Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Migration to Australia- (Part 2) - When the going gets tough only the tough gets going !

You can read our other parts of migration experiences here.

All this started 1.5 years back on Jan 2013.  Thanks to few friends who inspired us to take this huge step. It’s been a roller-coaster ride so far. Also many thanks to our immigration specialists AIMS – Things wouldn't be this easy without them.

Migration- Pure Rocket Science:
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Of all the other things like money, qualification etc needed for migration, the most important thing is PATIENCE. 



Step 1- Do we qualify ?
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The very first step is meeting the basic eligibility criteria. Thanks to our young age, our master’s degree and Arvind’s years of work experience.  And now comes the money. Forget the second part of migrating over to the country, Just to get the Permanent Residence for a family of two, it costs around 15000 Sg $ approx (inclusive of the agents fee). Again Thanks to Singapore money, for making it affordable. After all this is an investment.
            So with choosing the visa category, satisfying the points test, going through with IELTS, (not whining about the preparation for the exams as it all ended good), and the next step was skills assessment.

Step 2- Getting ready with the docs:
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            This was the most tedious step. Apart from Birth certificates, Education certificates, marriage cert, passports, we needed Service certs from all companies, bank statements from all banks, salary certs, letter of recommendations from all bosses of all companies, letter of resignations, letter of appointments, transcripts, medium of instruction certs, etc.. What more and what not?
            In Our case, we had to collect all these from India too, troubling our parents and friends back at India.

Step 3- Skill Assessment
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            Everyone who applies for a visa subclass 189/190 have to encounter this step. Simply put, the migration department of Australia evaluates the worthiness of our work experiences (to Australia standards) to offer us a Permanent Residence Visa. For this, they require us to write a CDR (Competency Demonstration Report) – A minimum 25 page report, listing all the work experiences detail for all the companies we’ve worked.
            The good part is, only the primary applicant has to submit the CDR and so for Arvind, he had 4 years work experience at 3 different companies. So it was 3 chapters in total accessed by EA (Engineers Australia).

PS: Now with India becoming a permanent member of Washington Accord, there is a rumor that the Indian engineering graduates may not have to go through this. But this remains a rumor till now.

Step 4- Submitting EOI and PATIENTLY WAIT, VERY PATIENTLY WAIT:
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            So After a wait of 14 weeks, the results of CDR Assessment came in leaving way for the next step.
            Submitting EOI (Expression of Interest) is basically filling up all the forms including the IELTS, Skills assessment results, submitting it and waiting for the invitation rounds to get an invite. This is the crucial part, as it may take upto 2 years (max) to get an invite. The invitation rounds are conducted twice a month. Each and every midnight of first and third Sunday was a sleepless night for us for about 7 months.

Step 5- YAYY! The Invite:
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            After a worthy anxious wait of 7 months, we were finally given the invite, allowing us to proceed with medical and police clearance. Though for the Police clearance we had to get from both India and Singapore. The end was not far.

Step 6- The Permanent Residence – The Great Escape:
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            Here we are, smiling with the granted visa. Thanks to our extremely supportive parents, AIMS, and all others who helped us in this journey. Words will never describe this Joy. Now that the seemingly hard part is over, can’t wait to migrate and start a relaxed calm, peaceful life in Australia. Of course with few fast races here and there.
After all what is life without UPS and DOWNS! J

NOTE: The whole migration process may vary from person to person, family to family. There is no least or max time. It depends on various parameters like points, age, qualification, nationality etc.

Sharing Our Timeline Below:
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Occupation Code     :     233411 Visa 189
9 MARCH 2013       :      IELTS Exam Written
21 MARCH 2013     :     IELTS Results Acquired
         8.5                  :     IELTS Band Score
27 JULY 2013          :    CDR Approved
7 AUGUST 2013      :    EOI Submitted
24 MARCH 2014      :    Received Invite
2 APRIL 2014          :    PR Application Lodged
23 APRIL 2014         :    Medicals Completed
14 MAY 2014           :    Case Officer Assigned
15 MAY 2014           :    Police Clearance Applied
21 MAY 2014           :    PC Received (India)
5 JUNE 2014            :    PC Received (Singapore)
9 JUNE 2014            :    Form 18, Medicals and PC Submitted
10 JUNE 2014          :    Visa Granted (happens to be our wedding day at 2012 :) )

PS: Not making this a very vague post, listing all the details, providing the links etc. This is just a go-through post to understand the overall Process.




