ROBERT AND SALLY ROBERTS
Robert
and Sally Roberts first approached us in September 2004 having been given our
contact details by one of our previously successful clients who was a friend
of theirs. On an initial assessment it was clear to us that Rob would not be
able reach the passmark for Skilled Independent migration, even though as a
skilled roof slater/tiler his occupation was on the government’s Skilled
Occupations List. It was Rob’s age that was against him; at 41, he was
in the upper age bracket (40-44) for skilled migration. However, there was some
good news too as his occupation was in shortage in Victoria and therefore State
government sponsorship was a good possibility.
Rob and Sally decided to go for it and in October 2004 they became our clients. We started working with Rob to put together his skill assessment application. Rob had trained with his employer in the mid 1980’s under the auspices of the National Joint Council for the Building Industry and had continued to work as a roof slater/tiler to the present time. Rob was able to get detailed evidence from his employers to prove his training and skilled work experience and in February 2005 we lodged his skill application with Trades Recognition Australia. On 11th April we received the skill result, which was positive; Rob had been designated as a skilled roof slater/tiler for migration purposes.
The next step in the process was to apply to the Victorian state government for sponsorship. We again had to put together a package of information about the family, which includes Sally and their two children Katie and Alice, together with evidence of Rob’s skills, which we did on 4th May. On 23rd June we got confirmation from Victoria that they were happy to sponsor Rob, Sally and the children under the State/Territory Nominated Independent (STNI). The family was delighted as this meant they could now apply for a permanent visa.
We quickly got the application form out to them and advised them in detail of the supporting documentation necessary and by the middle of August we were able to lodge their visa application for them with the Adelaide Processing Centre. Luckily for Rob and Sally, STNI applications are given priority by the dept of immigration, although in reality this still means a processing time of about 6 to 7 months.
Just over 3 months later we received a processing letter from Adelaide asking the family to undertake the necessary health and character checks. These were the only outstanding requirements as we had sent a very comprehensive package of evidence with the visa application, which clearly the dept of immigration case officer was happy with.
The family’s medical checks went well and the results of these and the UK police checks were soon on their way to Adelaide.
Within 2 weeks, on 11th February, we got an email from the Adelaide case officer
to confirm that visas had been granted to Rob, Sally and the girls. We rang
them with the great news and they were both stunned and excited. Luckily Rob
was not up a ladder at the time so he was not in danger of falling off the
roof!
Sally said a few days later that she still felt numb and that it really hadn’t quite sunk in yet that they’d been given the chance of a new life in Australia. They are now making arrangement for their belongings to be shipped over and are all looking forward to settling down in Mornington in the very near future.
Rob and Sally had the following to say about our company: -
We have been very pleased with the service you have given. We would never have got our visas if it wasn't for your help, support and advice.
We felt that you were always there when we needed help with any problems or questions we had and always responded very quickly to e-mails and telephone calls.
When we were worried we would not get through the next stage of the process you were always very supportive and reassuring.
We have been so pleased that we have recommended you to our friends who are now registered with you.
If we were to give marks out of 10 - it would definitely be 10!!!
MARIE AND PAUL JONES FROM LIVERPOOL
Marie and her husband Paul contacted us in January 2004, after we were recommended to them by a friend, for who we had also obtained a visa. Marie and Paul had just returned from a trip to Melbourne to visit Paul’s sister and it was during this trip that they had decided that they wanted to leave Liverpool and start a new life in Australia. They decided to take the plunge and begin the process with us in February 2004 when they became our clients.
Marie
was 43 years old and had been a hairdresser for some 25 years, however she
did not have any formal City & Guilds or NVQ trade qualifications. Even
though Marie had owned her own salon since 1980, this was of particular concern
to Marie however we were confident that as she had such extensive work experience
as a hairdresser, that we would be able to get here through Australian Trade
Skills Assessment process. This assessment process is the critical first stage
for UK trained tradesmen and women and we believe that it is probably the
most important part of the process as if this part fails, then you can’t
apply for a visa.
The pass mark in January 2004 was 115 for the Skilled Independent visa class and 110 for the Skilled Australian Sponsored visa class. We assessed that Marie was able to achieve the Skilled Independent pass mark of 115 even though she also had a sister-in-law in Australia who could sponsor their application.
