While I wait

This waiting game has to undoubtedly be the worst phase in the entire Migration process.

Its been 10 days since my Medicals were sent out - about 7 days since they are supposed to have received it - about 2 days since the RIGHT processing center  "might" have received it - and I am biting my nails!!!!

I have been in and out of various "discussion forums"  such as britishexpats, expat forum, pomsinoz etc.etc....looking for possible answeres/ clues/ outcomes/ timelines etc. etc.


Sadly, there is no certain answer  till i actually get my very own Visa Grant.

They say "Patience is a virtue", and so I patiently "wait"....

While i wait heres  a list of what I am doing in relation to my trip to Oz.

1) Reading up on what to expect on arrival

2) Things to do as soon as I land (www.immi.gov.au has some very helpful books on the topic)

such as tax Number etc.

3) Finding cheap flight options to Oz.

4) Looking at possible job opportunities

5) Reading up on how i can enhance my Resume to meet Australian Lingo.

6) Possible suburbs

7) Last but not least reading up on how to keep my kids entertained :)

"He that can have patience can have what he will. "Benjamin Franklin 

this happens to be my favourite "Patience" quote..... at the moment :)







While I wait - i also happen to be unwittingly thinking of all things Australian :)

Till we meet again :)

PCC and Medicals - Kuwait

Ok so we applied for our visa GSM175 Skilled Independent in May 2012.
As far as we were concerned, we thought we could expect something only towards the end of the year at the earliest. So off we went on a 40 day long vacation. (and a vacation it was....awesome )

Early in the month of August my agent desperately tried to reach me since my Kuwait cell was switched off....lucky for me, i checked my mail that day .....and i was assigned a Case Officer about 5 days ago!!!
I was asked to furnish a few more documents such as Form 80, English requirement proof for my spouse, PCC and Medicals.

The first two were easy enough, I had them prepared and sent  asap - the bummer was I was in India and only a few days were left for us to return back to Kuwait, hence Indian Meds were out of the question. All we needed was a Kuwait PCC- that was not a possibility since we were in India > We would be returning during the LONG Eid Weekend- needless to say no work would be done in Kuwait for another few days. My nerves started playing on me , imagine getting this far and to be helpless.

The reason for my worry was that we were given 28 days to furnish all this.My agent however told me that I was getting nuts over nothing. We made it to Kuwait  right on Day 1 of Eid Break - as soon as Kuwait resumed work, we raced against time to submit everything and sent it all two days later than was asked of us.

Prior to this, my agent had asked our CO for an extension explaining the delay.


So....how did we get the Kuwait PCC?

KUWAITI  PCC

Step 1: Make an appointment with the Australian Embassy in Kuwait. They have fixed days for this, so tell them you need to get the Kuwaiti PCC for Ozzie Immigration.

Step 2: Take your Visa Summary and Request for Information letter with you (sent to you by your CO) and show it to the Consulate. Pay 9KD  per letter for the service (we were 2 of us, so we paid 18KD/-)

Step 3: Try and reach Criminal Evidence Dept. in Dajeej before 11:00am, else they will ask you to come the next day. We had to go the next day.
When you go there , take 2 passport size photographs, the letter from the Ozzie Embassy, Civil ID Copy, and Passport Copy.
They take your fingerprints, your photo again. 5 days later, collect your PCC.


MEDICALS

Step 1:   Talk to the panel doctor approved by the DIAC for Kuwait.
At the moment, the only approved Panel is Dr. Rafat Bseiso in Hadi Clinic.
Ask him about requirements, costs etc. for us, it came upto

Step 2:  Take your original Passport and Passport copies with you and do the following:

 24KD/- per person (consultation and fees of him filling our forms)
15KD/- per person for Xrays (above 18 years)
4KD/- per person for Urine tests (above 5 years)
We were asked to do HIV tests at the Government facility off Cairo Street
5KD/- per person. (above 15 years)
Did all the tests and the doctor sent our results to Ozzie land....
you are not allowed to send it yourself- the envelope has to be sealed and signed by the doctor itself.

Location for HIV Test (Virology Lab) : 

Virology Lab, MOH, Kuwait

Take Route 30 - Take the exit for Cairo Street and keep to your  left till you reach the signal; this turns  to Cairo street. 

