Australian Skilled Migration Visa - Megathread

Timistry · 18-08-2014 12:58am

Soooo I got a phone call from my agent on Friday afternoon saying that my Visa has been granted and congratulations, I am now a permanent resident of Australia

It was a huge weight off my shoulders and all the time and money I invested in the process finally paid off.

Not being on a 457 anymore is so liberating. I can apply for any jobs I like now and quit without fear of visa issues haha! I have been thinking about going back home sometime next year to give it a now now that I have experiance so at least I have a definitive plan B in place now.

digiman · 18-08-2014 11:07am

Timistry wrote: »

Soooo I got a phone call from my agent on Friday afternoon saying that my Visa has been granted and congratulations, I am now a permanent resident of Australia It was a huge weight off my shoulders and all the time and money I invested in the process finally paid off.

Not being on a 457 anymore is so liberating. I can apply for any jobs I like now and quit without fear of visa issues haha! I have been thinking about going back home sometime next year to give it a now now that I have experiance so at least I have a definitive plan B in place now.

Congrats, how long did it take for you since you submitted your visa?

Timistry · 19-08-2014 12:50am

4 months Digiman. The agent was saying 5-6 months but I guess that was to keep me off their back ha ha!

Sundy · 20-08-2014 9:03am

Hey guys, need some advice here.

I just got my birth cert sent out from home to upload for my PR and now I've noticed it doesn't match the place of birth in my passport which I've being using all along.
Passport says county parents lived in and birth cert says county of birth.

Is this likely to cause me issues?

Thargor · 20-08-2014 2:33pm

Do Pharma/Biotech degrees qualify you for the Australian skills visa?

vibe666 · 20-08-2014 9:25pm

did anyone do the IELTS English exam for extra points?

can't help but feel it's designed to weed out non-native english speakers as a lot of the questions could be considered very ambiguous to their meaning.

didn't get my results yet, but in all honesty it seems like a bit of a money racket to me.

NZ_2014 · 20-08-2014 9:34pm

vibe666 wrote: »

did anyone do the IELTS English exam for extra points?

can't help but feel it's designed to weed out non-native english speakers as a lot of the questions could be considered very ambiguous to their meaning.

didn't get my results yet, but in all honesty it seems like a bit of a money racket to me.

Does the training material not prepare you for it?

vibe666 · 20-08-2014 10:31pm

NZ_2014 wrote: »

Does the training material not prepare you for it?

to a degree, but that wasn't my point.

i didn't have any problems with it (i.e. I managed) but there were a lot of questions where I was very grateful that English was my first language.

Sundy · 21-08-2014 2:32am

vibe666 wrote: »

did anyone do the IELTS English exam for extra points?

can't help but feel it's designed to weed out non-native english speakers as a lot of the questions could be considered very ambiguous to their meaning.

didn't get my results yet, but in all honesty it seems like a bit of a money racket to me.

Yeah I did it. A complete money racket if you ask me, its a real know how the marking scheme works kind of test rather than an actual English competency test.

Also if you don't get the right mark in one section you have to repeat the whole test. It's a scam but an easy 20 points for native English speakers.

irishmover · 21-08-2014 3:09am

Sundy wrote: »

Yeah I did it. A complete money racket if you ask me, its a real know how the marking scheme works kind of test rather than an actual English competency test.

Also if you don't get the right mark in one section you have to repeat the whole test. It's a scam but an easy 20 points for native English speakers.

The written part is nonsense.

Lucifer-0 · 22-08-2014 2:11pm

Are you supposed to do the English test before submitting the expression of interest?

I completed the EOI for a 189 and I have 45 points. For some reason I thought you do the English test after the EOI.

Should I suspend the EOI, take the English test and resubmit the EOI?

niterain84 · 22-08-2014 4:43pm

Lucifer-0 wrote: »

Are you supposed to do the English test before submitting the expression of interest?

I completed the EOI for a 189 and I have 45 points. For some reason I thought you do the English test after the EOI.

