Sponsorship 457 Visa: Program or Project Administrator

Hello, I will be going into discussions with my manager soon about the possibility of sponsorship for my position as a project administrator in a job I have in Australia under a working holiday visa. I have done some research and I have doubts that I'm eligible for the 457 visa due to lack of experience/qualifications. I want to know whether I should rule it out completely or whether I still have hope. I have the following experience and qualifications:

• Modern History BA degree 2010-2013 (UK)
  
• IT project administration 2013-14 (eight months employment in the UK)
  
• Social Policy and Social Research MSc 2014-15 (one year course in the UK)
  
• Executive search project administration (current job, 4 months in)
  

The requirements to pass the VETASSESS are:

"If the qualification is not in a highly relevant field, two years of highly relevant employment at an appropriate skills level, completed within the last five years is required. This is reduced to one year if there is an additional qualification at least at AQF Certificate IV level in a highly relevant field".

As I only have one year of highly relevant experience and no highly relevant qualifications to date, would VETASSESS be at all flexible and take into account that I have two valuable qualifications albeit not highly relevant to my profession? If not would it be worth considering taking a PRINCE2 project management qualification to improve my chances?

Grateful for any advice.

VETASSESS are not flexible! The rules are the rules.

If your workplace is sensible, they'll be engaging a migration agent to get them through the process and he/she will soon tell them whether you've got a chance or not. A good agent won't waste their client's money applying if the chances are poor. So you'll find out soon enough!

Could your employer not find an Australian to fill the role? They will have to prove that they have tried and failed first and if your qualifications don't match the guidelines then the answer will be no.

Quoll makes a good point. I would advise not to get too hopeful just yet.

I've worked for a couple of companies where a manager offered to employ someone who was there on a WHV. The problem is, line managers often have absolutely no idea what's involved in sponsoring - and when they eventually go to HR to organise the sponsorship, they get told "no".

For the employer, sponsorship is a complex business and involves, among other things, proving that they've been unable to find an Australian to do the job. A lot of HR departments simply won't go through the process unless it's for a very high level job, or they're really desperate to find someone to fill a role.

For small companies, they may refuse to do it because they don't have the manpower or the budget to do it. At the other extreme, large international companies won't sponsor lower-level employees because they don't want to waste Immigration's time on minor matters - they want to maintain a good relationship with Immigration so they will nod through their internal transfers.

So even if you have all the right qualifications and experience, it may not be a possibility. I wish you luck.

This is reduced to one year if there is an additional qualification at least at AQF Certificate IV level in a highly relevant field"..

Why not do a CERT IV in project management? This is a short course - can even be done online I think.

BB

Yours is one of only 2 occupations that always needs a skills assessment for a 457 visa. I was told this is because it's an occupation often abused to get sponsorship so they make sure the applicants really meet the requirements of the role. If you don't easily meet the criteria, I'd suggest you speak with a migration agent before spending money on courses that may or may not get your the credentials you need.