Preparation for Independent-Skilled Australian Immigration, What we need to know before we apply

Most importantly get yourself together.  Decide for yourself, and for your family what is best.  If you feel that migrating is, then we share the same sentiments.  Before you go any further, you need to prepare a time line for the entire application process.

Now, this information is not readily available, you'll only get to know this once you have started the application process.  As you talk to your agency, as you read further documents about migration, as you read through migration-related forums, that's the only time you get a feel of the time line for your application.  This is one piece of information that is very important yet not readily available as it is highly variable depending on the visa class you are applying for.  But for the benefit of those who are thinking of applying, I'll prepare a dedicated page for my time line, soon, so you'll get an idea.  So keep checking this blog for updates.

While my time line is not ready yet, I made a list below of the important parts I was able to put together during the application process:

1. Budget - I knew about the budget only when i spoke with the migration agency.  The initial computation during that time was:

Immigration Assistance - This will slightly vary between agencies but most of the time they are in the same range of 50-60k.  This will also vary on the visa type you are applying for so check with the agency you choose.  .
 
IELTS Review - if you feel the need to review,  rates slightly vary between centers, and largely vary on what type of class and duration you feel suitable for you.  I will dedicate a post about what review options I made and how I went through it so you'll get an idea of what review option to choose that best suits you.  So stay tuned.

IELTS Exam - The IELTS examination fee is around 9000 Php, but is always given in an equivalent of USD.  Check out my IELTS page for more information.

Skills Assessment Fee - Rates depend upon your chosen skills but for an engineering profession, Engineers Australia has a published rate.  Check out my link page for more information.

Immigration Assessment Fee - I haven't paid this yet, I am months until I get to this stage, but the current fee is 2750 Australian Dollars.  Around 121000 Php if the exchange rate is 44.  See my link page for more information.

There are minor expenses yet highly variable as well, but I'd like to include them here as they too cost money:

Renewal fees - some of your documents, memberships, and IDs needs to be renewed as well.  I had my PRC license renewed and my membership to our organization updated.  Make sure that upon application, your ID's, documents, or memberships are valid for two years or more.  Needless to say, you need them to be valid during the entire application process and your time line.

Certification fees - your documents will not be submitted as originals.  You need to submit a certified copy of the original document. 

Courier fees - you need to send your documents to the assessing body, from Cebu to Engineers Australia office.  This should be between a few hundred pesos to a thousand.  Once your CDR assessment result is ready, you can nominate a preferred courier as well.  This is when my agency came in handy as well.  The agency have a shipping account with FedEx and that they can make arrangements for document pick up anywhere in the world.  I tried to do this by myself, but at that time, no courier can do it for me without a shipping account information with them.  By default, Engineers Australia will ship your assessment result via regular mail - a very scary and risky option.  We don't want our results shipped through regular mail do we?

Other fees - well this can't be avoided, but this should be anticipated.  These are small expenses but may take a good portion of your budget.  Fares for taxi or gas, food if you eat outside while you do your errands, and some if you seek other people's favor to do the errand in your behalf.  In total, you might want to spare around 10k throughout the whole application process.

More about these in the Budget and Expenses page

2. Organization - as we progress in our application, we get to collect more documents, more receipts, and even print out chat sessions and emails.  As such, you need a way to organize them all.  A clear folder does the job for me. 

3. Documentation - I found keeping 1 excel file with all the notes I made and expenses tabulated helpful for me.  I treat it as my journal while I go through the application process.  In that way, I can go back to the things that I need to accomplish and at the same time get a detailed picture of my present and future expenses.

4 Requirements - this should be the requirements for your IELTS, CDR, and Immigration proper application.  There's no need to put the requirements here as they are published in their respective document.  I prefer not to post the link as it may vary.  However, a quick Google search always does the job.  Make sure that you also consider the lead times if you apply for your documents.  Our IELTS results will only be good for 2 years.  So if you have a document that won't be available in two years, you might want to consider taking the IELTS on a much later date.  The CDR result on the other hand is as good while the document exists.  I believe if you lose the skills assessment result, you can request for another copy for a fee.  You can always check out your respective assessing body's website for this.

I hope this list will be of help if you are considering to apply or in the process of applying.  This might not be as detailed as I want it to be nor as complete that can answer to every reader's questions, but you can contribute in this list by leaving a comment below.  Let's help each other achieve our dreams.  Leave a comment.