syedwahab14

Wanderer
Messages
13
Points
3
MSA
2018-10-02
Skill
233914
SC
189
Point
75
EOI
2018-10-02
Inv.
2018-11-11
App.
2018-12-04
CO
2019-03-07
PCC
2019-01-12
HC
2018-12-03
Grant
2019-03-07
IED
2019-12-07
Hi everybody,

I was recently granted skilled independent visa (subclass 189). Since I did not hire any consultant for the most part, forums like migrationdesk were really helpful through the whole process. Having received the visa grant I would like to share my story for anybody who might find it helpful.

I live in a country where there are no PTE Test centers. I was to visit Europe in May 2018 for some training arranged by my employer, and encouraged by some friends who were also applying for GSM, I decided to take the PTE exam on my way back in Istanbul on 28th May.

In the weeks leading up to the exam I used the PTE gold and E2language channels on youtube to get a basic idea of the exam pattern. I also downloaded PTE exam pattern which showed the different question types that were to appear in the exam. Going through the exam pattern I found a few question types like rearrange sentences and describe image to be difficult ones. I only practiced these few select question types, rather than all 25 question types. All in all by exam day, I had prepared a little bit but I wasnt that confident that I will be able to score 79+ in each section which I required for a 189 invitation.

During the exam itself I tried to stay as much calm as possible. Tried to get through the questions as soon as possible because time is a big issue in the PTE exam. I missed a few questions like repeat sentence and I wasnt enable to finalize my essay, but I didnt let these mistakes bog me down. By the end of the exam, I was pretty confident that I had done well in the exam but not so sure that it was enough.

The next day, while I was about to leave my hotel for some sightseeing, I received the result and it was beyond my wildest expectation. I had scored an almost perfect 90!

The next step was to get skills assessment done. I procrastinated a lot. Kept starting and stopping and wasting quite a lot of time in the process. Eventually I finished my application on 26th August applying for a skills assessment as an Electrical Engineer, hoping that I will be able to get a positive assessment on fast track before the next round of invites on 11th September.

On 11th September I received a CO contact for two things
  1. PTE score to be sent online to Engineers Australia through PTE website.
  2. My undergrad studies didnt have the sufficient core knowledge area to be assessed as an Electrical Engineer. I was given two options, either to be assessed as Engineering Technologist or write new CDRs for Electronics Engineer.
After consulting with a few people I chose Engineering Technologist 233914. I replied to the CO contact on 19th September and received a positive skills assessment as Engineering technologist on 02/10/2018.

As soon as I received the skills assessment I lodged an EoI for 189 on 02/10/2018. Going through some of the forums and 189 visa invite prediction websites, I was hoping to get an invite by December/January. I wanted a grant before April 2019 so I couldnt afford that delay therefore I went ahead and tried my luck once more with Engineers Australia to get a skills assessment as an Electrical Engineer. I got a CO contact again with the same objection that my undergrad studies didnt have enough core knowledge areas from Electrical Engineering to be assessed as an electrical engineer.

Meanwhile I got a visa invite on 11/11/2018. Since I wasnt expecting the invite before December, I wasnt ready at all in terms of documents required. I started filling in the application and gathering all the documents. Looked through all my old documents and tried to find old payslips and contracts for my first job. I lodged my visa application on 04/12/2018. Got my medicals done a day earlier on 03/12/2018. I uploaded the following documents along with my application.

  1. Passport and Secondary School Certificate (SSC/Grade 10) as evidence of date of birth
  2. PTE score report and correspondence from PTE confirming that my score report had been sent to Deptt. of Home Affairs, Australia
  3. Engineers Australia Skills Assessment
  4. Degree and Transcript of my degree against which EA assessment was done
  5. Photograph
  6. Form 80
  7. Tax Returns for entire period for which experience was claimed
  8. Pay slips covering almost the entire duration of employment. I could not find a few pay slips from my first job.
  9. Bank Statement showing the pay coming into my account.
  10. Experience Letter from my current employer on company letter head detailing my job responsibilities
  11. Statuary declaration from my manager detailing my responsibilities for my first job
  12. Employment contracts, promotion letters, Joining letters, offer letters
  13. Complete passport Scan showing all entry exit stamps
  14. Scans of all visas including evisas
  15. Polio vaccination certificate scan
  16. Police clearance, got one in September but didnt upload it. Got one again in January and uploaded that one.
I didnt upload all the documents at once, rather I uploaded them from 09/01/2019 to 24/01/2019. After I was don with uploading the documents, the wait period started during which I was a frequent visitor to myimmitracker to find the latest date of visa grants. Finally, I received my grant on 07/03/2019. I didnt have any CO contacts.

