# Skilled Migration Visa (189) granted 13th April



## dmcraddock (Apr 13, 2013)

We started the process in July 2012. I had previously (ten years ago) applied for, and been granted, a skilled independent visa...which eventually I didn't use...I know!! 
Anyway I thought I knew the process...skill assessment with the ACS, then submit the application and do the health and police checks...simple! I even still had all my documentation together from last time, how difficult could this be I thought?

*Skills Assessment*
So after reading the ACS website, I realised their conditions had tightened up considerably, and they wanted not just an employer reference but now a full job description and breakdown of the activities performed. My first employer (whom I left eight years previously) refused to provide me with this, and would only give the standard letter confirming my dates of employment, and to confirm that I worked there! It wasn't personal but that was their policy. Fortunately my subsequent employer was very accommodating and confirmed all the details required. As I have been self employed for the past two years I also had to go through a whole new set of hoops..statutory declarations, letters from accountants, clients etc. This took a couple of months in total as I was also negotiating a new contract at the same time. I eventually had all my documents together, certified and ready for submission to the ACS in October, which I did. It took about a month for a decision, suitable, however they had discounted my first job, which they had assessed ten years earlier, and also my self employment stating not enough information provided. So it was only my second employment (of six years) that stood. Weighing it all up I decided not to contest it but accepted it as I had enough points (10) to get me to the required 60....providing I got an IELTS band 8!!

*IELTS*
So just prior to this, I'd had a big shock when I realised that I would have to undertake an English test, the dreaded IELTS exam!!, and achieve a superior score. Being a native Englishman, and degree educated, I had presumed I could naturally claim superior English, and with it the crucial twenty points! So, realising that I needed to actually sit the exam, I had to get focused and begin studying, and practising essays!! It had been years since i had written an essay and, although i can write good emails at work, i don't write elsewhere. So after many practise essays I sat my IELTS on Dec 8th. I got an 8 overall but not across the board as i messed up the reading by only getting a 7....gutted doesn't describe it. Having to redo all my efforts again to write essays, and continue studying was really frustrating. It's also annoying that you have to wait months for the next available test. Due to Christmas holidays, the soonest I could book was Feb 2nd. Fortunately this time I was more prepared and aced it, getting 9's across the board. Having sat two separate tests, in my honest opinion, the second was much easier. My advice to anyone sitting the IELTS is to prepare well, understand ALL the different types of question, and focus on WHAT exactly they are wanting in the answer. That said,bit really does come down to some good luck on the day!

*Expression of Interest - 16th Feb*
So it was mid Feb that I had my IELTS certificate, and my skills assessment, and we were ready to now submit the EOI! We submitted our EOI on Saturday 16th Feb, and surprisingly got invited to lodge an application the very next day! Our agent told us that DIAC do a sweep every two weeks, and we had submitted ours the day before...for info my nominated occupation is Developer Programmer 261312.

*Lodgement of application - 20th March*
After being invited to apply we then discovered that we needed to translate our wedding certificate from Italian into English, as well as my wife's birth certificate....more delays but eventually after a few weeks our agent was able to submit the application on 20th March.

*Health and Police checks*
We decided to go ahead and arrange our medicals and police checks before being requested to do so by DIAC. Our agent advised we should wait but we'd read that some people had done similar things and been processed immediately when the CO is assigned. So we went ahead and undertook our medicals, and police checks...all ok, and there was nothing left but to sit back and wait...for how long we didn't know.

*Visa granted - 13th April*
In the meantime we'd decided to book a trip to Australia (depart 14th April) to check out Melbourne, and get a feel for the place. We'd arranged tourist visas but by amazing luck on 13th April I received an email*from Skillselect informing me that my EOI had been removed, and that possible reasons could be that our visa has been either granted or refused, and since we thought we'd done everything correctly then we hoped it was, or rather would be, visa granted. We eventually got confirmation of this after logging into DIAC's online application tool, which was a challenge in itself, and we were able to see the status 'granted' however system errors prevented us from viewing the grant letter, meaning we didn't know what the proper next steps should be, which was frustrating given that we were flying to Australia the following morning on a tourist visa. When I applied last time (ten years ago) I had to send away my passport to get a printed visa in it before travelling...this time (we discovered) you just have to turn up as everything is now electronic!
So we arrived in Melbourne on Monday 15th, to discover that we are now permanent residents!!! Funnily enough we were actually stood in the immigration queue at Melbourne airport when I received the grant letter (via email) from our agents. This confirmed that all we needed to do was enter Australia...that must be a record for speed of entering the country after receiving the grant letter!! The immigration officer just nonchalantly stamped us through passport control in seconds, and waived us on our way...that was it!! I had to stop and ask them to confirm that everything was ok! And that's it! We are now permanent residents...albeit on holiday but nonetheless it's a great feeling!
Now we have a truck load of other worries to contend with (re: moving etc) but the most important part is now sorted!
Sorry this is long winded but this was our experience, and I've tried to tell it as it was. If anyone in Melbourne fancies a beer please give me a shout? I need one.
Cheers


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## tenten (Aug 12, 2012)

dmcraddock said:


> We started the process in July 2012. I had previously (ten years ago) applied for, and been granted, a skilled independent visa...which eventually I didn't use...I know!!
> Anyway I thought I knew the process...skill assessment with the ACS, then submit the application and do the health and police checks...simple! I even still had all my documentation together from last time, how difficult could this be I thought?
> 
> *Skills Assessment*
> ...


Congratulations.


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## superm (Jul 1, 2012)

Congrats man!


