RSMS 119 Visa Costs

[Chris&Mel]

I have not long since received my visa grant letter and I thought while I still have the figures in my head share my costs with anyone who wishes to read this thread. I can remember back to when we first started the whole process and wanting to have this kind of information available to us so that we could budget our finances accordingly. Being the kind of person I am, I was forever reading up on how much the whole journey about to be undertaken would cost. I wanted to be able to plan for the whole event, in fact I just love to plan ahead (kind of an OCD thingy). I do realise every case is unique and would like to point out that this information should only be used as a rough estimate, but hopefully it will provide a useful starting point for someone looking to maybe make the move in the future.

Background of application

I was granted my RSMS 119 visa in November 2011 which entitled permanent residency for myself, my wife and two children, both under 16 years of age. It should also be noted that included in the application was a none migrating dependant (aged 16) as this did contribute on the overall costs, particularly medicals and police checks.

My visa application started with the intention of pursing the GSM (General Skilled Migration) route back in January 2011. In doing so I needed to lodge a Competency Demonstration Report to Engineers Australia and I had booked an IELTS test which are also included in the costs although were not needed for the RSMS route.

I should also make you aware that our visa and nomination by the employer were non-DRC. At first we were looking to use an RMA but decided to DIY the application. After studying the forms and looking at the process we felt we didn’t need the use of an RMA. In hindsight we were a straight forward application (no hidden skeletons or messy custody battles etc) and we also wanted to save money. If we had the money spare we probably would have used one.

Costs and payments associated with visa application

Initial Consultation with RMA^[1] £100.00

Engineers Australia (EA) CDR £360.00

Postage to Engineers Australia (twice)^[2] £70.00

Certifying Documents for EA^[3] £75.00

IELTS test £120.00

Visa Application^[4] £1215.00

Certifying Documents for DIAC^[5] £75.00

Postage to DIAC^[6] £35.00

Police checks^[7] £120.00

Medicals^[8] £930.00

Total £3100.00

^[1] Initial consultation with RMA, money well spent although we decided later on that we could manage the application ourselves after they were a reluctant to get caught up in RSMS applications preferring to specialise in GSM applications.

^{[2] [6]} For each occasion when sending documents to Australia we used DHL. I found their service was the cheapest but I was very satisfied with the tracking system provided and the time taken for delivery (normally 2/3 working days).

^{[3] [5]} Use of a solicitor from a local small practice to certify documents. Phoned a number of practices and found most did not provide the service. Probably would have been able to get them done cheaper in one go but at the time we were not fully aware of which documents were needed later on in the application (we were taking one step at a time). Worth also noting that we probably went a little overboard with the amount of documents we got certified as we didn’t want the CO coming back asking for further documentation.

^[4] Visa application charge at time of submittal; 12 October 2011.

^[7] Police checks included two original certificates as this was cheaper than getting them certified and sent on to DIAC, this was also explained in my covering letter to DIAC as they do not like to receive originals.

^[8] Medicals included two adults, one non migrating dependant aged 16 and two children aged 9 and 5.

Additional information

We obtained quotes from a number of RMA’s for the whole application which ranged between £2000 and £7000. The RMA we were considering using allowed payments to be made in stages so you were not stumped with paying a full fee up-front. They also happened to be the cheapest although this was not the reason for our preference on using them.