Going home

We decided to head back home next month. Yeah, just like that.

It was a life-changing journey to Australia that we enjoyed greatly and that gave us so many insights and new angles that we couldn’t possibly have otherwise. Our decision is based on that living here doesn’t align with our personal plans very well. We figured that more than everything we love our families and immensely value their support network.

The other reason is that even though the life is more structured here, the financial well-being is way harder to achieve. Technically speaking, we had a serious downgrade on multiple fronts, and figured all the trouble of settling in a new world is not worth it. Don’t take me wrong, Australia is amazing. It’s that in our particular case we have some better options.

We have our tickets and depart on June 24. Now comes the time of selling our newly purchased stuff — furniture, kitchen and laundry equipment, the car. I will be posting listings shortly. Drop me a line if you are interested in seeing what’s on offer.

Wish us luck!

Moved

Yay! We’ve finally moved. I know it’s been a while since my last update and a while since the arrival (Dec 14), but believe me, we were busy. I’ll be posting interesting bits of info to this blog a bit more often after we resolve the question with the house to rent and the broadband. I promise. At the moment, we are taking pictures and making notes for the future posts.

Australia is awesome!

Driving licenses

Finally, after the month and a half of sheer hell with early rising and spending daylight hours at school I can cross out my next to-do list item — “Get the driving licenses”. Done. Period.

It was  fun, useful and everything, but boy, I’m exhausted. Kate can speak for herself, but it’s been a long time since I felt the relief like the one when I got my shiny new plastic license through a tiny window in a wall yesterday night.

The show must go on, and we decided to take extra practical driving classes to stay in good shape until the landing on the other side. There’s nothing worse than forgetting all that hardly earned. I believe it’s a good thing. It isn’t expensive, fun and streams more and more confidence into us each time.

Love driving!

Moving progress update

It looks like a great time for some updates. All looks good so far. We spend almost all our time at driving school. Answering a reasonable question why on Earth would we need Ukrainian driving licenses if we move to Australia, it is somewhat complicated, but long story short, it would give us serious benefits on the other side of the pond. Instead of walking the license acquisition road from the Learner permit to the Full permit through years of probation, we cut a couple of corners and get through much faster. Final tests are scheduled on December 3, so we have plenty of time to become professional drivers.

By the way, we already have our plane tickets. On December 12 we fly to Moscow to stay there through the night at our friends’ and continue our journey the next day. From Moscow we fly to Abu-Dhabi on December 13 and then to Melbourne — our final destination. The journey takes about 30 hours, which is our personal record so far.

In Melbourne we plan to stay at Formule 1 Hotel on (97-103 Elizabeth Street). Just today Kate’s booked 12 days there online for a very reasonable price given the location – CBD – and room configuration.

There’s plenty of work to do ahead in Melbourne, but we hope to find a nice apartment relatively fast and move there within those two weeks. Our vacation will last for a couple of months. We plan to spend it exploring the area and making ourselves comfortable with our new Home.

Visa Granted

The wait is finally over. We now have our visas officially GRANTED!

It was a long and nerve-racking road, but now it’s over. I’m flying to Moscow soon to stamp our visas into passports and we start packing. While packing we plan on getting our driving licenses to simplify the process of acquiring them in AU afterwards. It’s much easier this way.

Visa progress update

It’s time for another update on our Australian Visa progress. It’s been a long way and we managed to pass through the last phase after which we just have to passively wait for the final verdict.

As you know from my previous post, we had our medical examinations and police clearance pending. Police clearance for both of us was ready last Friday without any hitches, while medical exams that we scheduled on September 1 were quite a trip.

To start with, Kate got sick 3 weeks before the tests, swallowed antibiotics, yogurts, and a ton of other pills days after days for a week and a half. Now can you imagine that right after she recovered, I got started with the same thing, and that’s a week and a half away from final tests that we can’t reschedule. (28 short days for everything.) I started on heavier antibiotics and cured myself, but killed my microflora which turned my tongue acid yellow by heavy dysbacteriosis. No way a doctor could say I’m in good shape should I open my mouth. But that was far from the only problem as it appeared.

