Am I too old?????????

[Guest Burny]

Hi all.

I am new to this site, my name is Steve and my family and I wish to migrate to Adelaide.

I am 47, my wife is 45 and we have a 12 year old son. I know I am too old to enter via a general skilled migrants visa, but have I left it to late to migrate to Oz.

I am a very well qualified NDT engineer with 16 years experience in the shipbuilding and repair industry.

Can anybody give me any pointers as we are are desperate to come and live down under. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Steve and family

[Guest sandar1]

I definately don't feel that you are too old to immigrate, the only advice that I would give to you is to try to obtain work for one of you at least before you do come, I moved back here at about the same age and did find it difficult to find work because of my age. Bought myself a job.

 

I am considering relocating to Central America at the moment and have lived overseas in many different countries so obviously I don't have issues with immigrating at the age of 47.

 

I'm sure you will love it here.

 

All the best.

[Diane]

You'd be best off speaking to a migration agent as for most visa types you are probably too old - if you can find a company to sponsor you though you may be in luck. Speak to an agent, find out your options - most will give a free first session

[Guest mantis88]

It depends on your qualification level!

I move here last Dec. and was 48! If your skill is on the skills list, you can prove collage study time as well as on site time and you can get a company to sponser you it's easier than the normal way!

You need proof of everything and the classroom time is vital!

If you need any more info drop me a line!

Dave

[Guest Ste_n_Vic]

Hi there, are you definately set on Australia, because if you're flexible, I believe the age limit for New zealand is 50, so you wouldn't have a problem emigrating over there, plus I may be wrong about this, but I think once you have been in NZ for a certain no of years you can move to Aus anyway. I would definately ask an agent though as they would know more about it. Hope this helps. Good luck whatever you do.

 

vic

[Guest harper210267]

We are having our first meeting with an agent in a couple of weeks.

I am 42 and my husband is 44 and we are going for skilled state sponsorship visa.

I hope we will be ok?

We can't wait and are going for it anyway and I think you'll be ok, if you want it bad enough, you'll get there.

[Guest sandar1]

Try to call Ian Harrop he and his wife are immigration specialists based in Britain, not sure what their company is called but I have seen his name posted on this site by others, and I can personally vouch for him, you wouldn't find a more honest and decent guy, they were posted overseas with myself and husband with the embassy several years ago, you should seek some professional advice I think, because for me personally to sort out a green card the time frame was huge nearly 8 years in the end, which would really be dragging it out. I know that was for the US, but even still immigration issues can be lengthy and if you are very close to the age limit, you need to know the best and fastest way to get it sorted.

 

Maybe if anyone else on the thread has used Ian they can vouch for him, but I know I have seen his name on this site, and it has only been used very positively.

 

All the best, hope we do get to see you over here.

 

Sandra D

[Guest harper210267]

That's who we are going to see on 1st May.

A guy my husband used to work with put his name forward, as he helped them to get over and has highly recommended him, which is good.

Did you have a long wait?

How old were you when you applied?

My hubby has an MBA in business and other qualifications and I currently work in education. Unfortunatley I gave up my degree when we relocated to Essex about 20 months ago.

[Guest Burny]

Thanks to all you guys who replied. If anyone knows how I could contact Ian Harrop and his wife it would be very much appreciated. We are looking to get the ball rolling asap.

Cheers for now Steve and family.

[Guest harper210267]

Hi Steve, if you go on the web site...just put in Ian Harrop Ass and you'll be directed.

He's really nice and we will be ther with him on 1st May. Was supposed to go next week but due to work committments, we had to re-arrange.

Have you tole any of your family yet?

We haven't the kids are on Top Secret Alert until we have a confirmation of visa, just in case.

Let me knwo how you get on.

[Guest sandar1]

Okay have just found the link for Ian Harrop. ian@ianharrop.co.uk

 

Hope this helps.

 

For the poster who asked how long it took for me to come here, I immigrated as a child of 4, my family spent the first year on a revolting hostel, and I still to this day get physically sick when I go to the immigration museum and enter the room that they have set up there which was an example of where we lived. We were among the first families placed in Elizabeth (I honestly have believed for many years that as immigrants it was so that we didn't mix with the locals, and recently speaking to someone they said that they also believed that this was the reasoning at the time). Elizabeth at that time was an amazing place to live very pioneerish, no shops nearby, we used to go to Gawler to shop along a rotten road, and most of the roads had not been built out there, so a good long treck of over 45 minutes on mud roads for Mum to go to work at Holdens down off the Port Road, the new Holdens not existing for quite a while. Boy though as a teenager the music scene out there was just amazing, with many bands starting up out there. We all took off back to England to do our overseas experience with the rellies when we reached our early teens and twenties. I lived here for many years, then moved overseas to Britain, India and then the US, and returned here about 5 years ago, so having been relocated all around the world have probably experienced just about every situation any of you have or will go through. Even for me returning after over 20 years abroad, but visiting back here for 6 weeks at a time every year, I had retained friends from school, work etcetera, and obviously had family here. However, it is very different when you are only here on holidays as opposed to actually being here full on. It still took a lot of settling in, and could be very lonely at times.

