GOIN TO OZ IN FEW DAYS - HELP PLEASE!!

smellybiker

Hi guys,

I've just applied for my oz yearly working visa. it's supposed to only take 48 hours and i was hoping to fly out monday - however, the company i'm dealing with say that there are a few delays - hs anyone applied for a visa recently that can tell me how long it took them?? the person i dealt with seemed very vague as to how long it would take!! i really want to fly out next week so i'm in urgent need of getting it asap.

also, this company has offered to open a bank account for me and they will wire through my cash - they say i need to have AU$5000 which with today's currency rates works out as €2500 - however, they are requesting €3200 - this seems like a total con job to me where they get to keep 700 euro - has anyone done this before?? am i better showing up at immigration with my bank statement or allowing this company to sort it for me!!

your help would be very greatly appreciated!!

Xavi6

Lol I very much doubt they will be conning you out of €700. They probably just don;t realise how much the exchange rate has changed. When I went over in 2007 all my travelling mates needed to have over €3000.

smellybiker

Xavi6 wrote: »

Lol I very much doubt they will be conning you out of €700. They probably just don;t realise how much the exchange rate has changed. When I went over in 2007 all my travelling mates needed to have over €3000.

so, did you have a company organise the transferral of your funds into an account that they set up or did you do it all yourself?? i'm just wondering which is best to do - to show up in the airport with money on you aswell as a bank statement or allow them to do it for you??

WOGGET

hmm its very late to sort out things at this stage. i got my visa through the australian government website directly, took about 5 working days to go through however.

after a bit of google searching i've also found out that you can open up a bank account with the commonwealth bank so you can transfer your money over - its gonna take another 5 days though!!

The_B_Man

lol it only takes a few days to get the visa, but im shocked ya left it this late to organise it!

i went with visafirst. they setup my bank account, tax file number and sorted my visa.

nobody will ask ya about the minimum money required, so unless we see ya on border patrol in a few weeks ya should be fine. in other words, unless customs sniffer dogs smell coke off ya, then they wont ask for ur details.

Xavi6

smellybiker wrote: »

so, did you have a company organise the transferral of your funds into an account that they set up or did you do it all yourself?? i'm just wondering which is best to do - to show up in the airport with money on you aswell as a bank statement or allow them to do it for you??

I'm afraid I can't help on that as I'm a citizen so didn't need to have any money in my account coming over.

irishecho

You don't need to use a migration agent to get a WH Visa. Best to go directly through the Oz govt site. Don't get duped by the additional offer of an Aussie sim and bank account. This will take you no-time once you land here. Have a look at Irish Down Under magazine which is available at Irish newsagents. Lots of good info.

redroar1942

Xavi6 wrote: »

Lol I very much doubt they will be conning you out of €700. They probably just don;t realise how much the exchange rate has changed. When I went over in 2007 all my travelling mates needed to have over €3000.

A company that specializes in Australian visas that doesn't know the current exchange rate !! I very much doubt it.

Ask them exactly what the Aus$3200 is for.

pucan

irishecho wrote: »

You don't need to use a migration agent to get a WH Visa. Best to go directly through the Oz govt site. Don't get duped by the additional offer of an Aussie sim and bank account. This will take you no-time once you land here. Have a look at Irish Down Under magazine which is available at Irish newsagents. Lots of good info.

Aaron? Do some work!

smellybiker

I too am going with Visa First (hope i can mention them!!). I've paid them 270 euro for a visa - working visa for a year - this also includes the option of it being extended after the year if i so wish!! They have offered as part of this package the sim card and the bank account with the withdrawal of funds - i need to ring them in the morning to talk about the funds and bank account info. I won't technically have the full amount required and that's why i'm rather worried that they may ask in the airport!! What happens to you if they do ask and you don't have the right funds anyhow???

I've left it this late as i lost my job last week and decided that there was no hope of getting employment here so decided to go - yeah it's all very rushed but i found good cheap flights and that's why i need visa asap...

The_B_Man

smellybiker wrote: »

I too am going with Visa First (hope i can mention them!!). I've paid them 270 euro for a visa - working visa for a year - this also includes the option of it being extended after the year if i so wish!! They have offered as part of this package the sim card and the bank account with the withdrawal of funds - i need to ring them in the morning to talk about the funds and bank account info. I won't technically have the full amount required and that's why i'm rather worried that they may ask in the airport!! What happens to you if they do ask and you don't have the right funds anyhow???

