Gwen

thanks a lot! The school never gave us the letter! Both clubs my kids are in do accept the vouchers! Less $100 for next term! Great....

yes I did! writing killed me (and speaking once)! English is not my first language and I needed seven in each band for my position! I always had 7.5 as a overall band, so this was pretty stupid to do and redo that test! Actually, I worked with a teacher for 10 jours between test 3 and test 4. She explained me how to write "british" test and it worked. And I practice again and again... Got 7.5 at the last writing test! If you think you need 8 to claim points on the visa, maybe you should make sure you don't have enough points with the others parts (age, experience, qualifications...). Maybe an migrant agent could tell you. I remembered our migrant agent told us before we signed any contract with her that I just needed 7 in IELTS and not 8, so she knew while studying our case how many points I already had. Regarding the test itself, it took me a long time because the tests are fully booked in France and you have to wait two months before each session. A friend here in Australia registered to 6 sessions in one month and went to 4 of them until she got the results she expected. A waste of money of course but at least, she managed to get the results she wanted. I am sure you will get there... think about a short private course with an experienced teacher perhaps?

yes this is it! in fact, I registered on SA government website before we left France and I was invited to a welcome session (about visas, studies, help for searching a job....) and there, Skills for All explained what they were doing. They were next door (55 curie street) so I went there and register for the resume workshop (french resumes are very different than aussies ones)... then, I met "my" consultant who helps me to prepare some interviews. They are very busy but helpful. They do not work with all visas types so you need to check with them, but if you are a PR, no worries.

yes it is quite long! I received the remark two weeks before I had my fourth time. So I went anyways as I studied a lot... and got all of the marks above 7... good luck!

hi! just want to share a positive outcome too. I arrived in November and started hunting for jobs at the end of January. Got one yesterday in my field in a great company! I am very happy... Skills for all was a great help for me, I went to their workshops (interview, resumes, pathway to employment) and prepare one interview with my consultant. I wasn't confident at all when I started to look for jobs, mainly because English is not my first language and because I don't have any local experience but I have been lucky to meet people who don't mind about my accent and the fact that I sometimes need to ask to repeat a word or a sentence! I had other interviews with another company but got a faster answer from the first one. So I am happy to go with it! (I am in management) Happy now!!!

you can't combine two tests... which is by the way very stupid. however, if you managed once to have 8.5 in writing, you may asked as said kelbert a remark. I have done it once and got 0.5 extra (speaking). good luck for this awful and expensive exam....

we did wait longer than 3 months. We had to wait until July as Australia was not giving anymore 190 visas for the previous financial year I know it can be frustrated but you will get there!

hi, etch123, that is what we did. Mainly because when we bought the car, we were in melbourne and not yet in SA. So we did not have any address. We asked our SA driving licence last month (we used our international driving license until then, so no VIC license), and they did not ask anything about having a car or not, so I thought we could wait until the rego expires in May.... not sure this is very legal now .

we bought also a car in melbourne and i am quite happy about it. I really think it was cheaper there. We registered the car there at a friend's address.... we are waiting until the rego expires and we will register it in Adelaide.

yes, I am going... hopefully it will help me! just had one interview until now, next step with the same employer on Wednesday morning....

Hello Emma, my daughter Hannah has started Rhythmic Gymnastics at Holdfast Bay, the centre is in Hove and you can find the group on Facebook. That will be 15k away from Grange. I really like the teacher Kara, she seems really professional. I don't know a lot about Rhythmic as my daughter only started in December and went to the holidays sessions. I have discovered yesterday that there is also a team in the Marion Leisure Centre on Oaklands road in Morphetville but I don't know the name. But I am sure you will be able to find some closer facilities. To find my children's gymsports, I went on sa.gymnastics.org.au and made a few phone calls. Sometimes, kids can do a free session or you can go and watch one, so then you can make up your mind.

Greqt video, thanks! Would love to do it once....