Visa granted!!! Exciting / nervous times ahead...

[Guest Caz&Al]

Hi all,

 

Just wanted to share our good news with others who are all in similar boat to us! We had our visa granted on Thursday. Can't believe the day and decision finally came. It was a lot sooner than we expected, as we were told to expect it all to be finalised by the end of 2012 when we first lodged our visa application in Nov 2009. The relief of not having to fill in any more forms or jump any more hoops was there, as well as the nerves and excitement about what lies ahead. We plan to move to Adelaide permanently around June 2013. We are planning on heading over to Adelaide in October this year to validate our visa and try to familiarise ourselves to Adelaide (I'm putting the thought of a 29++ journey with two toddlers at the back of my mind for now!)

 

Bit about ourselves - I (Caroline) work as a clinical psychologist and hope to find work part time. My husband (Allen) works as a train fitter (description - he maintains trains at Manchester Piccadilly station). We've not really seen any jobs with the same job title when we have looked on Aus websites and wondered whether train fitters / maintenance staff have different job titles over there? Any advice would be appreciated. We have 2 children, Joe (2) and Jessica (8months). We are just coping with the 'terrible 2's' and teething baby...exhausting!

 

We would value any advice on how we could make the best use of our time when we visit for 3 weeks in October/November. We look forward to hearing from people

 

Many thanks

[minty]

Great news for you. How long did it take from police and meds uploaded untill you got a dicision. Weve just finished ours and are anxiously waiting.

 

We went on a recce in 2009 and loved Adelaide. Apart from all of the tourist visits look at show houses, areas, and try to contact employers before you go to arange visits. There will be no harm at looking at schools aswell and compere the prices of everything. Some people says things are more expensive except petrol which is far cheaper but i thought it was about the same. Good luck on your recce and congratulations on getting your visa.

[Guest MutleyCrew]

Hi, really pleased to hear you've had your visa granted. We were also told that our application would not be looked at till later in 2012 when we lodged our visa in April last year. We were really shocked to have a CO assigned in February. Unfortunately, we won't have the option of activating the visa and coming back to the UK to finalise things when we receive it due to us being on a 475 temp visa. We have to of lived for at least 2 years and worked for at least 1 year out of the 3 years we are given and can than apply for a permanent visa. Our only way to slow things down by only a few weeks is to delay meds/police checks till April (they need them by mid April). We'd kind of got on with life here not expecting things to happen till later next year!!. We've got a manic few months ahead...Have a great trip over in October.

[Guest Nicky&Andy]

great news on the visa , exciting times ahead

[Guest Caz&Al]

Thank you. We had the medicals on 24th Feb and they were uploaded straight away as we did them on the EH forms. Our police checks came back on the 2nd March and then two days later we had the news it was granted. Very speedy indeed!! I'm with you in being in disbelief!

Thanks for advice. Glad to hear you enjoyed your recce - looks like you may be hearing very soon too! and Good luck

[Guest Guest6899]

Congratulations, exciting times ahead!!

Lisa

[Guest karyn1]

Congratulations, great news!

[Guest t4top]

Thank you. We had the medicals on 24th Feb and they were uploaded straight away as we did them on the EH forms. Our police checks came back on the 2nd March and then two days later we had the news it was granted. Very speedy indeed!! I'm with you in being in disbelief!

Thanks for advice. Glad to hear you enjoyed your recce - looks like you may be hearing very soon too! and Good luck

Congratulations Caroline,

We had our medicals just a day before yours and we are waiting for the Police check to come back. When you said your medicals was uploaded quickly, by who was that because we were told that the forms were being sent by courier to Australia. We also used the EH forms as we appiled online and I checked yesterday but it hasn't ben uploaded yet.

Also, may I ask you some questions and advice regarding your profession. Our daughter is studying for her A/Levels at the moment and she want to study Clinical Psychology or Radiography but is unsure. What are the prospects for jobs in your profession at the moment in the UK and Australia and what do you think the prospects would be in the future. I know it is a difficult question but any advice would be appreciated.

My daughter has asked if she can speak with you as she would appreciate speaking to somebody who is in the field already and ask some questions.

Thank you.

[Guest t4top]

Congratulations, exciting times ahead!!

Lisa

Congratulations to BaggieNurse as well. I am so happy for you for getting your CO as well. I followed your story and was delighted to read that you now have a CO. My wife is also a nurse and she work in ICU in London. We are hoping to go on a reccie in October and then move permanently sometimes next year.

[Guest Caz&Al]

Congratulations Caroline,

We had our medicals just a day before yours and we are waiting for the Police check to come back. When you said your medicals was uploaded quickly, by who was that because we were told that the forms were being sent by courier to Australia. We also used the EH forms as we appiled online and I checked yesterday but it hasn't ben uploaded yet.