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## charlie72 (May 18, 2010)

dmcraddock said:


> We started the process in July 2012. I had previously (ten years ago) applied for, and been granted, a skilled independent visa...which eventually I didn't use...I know!!
> Anyway I thought I knew the process...skill assessment with the ACS, then submit the application and do the health and police checks...simple! I even still had all my documentation together from last time, how difficult could this be I thought?
> 
> *Skills Assessment*
> ...



Very good. The part about Ielts, I could of written that myself. I ended up going all over the country to get Ielts tests Dublin, Belfast, Wrexham and Banger. Needless to say i did it 5 times. Get a 9 in writing in one exam only to get a 7 in the next. Same with others apart from Listening. I struggled at 7.5 four times on the trout. Finally i got 9 in listening and 8s in the rest.

if i get granted and head to Melbourne, yes I'll take you up on that offer of a beer and maybe another one. Six months work of revision :clap2:


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## toadsurfer (Nov 27, 2009)

The Ielts test has got to be a flawed test if native speakers are having to take it multiple times to pass! Have mine in 2 weeks and am nervous now! What did you use to study? Just free tests online?


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## charlie72 (May 18, 2010)

toadsurfer said:


> The Ielts test has got to be a flawed test if native speakers are having to take it multiple times to pass! Have mine in 2 weeks and am nervous now! What did you use to study? Just free tests online?


If this is your first time your more than likely not going to get 8s across the board. Try not to get nervous about this exam. After all you can do it again, I know I know, it costs and the time involved. But if you give yourself several months realistically, you should get this. I don’t write on a daily basis and therefore I needed to brush up on my spelling and how to write short essays. This has taken me six months to achieve and I feel the better for it. My communications skills have been given a thorough ‘MOT’. Put away any notion that your first language is English and you have a ‘right’ to be superior in your own language. Rather look at it as a bridge that you need to cross to gain access to a country that might dramatically change the quality of your life.

No, I didn’t do the online tests because I felt that I needed to replicate the real test as much as possible. I bought books and did the tests over and over an over again (photocopier is handy). By doing this I got familiar with the way questions where asked and what answer they most likely wanted. 

Reading
Do the reading tests anywhere, in the car or at a coffee break. Try doing some of the academic tests. They can build speed up for skimming through texts. Give yourself plenty of time to build speed. Eventually you’ll read through your local newspaper in ten minutes and know all you want to know. Make sure and practice the general reading tests. At the beginning they can be so easy, compared to academic, that you could lose time thinking the answer couldn’t be this simple. 

Listening
If you buy books make sure that they have Cds containing tests. Search the internet and you will find reviews for the books. For me listening was the most difficult. You have to be spot on with spelling. During writing, do a spell and pull any words you got wrong onto another file. Look at them regularly and test yourself. Practice a lot with listening and don’t let your concentration slip for a second. Answers to questions can follow each other very quickly and other occasions they can be far apart. During the waiting period you can become detracted and lose concentration. 

Writing
Practice writing a lot. Print out copies of the real test paper and write on these. You can get a copy online as a PDF. By writing on the real test papers you will get a sense of how many words to write without having to count them. After hand writing I usually typed them out and spelled checked them. I also tried to make them read a little better. Have a look at as many model answers as you can get. They will give you an idea what is possible and acceptable. Don’t use too many obvious linking words: on the other hand, therefore, nevertheless etc. Superior English writers tend not to use as many and is a tell tail sign the candidate is not confident. 

Speaking
As you might expect your going to have no problem here. However, look at how the examination will be conducted and follow what they wanted. I was a little to cocky in my last examination. They examiner asked be about reskilling. I argued that I dismissed the idea altogether as this was something manufactured by today’s society to excuse redundancies. It could be that examiners don’t want to hear philosophy, they just want to hear a basic reasoned answer.

Best of luck

Charlie


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## fabiog (Dec 9, 2014)

Hi dmcraddock,
I'm Fabio, I living in Australia with an Working Holiday Visa and I'm trying to apply for a 189 visa as you did. I read your post and found it very interesting and hope you can reply to some question. I need the skill assessment from ACS (261312 developer programmer), so I have to provide them prove of my self-employment. Have you an example of "statutory declarations", "letters from accountants" and "statement from clients"? Do you know if the government regarding the work experience require other paper that ACS don't ask?
Thank you very much!
Fabio!


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## niga1107 (Dec 17, 2015)

Am researching about IELTS and how to get 8s in all bands. Need to file 189 visa for Australia and have to get superior english. I have previously given TOEFL and got 30 in R, W, S but only 25 in Listening, which screwed me. I cannot use this score for 20 points that I really need to get a total 60 points. Please help and advise me. Should I go for IELTS? Will it be very difficult for the first time for me to get 8s? 

I am filing for Electrical engineer....have bachelors from India and master's from the US....also have a PhD in technology management (that I cannot use for filing 189!!!!  )....have teaching experience and work experience of 1 yr in the US.....

Please help!!!


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## ozengineer (May 19, 2014)

^ Yes, it will be pretty darn difficult. Knowing English good is often not enough -- you will need luck, lots of it. For most people, it is Writing that drags down the scores. However, don't let me demotivate you, it is doable. I got L9.0, R9.0, W7.5, S8.5 in my first attempt. Some people might advise you to try PTE. They say it easier, but I don't know if it has any basis or not.


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## niga1107 (Dec 17, 2015)

Thanks for your response, that is what I am worried about - luck! I don't think its sensible for me to plan the entire EOI around getting those 8s in IELTS. So help me in understanding how do I get more in writing and others. where do I start in terms of preparation? Any websites/sources for prep?

Am exploring options to see if I could also get my partner's skills points....this will take the edge of when I go for IELTS.....but its a lot of more work! :|


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## wanderer4life (Jul 2, 2016)

*Congratulations!*

Congrats and your approach is very inspiring. 

How are you finding Melbourne??


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