New Singaporeans in Sydney

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: R
Date: Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 2:54 AM
Subject: Migration to Perth
To: "asingaporeanson@gmail.com"


Hi Nix,

I've been a faithful follower of your blog for almost 2 years.

The reason for my email to you is that, we have been procrastinating our migration plans and age is catching up with us. I'm 3x and my hubby is 3x.

We are supposed to begin our application process two years ago but at that moment, we were too tied up with our work. Hb juz got a promotion and we're so comfortable with our pay and lifestyle. One leads to another thus the 2yr delay.

So we have decided its now or never. We're doing this for our children actually. My son is in Px and my daughter is in Px. I do not want to start about the Sg education system. We simply do not want our kids to suffer and are stressed under the system. So we sold our condo recently, bought a Xrm HDB. With the cash in hand, we plan to re-build our life in Perth.

Since my hb's profession is on the WASOL list, we had decided to go for WA state sponsorship. My question is roughly, how long does WA state sponsorship take? We just submitted our EOI and its pending before we could apply for the state sponsorship then to DIAC.

If its taking far too long, my cousins (living in Perth) told us to get there on Student's visa. Once there when we got a job, we could apply for a proper working visa. How true is that? Do you have friends or aquaintaces who follow the student visa route?

Your reply is greatly appreciated.

S

Sent from my iPhone


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nix Exile 
Date: Wed, Jun 12, 2013 at 4:19 PM
Subject: Re: Migration to Perth
To: R


Hi S,

Can you tell me more about the SG educational system? I have been out of touch with it for too long to be able to assess it. I am deciding if I need to return to Singapore one day because of my daughter. Your input will be most helpful.

The state sponsorship should not that more than half a year for the current EOI format. The last time I heard someone applying for it under the old system was 1 year before approval. That was because there was a big cock up between her and her agent so I reckon it is safe to estimate 6 months. In fact, I heard (hearsay thus I dun wanna confirm) people get it within 1-3 months. It will be useful to check with your migration agent, if you used one. Let me know so I can be updated ok?

The student visa thing is a grey area. Your cousins are not wrong but you will have to live with uncertainties which most Singaporeans, imo, are unwilling to do so. I will have done that if I knew... 

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Nix


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: R 
Date: Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 1:03 AM
Subject: Re: Migration to Perth
To: asingaporeanson@gmail.com


Hi Nix,

Thank you v much for your info on the visa. Yup, juz to play it safe, we'll go wif the state sponsorship route then. We hav not decided whether to use an agent but we'll see hw it goes. 

Well, I do not want to scare you with regards to Sg education system. It is totally different from our time. My 2xyo sister-in-law who scored 260 at PSLE & 9 points for her O levels said that she's struggling & can't do my son's maths questions! I can send u snapshots of d problem sums if u want to :) heeee!

Let me put it this way, tuition nowadays is a necessity rather than luxury. Twice a week supplementary class is a norm to "supplement" curriculum hours. Besides that, for weaker students they hav Maths Clinic or remedial classes. Piles of assessment books during exam preparation plus homework or revision. I ever saw my kids' eyes welled up when they do their homework. They r forced to be in this track if not they'll b lagging behind and need to do a lot of catch up.

On top of that, getting gold, silver & bronze in CCA is important if we want to ensure d kid get into a reputable sec sch. Since Sg govt has bn saying that Sg lacks talent. So a few top schools has gone overseas to reach out to top foreign students and offer them prestigious scholarships (everything is paid for til uni)


Not only top schools, the neighbourhood schools are also filled with foreign students who are older and more mature than our local kids. Practically they did very well. Average students are seen struggling, under-performing etc. Also i've read so many complaints fr our local that their children did not get a place in NUS, NTU coz of d foreign students. Its very competitive here, Nix. Like running in a rat race! I've been thru it... So i do not want them to face the same thing again. Our future generation deserve better. At least if they study in Aust, i dun hav to worry coz there're so many Uni in Aust.

