Testing our patience along the way...

Getting permanent residency in one of the best (according to us) countries in the world shouldn't be easy. If we're going to move somewhere it needs to be somewhere that doesn't open every port and airport to the world and says 'come on in, enjoy our country' (sense our frustration with London?).

However, the process so far has been more stressful than we thought it would be and has certainly tested our determination to move to Australia!

Skills Assessment

This was a reasonably easy part and happened in quite a straight forward way. It was a matter of completing an application form, sending off proof of qualifications and a copy of Becks' CV. After a month or so (I forget how long) we heard back saying that Becks had passed the Skills Assessment. Easy peesy.

Getting State Nomination

This is where it got a little trickier...

We applied for state nomination for SA. This involved submitted Becks' CV again, a copy of the Skills Assessment and a questionnaire like form all about how, when, where and why we wanted to live in South Australia.

On one of the forms we completed it asked us how much we would be taking with us, in our currency and AUS$. We were totally honest and put that it would be about £5,000 (we don't have a house to sell!) which works out at approximately $11,000.

A couple of months later we were told by our migration agent that we had been declined sponsorship on the grounds of not having sufficient funds.

Rather than explain it, here is the text from the email our migration agent sent us:

1st email: "I have just heard back from South Australia. Unfortunately your application has been refused on the basis that you had insufficient funds to sustain yourself (and your family) while you re-locate and find suitable employment.

They wrote: "As a guide to the cost of living in SA, DIMIA recommend that a family of three require AUD 930 per week for the first two years of settlement. The cost of living in South Australia while, lower than some other States, You should also be aware that you will not be entitled to Social Security benefits until you have permanently resided in Australia for two years. If she can provide Immigration SA with evidence of funds (banks statements, evidence of ownership of property with evaluation of the property....) we will be happy to reconsider her Sponsorship Application in light of this new information."

So, basically we need more evidence of funds from you. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but hopefully we can get some more evidence together and be on the move again."

2nd email (after a few questions!)

"Unfortunately South Australia (and Australia in general) have become a lot stricter with migration recently. While you are certainly employable, they are just wanting to make sure that you are able to support yourself in the unlikely event that you are unable to find work (as you will not have access to public funds). The evidence required would be in the form of bank statements showing more money in both your and Dan's accounts and/or if either of you own property or cars or other assets they would need to be valued and a report/evaluation could be shown as evidence.

You would need to show at least £25,000 between the two of you (going by DIMIA's guide)."

So we looked into all of our options and the long and short of it is that we 'aquired' £20,000 which is now sitting in our bank account. We reapplied and were successful. Our agent reckoned that if we'd have put £25,000 on the form in the first place they probably wouldn't have checked, but they were obviously concerned with the low amount so delved further.

The main application

So the good news came through that we had been sponsored! Hurray!

Now it was time to put together our main application. This involved the biggest amount of paper work yet and consisted of several forms to complete, certificates of Dans qualifications (to prove he can speak English!), other bits and bobs and proof that we are in a defacto relationship!

Our favourite part of the process so far has been putting together a file of proof that we are in a genuine relationship. The guidance is along the lines of having to have been living together for 12 months or more, but due to our haphazard travelling around Australia and Thailand, followed by rentals in London, this took a lot of proving!

The application was sent by Courier to Australia on 27th June 2006, with an aim to make it before the forms and fee change on the 1st July.

After they received the forms it takes about a month for them to acknowledge receipt of them. After a month had passed we chased up our migration agent only to discover that there is a chance that the forms didn't make it in time. This will mean resubmitting using different forms, and paying the (only slightly) higher fee. Another annoying obstacle, which will delay us by a couple of months!

Arghhhhh...