Schools in NZ and Australia

Yes, we have a 175 visa. They've recently changing things a bit so we actually have a 136 visa which is the older version. But the 175 is the new visa and it's the same as ours.

It doesn't take 4 years to get one. For us the whole process took about 7 months all together. The visa processing times are always changing and it could be as fast as 4 months or as long as 12-18 months. It also depends if your occupation is on the MODL (on demand list). My husband is a mining engineer and was on the list so those applications on the MODL get processed faster. So someone on the list could probably expect there application to be completed in about 12 months. From Canada anyway. higher risk countries take longer. All the visas have different processing times. Spouse visa or child visas to people who are already permanent residents or citizens generally go very fast (a few weeks). A skilled visa for a person living in India who does not have a job in demand could take 2 years or possibly longer. So there's a wide range of times.

The other thing you want to keep in mind is when you want to go to Australia. Once you've actually have the visa in your hand you have to validate it within a certain time frame. Generally you have a year to validate your visa, which means you have to ALL make a trip to Australia and have your passport stamped. More specifically you have to validate a year from whenever you had your police checks or medicals done. So if you do either of those things really early in the application process you might end up with only 4 months or 6 months to validate. We had 9 months to validate because we did our police checks a bit early. If you don't validate your visa by visiting Austrlaia then your visa will expire and you'd have to start all over again with a new application.

So. my long winded point it that if you're not looking to make your first trip to Australia for a couple of years then there's no point in applying immediately. Keep in mind though that the system is constantly changing and in 3 or 4 years your job may not be on the SOL (skilled occuplation list) or you may not have enough points. You just never know what will happen. Knowing that you would be approved now though is good so hopefully things don't change too much by the time you apply.

We did the whole visa application ourselves. If your case is pretty straight forward then you probably don't need an agent. I found all the information & help I needed from the immigration website and British Expats website. Before you can apply for a visa though you need to get a positive skills assessment (for whoever is claiming points on the visa). We didn't need any points from me so we just needed my husbands from Engineers Australia. His was incredibly easy and we just needed his degree and resume. Other skills assessment aren't so easy and can be complication for some trades. The skills assessment is usually good for a year so you'll need to apply for the visa before that expires. You can't apply for a visa until you have the positive skills assement.

Onto your question about schools. if you have only a visitors visa then I think you could expect to pay for schooling at ANY school you go to, whether public (state) or private. Although I'm really not sure on this so you'd probably have to look into this if it was your plan. Temp visas are a bit different and some states don't charge for public schools (like Queensland). However New South Wales would charge fees for a temp visa student.

If you come on a permanent resident visa you are entitled to free education at all the public (state) schools across the country. I should point out though that even though a state school is essentially free there may be "fees". For example most schools have uniforms so you'd have to buy uniforms, probably pay for a textbook fee for the year or various other small contributions. Depending on the school those "extras" could add a couple hundred dollars a year or quite a bit more. Still way better than private school in my mind though.

You sound very much like us when we were getting into the process. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. I did all the paperwork for our visa so I should be able to answer any questions you have, or at least point you in the right direction.

The best website I have ever found for help with visa issues or life in Australia is the British Expats webiste. Can't remember if I mentioned it to you or not.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdis ... dcced&f=54

Most of the people there are from the UK but there are still quite a few from all over the world. The forum is very active so you're likely to get the answers you need relatively quickly there (unlike here). I'm on that board all the time and my user name is the same (comet555). There's also another Canadian called "Dorothy" who is really helpful and knows a lot about visas as well. She moved over about 6 months before we did. She shipped all her stuff and we didn't. So between us we could give you advice about either route.

Anyway. I hope that answers your questions. I'm actually in Canada right now visiting my parents in Ontario (near Ottawa). We're headed back to Australia on Sunday though.

Talk to you later.

Haley

Dear Haley,
Can't tell you how nice it is to have someone understand all my questions!I have been searching and searching and it's just so confusing. It's so hard to know what to do with limited information and your advice has been SO helpful.

You mentioned the medical component of the visas.do you know if there are mandatory inoculations? My son has developed severe allergies secondary to his and we are postponing immunizing our youngest until he's older. I can't see anything about that on any of the visa info sites.

How did your family choose an area of the country to move to?

I'm not sure of the specifics but I might be able to find the document that the panel doctors fill out for the immunizations. I don't really remember if that was mentioned or not, but I don't believe that it was required. I seriously doubt there would be any issues though. In your case it either wouldn't matter at all or you might need to bring documentation from your doctor explaining the allergies and why you're holding off. So I'm positive it isn't an issue to worry about.

Because my husband is a mining engineer we basically choose to go where the work is. Perth was all fly in and fly out and we didn't want that. I actually spent a year planning to move to the Hunter Valley in New South Wales because it was the best area for work and to live with access to mining. But when we arrived he got offered two jobs, one in Hunter Valley and one in Brisbane. The Brisbane one was a better job offer plus had lots more for us to do so we took that one.

So for us not much else went into it. I wish we had more options though, although I am happy we ended up in Brisbane.

Hi all,
I have written all the state school boards in Australia and heard back from Western Australia. A really helpful woman there sent me a chart that listed all the visas and if you paid or not. FYI: you don't pay in western for primary at least on a 175.
Thanks!

Thanks, although a 175 visa is a permanent visa so there wouldn't be any fees anywhere in the country unless the kids are going to private school.

A 457 temporary visa is the one that will vary from state to state and possibly the level of school as well. So, I'd double check that one if you can.

Oops.too many visa numbers in my head. You are correct Comet, meant to say 457. Email me if anyone wants the link to the site.can't post it here.

Wow I find all this information Comit so great. i'm planning on moving to australia, late 2009 early 2010, to be with my boyfriend who i met working on a cruise ship. and this information is so helpful becuase i'm not sure which way to go in. i thought about going in under a work visa but i was worried that if we got married and had a child right away it might interfer with my visa but the information you have given everyone is great.you need your own website lol

thanks so much

If you're aged between 18-30 you can easily get a cheap working holiday visa that would allow you to stay and work in Australia for up to 12 months. It's probably the easiest way to get in although you're expected to arrive with a return plane ticket, so you really don't want to arrive at the airport and say you're planning on marrying your Aussie boyfriend because that wouldn't go over too well!

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working ... /index.htm

You might have other options as well depending on your situation.

If while you are in the country you decide to get married then you can apply for a spousal visa.
http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/partner ... /index.htm

Or if you know you are likely to get married then you could apply for a prospective spousal visa while you are still in Canada. That will give you a 9 month window to enter Australia and get married.
http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/partner ... /index.htm

Or, if you've been living together for the last 12 months then you could apply for an offshore defacto spouse visa:
http://www.immi.gov.au/migrants/partner ... /index.htm

Hope that helps. You'll need to read through all the visa options on the immigration website to see what works best for you.

I agree.you should have your own site.you are amazing