Should I suspend the EOI, take the English test and resubmit the EOI?

you need minimum 60 points to lodge EOI. 45 points wont get you anywhere. do the english test first

JR1210 · 26-08-2014 10:07pm

I just got the Visa granted, was a pretty simple process
It took me over a year but you can really speed it up by doing everything at once
I did the IELTS in July 2013 (there is about a 2 month waiting list in UCD), once I received the results I submitted the Skills Assessment (ACS) in August 2013, got the results 21st November
Submitted the application the 11th of February and got someone assigned from Adelaide team 4 about 2 weeks later
Was just gathering info after that and waiting for my defacto partner to do her IELTS as she is not from Ireland, she was sick so had to rebook it again, once she got her exam we got visa granted a week later
Its an easy process for anyone that wants to do it by themselves. To do it quick you should queue up the IELTS, Skills Assessment, 6 months bank statements, work references, police clearance, birth cert, fill out form 80, get them all signed by the police and ready for upload
Now I have 6 months to enter

vibe666 · 29-08-2014 3:53pm

Sundy wrote: »

Yeah I did it. A complete money racket if you ask me, its a real know how the marking scheme works kind of test rather than an actual English competency test.

Also if you don't get the right mark in one section you have to repeat the whole test. It's a scam but an easy 20 points for native English speakers.

you'd think so, although I just got my results, which were fine overall but mysteriously I'm half a point short of the required pass mark in reading, which if you'd asked me right after I did the test, was one of my strongest areas, with the writing being my weakest.

money grabbing feckers.

Listening: 8.5
Reading: 7.5
Writing: 8.0
Speaking: 9.0
Overall: 8.5

of course i'd anticipated the 'only just' fail and i had another one already booked in for next month, but it's still very annoying knowing that i should have passed and having them dicking me around to give them a bit of extra revenue for their money making scheme.

wet sand · 06-09-2014 3:17pm

Hi all,

I was at the Croke Park jobs expo today and I spoke to a lady about moving to Canada. I told her I have a Law Degree without work experience. She told me I would be better off going to Australia since I would qualify for the skilled migration visa.

I have considered moving to Australia under the skilled migration visa but I was certain I didn't qualify under the criteria. I have used up the 1 year visa almost 9 years ago so that option is out.

Is the lady right in saying I qualify for the migration visa with just a Law Degree?
She is Australian herself.

Thanks

wet sand · 06-09-2014 6:08pm

It's ok. I found out.

The program says you need a minimum of 65 points. I get 30 for my age, 15 for a bachelors and a further 10/20 for the English language test. Provided I pass the 'Superior' English requirement I should get 20 points giving me the 65 points requirement.

Does anyone have any idea how difficult the English Language Test is?

niterain84 · 06-09-2014 9:17pm

wet sand wrote: »

It's ok. I found out.

The program says you need a minimum of 65 points. I get 30 for my age, 15 for a bachelors and a further 10/20 for the English language test. Provided I pass the 'Superior' English requirement I should get 20 points giving me the 65 points requirement.

Does anyone have any idea how difficult the English Language Test is?

60 points is the minimum not 65.

I done the Ielts test and got the 20 points. you need to study a bit for it. look at past tests. theres plenty of research material on the net. its not a matter of just turning up and doing it. you obviously know english but u need to study to know exactly what answers they are looking for. you can do it with a bit of preparation

but first of all you should research how to get a skills assesment for your law degree. you need to make sure you can get this before doing the ielts.

good luck

irishmover · 06-09-2014 11:40pm

Before paying for anything look into the skills assessment for Law.

A friend of mine is a barrister in Ireland and said he'd almost need to spend another few years in Uni in Australia in order to get up to speed with the laws out here as the degree he has is really only useful in Ireland.

I suggest investigating the requirements of the skills assessment. Without being able to get that the 60 points are worthless.

Here's about the best possible answer you'll get in regards the above.

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/211160-solicitor-applying-visa-189-skills-assessment.html

Looks like it's among the most difficult professions to have to get a 189. Best of luck with it.

NZ_2014 · 07-09-2014 7:47pm

If you got a positive skills assessment (which lasts for two years) for one career, say a construction professional which is on the 189 list, and now you actually work in IT, would this raise any flags on an EOI?

digiman · 08-09-2014 12:33pm

I think I have all my documentation now, have Medical done, Australian and Irish Police checks back. Have my birthcert, passport and degree all with me, I just need to get them certified.

Have a few questions about uploading of some of the other things.

Qualifications - Overseas, Evidence of

Provide evidence of your overseas qualifications. This may include a certified copy of your academic transcripts, educational certificate (degree, diploma etc) or letter/statement from your overseas education institution.

For these, have people uploaded the main degree certificate and also the 4-5 pages of transcripts?

Work Experience - Overseas, Evidence of

Have people uploaded references from all your employers or just the one?

I've got my fiancee on mine as a de-facto, they mention to Provide evidence of your relationship with your spouse/de facto partner. This may include a certified copy of your marriage certificate, family book, household booklet or family composition evidence.