Lessons learned
  1. I found the PTE to be a little easier than TOEFL which I had taken a few years back. I have never taken IELTS so I am not sure about that.
  2. Prepare for Skills assessment even before you have taken the Language exam (IELTS/PTE/TOEFL). Get your skills assessment done as soon as you are done with your exam. Saves a lot of time.
  3. Pick the right ANZSCO code. I cant stress this point enough. If I had picked the Engineering Technologist from the get go, I would have saved at least 2 months of my time which I spent in trying to tailor my CDRs for Electrical Engineering outcome. Moreover I never would have received a CO contact for skills assessment.
  4. Research, research, research. Cant stress this enough. Read other peoples experiences. You never know what you might have missed in your application.
  5. This one is a bit personal but I will state it anyway, dont stress about the visa application too much. Produce as much evidence as you possibly can for every claim that you made in your EoI, but dont stress too much about it.
  6. Be ready to file your visa application as soon as you get an invite. That means getting all the documents ready. The sooner you apply, the sooner you are going to get a visa grant.
That was my story. I am sure I have missed quite a lot of stuff so feel free to contact me, either here or in a private message.

Cheers!
 

MysticRiver

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
16,058
Points
113
Thanks for sharing. We love to hear about the experience of our members. I appreciate if all questions are asked here so that everyone can be benefited.
 

jasmeet

Regular
Messages
343
Points
28
MSA
2018-06-17
Skill
233914
SC
489/TAS
Point
70
EOI
2018-09-25
Nom.
2018-10-22
Inv.
2019-01-25
App.
2019-02-22
CO
2019-09-10
PCC
2019-02-03
HC
2019-03-14
Grant
2019-10-05
IED
2020-03-15
Thank you @syedwahab14 for investing your time on this post. Your this effort will be helpful for many people.
I have 2 queries
1. At the time of skill assessment i sent my PTE score to EA through pearson website, Do i need to send it again after the lodgement of visa??
2. Polio vaccination certificate, Do every candidate need to submit that or only for people with special needs??

Regards
 
MSA
2018-06-17
Skill
233914
SC
489/TAS
Point
70
EOI
2018-09-25
Nom.
2018-10-22
Inv.
2019-01-25
App.
2019-02-22
CO
2019-09-10
PCC
2019-02-03
HC
2019-03-14
Grant
2019-10-05
IED
2020-03-15

syedwahab14

Wanderer
Messages
13
Points
3
MSA
2018-10-02
Skill
233914
SC
189
Point
75
EOI
2018-10-02
Inv.
2018-11-11
App.
2018-12-04
CO
2019-03-07
PCC
2019-01-12
HC
2018-12-03
Grant
2019-03-07
IED
2019-12-07
Thank you @syedwahab14 for investing your time on this post. Your this effort will be helpful for many people.
I have 2 queries
1. At the time of skill assessment i sent my PTE score to EA through pearson website, Do i need to send it again after the lodgement of visa??
2. Polio vaccination certificate, Do every candidate need to submit that or only for people with special needs??

Regards

1. Yes, you need to send PTE scores to Department of Home Affairs, Australia for visa purposes if you havent sent it before.

2. I wanted to avoid CO contact and some people had reported that they were asked for polio vaccination certificate in CO contact so just to be on the safe side I uploaded that too.
 
MSA
2018-10-02
Skill
233914
SC
189
Point
75
EOI
2018-10-02
Inv.
2018-11-11
App.
2018-12-04
CO
2019-03-07
PCC
2019-01-12
HC
2018-12-03
Grant
2019-03-07
IED
2019-12-07
Thank you @syedwahab14 for investing your time on this post. Your this effort will be helpful for many people.
I have 2 queries
1. At the time of skill assessment i sent my PTE score to EA through pearson website, Do i need to send it again after the lodgement of visa??
2. Polio vaccination certificate, Do every candidate need to submit that or only for people with special needs??

Regards
You can always send your PTE score again if you wish, twice should be ok I guess, anything more could escalate. Polio vaccine depends on country of passport so if you have one, don’t hesitate to upload it.
 

TessDun

Wanderer
Messages
12
Points
1
Timeline missing
Thank you for sharing your PR journey. May I know what is your points for 189 under Engineering Technologist occupation? It seems there is a very small chance for 75 points nowadays to be invited based on the current trend of invites :(
 

syedwahab14

Wanderer
Messages
13
Points
3
MSA
2018-10-02
Skill
233914
SC
189
Point
75
EOI
2018-10-02
Inv.
2018-11-11
App.
2018-12-04
CO
2019-03-07
PCC
2019-01-12
HC
2018-12-03
Grant
2019-03-07
IED
2019-12-07
Thank you for sharing your PR journey. May I know what is your points for 189 under Engineering Technologist occupation? It seems there is a very small chance for 75 points nowadays to be invited based on the current trend of invites :(
I had 75 points.
Dont loose hope. The current backlog will most probably clear out at the start of the current fiscal year.
 
