Chapter 3. The PR Application Process

This post sends us back to the time, when you need to prepare yourself to collect all the information you need to start the application process. I thought the following content might be of help to anyone thinking/starting the "Permanent Resident Visa" application.

Here are some of the useful questions that I had.

1. What is the eligibility criteria for a Permanent Resident (PR from now on) Visa?

2. What Type(s) of VISA am I eligible for?

3. Once I know I'm eligible, what are the next steps? 

4. What all documents do I need?

5. How long does it take for the PR to get approval? 

6. How much is the visa application fees?

7. Do I need to hire an agent or could I do it on my own?

The above questions more or less summarize the whole visa application process. A lot of people get intimidated by listening to other's experiences, and opt for the easy way of hiring an agency. I think whether someone decides to apply on her/his own or hire an agency to do it, the hard work still has to be done by the individual applicant. So, why not do the groundwork first and save your hard earned money.  Remember Australia's Resident Visa fees is on the higher side, so whatever you save in the application process is a bonus when you actually start to settle down here!

Before I move into the process, I think I need to make the following disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Consider the below information only for getting an overview. You should go into the finer details through the official website, as rules change frequently. I'm listing down my experience and make no claim to be an expert into the application process! 

The best way to seek the technical details of what is required, is to go the following official website

https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1

It captures a step-by-step way to arrive at the most eligible visa you might be interested in.

Keep in mind that the whole application process is based on points system. Points are based on:

1. English Proficiency
2. Years of experience in the chosen field of skill (Overseas or Australia)
3. Age of the applicant
4. Education (Overseas or Australia based)
5. Spouse skills
6. Sponsor - State/Relative

Following are critical documents which you would require from your side during the application process:

1. Valid English Proficiency Test Score (IELTS/PTE etc)
2. Verified transcripts for your educational/qualification
3. All work experience certificates (Notarized statement also work in case you don't have it on official letterhead)
4. Police Clearance
5. Medicals

I'm summarizing the sequence of events you might follow for a smoother processing:


Preparation

1. Go through the eligible occupation list. And decide which one fits your skill sets. 
2. Start collating the following important documents and get them verified/notarized 
• All your experience letters on the company's letter head. If your organization says that they don't provide "To whomsoever it may concern" letters, ask them to address it to "Australian Computer Society." The experience letter should include your "Responsibilities e.g. software development, design etc". The tools and technologies you used. This is probably the most time consuming step, so prepare well in time.
• Make sure that the experience letter is inline with the Occupation Code you choose from the occupation list.
• In case your previous organization has stopped operations or is no more in existence. It's perfectly find to capture your experience on a notarized statement from your senior of that organization. 
• Education Transcripts for your Bachelor's/Master's degree. Marksheets for your Xth/Xth grades.


3. Take English proficiency test. Make sure that you qualify in all sections of the test. Try to score the maximum as these add towards the Points. I believe the minimum cut-off is 60 points. And you don't want to miss out on these easy points. 
4. English proficiency test is mandatory only for the primary applicant. For your partner you could just submit the statement from the university he/she graduated stating that the medium of instruction was English. Same apply for kids. 

ACS (Australian Computer Society) Assessment 

1. You would submit the documents you prepared in STEP 2 above against the Occupation Code called ANZSCO code and pay the assessment fees.
2. Once your assessment is over you should receive a letter saying something like "assessed to be suitable for migration under <ANZSCO CODE>"

Submission of EOI

1. Each member of the family (part of the application) submits form80. Be prepared with all the  supporting documents like including the English proficiency, PCC  (Police Clearance) etc. 

Invitation & Submission

1. Once you get the invitation for applying. You need to use the all the documents and anything that is mentioned on the official website and pay the VISA application fees to submit your application.
2. The Invitation is valid only for 60 days. 
3. Make sure that you submit the whole application in one go. Which means that you gather all the information like Police Clearance Certificate, Medicals for all the members and then submit the application. If you don't do it, it would still be asked by the case officer at a later stage, thereby, delaying the whole process. 

Once, you're done with the application submission, you would be assigned a case officer who would check all the details and would ask for anything missing in the supporting documents. This usually is a long process and as per my experience people with higher points get a preference. So, make sure that you do focus on acquiring the maximum points. Understand the point system well, shine in your English Proficiency Test.

