skills assessment and PR questions

coldpaw

Hi,

My Work has finally agreed to give me PR <wuhoooo>. Have been doing my research over the week but have a few questions that I would greatly appreciate some answers on, mainly on skills assessment:

I need to get a skills assessment as I'm only 16mts on my 457- has anyone gone through this process?

From reading the Vetassass website it seems you need to provide a full summary of your jobs, plus payslips, plus a full reference. Are they really strict on this cause I know this will take time?

In one of my jobs I was paid by the govt but worked for an individual- who should I seek a reference off?

I took 5 months unpaid leave, should I include this in my application?

If one job was an internship (highly relevant though) with a stipend does this count for work experience and should I include it?

Do you need to get English translations of youR degrees if they are in Latin?

On the PR- ive heard this means you have to give up your right to cash in your Super if you ever decide to leave. Is this correct? I imagine you can still have it and draw it down when im retired even if I'm in Ireland?

You can apply for Medicare once you have applied for your PR?

Do people think its worth Using an agent- I'm leaning towards this as work have agreed to part contribute?

Thanks for any and all help.

Barry

scorn

I went through the skills assessment for IT a good few years back (got the PR but never managed to get back to Aus to use it - and it's now lapsed )

So unless you specify which department you are applying to for assessment, it will be difficult to say what the process is as they have different criteria.

It was strict though - I had a 3 month period where I did some pro-bono work for a company in London for a friend and they asked for written proof. It was a struggle finding someone there over 5 years later who actually remembered me even being there.

Based on all your questions it might be better to use an agent. I did it myself but it really took a lot of time and effort. I have a friend there who is now a migration agent, so PM me if you would like his details.

DeclanClune

Guys, you should be aware that more and more assessing bodies are now not issuing request letters for additional documentation - the most recent being ANMAC. The impact of this is that if you do not have a complete and correct assessment application submitted to them, you application will get returned - rejected and you will incur new fees to lodge a new application.

So important to have your skill assessment lodged correctly first time.

Regards
Declan Clune