What evidence do people upload for this? We have lived together in Ireland and Sydney and have bills etc at the same address. I can show photos, flights taken together. Am I on the right track here? What else should I be uploading to this section?

vibe666 · 08-09-2014 1:22pm

NZ_2014 wrote: »

If you got a positive skills assessment (which lasts for two years) for one career, say a construction professional which is on the 189 list, and now you actually work in IT, would this raise any flags on an EOI?

from what I've been told by the people we're submitting my application through, what gets you into the country on your skills assessment and what job you actually get when you get there don't actually matter as once you're in 'you're in' so to speak. as long as you can afford to support yourself and your family (if you have one) it doesn't matter what you're doing for work as long as it's legal.

Young Blood · 08-09-2014 5:44pm

digiman wrote: »

Work Experience - Overseas, Evidence of

Have people uploaded references from all your employers or just the one?

This depends on whether or not the employment experience will get you 'points' as far as your application is concerned.

Mellor · 09-09-2014 1:05am

vibe666 wrote: »

from what I've been told by the people we're submitting my application through, what gets you into the country on your skills assessment and what job you actually get when you get there don't actually matter as once you're in 'you're in' so to speak.

I don't think he was talkig nabout a job after he gets in.
I read it that he got a positive skills assessment within the last 2 years (construction), but since then has been working in IT. He hasn't yet applied and is wondering would this be a flag, as he needs to provide full employment history.

niterain84 · 10-09-2014 8:34am

I have just been granted my 189 Permanent Residency Visa today. I lodged it myself without an agent on June 13th. Its such a relief to finally have it....

irishmover · 10-09-2014 8:49am

niterain84 wrote: »

I have just been granted my 189 Permanent Residency Visa today. I lodged it myself without an agent on June 13th. Its such a relief to finally have it....

Congrats. Wasn't hard without an agent eh?:)

digiman · 10-09-2014 9:41am

niterain84 wrote: »

I have just been granted my 189 Permanent Residency Visa today. I lodged it myself without an agent on June 13th. Its such a relief to finally have it....

Congrats, did you have a de-facto on your Visa by any chance? Looking for some advice on what documents to upload to show that she is my defacto.

niterain84 · 10-09-2014 8:57pm

irishmover wrote: »

Congrats. Wasn't hard without an agent eh?:)

No, it wasnt hard. Much cheaper too

digiman wrote: »

Congrats, did you have a de-facto on your Visa by any chance? Looking for some advice on what documents to upload to show that she is my defacto.

I am married so I just submitted my marriage certificate and that was all they wanted.

Im not sure what the de facto requirements are. The only advice i can give is , Dont listen to pub talk. I heard so much ****e from people that thought they knew it all and turned out to be wrong about a lot of the info.

All the info you need is on the official Australia Dept of Immigration website. Its the most reliable place to get all your info. I followed everything there and it worked out for me.

Good Luck with it

aido79 · 11-09-2014 12:40am

niterain84 wrote: »

No, it wasnt hard. Much cheaper too

I am married so I just submitted my marriage certificate and that was all they wanted.

Im not sure what the de facto requirements are. The only advice i can give is , Dont listen to pub talk. I heard so much ****e from people that thought they knew it all and turned out to be wrong about a lot of the info.

All the info you need is on the official Australia Dept of Immigration website. Its the most reliable place to get all your info. I followed everything there and it worked out for me.

Good Luck with it

congrats. Fair play to you for doing it without an agent. I just wish more people would take thid approach and do their research rather than listening to all the amateur migration agents in the pubs and construction sites. If people really want to live and work and in most cases earn a hell of alot more than money than they would in Ireland then they should be willing to spend a little bit less time on Facebook and a little bit more time on the immigration website and get the correct info.

T-K-O · 19-09-2014 5:56pm

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone can answer my question, google has failed me.

If I apply for a 189 when I am 32 (gain the extra points) at what stage will I be penalised for turning 33?

Cheers

niterain84 · 19-09-2014 9:15pm

T-K-O wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm hoping someone can answer my question, google has failed me.

If I apply for a 189 when I am 32 (gain the extra points) at what stage will I be penalised for turning 33?

