I've been trying to pluck up the courage to post this all week, it's only tonight I feel able to. We applied for STNI from Victoria nearly 8 weeks ago, and on Tuesday, despite hubby being on their on demand list, we were rejected!!!
Apparently they rejected something like 70% of their most recent applicants and we were amongst the unlucky ones. They are prepared to look at it again for us if we get a job offer so that's where we're concentraing our efforts right now. However, we're realistic enough to know that the chances of getting something in what is apparently a saturated market without a visa are remote.
We're not giving up, but we are slowly coming to terms with the fact that moving to Oz might not happen.
So how do we feel? We feel broken hearted, like someone's died. I'm angry that we left it too late (by 2 months) to pbutt the point test, and I'm angry that Victoria say they want people with our skills and then say they think we're "unemployable" when we applied. Mostly, I'm just sad. I've dreamt of this for 14 years and I can't really describe how it feels to be losing it!
I've cried a lot this week, felt pretty depressed too. Had a shopping trip today which helped, but now I'm home and it's all feeling very real again.
I haven't even been able to watch anything Australian on the TV - the kids haven't even been allowed to watch the Wiggles.
I'm not leaving the forum, yet anyway!! We're going to keep trying so that even if we don't get a visa, we'll know we tried our best.
On the off chance, do any of you know of any decent Employment-Recruitment Agencies who are specialising in matching prospective immigrants in IT with employers? At this stage we're looking at Victoria (regional too) and WA.
Thanks everyone.
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