I submitted my skills assessment application to the Australian Computer Society in mid January. It should take about 4-6 days to reach Sydney, Australia by air mail but they received it and opened up my package at the end of January.

It seems like I missed out on 1 step - I forgot to certify true copies of my reference letters. I do not remember it was a requirement but maybe I overlooked it while I was reading the instructions. Any way, I had to visit a lawyer to get it certified and I mailed them back to the Australian Computer Society last week. They just acknowledged to me via email that they have received the documents.

This is kind of funny because I sent in a copied reference letter and an original reference letter. It seems like they do not accept the original reference letter. Very inflexible indeed. My skills assessment application should take about 12 weeks. I am hoping that it will be done by the end of April 2008 or earlier because the Australian visa application will take about 7 months.

A couple of days ago, the Australian government announced that they will be adding 6000 more visas for skilled workers. That is great news for me because I will have a higher chance of getting one of these visas!

Tagged As: Australia Migration, Australian Computer Society, certified true copies, reference letter, skilled migration, skills assessment, visa

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I have decided to apply to migrate to Australia again. I have been putting in the initial steps to get myself out of Singapore for good. My previous migration attempt failed because the relationship between my mum and his brother, who is an Australian citizen, broke down about 2 years ago when they had an argument over their mum’s money. I was hoping he could “sponsor” me in my application but it was not to be.

I went to visit an Australian migration agency and I was told that I could get an Australian permanent residence visa because my younger sister is currently living and studying in Perth, Australia. My little sister was born in Australia and therefore she is a citizen of Australia. She recently moved to Perth to start her veterinarian course earlier this year. What that means for me is she is eligible to “sponsor” me via the “Skilled Sponsored” visa scheme.

I initially wanted to hire an Australian migration agent to help me through the process. However, once I consulted a few agents and got a feel of what the whole process would be like, I decided it would be so much better if I do it myself and save up to SGD $4000 - $6000 + in agency fees. It is just a lot of simple but troublesome paperwork, which can be confusing if you do not read the instructions properly.

The first steps of my migration plan are:

1. Take an IELTS General Training English Exam - Hey! I passed this with an overall score of 8.0/10. This exam cost me SGD $300 to take at the British Council. You need an overall score of 7.0/10 and above to be considered proficient in English. Therefore, I will be awarded the maximum number of points for the English proficiency requirements of my visa application.
2. Get certified true copies of my passport, birth certificates, army discharge letters, qualifications etc.
3. Get a statutory declaration of my self-employment status for the past 3 years, detailing the activities I did on a daily basis.
4. Get reference letters from my previous employers.
5. Update my resume.
6. Take some new photographs of myself.
7. Submit my skills assessment application to the Australian Computer Society (AUD $350).

This process could take 2-3 months to complete. I need to get my skills assessed by the Australian Computer Society and pass me IELTS English Exam before I can apply for my “Skilled Sponsored” visa. The visa application should take about 7 months. The entire process could take any where from 10 months to 1 year or more.

I am now stuck at the reference letters part. I need 3 reference letters from my 3 previous employers. I hope I get them as soon as possible because it has been dragging on for more than 3 weeks now. Once I have my reference letters, I will be able to submit my skills assessment application without further delay.

I can’t live in Singapore any longer. I feel like I would regret it for the rest of my life if I spent any more of my precious time in Singapore, which I do not consider a first world country no matter what Lee Kuan Yew says. “From 3rd to 1st World Country in One Generation” - Yeah right! First world countries are democratic, have minimum wage laws, fair elections and respect for their citizens’ rights. My country has none of these characteristics so I am not calling it a first world country because it would be making a mockery of all the true first world countries in the world.

Tagged As: australia, australia computer society, IELTS English Exam, migration, migration agency, migration agent, perth, reference letters, resume, skills assessment, statutory declaration

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