Migration to Australia- (Part 1) - When the going gets tough only the tough gets going !

Disclaimer: This blog post is not a guide for migration or an advertisement. This is purely based on our experiences and my understanding, written by me.
Thanks to few friends and family who inspired us to do this. Everyone has been a great source of inspiration, guidance and information for the past 1 year guiding us through each and every process. 

You can read our other parts of migration experiences here.

Precap: We both did Bachelors of Engg @ India, met at a conference. We fell in love, landed in Singapore,  did masters at NTU, got married, moved to 3 different houses, and here we are with the Australia Permanent Residence in hand - all ready for the next big step.


Why Migrate:
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A) From India:
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We are born and bred Indians. We love India and India is our first home. Having said that, coming to practical reasons, it’s not just money or career or the standard of living, it’s a loss of faith. Of course Arvind and I have had an awesome childhood in India. But to me have that childhood, my parents were in constant fear protecting me 24/7. They never did allow me alone to a shop nearby. I have traveled very few times in a local bus/train and have experienced many atrocities those few times. I was never allowed a night out/ sleep over with friends, nor a movie at theater with friends, unless it is a huge group, where the whole group is known to my parents individually or the whole group is guarded by one of the parent. I am sure many of the girl children would have experienced the same.
Now this is not just pampering, but it was all about protecting. And these days no matter how many good things are spotted, the bad things get worse.

Indian Passport- Awful for Travel:
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      Again, we love India and our roots are tied to India. Having said that again, Over this 4-5 years of travelling, the only few good things holding an Indian Passport is just collecting colorful visas and for people visiting Bhutan/ Nepal it’s a visa free entry. An Indian Passport needs a visa to enter almost all the countries in the world except for 50 countries roughly. With all the nationalities just swooping inside, we have to encounter the suspicious looks, showing our return flight tickets and our funds (??!!). It’s indeed an embarrassment. So I made a point that day. My kid should never ever suffer this.
PS:  My experience is not for everyone.  Though I try to see goodness in everything, this was way out of my acceptance.

(B) From Singapore:
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Singapore has given us numerous things. If it isn't Sg money, we could not have afforded staying at a beach front villa or visiting exotic countries or luxurious exclusive branded products or diamond jewelries. But among all these luxuries, relaxed lifestyle is not one of them.
We are done being ‘Foreign Talents’ for 5 years now. It’s high time we settle down, buy house, car, have kids. To do all this is Sg, it takes a minimum of 8-10 years from now, just for this. Forget the education system, the national service, the cost of living, ‘the tiny island- not so much to do’, and the work-life balance.  At the end of the day, life is nothing but a fast race here.
PS: I am sure all the foreign talents and the newly granted PR’s would agree.

Migration- Solution?
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      With all this being said, things aren't going to be rosy, out anywhere in the world. But giving it a try with hope isn't the worse thing.

Why Australia?
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      Every time I get back to India, my first few minutes have been great. The hugs at airport, the smile at faces, sure feels at home. But enough reasons mentioned for why we do not want to continue our lives there.
      First being comparatively easy and safe, affordable luxurious life style, high standards of living, relaxed and calm lifestyle (it’s kinda black mark when a person stays at office after office hours). This is just awesome for me because of my workaholic husband. Besides India is just hours away. It takes 10-12 hours from Chennai to Coimbatore in trains and almost the same time from Australia to India in Flights. Truly it’s no big deal.
It’s very obvious that we ourselves have to do laundry, clean toilet, mow the lawn, cook every day, drive my car and cannot even think of having maid, helpers, drivers, cleaners like an upper middle class family in India could afford. But this is far better than corruption and rapes.
And people who whine about the racist problems, “Stop complaining that the rose bush is full of thorns, be happy the thorn bush has roses”. The cast creed discrimination in India is no better than the racism in Australia.

The Steps, Processing time and all other details followed in Part 2.