George Lombard

It's more about the situation of people with a disability politically - dating back to the Gillard government in about 2011, the ALP had a commitment to equalise the situation of those with disabilities in Australian society. The Greens are calling the ALP out about their principles now that they're in power again, and it seems that the policy is going to change, watch this space....

The Australian government is foreshadowing that in negotiations with the Greens in the Senate it is prepared to adjust the health approval criteria for people with disabilities, which we assume might include conditions as diverse as autism, Crohn's disease, haemophilia and amputees. The devil is evidently going to be in the detail but we do recommend that you watch this space, and email us for updates if necessary - george.lombard@playfair.com.au . GL

Hi Noop, No I don't monitor this forum as often as I should. Please email me at george@austimmigration.com.au . Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Robzster, You could talk to the union, or you could talk to Fair Work Australia, but either way the bottom line is that having said certain things to either agency it would be hard to unsay them. FWIW, the situation of 457 employees is always precarious and in fact if you've been here so long, why didn't you go for PR as soon as possible? Good luck, I hope it works out. Cheers, George Lombard

... so to follow my previous line of enquiry, where do you think you might end up living? Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Adolph, The waiting times for 489s can be calculated using http://www.border.gov.au/WorkinginAustralia/Pages/15-febuary-2017-round-results.aspx - it seems to me that it's not likely to be more than a couple of weeks before you get an invitation but things do change rapidly in this industry and I would recommend that you apply for a 189 or 190 for preference. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Ayda, If your own skilled migration pathway is clear then your husband probably just needs to talk to an accountant about how his business could be organised - finding an accountant where you plan to live is normally the best strategy. I hope it goes well. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Bella, I'd just add to Mark's summary that a sponsor for this kind of family visa must be ordinarily resident in Australia, ie at the very least you would need to be established here in some way to be a sponsor. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Tigersfan, Westly's quite correct that it's risky to take advice from Expos or the Department or state governments. Also risky to take advice on public forums like this but at least the advice here is in writing. Basically you should be going through with the NT nomination and planning to migrate to the NT and FWIW, given that the NT is such a small pool, your posting here has probably given the Department all they would need to identify you and in fact question your intention to migrate to the sponsoring state. Yes they do monitor the forums :-( Best advice I can give you is to ask a moderator to delete this thread! Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Ellie, I'd suggest working with an agent on this - the independent route may be more straightforward but from your description that's not simple or viable for you and from that point it can get quite complex. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Reddy, If you send a blank email to nsw.pse@border.gov.au you'll receive the autoresponse which includes current processing times. Good luck! Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Simon, Just scan the biodata page of the new passport and email an explanation to 457@border.gov.au . You should get a meaningful reply in about a week. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Sapphilor, Unfortunately there are many self-delusional distinguished talent applicants - your friend should get serious advice, there's so much which could go wrong in even your brief description, for example the period of not working until a breach occurs is now 60 days. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Samson, Only applicants who are 18 or over at the time of visa application need to pay the larger charge. Under 18 you pay the lower charge. If the child is born after application then I gather the fee is zero. Doesn't happen very often with CPV cases, most are beyond child bearing age. Cheers, George Lombard

Hey Cara, Yes you got my attention but don't make a habit of it :-) FJ should consider the following: a) Partner visas lodged onshore are taking up to 18 months to process. Effectively she could just forget about her student visa now and plan to return next March and the partner application would still be processed normally. She'd need to return on a visitor visa if the student visa had been cancelled but that's perfectly normal. b) Having returned for the final processing - they send you a preliminary email to suggest that you need to get your stuff organised so you'd have notice of the need to return for six months or so - you could then just treat that as an extended holiday and then, when the visa is granted, hopefully you'll qualify for the permanent visa and then as Cara says you've got 5 years to make up your minds, five years of Trump, Brexit fallout, global warming, etc to decide where you'd rather be. If they only grant the temporary visa then there'll be a further request for evidence of your relationship in another 12-24 months, and then the permanent visa can be granted. c) Visa costs aren't going to get cheaper, it would be better not to have to apply for a partner visa again if you can avoid it. Assuming you ever want to come back to Australia! Cheers, George Lombard

Hi FJ, There's no problem with your withdrawing a visa application (although that's an expensive application if you decide to re-lodge again in the future). Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Tammy, Given that the employer has apparently broken the law your friend can make things very unpleasant for him. It depends on how far you want to take it, since the creation of s.245AR of the Migration Act it sounds like a clearly criminal act. Certainly worthwhile raising it with the Department of Immigration or even raising it with the media, investigative journalists are constantly publicising this kind of situation. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi JH, Very few Registered Migration Agents have an intimate knowledge of the electronic visa processing systems which give us the subclass 651 and ETA visas, and I'm no exception so the following are just general comments. Strange that you can't attach the requested information to the Immi Account, that's the Department's go to strategy at the moment, can you save the relevant information in a different format for example? Emails just go into a pool where they're triaged - I assume yours are now out of sight and out of mind, whereas a document in the Immi Account will always come to a case officer's attention. Other people may have more targeted suggestions. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Sonia, If your occupation is on one of the local occupation in demand lists published by a particular state government then you might want to request that state to sponsor you for a 190. If your occupation is on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) as distinct from the Consolidated Skilled Occupation List (CSOL) then you're entitled to apply as an "independent" for a 189. There are often significant points test advantages in using a state sponsor; sometimes people also do it for relative speed of processing and some governments offer support to their sponsored candidates. There are eight states/territories here capable of sponsoring applicants. This link might help: http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/State-Migration-Plans . Cheers, George Lombard

Hey Grace, Modesty forbids me from mentioning that I'm in Sydney :-) You might need to post in the general forum. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Matt, The employer is probably concerned that you'd do a runner, which is less of a risk with an RSMS visa as against ENS because of the specific RSMS cancellation provisions but still quite real. Hopefully the agent they use in Canberra is John Hourigan. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Matt, I'm sure you'll get lots of PMs from potential agents but the issues aren't all that simple. The question of whether you can be sponsored now for an RSMS visa ultimately depends on whether the ACT government would support the application, and they have their own criteria. You would also need a skills assessment. This link might be interesting: https://www.acacia-au.com/ens-and-rsms-changes-the-losers.php . A 457 visa would bypass the ACT government involvement but does require the employer to meet criteria not required for the RSMS visa. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Laura, Read the visa grant. It probably gives him a three month stay each time he enters so yes. Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Laura, There's no limitation on re-entering Australia in the last few days of a valid visa, but the scenario you've described tells me that you'll need to be very organised to make it work, good luck! Cheers, George Lombard

Hi Patrick, I assume you're asking for a second opinion - fwiw I think it's important to provide a copy of the advice you've already received in that case but generally yes, the Department may not consider work as "skilled" if undertaken prior to a relevant qualification. The subclass 190 options aren't fantastic at the moment for accountants. Cheers, George Lombard