The approval for an Australian visa comes with double excitement for Valerie Morrissey, because with her Prospective Marriage Visa now freshly affixed to her passport, she will soon be heading off to Australia to join her partner and later wed.

“The visa itself and the passport came through on Wednesday so everything is ready to go and I actually fly out on the 29th of July,” Valerie said.

While exciting, the move is also understandably very emotional.  Valerie is leaving her three grown-up children and their partners and also her granddaughter in the UK.

Valerie will be flying into Perth, Western Australia, where she will join her partner Grant Bingley. They will marry in Perth on 6 November.

 “I’m looking forward to moving into my new house and settling in with Grant and starting a new life with him," she said.  

The decision to move to Australia made sense for the couple because of Grant’s work, but Valerie also has a fondness for Perth and Australia.

“I’ve been on several visits there. I love it, I absolutely love it."

"It takes a little getting used to but it’s good. The heat is lovely ...  better than the weather in Perth, Scotland, where I have lived for the past 16 years put it that way,” she laughed.

“Grant is self employed, and the work that grant does is not done as much in Scotland. It was easier for me to move to Perth than for him to give us his business and move to Scotland and basically start all over again when he already had contacts there. It was easier this way,” she said. 

The final piece of paperwork for Valerie’s Prospective Marriage Visa was lodged on 2 March, and while Bronwyn Taylor and her case worker Andrea Jefferys always kept her informed of developments there was an anxious wait without information while the Australian Government processed the application.

“The visa process was good, but quite lengthy without any information. When I contacted Bronwyn or Andrea they answered my questions very quickly but you don’t get an awful lot of information when the application is lodged at the Australian Consulate. But other than that, I’m happy about it.

“There was some very anxious waiting ... I don’t do waiting very well,” Valerie laughed.

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

While Australian Visa news of late has not been overwhelmingly positive, it is encouraging to hear that Australia will soon be welcoming the Gisanrin family from Northhampton.  

Olu Gisanrin was approved for a skilled Australian Visa only a few weeks ago, and he and his wife are planning to move to Sydney, or the nearby south coast, with their three children.

“We had been to Australia 10 years ago and liked it then but thought only briefly about moving there – we didn’t feel the time was right.  It was early last year that we started reconsidering the option,” Olu said.

“We hope to move to Sydney, but that is not completely settled. The last time we visited Australia we spent most of our time in Western Australia, but as we are moving permanently we did want to explore other areas as options. Sydney or the coast just south of Sydney could work well for us,” he said. 

They hope to emigrate to Australia at the end of the year so their two older children, aged 9 and 7, can commence at the start of the Australian school year, although it’s possible Olu may travel to Australia earlier to pursue job opportunities and prepare for the family’s arrival.

Olu said they were looking forward to moving to Australia, and he said the lifestyle should be perfect for the two older children with school, sports and the outdoors. Their youngest is just a baby.

The Australian Visa application process for the Grisanrin family was smoother than they expected.

“The visa process was a lot easier than I thought. We only started seriously considering emigrating in August last year, and at the time I read a number of old forums about the process and some people were waiting two or three years for a visa,” he said.

“Martin Beveridge handled the first part of the process, and he was very informative and professional.
 
“I did skills assessment last year and lodged the completed Australian Visa application at the end of January this year. Our visa application was approved a couple of weeks ago.”

Visa Bureau caseworker Joe Tindle assisted throughout the visa application and Olu said he was always prompt and kept the family informed of developments.

“Joe was perfect, certainly no complaints there. We were always up-to-date with the process and he always answered emails or phone messages, and if he wasn’t in the office and on holidays someone else got back to us,” Olu said.

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

We were delighted to see some current Visa Bureau clients appear on the BBC's Wanted Down Under programme recently.

Tanya and John Wilson have both been in the midst of the Australia visa application process for a couple of years now, with their situation summarised in the BBC's programme listings as follows:

"The Wilson family from Liverpool want more space and better weather to enjoy an outdoor life. They try out life in Perth, Western Australia, for a week. John Wilson finds a potential job as an artisan baker. But, the family hadn't bargained on the emotions they experience at the prospect of leaving friends and family back on in the UK."

Sadly, the programme in which they appear is no longer available on the BBC iPlayer (although we're sure it'll be repeated at some point on the future).