Also, may I ask you some questions and advice regarding your profession. Our daughter is studying for her A/Levels at the moment and she want to study Clinical Psychology or Radiography but is unsure. What are the prospects for jobs in your profession at the moment in the UK and Australia and what do you think the prospects would be in the future. I know it is a difficult question but any advice would be appreciated.

My daughter has asked if she can speak with you as she would appreciate speaking to somebody who is in the field already and ask some questions.

Thank you.

Hi t4top!

We had our medicals done in Manchester on St John Street. We were told that the doctor has to be E Health registered to upload them straight away. We haven't used an agent for the visa application and I don't know whether this might speed process up with not using a third party?

 

More than happy to answer any questions your daughter might have - remember, college days well and trying to decide what path to take! Nervous times! I did Psychology as an A'level and loved it. There are lots of other careers in applied psychology out there too so it is a good a'level to take, even if not 100% sure about career in Clin Psychology.

Bad points are that it is quite a long study path over in UK for Clinical Pychology. After A'levels it is usual to complete degree in Psychology and then gain a couple of years experience in mental health, either practical or research based, before applying for one of the Doctorate courses (this is another 3 years of study and placement experiences). There is a bottle neck here as I think there is roughly 274 places nationwide on the doctorate courses with considerably more applicants so it often takes a couple of applications to get on a course. The number of course places dropped last year in the Northwest with NHS cuts.

On a plus side, you are paid as a trainee on the doctorate course (around £20K+). Also, there are other paths that you can take to be a psychological therapist (similar roles in NHS).

Prospects are good over here when you qualify and, without being cheesy, it is a rewarding job. Lots of scope to work with children, families, adults, LD. There is job cuts in NHS, but this isn't specific to psychologists.

In Australia, I understand that training is different in that it is a masters course that is studied, but similar with placements and teaching I think.

Looking at jobs in Australia there seems lots of opportunities and I know a few psychologists that have made the move to Australia and found jobs relatively easily. For the future, I think that there will continue to be changing roles for psychologists (training, consultation, management) but prospects (fingers crossed) will stay good (or that's what I'm telling myself anyway!!). Hope that this helps in some way

 

Lots of luck with your visa and keep me posted on news

Caroline

[elainew]

Well done. Exciting times ahead.....

[elainew]

I would save your money and skip the reccie. Just come to stay. I'm sure you'll get a job

[Kimbo]

Congratulations - wish you all the best

:jiggy:

[Guest Guest6899]

Congratulations to BaggieNurse as well. I am so happy for you for getting your CO as well. I followed your story and was delighted to read that you now have a CO. My wife is also a nurse and she work in ICU in London. We are hoping to go on a reccie in October and then move permanently sometimes next year.

 

Hi, we havent got a CO just got state sponsorship last week. Hopefully application will go to the DIAC Thursday, Iv applied to AHPRA as that seems to be taking forever. We have actually never been to SA as originally planned WA so you may get to see the place before us, lol.

keep intouch Lisa

[Guest t4top]

Thanks very much Caroline. That was very detailed indeed. I have printed your response out for my daughter to read and now she is very enthusiastic about Clinical Psychology. She also love and enjoy the subject as she is doing A/Level Psychology at the moment but your response has given her the encouragement that she needed to consider a career in that field.

I will keep you posted as we get any further news regarding our visa. Once again thank you very much.

[jockoz]

Hi Caz & Al

Congrats on getting the ok. I know some people who work on the railway over here. I will try and get you a contact email of someone who can give you pointers on what Al's job prospects would be.

ps we are going through the terrible two's ourselves lol.

[Guest eager6]

Congrats to you both.Great feeling.

[Guest Angie12]

' CONGRATULATIONS '

Well Done on your fab news and good luck with all the preparations

Enjoy your good news and celebrate

[Guest The Standalofts]

Congratulations on your good news, enjoy your celebrations and good luck with everything.

[Guest Caz&Al]

Congratulations on your good news, enjoy your celebrations and good luck with everything.

Congrats to you too!! And fingers crossed for a speedy house sale - for both of us! Good luck for the adventure ahead

[Guest Caz&Al]

Hi Caz & Al

Congrats on getting the ok. I know some people who work on the railway over here. I will try and get you a contact email of someone who can give you pointers on what Al's job prospects would be.

ps we are going through the terrible two's ourselves lol.

Thank you so much for your email. It was really reassuring and it would be great if you could put us in touch with your friend. We are coming over in October for 3 weeks to activate our visas - wish it was for the "big move" but selling house, etc and settling up here is going to take longer than hoped!

[jockoz]

Hi Caz and Al

Sorry it's been a while until i've got back to you, i've been on rest days at work. I 've been in contact with the Depot Manager of Dry Creek railyards. The company he works for is Bombardier, should be a familiar company to you Al. He said it's a shame you are not over here just now as one of his guys quit last week to go work at the mines. Bombardier recruit through two agencies Rexco and Zancott. You can list your cv with these companies prior to coming out. If i can do anything else to help then let me know.

All the best

Rob