This post has become more of a pedantic "How To Do" types!! But, it took sometime to gather the information and put it in a cohesive understandable format.

Hope it's helpful! 

Phew...!! Next up, the interesting stuff related to Job Hunt.

Chapter 1. The Eventful Start

Well! I had a crack at exploring this country, not just by visiting it as a tourist, but as a resident of the it. Yes! I am talking about living in Australia as a Permanent Resident (PR). I'll be recounting my story as it unfolded in the process of obtaining the PR and how I'm currently feeling and staying in this beautiful country.

Most often than not, we just see the brighter side of a story, because we want to feel motivated to move forward. I think at an emotional point of view it's a good thing to do. However, when you want to make a choice, try to gather as much information as possible before you make your big move.  As they say "Think well to be wise, and plan well to be wiser!"

I think I've had quite a few bitter-sweet moments so far to advice what you should/shouldn't do, to be wiser today :) in your preparation to visit and stay in Australia.

If you are one of those people who've done reasonably-to-extremely well in your home country and feel that you need to live in a developed country (for whatever reason you might have! Btw, I'll tell you why/or why not you should consider Australia as your choice), you might have explored options like Canada as well. There are few good reasons to explore Canada over Australia (I'll try to put my perspective over it later). We were a bunch of friends in India who one fine day thought of exploring the world, and went in the opposite directions of the 2-D world map :)

I'll start my story in the reverse chronological order. And boy!! what an eventful day it was when I landed back in Australia, this time with a job ;)

After, a longer than usual, journey starting from Pune -to- Delhi -to- Singapore -to- Syndey I thought of being a little enterprising and save some dollars and took Train/Bus journey instead of the expensive cab. Well! the public transport is very good and efficient in Sydney and adjoining suburbs, but, I was a bit nervous as I had big suitecase, one cabin baggage and a laptop bag to carry with me. But, yours truely was in full spirits and wanted to make a difference to self by saving money.

There I was, with my hefty luggage in the NSW trains. I got down at Wynyard Station, that's super busy during the rush hour, and took the connecting bus to my destination. You must be wondering how I knew about where's and how's of trains and bus!! There are few good applications like "Tripview", else there's ubiquitous Google maps that's always there as a guide!

So, here I was in the bus and things started getting interesting here. Bus, wasn't too crowded as such, but, I was overwhelmed with these three items that I was carrying and didn't know how to negotiate this stuff without causing much trouble to others. So, I took my laptop bag off and held a seat close to the driver holding the suitcases I had. The bus driver was quite friendly and suggested that I should put my suitcases at the disable friendly area by making the seats upright. I followed the instructions and continuously monitored the Google Map, so as not to miss my stop. And after a journey of 20 minutes I pressed the stop button to get down. I took my big suitcase, the smaller cabin baggage and hurried out of the bus. I thanked the driver and kept the Google Map busy, as I had to still walk to the place I was heading to (remember I'm at a new place, looking for a house I've never been to).

I navigated my way to the house I booked via AirBnb and was quite happy with my small victory of sorts (after all I had definitely saved close to $70 if not more). So, before knocking the door I thought I'll just put the luggage aside and breath a sigh of relief from this tiring journey. I kept the suitcases aside and reached out to take my laptop bag off my shoulders and felt a strange feeling of lightness around me. BAM!! where's my laptop bag??!!

Next up ....

-The Story of the LOST BAG!
-Finding job in Australia (from India)

Chapter 2. Story of the lost bag

The moment I realized I'm short of one items, a kind of sinking feeling engulfed me. I started backbiting my intention of saving those few dollars and losing my dear laptop carrying most of my digital life. I stood there lost! not knowing what to do now.

It took few moments to recollect myself and think about the next steps.  The first thought that came to my mind was to pick up the phone and call the NSW bus service and inform them about what has just happened. It did sound like a bright idea and immediately I reached out for my mobile, only to realize that the poor device has ran out of battery. It dawned on me that I might as well be running out of luck! Every moment I could feel my dear laptop moving away from me, increasing my level of anxiety. My survival instincts kicked in and my mind starting pumping newer ideas!!