Cheers

When you receive the invitation to apply then your EOI is locked. This is the moment dept of immi will assess your case from. you have 2 months to lodge visa after you have received the invitation.

so if for example you turn 33 within these 2 months it doesnt matter as immi assess your application based on the date you received the invitation to apply.

good luck

T-K-O · 20-09-2014 7:47am

niterain84 wrote: »

When you receive the invitation to apply then your EOI is locked. This is the moment dept of immi will assess your case from. you have 2 months to lodge visa after you have received the invitation.

so if for example you turn 33 within these 2 months it doesnt matter as immi assess your application based on the date you received the invitation to apply.

good luck

I've searched high and low, thanks for that.

Caveman1 · 23-09-2014 7:06am

Hey guys sorry for hijacking,

Posting on behalf of my girlfriend, we're both in Australia at the moment on a WHV, she's a qualified pre school teacher with 3 years experience, she's 27. At the moment shes looking at applying for the 189 and I'll go as defacto as her profession is on the skilled list.

Just a bit clueless as to how the whole thing works, I was told that by using an immigration agent it's just wasting money, so it it easy to do the whole process without one ? Also how much would it cost if you were granted the visa ?

We have 8 months left on our current visa so I suppose we have some time but generally how long does it take from start to finish once you register your EOI ?
We're living in Victoria if that makes a difference.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

niterain84 · 23-09-2014 9:10am

Caveman1 wrote: »

Hey guys sorry for hijacking,

Posting on behalf of my girlfriend, we're both in Australia at the moment on a WHV, she's a qualified pre school teacher with 3 years experience, she's 27. At the moment shes looking at applying for the 189 and I'll go as defacto as her profession is on the skilled list.

Just a bit clueless as to how the whole thing works, I was told that by using an immigration agent it's just wasting money, so it it easy to do the whole process without one ? Also how much would it cost if you were granted the visa ?

We have 8 months left on our current visa so I suppose we have some time but generally how long does it take from start to finish once you register your EOI ?
We're living in Victoria if that makes a difference.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

A very similar question was asked about 4 or 5 days ago. Its in the Australia forum under a thread named "migrating to oz".
That will point you in right direction.

Agents arent necessary. All info you need is freely available on official Dept of Immigration Australia website.

wet sand · 25-09-2014 9:31am

My brother is a permanent resident of Oz.

I discovered that he can sponsor me on the 489 visa. What I want to know is this the only visa I can be sponsored on or are there others?

digiman · 30-09-2014 11:10pm

I've seen quite a few people on the expat forum mention "Form 80". What is this form? I don't recall seeing it in any of the documents that are required to be uploaded.

mandrake04 · 30-09-2014 11:34pm

digiman wrote: »

I've seen quite a few people on the expat forum mention "Form 80". What is this form? I don't recall seeing it in any of the documents that are required to be uploaded.

The dreaded Form 80, they ask questions on everything.

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/80.pdf

If it's PR application you definitely need one of these.

digiman · 01-10-2014 1:25am

mandrake04 wrote: »

The dreaded Form 80, they ask questions on everything.

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/80.pdf

If it's PR application you definitely need one of these.

Yeah, its PR. What section of the online part do you have to upload this information? Is it a sub-section of one of the main ones?

mandrake04 · 01-10-2014 2:14am

digiman wrote: »

Yeah, its PR. What section of the online part do you have to upload this information? Is it a sub-section of one of the main ones?

Not sure if this is on the 189 online checklist, but I remember filling it in myself for a 856. It forms the character and particulars ....I would expect it to be used in any serious visa applications such as PR.

It might be that CO will request it in the future anyway.

irishmover · 01-10-2014 2:17am

mandrake04 wrote: »

Not sure if this is on the 189 online checklist, but I remember filling it in myself for a 856. It forms the character and particulars ....I would expect it to be used in any serious visa applications such as PR.

It might be that CO will request it in the future anyway.

I never found it on 189 checklist so was caught off guard when CO asked me for it. It's definitely a requirement of the 189 though. I think I emailed her and did not upload the document but I'm sure there's an option there for character references.

Mellor · 01-10-2014 2:22am

irishmover wrote: »

I never found it on 189 checklist so was caught off guard when CO asked me for it. It's definitely a requirement of the 189 though. I think I emailed her and did not upload the document but I'm sure there's an option there for character references.

Form 80 is only required when lodging for decision ready applications.
In other applications the CO will request it when signed, along with requesting police certs etc.

When I did mine (186) I filled it out and lodged online before my CO was assigned. Was fine like that, once CO was assigned, all I had to do was go for medical and visa was approved the next day.

irishmover · 01-10-2014 5:52am

Mellor wrote: »

Form 80 is only required when lodging for decision ready applications.
In other applications the CO will request it when signed, along with requesting police certs etc.

