Hi Grant
Please get a pre migration skills assessment from OCANZ without delay. Ignore anybody who says you would not need it for an employer sponsored subclass 457 visa. In the context of the 457 visa, the person would be right but you don't want a 457 visa so you need the skills assessment from OCANZ.
Employer Sponsored Migration
The temporary subclass 457 visa gets a lot of Press coverage in Australia so it is the visa that every Aussie employer has heard of. Someone who has been an Aussie Citizen all his life has never been eligible for a visa for Australia therefore he offers the only visa he has heard of, which is the 457.
Temporary Business (Long Stay) - Standard Business Sponsorship (Subclass 457)
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/1154.pdf
For somebody like a Plasterer, employers offer 457 visas and everyone else screams, "Don't touch it with a bargepole!" The reason is because the Plasterer won't be paid enough to get any benefit from the tax perks of Temporary Residency and it is a trade which is acutely vulnerable to any downturns in the construction industry. If construction work stops in a particular place the employer will have no hesitation in offloading the temporary Plasterer at a time when all the other local Plastering companies might well be in the same cash strapped boat, making it difficult to find a new employer. If the Plasterer who gets laid off is unable to find another employer quickly, he faces a one way ride out of Australia potentially very soon. He won't be the only unemployed Plasterer scratching around looking for an employer, either.
The 457 tends to work OK in the professional occupations. The employers don't run their cash flow from week to week with the employer and his workforce all biting their fingernails wondering where the next meaty contract will come from and so forth. Also if the pay offered is juicy enough then it would be sensible for you to use Alan Collett of Go Matilda to do the financial deal for you:
Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - Contact and Feedback
Please scroll down to the Our People section, below the on-line form. Alan is an ac****ant in both jurisdictions so he knows exactly how the tax angles work with the 457. There is something called LAFHA (Living Awat From Home Allowance) which is potentially valuable because I believe it is tax free. Also as a Temporary Resident you would get your full Personal Allowances for Income Tax in both countries, I believe. I don't know anything about tax and Alan is the man I would ask if tax is relevant to the consideration about which visa to choose, which is might well be in your case.
The other thing I like about Alan is that he has good nerves. He is not afraid to tell an Aussie employer, on your behalf, "I think you can offer me a better bargain than this.." I would trust him to get a better bargain for you as well.
However there is down side with Temporary Residency as well. At the moment Permanent Residents investing in their first home in Oz can get a Govt cash bost of up to $24,000 and most States offer stamp duty concessions as well. With a Govt that is keen to prop up the ailing construction industry, now is an excellent time for a new migrant Permanent Resident to have a brand new home built in Oz. The builders are hungry for work so you can haggle and so forth. Whether it would be worth foregoing this perk depends on the rest of the pay and tax deal.
DIAC would not bicker about whether a Health professional is of benefit to Australia - the answer is undoubtedly yes. Also they would recognise that you have enough commercial strength not to allow a prospective employer to rip you off so they are unlikely to fuss about whether the pay offered is high enough. A 457 visa should be decided very quickly in your case, plus you might well be able to get your relocation expenses paid for you by the employer though that always comes with strings. It is treated as a loan of the costs which gets written off over a three year period of employment and if you leave sooner than that you would be expected to repay all or part of the loan.
Against all this, a 457 is absolutely perfect for somebody like a senior mining engineer. Very highly paid, a spell in Australia is just another contract for him. His last tour of duty was 3-5 years in Thailand and before that he was in Brazil for 3 years. When the project in Oz is complete he will go to the next place that needs his skills. His long term plan is probably to retire in the UK or somewhere in Europe. If he falls in love with Oz he will be able to get Permanent Residency for himself and his family with no problem so it pays him handsomely to use a 457 visa initially and he might never want anything else. He is exactly the man who the 457 visa was designed for and is aimed at, if you like.
With you, you should start by thinking about what you want. Do you want to move to Australia permanently? I know that Alan Collett does tend to say, "Don't let the tax tail wag the visa dog." I am sure he is right.
Assuming that your pay will be less than about $170,000 a year, getting an OCANZ assessment would enable you to tell the prospective employer, "I don't want a 457 visa. I want immediate Permanent Residency and I want it via an ENS 121 visa, nominated by you, please."
Employer Nomination Scheme (Subclass 121/856)
Employer Sponsored Migration Booklet - Australian Immigration
Employer sponsored Permanent Residency visas get maximum priority processing so if the employer agrees to the plan you can get the visa within 6 weeks if you are well organised and the visa application is perfectly prepared with no documents missing. The employer would have to offer you a three year contract of employment which you would have to accept (it would normally just be a contract for a permanent job but if it is a fixed term then it must run for a minimum of three years.) Additionally the employer must demonstrate that the company is committed to training Aussies - which a nationwide chain would be so that should not be a problem. No doubt they send their workforce off to do courses and get qualifications or they get the trainers to come and teach the workers on site. Something is bound to be in place - it is the Investors In People idea.
The ENSOL is the Employer Nominated Skilled Occupations List. Everything which is on the SOL is also on the ENSOL but some occupations (eg TV director or whatever the ASCO Code calls it) are on the ENSOL but not on the SOL so the TV man would need an employer sponsor.
State Govt involvement is irrelevant to employer sponsored visas in a case such as yours. VIC would not be involved in any way.
Skilled Independent Migration (aka General Skilled Migration)
It is usual that somebody like you is actually eligible for all of the skilled visas for Oz. It is true for nurses as well. With some other occupations it is difficult to squeeze even one visa out of the facts but the opposite happens with someone like you.
Because your occupation is not on the CSL, you would want a State sponsored sc 176. However in your shoes I would apply for an sc 175 first in order to protect your MODL points and then get the State sponsorship once the sc 175 application is safely with DIAC.
Optometrist is not on the VIC 176 Sponsorship List. However every State has 500 "off list nominations" in its gift. These are for people whose occupation is not on the State's own List but the State decides to sponsor them anyway. The States are free to set their own policies about how to use the 500 places and they all differ from each other about what the local policy is.
I am not sure whether VIC state a specific policy about their 500 off list nominations. I suspect that they probably refer them to their industry panel of experts and decide on the basis of the advice they receive but with VIC one thing is for sure - they would insist on evidence of an offer of a permanent job from an employer based in VIC. The world and his dog want to move to VIC so the State Govt there is very fussy and choosy.
With VIC, I would do a bit of brinkmanship. If the nationwide chain is willing to offer you a job which is to be somewhere in VIC, I would ask VIC whether they would consider an off list nomination for you. I would not hold my breath, though. I woud apply to another State as well.
Next Door have Optometrist on their list. You would not need employer involvement in order to apply to SA and their decision making is quick. WA would have you as well but they take about 4 months to decide the application because they have a huge backlog. The NT want you as well but I don't know how long they take to decide applications. I haven't checked Tasmania or the ACT.
If you are minded to consider WA then I would say:
1. Apply for an sc 175.
2. Then apply to WA for sc 176 sponsorship.
3. Then contact employers in WA and say that you want a 457 visa to tide you over whilst you wait for your sc 176 application to come to fruition.
SA are prompt enough that I don't think you would save more than a few weeks if you go via them so it wouldn't be worth the hassle of a 457 visa as well in my view.
Cheers
Gill