I've left it this late as i lost my job last week and decided that there was no hope of getting employment here so decided to go - yeah it's all very rushed but i found good cheap flights and that's why i need visa asap...

how do you mean the option of it being extended?

One Cold Hand

They rarely ask in the airport. They didn't ask me, or anyone I know.

Tell the visa company to take a hike with their Bank a/c and sim cards. All these things are p!ss takes. You can set up a bank a/c no bother when you get over. Forget about setting up an Aussie bank acocunt and transferring funds. Jut get a statement of your Irish acocunt in case they ask you in the airport (which they probably wont).
Buying a sim card is as easy as it is in Ireland. Can't believe people would pay someone else to set up their sim card. It takes literally 5 minutes in a vodafone shop.

One Cold Hand

The_B_Man wrote: »

how do you mean the option of it being extended?

They must have 'forgotten' to tell him that he need to pick fruit for 3 months!

irishecho

Visa First should not be offering you a second WH visa. You can only get it legitimately by doing three months work fruit picking of working in regional areas of Oz. Some try to scam it other ways ie by paying off a friendly farmer but the dept of immigration is onto this. People have been deported.

hussey

smellybiker wrote: »

I too am going with Visa First (hope i can mention them!!). I've paid them 270 euro for a visa - working visa for a year - this also includes the option of it being extended after the year if i so wish!! They have offered as part of this package the sim card and the bank account with the withdrawal of funds - i need to ring them in the morning to talk about the funds and bank account info. I won't technically have the full amount required and that's why i'm rather worried that they may ask in the airport!! What happens to you if they do ask and you don't have the right funds anyhow???

I've left it this late as i lost my job last week and decided that there was no hope of getting employment here so decided to go - yeah it's all very rushed but i found good cheap flights and that's why i need visa asap...

I am sorry, but they are having you on mate, you don't have any option of staying an extra year, I think they mean "if you qualify for the 2nd year visa" then this is included in the price, I can't believe someone actually paid $540 for a visa that costs $195 ...

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Homer: “Uh-huh.”
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Homer: “Lisa, I want to buy your rock…”

Xavi6

hussey wrote: »

Lisa: “By your logic, I could claim that this rock keeps tigers away.”
Homer: “Hmm; how does it work?”
Lisa: “It doesn’t work; it’s just a stupid rock!”
Homer: “Uh-huh.”
Lisa: “… but I don’t see any tigers around, do you?”
Homer: “Lisa, I want to buy your rock…”

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Doug: Volcano insurance!
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smellybiker

I know it's only a scam but they're the only company that offer to process it within a few days and since i wana go asap, i need them more than i'd like. i'm gona open my own oz bank account and not have them doing it. one more question though - should i bring all my dosh with me in dollars and travellers cheques and just lodge it as soon as i open an account or should i leave it in my irish account to transfer when i open an oz account...??

also, what exactly do i need to open an account over there??

infacta

all u need is your passport really to open the account if you start taking money from your irish account while in oz they do charge extra and you dont wana be loosing mun you dont have to the best thing to do is bring enuf cash to keep you going till you get to the bank and the rest in travellers cheques

JohnK

If its your first time in the country all you'll need is a passport to open the account but do it as soon as possible as I think you only have a limited window to use the passport only option. When I went I just had $2000 in cash and transferred the main bulk of my money electronically when I opened the account.

As for the visa, mine was approved in a matter of minutes using the oz embassy site so you're being taken for a ride with any company telling you you need to go through them.

Sim cards (vodafone prepay) can be picked up in almost any shop for about $2 and operate the same as here (ie, just get the topup code in nearly any shop)

eddiehobbs

smellybiker wrote: »

Hi guys,

I've just applied for my oz yearly working visa. it's supposed to only take 48 hours and i was hoping to fly out monday - however, the company i'm dealing with say that there are a few delays - hs anyone applied for a visa recently that can tell me how long it took them?? the person i dealt with seemed very vague as to how long it would take!! i really want to fly out next week so i'm in urgent need of getting it asap.