I was already at the doorstep of my host. How about asking him to help me out. So, I knocked at the door once, but, couldn't feel any movement inside the house. I tried few more times, it was dead silence inside. I thought I couldn't be so unlucky to have no one in the house on the day of my check-in?!!! I then called out the name of my host and there I saw his mother on the door, ushering me inside. I breathed a sigh of relief, but, I was running out of time and had to do something to reach back to my laptop. So, I asked her if I could meet her son urgently. She said something which I couldn't understand as it was probably Mandarin or Cantonese. It didn't take long to realize that we had a language barrier and it would be next to impossible for me to make her understand that I have lost my bag and I need her help.

I tried my best to explain in broken mix of sign-language and English that I needed her to call her son!! She thought for a moment and understood, and caller him. I resisted the temptation of pulling her phone and shout out for help. The damn thing kept on ringing and slowly I started getting present to another scenario, "What if he doesn't pick the phone?" It was just a thought that soon became a reality and I was left to look out for the next possible solution.

My mind started working like a machine, throwing ideas faster than I could process them. At the same time my mind space became a battleground for the devil and the advocate!!

D: Where's your mobile charger?
A: "Oh crap that's in the bag I just lost".....
D: You fool!! you lost more $$ than you wanted to save, told you to take a cab!!
A: Hmm

As Zakir Khan would say "Bhai Tera Stud Hai", I went on to the next possible solution and asked the Granny if she had a Mobile Charger ? Ofcourse without adding that I would need a "Type C" connector for my Google Pixel!! I adapted well to make her understand through an innovative sign language that I had just invented in this moment of desperation, and she showed me her phone that was just a basic feature phone which is difficult to find these days. I knew I was losing time and had to think out of the box. Here comes the next scheme of things.

I didn't have the NSW Buses office number, I couldn't search for it and I didn't remember anyone's number in Sydney to use Granny's phone to make a call. I searched my pockets and I realized I just have this "Opal Card" and some money at the moment to make a last ditch effort to somehow trace my laptop bag!! What if the bus that went away after dropping me is coming back to complete the  round trip? I surely remembered the Bus Route Number, the bus-stop from where I boarded it and where I alighted! And I was out in a jiffy toward the bus-stop that was there in the opposite direction where I got down.

I waited there for sometime and there came a Bus, different though! I boarded the Bus and went straight to the driver and explained her the situation. I was wondering what she would say or do to help me as she was not looking much concerned (we Indians like a lot of drama and emotion to genuinely feel being helped :) . .......call it Bollywood effect!!). She asked me about the description of the bag, the Bus route, the stop details which I had recalled in my mind for not less than a million times since I lost my bag. I blurted the information like an overdue delivery!!

She picked the radio device and spoke about the lost property with the details I had given and started driving. I sat in the bus, to the closest seat to make it a point that I'm here to take help and in real dire straits!! After few radio jitters and audible chatters, which lasted for almost 10 or 15 minutes. She said, "The driver has reported this bag in the bus, but, he wouldn't be going back to the depot until 9:30 pm. I suggest you go the Dural Bus Depot and collect it tomorrow morning."

For a moment I thought, it's too good to be true. She gave me the address of the depot and dropped me at the next stop. I couldn't thank her enough, she acknowledged and went ahead with her duty. For me it was a jubilant moment and a big sigh of relief. Looked like the long tiring journey would finally have a happy ending!!

The Lost & Found Bag

Next day I went to fetch it, the official at the Lost and Found department in the Dural Bus Depot greeted me with a smile and helped me pick the "Bag I had Lost".


In the end it sounds as simple as calling at the Bus office and getting your information noted. But, this is so unlike anything I could imagine! I lost bag, means a lost bag in my country. Of Course! you would consider yourself ridiculously lucky if that happens.




Few tips:

1. Use public transport from Airport!! Its really good, just be careful with your luggage. Useful info here  Airportlink 

2. Buy an Opal Card at the airport, its acceptable in all NSW trains and buses.


3. Check that your mobile is sufficiently charged before you board the bus/train.

4. If you loose your item(s) in a public transport, visit Lost Property NSW transport site


Next up in my Bootstrapping Sydney, (Permanent Resident) Story........

- Struggle/Strategy for finding a Job in Sydney
- Finding job in Sydney (from India)