 

As I have mentioned before my partner and I go to the Rob Roy for half price pizza night on Tuesdays and have had quite a few people new to this country catch up with us there, if any of you every want to join us let me know.

 

Good luck with your visa application, and you can ask Ian any question, its better to do that and be honest with the process and it will ease your mind also, its a HUGE decision moving to another country especially when you have kids, but it is a wonderful experience if it all falls into place, and one that all of you can gain from when it works out.

[Guest harper210267]

Thank you.

My name is Lisa.

Sounds terribel what you had to go through, yet you still go back and enjoy the palce very much and speak of it with a fondness in your heart.

We will draw up a list fro Ian Harrop, when we visit and hopefully we will meet up one day and have pizza at Rob Roy with you one day.

Getting even more impatient as I discuss it more with people on here but I will try to conatcin myself...

Take care.x

[Guest Vonne9]

Hi Steve, Have a look at Dept of Immigration sitehttp://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/booklets.htm

it is free and you can download booklets which give you all the info you require click on apps & forms, then go to - info forms and booklets - you can download the booklet/s that suit your skills catg. i.e. booklet 6 - General Skills; under section headed Age it states " you must be under 45 when you apply" . When we visited the Dept of Imm a consultant said to us " if you can read English and fill in a form why would you use a consultant they do not get an priority treatment from us why pay all that money?.

[Hayshake]

Ian was a neighbour of mine in Lechlade Glos. I am not sure what his company is called, but he is based in Burford, Oxfordshire.

 

As folks have said, he is a very nice guy, Australian, and knows his stuff.

[Guest sandar1]

I'm not suggesting that it is imperative to use an immigration expert, just offering advice as we went down the road of doing it ourselves when we were getting green cards in the US, 6 and a half years later and still getting nowhere we contacted a british lawyer who had also found the process a pain in the neck and decided to train in that field, she was fantastic and we got our legal status within weeks and then our green cards about one and a half years later. If you are running out of time regards age you really don't want to be messing around and fumbling in the dark, if it is just a question of what the age restrictions are and the best route to get here asap I am sure the advice would not cost much and would be worth it in the long run. You can then continue on with the rest of the process on your own.

 

Good luck, and once again once you have found out any information if you can post it on here I'm sure several people will be extremely grateful.

 

 

Sandra

[catherine.c]

Hi Steve

I was 47 when I applied for a 457 visa (temporary sponsored). After working here for 3 months I applied for, and got (at age of 48) a permanent 857 (Regional Sponsored Migration) visa. My sponsor had to write to say that they could not find anyone in the local market to fill this position. I believe that at the age of 50 it gets slightly more difficult in that they have to say that they cannot fill the position from the local market or statewide / internationally and then at 55 it becomes harder still as they have to prove that a younger person would not be able to fill the role at all (such as professor).

I am a nurse and I know that this is a skill in demand but hopefully yours is too.

Alternatively, as your wife is 45, could she fill any visa criteria? Remember it is the age that you are when you apply not the age you are when the application is looked at / granted.

Anyway just wanted to let you know that it is possible and best of luck to you.

Catherine

[Guest WoodMartin]

I also can vouch for Ian Harrop - very helpful. In fact everyone in the company was more than helpful whenever we needed any help or advice.

 

www.ianharrop.co.uk or ian@ianharrop.co.uk

[Lea]

Hi Steve

 

My OH has just completed his Mag Particle training to Level 2 with the company he works for and is in the process of training for fluorescent penetrant to the same level. Until very recently British Aerospace at Edinburgh were looking for at least Level 2 technician to run and write procedures in a recently set up FPI facility. Cathy Riach is the HR Manager at British Aerospace, could be worth checking on their website http://www.baesystemscareers.com.au/search.htm . Also check out ASC which is based in the North West of Adelaide, they are currently doing a lot of work for defence shipbuilding contracts. http://www.asc.com.au/aspx/home.aspx

 

Hope this helps

 

Lea.