We booked the checks for 11:45 AM in Kiev, and had to fly there on the first plane from Simferopol at 7:15 AM. To make that happen, we needed to get up at 2 AM and head out at 4 AM. Thanks to Kate’s parents, who picked us and drove to the airport, we made it in time, yet only to find our flight delayed until 10:40 AM. That’s three and a half hours, for Christ sakes! It meant we are going to miss all the fun and there’s nothing else we can do. Air company refused to look for any options and said that the only way is to wait.

Kate negotiated with the medical center and managed to carve out 45 minutes more, and thanks to the taxi driver, who stayed in the 130 km/hr lane all the way from the airport to the city center, we made it there in time and took all the necessary tests in the next 3 hours. All checks were impressively thorough and now it’s clear why it’s the only authorized center in the whole country that is trusted by Australian, American and Canadian immigration offices. It’s well equipped and top notch in every respect.

So, we passed the tests almost perfectly. There were slight deviations from the norm I guess. My blood tests and some Kate’s tests were still pending when we left. They promised to call should there be something wrong, but no one ever came back to us, so we happily assume it’s all chocolate.

Now we have to wait again. The results will be forwarded to the Health Operations Centre (Sydney) for the review. They will contact our officer to let him make the final decision. I personally don’t see a single reason why wouldn’t they grant a visa, but let’s wait and see. There’s no fixed time frame for this phase, but usually it takes 7 to 40 days. In the meantime the work is boiling around us, so we aren’t bored.

Skilled Employment check is history

Yesterday was huge. One of the checks our immigration officer needs to perform (the most important and decisive) is the skilled employment check. They need to know if I really was employed as I claim during the period of two years right before the application date. To prove that I was given a choice to provide contracts and agreements, pay slips, bank statements, or any other documentation that conforms my paid full-time employment.

Thanks to Pito and Kate we managed to collect in one (!) day just enough evidence to prove that I had skilled paid employment during the period and finalize the check. Thanks guys!

Today I’m getting my military training certificate back from the translations office, filling the form 80 and sending it all over to my case officer. Right after that, the only thing we need to do is to pass our medical examinations in Kiev. Which is tough actually, since Kate is not in her best shape right now. We are delaying the checks for one and a half weeks to let her recover.

Got our AU Visa officer

This morning I had great news in my mailbox. They finally assigned an officer to my visa application case. After 18 months of waiting we are on the final straight. The officer requested additional documentation that I have to provide within 28 days. After we send everything over to him, the case will be reviewed once again and the final decision is made.

Our next step is a journey to Kiev to pass medical examinations. According to the regulations, we have to pass them at a certified center that will seal the results and send them to the ASPC all by themselves. Security measures.

Now we have mixed feelings… On one hand, we waited so long that we are glad it’s getting somewhere, on the other, we were very close to settling down over here and almost bought and apartment. That could have been an unpleasant surprise. That’s for sure.

Anyway, all is good!

AU Immigration Slowed Down

According to the latest reports from ASPC (Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre), we are stuck. Period.

Back in July 2007, there was a regulations change looming on the horizon. The changes that raised the threshold to sift through the stream of newcomers to the country. They raised the minimum required level of language skills and did some other changes which all together pushed the procrastinating masses to finally getting with their spirits and submitting applications while they still have a chance. As the result, the processing center was buried under the mile-high layer of paper.

Today all rescue forces in the country are mobilized for digging the staff out. While the works are still in progress, the crew handles the paperwork heroically, reporting their progress currently at August 3, 2007. Last week they were doing August 2 and the week before it was August 1. Given the steady tempo, there’s approximately 30 weeks (half a year?) ahead to finish the August, but then I doubt people stopped sending their papers in September even if they no longer were a match. So stupid hoping some human beings are.

It sounds like there’s still a long wait to go…

Australian Values Statement

Since 15 October 2007, if you apply for visa, you need to sign the Australian Values Statement to acknowledge that you understand and appreciate the values, way of life and laws of Australia. It’s mandatory now and you can’t get an approval without it.

To give you all necessary facts and figures, they issued a 40-page book called Life in Australia. On its colorful and well-designed pages you learn many curious geographical and lifestyle facts. I only quickly skimmed through it, but my immediate impression was that it is a great and entertaining read.

Here you can learn more about the statement, the procedure and download the book itself. You can also order a printed version on some languages, and they promise to release an audio version soon.

Interesting, hah!