We finally got it!

We finally received the grant email on 18th December. I actually called LCU twice. The first call says U's meds was finalized and mine is still under assessment (10th December). The second call on Monday morning (17th December) tells us that mine has finalized too. I think this was the last piece of information the CO is waiting to make the final decision. Such a relief now! Well, it's a wonderful christmas gift for us. :)

IELTS results

I forgot to mention our IELTS journey:
15th November 2007 - We took IELTS listening, reading & writing tests.
19th November 2007 - We took IELTS listening test.
29th November 2007 - We received the IELTS results. My average was 6.5 while U's average was 8. I thought I was poor and prepared to take the Adult Migrant English Programme (AMEP). Well, it seems that I'm disqualified from taking then.











By the way, to establish an expectation on the listening test results, our Listening practice tests were scored around 26/40 to 38/40 on numerous practice tests, and didn't seem to improve by doing more tests. So if you are scoring the same range in practicing, you are most probably good.

Medicals Check-up

We have had completed medical checkups on 29th October. It took the Clinics for 2 weeks to finally post it on last Friday, 9th November. Yeah, the reports has arrived safely to LCU today! Let's just cross fingers to see how long it takes to clear LCU.

Case officer assigned

Finally, our application has been assigned a CO @ 18/Oct/2007. We are required to furnish IELTS results, police clearance certificates and medical checkups. We spent a week to complete the p/c and m/c, now left the IELTS exam which is coming in two weeks. We are pretty excited and nervous because it is liked bringing us back to schooling days for exam preparation. While preparing for the IELTS exam, I'm just thinking why not I share our application experience and jot down the thoughts and findings for people who are like-minded and in the progress of the same? Perhaps you may find it useful and share yours to this blog. :)

Important dates of our application

16th June 2006 - My ACS acknowledgement letter received (email).
18th July 2006 - My skills assessed by ACS - ASCO code: 2231-15 (letter). We found that U's occupation is in MODL list. We decided to have U's skill being assessed.
7th Nov 2006 - My ACS acknowledgement letter received (email).
10th January 2007 - M's skills assessed by ACS - ASCO code: 2231-79. However, the letter is lost. We received nothing after the online status has been updated as "Case finalized". We found it out only several weeks later until we faxed a letter to ACS for clarification. Poor thing.
mid/late Febrary 2007 - Received U's skills assessment letter.
8th March 2007 - Application received at ASPC (Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre)
30th April 2007 - ASPC Acknowledgement letter received (email)
18th October 2007 - ASPC Case Officer assigned (email) - Request for do m/c, p/c, ielts results.