MSA
2018-10-02
Skill
233914
SC
189
Point
75
EOI
2018-10-02
Inv.
2018-11-11
App.
2018-12-04
CO
2019-03-07
PCC
2019-01-12
HC
2018-12-03
Grant
2019-03-07
IED
2019-12-07

TessDun

Wanderer
Messages
12
Points
1
Timeline missing
I had 75 points.
Dont loose hope. The current backlog will most probably clear out at the start of the current fiscal year.
I hope so too.,,If I am not mistaken, the last 75 pointers who were invited for Engineering Technologist occupation were those who have an EOI date of effect early in November 2018., so there is a lot of backlogs for this occupation. You are so blessed you applied earlier. I hope it is okay if I ask for your input if this is ever a practical thing to do. I am thinking of going for a student visa, probably regional for 10 points after 2 years. But after I finish my schooling my PTE exam would have been expired by then ( inevitable, no choice but to take again) and also, by the year I finish my points for experience will also decrease by 5 since one year was in year 2011. Is this a good idea? Student tuition fees are really costly but maybe I’d just cross the bridge when I get there. I am just trying to secure points in case I will not be invited in the next 2 years. Or am I just too pessimistic..? My apologies for these questions..
 

syedwahab14

Wanderer
Messages
13
Points
3
MSA
2018-10-02
Skill
233914
SC
189
Point
75
EOI
2018-10-02
Inv.
2018-11-11
App.
2018-12-04
CO
2019-03-07
PCC
2019-01-12
HC
2018-12-03
Grant
2019-03-07
IED
2019-12-07
I hope so too.,,If I am not mistaken, the last 75 pointers who were invited for Engineering Technologist occupation were those who have an EOI date of effect early in November 2018., so there is a lot of backlogs for this occupation. You are so blessed you applied earlier. I hope it is okay if I ask for your input if this is ever a practical thing to do. I am thinking of going for a student visa, probably regional for 10 points after 2 years. But after I finish my schooling my PTE exam would have been expired by then ( inevitable, no choice but to take again) and also, by the year I finish my points for experience will also decrease by 5 since one year was in year 2011. Is this a good idea? Student tuition fees are really costly but maybe I’d just cross the bridge when I get there. I am just trying to secure points in case I will not be invited in the next 2 years. Or am I just too pessimistic..? My apologies for these questions..
I dont think going for the student visa just because of the backlog is a good idea. In all likelihood this backlog will be cleared once the new fiscal year starts in July. Its the same every year i.e. during the latter part of the fiscal year they decrease the number of invites which creates a backlog.
Try with 75 points and put in your EoI. Wait at leasr till the end of the year. If you still dont get an invite, try increasing your points by NAATI. At 80 I think you will surely get an invitr
 
MSA
2018-10-02
Skill
233914
SC
189
Point
75
EOI
2018-10-02
Inv.
2018-11-11
App.
2018-12-04
CO
2019-03-07
PCC
2019-01-12
HC
2018-12-03
Grant
2019-03-07
IED
2019-12-07
I dont think going for the student visa just because of the backlog is a good idea. In all likelihood this backlog will be cleared once the new fiscal year starts in July. Its the same every year i.e. during the latter part of the fiscal year they decrease the number of invites which creates a backlog.
Try with 75 points and put in your EoI. Wait at leasr till the end of the year. If you still dont get an invite, try increasing your points by NAATI. At 80 I think you will surely get an invitr
one of my frend applied with telecom technican with 70 points on 25 march 2019 so what his chances to get invite
 

TessDun

Wanderer
Messages
12
Points
1
Timeline missing
I dont think going for the student visa just because of the backlog is a good idea. In all likelihood this backlog will be cleared once the new fiscal year starts in July. Its the same every year i.e. during the latter part of the fiscal year they decrease the number of invites which creates a backlog.
Try with 75 points and put in your EoI. Wait at leasr till the end of the year. If you still dont get an invite, try increasing your points by NAATI. At 80 I think you will surely get an invitr
Hello yes, , I have already taken the naati ccl exam and recieved a positive result last April. Also my PTE is maximum already, thus I have used all the options to increase my points. But I agree, I think waiting what will be the trend from July till the end of this year is a best thing to do. Thank you for your response.
 
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