If u hav bn on FB and chanced upon Temasek Review pg , you'll know what i mean. But i must warn u, somtimes TR posted craps on their pg too... well Hong Lim Park (speakers corner) has bn very popular these days wif local protesting the 6.9M population white paper and d latest "free my internet"

Can u imagine there r so many Pinoys, PRCs n Indian nationals in SG? Now a standard 3-rm BTO HDB flat costs $269k and COE still hanging around $60k plus. The seniors are encouraged to continue working, heavily packed mrt trains etc? Dats the reason y my husb n i decided to give up on Sg. He said that if those pple (Pinoys, PRCs n Indian nationals) can make it here in Sg, then we shud b able to make it in Perth :)


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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: S 
Date: Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 4:15 PM
Subject: Re: Migration to Perth
To: "asingaporeanson@gmail.com"


Hi Nix,
Hw r u & family?

Its bn 1year since my last email to you. Since i'm still an ardent reader of ypur blog, i would like to update you where am I now with the Migration thingy and probably may need your assistance.

I have safely landed in Sydney on 10 Apr 2014. Since both our occupations were not on the SOL, guess what? We took the decision to leave Sg on Student Visa. The whole process was such a whirlwind for us as we're tired of waiting in Sg. Furthermore, I took 1yr of no-pay leave in 2014 to be eif my kids so might as well I come over to Oz. Now they are in Yr7 & Yr2 respectively.

Now comes the fun part! I received a state sponsorship SA for my occupation! YAY!
We decided to do it ourselves. Do you have any who have similar situation? I know you did yours by yourself so, kindly share your tips wif me. We had done all submissions except Health & Police Clearance. May I knw besides medical health check-up & X-ray what are other tests that we need to do? Its because we just did our health chk & xray on 31Mar. So do we wait for the Case Officer?

Also do you think you can forward me the Sydney Librarian email address? Pls tell her I in need of some professional help. I do not want to approach transitioning.org founder. Luckily for us there's a Malay Australian Association of NSW so i've bn in touch with other S'poreans & Malaysians in Sydney who migrated here 45yrs ago. All of them told us, "don't go back to Sg" hehe!

Thanks very much for your reply. Really appreciate it.

Regards
S



Dear S,

Big apology for missing out your email and didn't reply your last email for 1 year. I am really poor in managing my emails and I believe yours is not the only one I missed out. Thank you for writing to me again and update me of your interesting journey. 


Good job on the student visa thing. You guys must be one of the oldest students I've known here. Hahaha. xD I know it wasn't the best idea to do so but at least it seemed easier than parachuting down by the night. So, congratulations for getting a state sponsorship!


Yes, we did our applications ourselves because we were pissed poor. It was straightforward actually, just very tedious. Since you have already done all your submissions, there is little to worry about. During my days, (and I believe it still applies) there is nothing to do but wait after the submission. Your cases will be left in the queue will not be processed until a Case Officer is assigned to your case. The case officer will guide you through from there step by step. They will only request for your health check certificates after he has run through your submissions, find no documents missed out and certify your eligibility. In other words, by the time you are asked to submit a health check or police clearance, you are good to go. Else they wouldn't even go there. 


Hmm, it will be nice if you can share with me what professional help you need. With due respect to Sydney Librarian's awesomeness, she cannot repair water leaks or paint your house. With any luck, you may even find your man or woman who happen to be reading this. Maybe Ah Yun can even give you some advice. She is my agent in Sydney because she came to Perth and ate the food I cooked twice, poisoned to do my bidding.


Hope I somewhat answered your question to satisfaction. Good luck and keep your updates coming.

2 comments:

  1. You guys are like my heroes, so inspirational.... all of you! just a quick update visa fees paid for 190 and all documents accept meds uploaded waiting for CO allocation. probably doing meds next week and hubby has to sit for ielts soon , to save on the additional fees.

    looking fwd to this and new adventures . best !!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am based in Sydney, but is hardly around at home (working interstate) but happy to correspond via email and phone if needed

    WIll supply email via Nick

    ReplyDelete