Dont want to frighten you or anything but the reason they're vague is because they cant guarantee how fast you'll get your visa. 48 hours is the best case scenario. Worst case scenario you could get selected to undertake a medical, involving a chest xray and bloodtest with a nominated doctor. Its a pain in the ass and you wont be seeing oz this side of xmas if that happens to you. It happened to me and took about 2 months between getting the tests done and sent off to be analysed and cleared.

bmcgrath

My brother applied for his WH visa through the Aus embassy online and had his visa within a week.....

I think those companies that try open banks, set up phones etc are just complete scams!

The_B_Man

ye i went thru them to open the bank account and all that. to be honest, if i did it again, I honestly wouldnt need them. THey're the travel version of accountants!

hussey

smellybiker wrote: »

I know it's only a scam but they're the only company that offer to process it within a few days and since i wana go asap,

They are not, if you apply online via the Oz government website you would have had it in 24-48hrs (avg)

(which is what visa first actually use) so you actually ended up slower

One Cold Hand

eddiehobbs wrote: »

Worst case scenario you could get selected to undertake a medical, involving a chest xray and bloodtest with a nominated doctor.

I'm pretty sure there's no medicals involved in applying for a WHV. I could be wrong of course.

hussey

One Cold Hand wrote: »

I'm pretty sure there's no medicals involved in applying for a WHV. I could be wrong of course.

they *may* request it, but again like the money in the account it is very rare
http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/417/eligibility-first.htm#b

smellybiker

heya guys, got my visa at lunch time today - no difficulty whatsoever. i was completely scammed as i've now learned of other ways to get visas quicker and cheaper - in my defense, this is the very first time that i'm travelling out of the country - very first long haul flight and doing all of this on my own i might add. i will however be reluctant to use the first company i come across like i did with visa first but it's done now and lesson learned. thanks to you guys for all your info (and harsh but very badly needed reality check on my part)!!

oh well, the naive will eventually learn (or so i hope)

One Cold Hand

Fair enough. Like the money in the account thing, I've never heard of anyone being asked this!

smellybiker

One Cold Hand wrote: »

Fair enough. Like the money in the account thing, I've never heard of anyone being asked this!

Well, it certainly made my head spin when they insisted i needed 3300 euro for 5000 oz dollars especially since i didn't have that much after paying for flights and overpriced visas! let's hope i'm not one of the unlucky ones that they do ask to see proof of!!

watna

smellybiker wrote: »

heya guys, got my visa at lunch time today - no difficulty whatsoever. i was completely scammed as i've now learned of other ways to get visas quicker and cheaper - in my defense, this is the very first time that i'm travelling out of the country - very first long haul flight and doing all of this on my own i might add. i will however be reluctant to use the first company i come across like i did with visa first but it's done now and lesson learned. thanks to you guys for all your info (and harsh but very badly needed reality check on my part)!!

oh well, the naive will eventually learn (or so i hope)

Well, it should give you some comfort that some other posters may read this thread and realise that it is cheaper and easier to apply for the visa yourself. Think of it as contributing positively to the world!

Anyone reading this who wants a WHV to NZ. I takes 15 minutes online, costs €65 and takes 3 days to process!

Smellybiker - if you're unsure at all about anything else when moving to Aus - you know where we are!

Ozeire

Hey Smelly

Normally should applied for the visa a few weeks in advance as you never know what might happen to dely it .

I guess if you've applied this won't help but you could apply online at

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/990i/working-holiday.htm

As to the bank account you could setup bank accounts with these banks .

Open An ANZ Account

Open A Commonwealth Account

Open A Westpac Account

Open A NAB Account

Then you could either transfer your money from an Irish Bank here to your account in Oz . Or even try transferring with PayPal .

Paypal accounts allow you to setup bank accounts with them that you can transfer money into . They have all the details on Paypal .

Sorry i know not much good to you now if you want to go next week.

As for showing up at immigrations with your bank statement shouldn't have to but can't hurt . Would have been an idea to have had a credit card was well.
All immigrations want to know is that can you support yourself for the time your in OZ . With you it'd not so bad because you'll have the right to work to supplement your income.

They're tougher on tourists getting into the country. They could be asked to show they have enough money to support their stay in Oz . They won't have the right to work to support them selves.

Anyway don’t panic.