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
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.
Lessons learned
Cheers!
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
- PTE score to be sent online to Engineers Australia through PTE website.
- 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.
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.
- Passport and Secondary School Certificate (SSC/Grade 10) as evidence of date of birth
- PTE score report and correspondence from PTE confirming that my score report had been sent to Deptt. of Home Affairs, Australia
- Engineers Australia Skills Assessment
- Degree and Transcript of my degree against which EA assessment was done
- Photograph
- Form 80
- Tax Returns for entire period for which experience was claimed
- Pay slips covering almost the entire duration of employment. I could not find a few pay slips from my first job.
- Bank Statement showing the pay coming into my account.
- Experience Letter from my current employer on company letter head detailing my job responsibilities
- Statuary declaration from my manager detailing my responsibilities for my first job
- Employment contracts, promotion letters, Joining letters, offer letters
- Complete passport Scan showing all entry exit stamps
- Scans of all visas including evisas
- Polio vaccination certificate scan
- Police clearance, got one in September but didnt upload it. Got one again in January and uploaded that one.
Lessons learned
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Research, research, research. Cant stress this enough. Read other peoples experiences. You never know what you might have missed in your application.
- 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.
- 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.
Cheers!