Take your  left and go further ahead on Cairo street.

Then take the first right turn which has a board - "Nahda Street" 

You see a roundabout with a Kuwait Towers sculpture in the middle. 

Here take the third exit and then take a right. 

You come to the Kuwait Flour Mills Bread factory and next to it the Virology Lab. 

You have to put a 5 KD/- stamp on the paper given to you by the doctor asking for HIV Test. 

Take the request form and give your blood and come back after three working days. 

Collect the blood reports 

So off went all our results.....

Now, my online Visa status says  everything is met- only the health requirements are outstanding....

So now......we wait....

The IELTS Results

Hey guys!!

The last i wrote , it was about agents and my IELTS attempt...

I failed to give you an update...

My results came out soon enough :

It went something like this....

Listening - 8.5  
Reading - 8.5
Writing - 8.0
Speaking - 7.5


Overall 8.0 - meaning , my English is pretty darn good!!!
ummm...well, i already knew that DIAC did not :)

I was not happy with my speaking results, but i think it was fair since i contradicted myself (rather dumb really) once and I knew then and there it was not a good thing.

Anyways, alls well that ends well and it was enough to give me additional points to get 65 points to apply for the GSM175 Skilled Independant Visa!!!...phew....


So on to the next step....applying for my Visa.

Agents - to use or not to use

SO heres the deal with agents.

Some prefer them some do not.

In our case, we knew absolutely nothing of the process and were far too busy with our careers to bother going through every nook and cranny of the migration process on DIAC's website www.immi.gov.au

All i knew was that i wanted to migrate and permanently live in Australia using my qualifications.

So i did a google search - got a list of websites. Was i sure they were the real thing?

No- how could i be? o

The only way to be sure is to check the MARA website- do a check on the said agent. If his/her name and number is in- by all means go ahead.

But a word of caution - try communicating with your agent - physically on phone or skype.

As you proceed you will find that it is essential that you both are on the same page and both of you understand each other perfectly.

We chose a global migration agent - so far no major complaints - i did have a few but the company or rather my Customer Service Agent did a fine job of sorting it all for me.

But for those of you who would rather do it all yourself and save a lot of money in the process, please do so.

We paid our agent 1200KD for their services.

The cost implication totally is as follows:

Agent Fees: 1200KD

AACA Skills Assesment : 300KD (1000AUD)

IELTS :69KD

Visa Application :1000KD (2960AUD)

This is about it. There will be other fees later during the medical checks PCC etc.

But since i have not yet done them I will leave it for later.

The IELTS

So what's the big deal with the IELTS?

I mean I know English and I really don't need anyone else to tell me whether or not I can communicate and understand the language!!

Anyways, as it goes DIAC won't take my word for it- and gave the IELTS I did.

I could not give it in Jan as earlier suggested- but that's a long story.I ended up giving it in the last week of March.

Do i really need to
prove my English proficiency!

The process itself was easy enough.

First things first :

Please Register.

In Kuwait atleast, there are lots of people appearing for the IELTS- I had to wait about a month after registering for the first available slot.

The IELTS is conducted every second week n Kuwait. 

Having registered online through the British Council, I was given 3 days to make the payment and complete all the registration formalities.

Having done that I decided to take the bull by the horns and took my IELTS preparations quite seriously - its a good thing I did.

Listening is not so much about understanding what is being spoken as it is about concentrating.

(I lost my concentration for about a couple of seconds during the real test itself - and lost 4 answers in the bargain. I guessed the answers and wrote them anyway (there are no negative marks for the wrong answers) - lets see how that goes- assuming i got all four wrong , i should get a 7.5 for listening hummmphh!!!)

Reading for some crazy reason was not my strong point- I read a lot , am an avid reader- but I just could not manage getting more than a 7.5 at all my practice tests. Well we'll soon find out how I actually did the real test!!

Practice, Practice ....

Writing - that was the easy part

Speaking - not bad just don't get nervous.

In all, it is pretty good and not that hard- but there is such a thing like over-confidence.

As and when you do give your IELTS here is my word of advice:

Practice :)

Until next time - Cheers!!