The Conclusion of Our Journey

A real and honest account of taking charge of the Permanent Residency process in Australia. Faced with challenges, delays, and uncertainty, we navigated every step - relying on research, resilience, and each other. This is the story of how determination and teamwork made a dream come true.

The Decision to Go It Alone

When it came time to apply for our Permanent Residency, we stood at a crossroads - should we go through a migration agent again or do it ourselves?

We’d worked with agents before. Honestly, we ended up doing most of the work anyway. We were the ones gathering documents, meeting deadlines, filling out forms, while they simply uploaded what we gave them. It felt frustrating and hollow.

This time, we made a bold call: we’ll do it ourselves. No middlemen. No hand-holding. Just us, our determination, and a shared dream.

We stayed up after the kids went to sleep, reading government pages, forums, and watching YouTube guides. It was overwhelming at first, but each small win - understanding a clause, finding the right document - gave us confidence. Slowly, we started to believe: we can really do this.

Our first outing to the city - March 2020.

The Application Rollercoaster

We submitted our EOI on 26 August 2024 with exactly 70 points - the minimum required for Early Childhood Teachers. We were right on the edge. That made everything feel even more fragile.

We had barely 70 points - just enough to be eligible. We got 15 points for age, as we were in the 40-44 bracket. I retook the PTE and scored a perfect 90, which gave us 20 points for English. My Master’s degree added another 15 points. Since I had more than two years (but less than three) of relevant work experience in the nominated field, we got 5 points there. Studying in Australia gave us another 5 points, and my wife added 5 more by meeting the English requirement through her PTE. Finally, the Victorian State Nomination gave us the last 5 points we needed to reach the cutoff.

We’d booked the NAATI CCL test hoping for extra points, but the test date was too far away, so we cancelled and got some of the money back.

Then, on 5 September, we applied for a Victorian State Nomination. We weren’t expecting anything soon, but just four days later, we were invited to submit documents and sign a declaration. It all started moving fast - shockingly fast.

By 7 October, we had our formal invitation for the 190 visa. We were overjoyed - but scared too. It was getting real.

We had all our documents ready. We triple-checked everything and submitted the full visa application on 21 October. We also did our medicals within the same week. Everything seemed smooth... until it wasn’t.

The shocked face on our first outing

Stress, Setbacks, and Hope

Two days after submitting the visa, we received a s56 request - a small error in our son’s documents. It was just a missing signature and passport copy. Thankfully, it was a quick fix, but the fear it triggered? That stayed.

Weeks passed, and just when we started feeling hopeful again, the dreaded s57 Natural Justice letter arrived in January.

This wasn’t a simple request. This was serious. A wrong phone number - an old Bhutan Telecom number - had caused a case officer to question part of our story. That moment felt like the floor had dropped from under us.

We sat together, exhausted but focused, and wrote a detailed explanation. We submitted new documents, fixed the forms, and added proof of everything we could think of. It was emotionally draining. But we did it.

Then came silence. For 40 long days.

Finally, on 25 February, we heard that the Australian Embassy in New Delhi had contacted Bumthang Bhutan to confirm our story. That moment gave us a sliver of hope again - someone was checking. That had to mean something.

2025 at Highpoint Shopping Centre

A New Beginning

It was 18 March 2025. Just a regular morning tea break at work.

I checked my phone and saw four emails from IMMI.

My hands were shaking. I opened one.

Visa Granted!

I froze. Then cried.

I rang my wife. “Sit down,” I told her. “We got it.”

That moment - the joy, the disbelief, the relief - we’ll never forget it.

From start to finish, it took 149 days from visa lodgment to grant. But it felt like a lifetime. We gave everything we had - time, energy, emotion, even faith. We prayed, offered butter lamps, talked to monks and astrologers. We did everything in our power, and more.

But what got us through was us. Our teamwork, our patience, our hope.

We’re now Permanent Residents of Australia.

And the best part? We did it ourselves.

At Lightscape light shows 2025