The following information may be of interest to anyone applying to emigrate to Australia

Like perhaps many of you, we had never been to Australia before applying, I can still remember going to one of those seminars held by a large immigration agency on a very cold and wet Saturday in Southampton. At the time it was something to do before going shopping and we did not take the morning seriously as we had never really discussed moving to Australia properly, never thought we had a chance…. like I say, it was just something to do.
The venue was packed, we were handed a form and a few pens and was taken to a table in a busy hall. The form had the usual questions, age, qualifications etc, once filled in, we handed it back to reception and waited for someone to call us over. I remember these runners coming out to other families, saying for various reasons they could not apply, thanks and Good-bye. Well overhearing many of these conversations, I felt what a waste of time just being here, when we were called over to a private room to be told we had everything needed to qualify. We walked out of that hall feeling so damned privileged to have got into the big almighty private room (as there was not many going in there) and leaving not knowing what to think!!!!
 We had made a appointment with the agency to take things further, however after the next meeting we had a shock regarding their fees, especially when things were far from definite. Next we decided to try a cheaper agent by the name of Ian Harrop, he was great as the rest is history, we are now in Australia.
The Progress Link will take to a list of information regarding the timings of our application that I kept up with from start to finish . We applied for the Skilled Independent Visa and I came within just enough points to apply due to my trade as a Chef being on the Occupations demand list (I just made it on the age stakes!) The list gives you an idea of the time it took, although a little sketchy, it may be of help.

During our application, I can remember wanting to ask a thousand questions regarding living in Australia, we found it difficult finding first hand information. From the Before arrival link we hope to answer some of the perhaps more trivial things, and In addition to this, we have also put up a Got a Question page, where you can ask us direct any trivial questions regarding life in Australia where we hope to answer your questions to the best of our ability!

Please spend a little time navigating around our site, and while here, perhaps you could sign our Guestbook.....Good Luck