visa process

Our visa adventure!

Yes, we can now sit back and laugh at all the ups and downs of the visa process, it's easy for us now
to say be patient, everything will work out fine, but when you're the one going through it sometimes it
doesn't feel fine and sometimes you just can't be patient any more. Hopefully our tale will alleviate
some of your concerns by showing you you're not on your own, what's happening is normal and it will
all be OK in the end.

Our journey began on 22nd August 2005, we had a week off work and had no money to do anything
and the weather was rubbish. We had just finished renovating our house and it was lovely but we
still weren't content. The idea of moving to Australia had reared its head again and we took the
plunge on that col and gray morning and rang Julia at Migrate Australia. She was a really lovely
lady, very friendly and easy to chat to, she told us all about the process we would have to go
through and asked us lots of questions to make sure we were eligible. Afterwards she sent through
a quote for her services and left it up to us, that was us off and running!
The total price for using an agent including all DIMIA charges was $6015 which was approximately
£2526.00. This price does not include medicals, police clearances and psychiatrist charges for
when you completely loose the plot later in the process (only kidding!).

The first step was to get all our general stuff over to Julia, some we faxed and some we mailed, I
thought it would be relatively easy getting all the documentation but some things such as course
modules from a University you went to a few years ago were difficult to come by, this in itself took 6
weeks to come through, bless them! Didn't they know we were making the biggest move of our lives
and needed the stuff yesterday!!!

By the 27th September 2005 the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) had received my
application to have a skill assessment completed as we were applying for a permanent residency
visa based on my nursing qualifications.
Now we had to wait, however it wasn't too long, by the 5th October we had passed the skill
assessment, yippee! It was such a relief, there's a lot riding on it, and you feel quite responsible
that your families future rides on whether you can do your job well enough, but thankfully that was
the first stage complete.

Whilst the skill assessment was being completed I decided to get a step ahead of the game and
complete the main visa application, which was a gamble as it was a lot of work to complete and there
were no guarantees I'd have passed the skill assessment, still off I went in my little world and
completed it. However, when I went to the post office to send it they just said to get a signature on
receipt of the parcel and nothing further, this was a massive mistake!!! After passing the skill
assessment I emailed Julia to see if she had received the parcel and she said she hadn't, the
problem here was I'd sent it 2 weeks earlier! By now my blood pressure was through the roof and I
was hyper-ventilating! Finally, after 3 weeks it arrived, if you don't learn anything else on this
website please take on board the importance of sending a parcel securely, it is worth the extra cost,
trust me!
On 13th October 2005 our application was finally submitted to DIMIA and now we wait, and wait, and
wait......
We were told that we would be given a file number and this would take between 2 and 6 weeks, for
us it took 13 days and on 26th October we were officially registered.
We went for the medicals on 9th November, they hadn't been requested but we knew they would be
relatively soon, so we gambled yet again and got them done. For more information on the medicals
please click on the link.
We had to be careful not to go for the medicals too soon because they are only valid for a year, and
if for some reason our application was delayed then when the 12 months was up we would have had
to have them again, which is more stress and another £500!!!
We then applied for the police clearances, this was relatively painful, we contacted our local office
who put us in touch with the right department, they then sen tout the forms, we completed them and
sent them back, i thin kit took about 6 weeks to get them through and they cost £10 each. We then
forwarded them to Julia and now everything had been submitted.
Waiting was extremely hard, with everyone asking "have you heard anything yet" on a daily basis!
By the end of January we were excited as originally we'd been told February, however at that time
we were informed that DIMIA were well behind and it may now be March before we hear anything.
This may not sound much of a delay, but trust me, when you're the person living the waiting game
it's an eternity!
Our case officer was finally allocated on February 20th at which time we were told it could be a few
more weeks yet and so we continued to wait.

Then on 15th March I returned to work after a few days off to be told that the Australian High
Commission in London had called to verify my status etc. This was slightly alarming because I know
some people don't tell work until the visa's come through, but I had been honest with mine from the
start as I felt in only fair, I contacted my agent who too was slightly concerned by this as they are
normally extremely discreet, however the person calling had come through on a general enquiries
line, left a message with a Tele-sales worker who fortunately was extremely professional and
discreet about it and then they called my manager to discuss it with him. Due to this fact I would say
to tell your employers (if you think it is possible without jeopardising your career) as I think it would
be worse if they found out through someone else.

However as a plus point, the fact that they called meant our application was being looked at
yippee!!!!
I
It was now mid march and there were emigration expo's on around England and our agent was away
for 3 weeks, obviously if our visa had come through she would still have contacted us, however it
was a long 3 weeks and we were praying that when she returned we'd have some news.
Unfortunately the news wasn't the best, we were then told that DIMIA were behind by 6 - 8 weeks,
however it was now mid April and that delay only took us to the end of April so hopefully not long to
go?!?!

On 20th April, Julia emailed our case officer on our behalf, but it then took 8 days for her to reply, it
was a pretty standard reply however Julia contacted her again stating references in our case
officers original letter regarding time scales, this was all done very gently and now we had to wait.

During all this we had the dilemma of selling our house which you can read about on the 'about us'
page. Now we were finally moving but then we realised it would make our personal details incorrect
on our application, so we had to complete a notification of change and send it though to Julia. This
may not seem to have been much to do but it completely sent me 'over the edge!' As far as I was
concerned I'd had enough, we were now living in a caravan, our home was owned by someone else
and we still didn't have a visa, we were trying to make everything normal for Josh but it was getting
harder by the minute.
Finally on 8th May 2006 exactly 8 months and 16 days from our first phone call we were permanent
residents! Yeah!!!!
This may not have seemed a long time and looking back it was all very quick but at the time it felt
like a lifetime.
The way we found out was just so exciting, I'd gone to work on a Monday morning completely
depressed, I'd checked our email's first things as I had done every day for the last 8 months and
there was nothing. At lunch my mobile rang and when I answered it there was a delay and I thought
it was a foreign Tele-sales service trying to get me to buy something and I very nearly hung up!!!!
(Can you have imagined that!). Anyway a voice then said "is that Karen, Karen Atkinson?" "Yes" I
said, but then the realisation hit me that the voice I was listening to had an Australian accent, she
said "it's Julia here".....