On 1 April 2004, the Australian Government announced that they were increasing the Skilled Independent pass mark to 120 points on 14 April 2004. This meant that Marie would now have to apply with sponsorship from her sister-in-law in Australia. This was a slight ‘blip’ but at least Marie was still on track!
We had already begun working with Marie to put her skills application together and given that she had undertaken her hairdressing training on-the-job, she had to obtain very detailed statements from the salon with whom she had trained back in 1977 together with evidence of having run her own hairdressing salons over the last 24 years. It took about 3 months to gather all of the documentation and the complete package was sent off to TRA at the end of June 2004.
TRA applications were taking around 4-5 months to process at that time and we eventually received the decision on Marie’s assessment on 1 November 2004. The decision we received from the TRA was not what we expected and Marie’s assessment had actually failed!! We understand that this decision was received during a period when the TRA were under pressure to expedite and process more applications in a shorter time frame. We were obviously disappointed and we then decided to put together a second package to submit to the TRA, which we did in January 2005.
We were understandably anxious whilst we waited for the result to come through and it did on 14 March 2005. To our great delight Marie’s skills assessment was successful and we contacted her immediately with the great news!! Marie and Paul were over the moon and their plans were now seriously back on track!! This meant that we could now get on with lodging their migration application.
There had also been another change to the points test criteria in September 2004 in that occupations on the Migration Occupation in Demand List (MODL) were now awarded 15 points. This was more good news for Marie, which meant she could in fact score the required 120 points and apply under the Skilled Independent visa class rather than involve her sister-in-law to obtain sponsorship etc.
It took another 6 weeks to put the migration application together in readiness for submitting to the Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre (ASPC), which we did at the end of April 2005. The average processing time for applications at that time was around 6-9 months as hairdressers wereandstill are included on the MODL. We anticipated that the request for Marie and Paul to have medicals and police checks would come in August 2005. We received the request as predicted in August and Marie and Paul quickly arranged these with the panel doctor in Liverpool. The examinations went well and the results were sent off to the Dept of Immigration in September. There was a slightly anxious moment with a missing x-ray film which the Health Dept had mislaid but this was very quickly resolved after we sent a couple of emails. Panic over, and we then sent Marie and Paul’s police checks to the ASPC at the beginning of October 2005, which basically completed all of their requirements.
After a couple of weeks waiting for the decision, we received the fabulous news that their visas had been granted on 1 November 2005. We telephoned Marie and Paul to give them the good news and there was much screaming, laughing and tears of emotion, on hearing our news!!
The visa application process had taken exactly 6 months from start to finish and we believe that this was due to our expertise in putting together a complete and comprehensive application, which satisfied Marie and Paul’s case officer at the ASPC.
Marie and Paul are now making plans to move to Victoria in Spring 2006. Marie has already sold her hairdressing salon and they have found a buyer for their house so its all systems go! They know it will be very hard to leave their family and friends behind in Liverpool but they are sure that their future is in Australia and they are going to give it their best shot!!
In an amazing coincidence, about half way through the process of applying for their visas, Marie and Paul told us about a couple that Paul’s sister had met near her home in Melbourne. The couple were new to the area and had recently gained their residency visas for Australia. When they got talking about how they had got to Australia and whether they had used an agent etc. it transpired that they too had been our clients and they had obtained their visas with our help too. What a very small it is!
WHAT PAUL AND MARIE SAID ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE WITH AUSTRALIAN MIGRATION ASSOCIATES LTD:-
‘From the first time we spoke to Sheila and Shirley, we were absolutely sure that they both knew their jobs and we felt certain that they would be the best agents to work for us. We were right in our judgement in that Sheila and Shirley went to great lengths in providing me with all of the information I needed to prove that I was a skilled hairdresser and had ran my own successful business for the last 25 years.
Whilst there were ups and downs during the process of having my trade skills assessed by the TRA, Sheila and Shirley were always positive which kept our dream of emigrating alive! They were always at hand to give us updates of how our application was progressing and their reassurance was always greatly appreciated.
These are just a few of the reasons why we would strongly recommend anyone who is thinking of migrating to Australia to contact Sheila and Shirley as they really are top of the range agents! We know for sure that we couldn’t have done this without them and wouldn’t have had the chance of a new life in Australia. As a result of our contact with Sheila and Shirley at Australian Migration Associates Ltd our future is certainly going to be rosier and we will never be able to thank them enough!’
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