However, we recently got in touch with Tanya to get her thoughts on the Wanted Down Under experience, as well as how they've been helped by Visa Bureau in their process of emigrating to Australia:

“I’m absolutely buzzing about Australia and I can’t wait to move. We all loved Australia, our family are all behind us to go, so we have all the support we need,” she said.

“Perth did seem brighter, not congested. It was nice, bright, airy and not daunting at all.”

“We had a good experience meeting expats and Australians and getting a taste of the day-to-day life. Household chores are always going to be the same, but experiencing the outdoor lifestyle was different,” she said.

"John spent some time with the New Norcia bakery in Mount Hawthorn, Perth. Director Kingsley Sullivan, the staff and customers were lovely. John really enjoyed his experience there.

Filming for Wanted Down Under was a little daunting for the family, but ultimately they found it a rewarding experience. 

“The filming process was brilliant, although you did have to follow a strict filming schedule and you did feel a little like stars having to stop and re-film sections.  It was a worthwhile experience.”

Tanya said the family enjoyed the week in Perth, which was filmed in September last year, and have chosen to complete the process and emigrate to Australia to live in Adelaide.   

"We went to Perth as that was the only option for filming but it still gave us a great insight into Australian life, of which we loved every minute," Tanya said.

The Wilson boys are Owen 12, Callum 14, and their hobbies include karate, fishing, walking and camping

"For ourselves, karate, camping, walking and we really enjoy the beach be it summer or winter. Our karate club, GKR Karate, originated in Australia, which we also attended courtesy of Wanted Down Under in Perth. The boys loved every minute, except the thought of leaving friends and family. Owen has his case 'theoretically' packed already," Tanya said. 

The Wilson family lodged their Skilled Visa application around the same time of filming Wanted Down Under, and unfortunately have been affected by recent changes in processing by the Australian Government and are still waiting for approval.

Tanya though is upbeat, and remains positive.

“I’m very optimistic and positive about the move, although my husband is a little worried that we won’t be able to go,” she said.

Visa Bureau caseworker Leonie Cotton helped the Wilsons with their application, and Tanya said her help through the skilled migration application process was invaluable.

“It would have been an awful lot of hard work if we had decided to do the application process without Visa Bureau, particularly on the initial preparations. As much as we did our own research and preparation the help with writing and re-writing the application questions was excellent. Our application under the Trades Recognition Australia was accepted the first time, we didn’t have to resubmit.

“I’ve recommended Visa Bureau to my friends and I wouldn’t have done that if I wasn’t happy with the service.”

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

A former client of ours, Byron Coetzee, recently started a blog summarising his experiences as a new migrant Down Under.

Titled 'Immigrating to Sydney', Byron's blog already has a number of posts that are sure to be of interest to anyone considering emigrating to Australia, with topics ranging from his experiences upon first arriving in Australia to a breakdown of how much it cost for him to complete the Australian visa process.

One of his recent blogs focussed on his experiences as a Visa Bureau client, which he's given us permission to run here as a testimonial:

How did I get my Australia visa?

Well for me I had looked into going to Australia a number of times. At first I did not make it points wise, but this changed after my experience in certain computer languages increased. Actually, my wife did the check and excitedly told me that we could go to Oz now. (We qualified for the 175 visa - which is the best one IMO.)

I did not want any hassles or uncertainty, and to be honest, I have reached the age where I really would rather pay someone else to take care of any research or expertise I might need to immigrate.

We looked at a number of forums and one company seemed to be recommended.

After an initial set of calls to a very friendly lady called Bronwyn Murphy, we were assigned a caseworker after a very friendly and efficient analysis of our visa points.

The caseworker was a guy called Marek Starke who worked with us for a period of about a year and a half.

I cannot have received better service anywhere. Every email or call was answered with in depth knowledge and courtesy. I would highly recommend them as a visa application service with a solid set of staff and expertise.

Hats off to you Marek, as I am by nature grumpy as hell, and I never needed to be irritable ever!

If Marek's bosses every read this... give Marek and Bronwyn a bonus for me!!

Oh yeah, he's a fellow South African..

Anyway, that's how we got our visa.

The bureau we used can be found here: Visa Bureau. 

- Tom Blackett is Online Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.