Australian General Skilled Migration

google was what we did, really :)
[then, of course there's jlao.]

[sometime 2006]
1. Information on the Australian Skilled Migration can be found here.

[june 2006, ≈Php16k per person]
2. As IT professionals, skills are being certified by the Australian Computer Society.
Certification results take at least a month and have one year validity [meaning, you have to lodge your application before this certification expires.]

3. You can also check if your skill is in the Australian Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL).
[this is plus plus pogi points. 20 points i think.]

[february 2007, ≈Php9k per person]
4. IELTS. Just to be sure.
[make sure you review. borrow a reviewer. it would give you an idea how the exam would be like.]

[march 2007, ≈Php80k per application]
5. Lodging the application.
Ours was still paper-based. And documents needed to be notarized and application forms filled out by hand and sent to :

Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre (ASPC)
55 Currie Street
Adelaide SA 5000

However, online application is now available. [more earth-friendly too :)]

[may 2008]
6. When the wait's over.
A case officer would be contacting you and would be asking for a medical certification as well as a police clearance.

[≈Php8k per person]
Contact any one from the panel of doctors:
We went to:

Nationwide Health Systems, Inc
Makati Industrial Clinic
Medical Plaza Makati
Unit 905, 9th Floor
Amorsolo Street (corner Dela Rosa Street )
Makati City
Telephone/Fax: +63 (2) 810 0785
Doctor(s):
Dr Bernadette Carpio-Benitez
Dr Glenn B Benitez

[≈Php500 per person]
Police clearance is being issued by NBI. Indicate "For travel to Australia".

[june 2008, ≈Php320 for courier charges and ≈Php350 for cellphone charges]
7. Evidencing: Visa in your passport.

[july 2008, ≈Php25k per person]
8. Contact the International Organization For Migration for your migration ticketing needs.
We booked a Qantas flight and were given 40 kilos baggage allowance each as first time migrants.

Nitz Delarmente
IOM International Organization for Migration
24th Flr., Citibank Tower
8741 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City
Tel. No. 848-0083
Fax No. 848-1272

salty rainwater

*

she stared at the blades of grass moving helpessly with the wind outside the window that was beside her. she stared so closely, her view was interrupted ever so faithfully by blurry round objects that were the beads of the pulls of the window blinds.

it was a windy sunny day after a storm. and she had prayed that the boy she only sees in her dreams would love her back. but she was awake. and she was not loved back. she continued to stare blankly not knowing she would be meeting him at school the day after.

he was a slender boy. with an old man's eyes. he walked in her class gracefully determined. he seated himself in a chair where she would need to turn her head left very obviously.

they shared the same class every wednesday during that semester. she saw him and loved him more. she wasn't dreaming. loving him in her class was more liberating than loving him in her dreams. her eyes grew brighter each day, despite her years.

"i love you all my life." she said to the boy one stormy night. they were stuck in school because a storm hit their town without prior notice. he was looking at her. his eyes grew dimmer, light fading. he pitied her, that's all. he opened his mouth way too late. her time ran out. unrequited love. she became a pillar of salt. the rain washed what remained of her away.

bash-ing

it is already midyear-ish and almost my birthday too.

yesterday, at church, lem and i made an announcement that we would be leaving for sydney this coming august. ah, that sealed the plans, "officially". for me at least. yes i know that sydney is waiting (we were the ones who applied to get there in the first place), but having been granted a visa 3 weeks ago, made me more hesitant and nostalgic than excited. now, that announcement was the first step. i better start prepare.

yesterday was also the first time i stood in front of the congregation to share what i have been learning lately. dcbc (diliman campus bible church) holds an agape meal every first sunday of every month. and birthday celebrants are encouraged to share things they want to thank God for.

i am more than thankful. my cup is overflowing.

here's the notes i scribbled:

* thankful of God's love:
- never easy, but also never letting go; knows when to withhold and when to give; and He only has good, my good, in His mind
- He spurs me to do likewise, but not without tangible glimpses:
> thankful for lem, whose love is consistent
> thankful for the family, whose love is giving
> thankful for the dcbc community, whose love encourages me to grow more in the knowledge of the God i profess to believe in

* thankful for God's grace
- i have been more unloving than loving yet
- i am often spared from the consequences of the unloving parts
- i have learned too that whether i labor or rest, God is sovereign

* thankful that as i look back the past 29 years, (i'd be 29 in 2 days time), God worked, so that i may delight in Him and Him alone. He uses anything and everything (everything in this earthly life i have is only incidental) to becoming wholly His.

in college, i have i read this from the book of Jeremiah and i continue to hold on to this promise.
38 They will be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.