putting them behind by 9
month. This means all being well we should get our case worker in February and then get our visa
by August 07.
 Meantime we sit and stew.  I'm always on the internet researching houses.  We visited our son
twice and Oz feels right for us too. We are both in our mid fifties though not ready to retire and hope
to get some work if only part-time, I think work helps you integrate. I'm in teaching and craft therapy
and my husband is in electro plating, though  we don't expect to walk into the same jobs at our age.  
It may even be good to do something new if we get the chance. The job side is something I haven't
looked into yet.
We're lucky that we won't need a mortgage but it's still a big decision to start again and we need to
get on with it before we get too old to want to.  This whole process has made us feel old.

If anyone out there is in a similar situation let us know please

Regards

Judith Lamb