Hi folks,

Does anyone know how DIAC decides what constitutes a closely related occupation skill wise?

I am claiming ten points for Australian work experience as I was employed there using my skills as a journalist for fourteen-months consecutively. My nominated occupation is TV Reporter and I have been a journalist for 15-years, without a break. In Oz I worked for eleven months and three weeks as a print reporter and for two months immediately after with a PR firm using my TV news video production and news writing experience skills. (Two other journalists – well a chief of staff/senior journo of a state newspaper and editor/senior reporter of a community paper – were employed at the same time.

I called the Melbourne office of Go Matilda today and the migration expert I spoke to said he could not envisage a case officer questioning this, which a migration advisor at the Australian High Commission also advised.

Anyone had to use the closely related occupation for their three-years work experience needed for their nominated occupation or their Australian work experience to gain their points.

Thanks for any stories of similar experiences and a Happy Christmas too! Let’s hope we all get our visas very soon.

Jenny x
PS My current job is TV Reporter in title but has a distinct PR emphasis:tonguexmas:.