When I did mine (186) I filled it out and lodged online before my CO was assigned. Was fine like that, once CO was assigned, all I had to do was go for medical and visa was approved the next day.

Seems a bit silly considering how much you have to fill out for the Form 80. Wanting it at the very end at their request wouldn't really make sense. It's a reasonably entrusive Form though.

Similar to every Stat dec for partner visa.

Mellor · 01-10-2014 6:04am

irishmover wrote: »

Seems a bit silly considering how much you have to fill out for the Form 80. Wanting it at the very end at their request wouldn't really make sense. It's a reasonably entrusive Form though.

Similar to every Stat dec for partner visa.

The logic, I'd assume, is to have the most up to date information possible on the form. Especially with lower priority visas that could be waiting years for a CO.
Same logic applies with Police checks/medical etc

irishmover · 01-10-2014 6:23am

Mellor wrote: »

The logic, I'd assume, is to have the most up to date information possible on the form. Especially with lower priority visas that could be waiting years for a CO.
Same logic applies with Police checks/medical etc

Yeah never really thought of it in the years category as mine was 3 weeks after EOI.

vibe666 · 03-10-2014 4:59pm

results are in for the IELTS exam on the 20th if you log in online.

https://ielts.britishcouncil.org/checkresults.aspx

very happy to say that I won't be needing to re-take it again!

although personally i think i performed WORSE this time than in the first one where they failed me by half a point in one section meaning I had to re-do it again and give them another €160 quid.

anyway, it's one more thing off the long to-do list sorted, so happy days.

EDIT: just found out that an average mark of 9 (once every individual section is more than 8) on the IELTS English exam is actually worth 20 points, so happy days indeed!

irishmover · 03-10-2014 11:17pm

vibe666 wrote: »

results are in for the IELTS exam on the 20th if you log in online.

https://ielts.britishcouncil.org/checkresults.aspx

very happy to say that I won't be needing to re-take it again!

although personally i think i performed WORSE this time than in the first one where they failed me by half a point in one section meaning I had to re-do it again and give them another €160 quid.

anyway, it's one more thing off the long to-do list sorted, so happy days.

EDIT: just found out that an average mark of 9 (once every individual section is more than 8) on the IELTS English exam is actually worth 20 points, so happy days indeed!

Well not that it really matters for you as you still get 20 but your score for skilled migration is not your average. Its whatever your lowest score is. I got all 9's in mine except one 7.5 which meant I only got 10 points. Which is all I needed luckily. Average score means nothing.

So your score is 8.5!

digiman · 08-10-2014 9:05am

Got my PR granted today, thanks to everyone here who answered my questions while I was applying. It really helped.

irishmover · 08-10-2014 9:13am

digiman wrote: »

Got my PR granted today, thanks to everyone here who answered my questions while I was applying. It really helped.

Great news. Welcome to the PR club!

Mellor · 08-10-2014 9:20am

digiman wrote: »

Got my PR granted today, thanks to everyone here who answered my questions while I was applying. It really helped.

Congrats Digi.

vibe666 · 08-10-2014 1:51pm

I've started to look into another possible option, which would be (as an IT contractor currently) doing the same thing in Oz, through an umbrella management company that would sponsor me on a 457, assuming I can find a contract with a daily rate over $400 a day, which I don't think would be too difficult from what I've seen given my skillset.

it seems to be much much quicker (approx. a month start to finish once I can find myself a contract), although the downside money wise is that the tax is quite high, but i don't know if it would be much higher than here or a perm position there?

the good news with that though is that when we are ready to go, we could get there in the space of a month or so from start to finish, it's just not *quite* time for that yet, we'd like to spend one last xmas here and have all the family together before we head off and there are a lot of family visits outside of that we'd need to make here and in the UK first.

the other thing is that if/when i decide to make a more permanent move, I'd still have to go through the process for a 189 visa to get PR there and I'm not sure what the situation would be if my ANZSCO code was off the list by then?

Eamonn2010 · 09-10-2014 10:05pm

Hey folks,

I work in Digital / Social Media, with degree in English and New Media. I'm looking into immigrating to Australia, but don't see anything regarding Digital / Social / Communications in the Skilled Occupation List.

Anyone have any experience in trying to get a visa through these skills? Any luck if so? Or anyone know if they are desired skills, and I'm missing something? (Used up my working holiday visa a few years back by the way).

Thanks in advance

Australian Skilled Migration Visa - Megathread

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