SOMV

Nick you are now a permanent resident, so no you do not have to inform the Department. You just have to abide by any conditions that are attached to your visa. Speaking of which, you should keep in mind the following: When you applied for your 186 (anyone reading this please DON'T confuse this with a 187 visa as the rules for the 187 are different) you declared that you agreed to work in the nominated position for at least two years. And that you understand that if you as the applicant, or any family members included in the application, provide (or have provided in a previous application) false or misleading information, or bogus documents either knowingly or otherwise, the visa application will be refused and you may be subject to three year bar in relation to visas to which the fraud criterion applies. In such circumstances any visa granted may be cancelled. So this means that when your visa application was lodged, you must have had the intention to work for your sponsoring employer in your nominated role for at least 2 years from the date that the visa is approved. As long as there is no question about this, then that's fine. In other words, people who are 186 visa holders sometimes worry about whether their permanent residency visa will be cancelled if they leave their employer before the 2 years of employment are up. (Usually they worry because they read information on forums that relates to the 187 visa.) But generally you have nothing to worry about unless you provided the Department with ‘false or misleading information, or bogus documents either knowingly or otherwise’. And I have not heard of the Department cancelling permanent residency visa unless they are provided with some clear evidence of fraud or misleading behaviour in relation to a visa application (for example, an email in which you state that you plan to quit your job as soon as you obtain your permanent residency). Sorry for the lengthy explanation, but I thought I would mention this in case anyone else has questions about this.

Hi Bim, The results of a medical test are assessed on a case by case basis, by medical specialists, taking into account the age of the particular applicant, the prognosis and the potential costs due to the applicant's condition to the Australian government. There is no migration agent that I am aware of who is also a medical specialist, so no agent will be able to give you the answer you are looking for, unfortunately. All I can think of is that valve type heart conditions are quite common, valve operations are quite common, as years go by key hole surgery is becoming more and more likely, and so the expense of heart valve type surgeries is likely to lower with time. So that's quite promising. Nevertheless, it is impossible to predict an outcome. I am only aware of one medical specialist, Dr Martha Baz, who used to provide medical opinions about medical conditions. These were her contact details, and she was so busy she was quite hard to get hold of: Martha G Baz MB BS MPH FAFOM FAADEP CIME Lvl 9, 47 York St Sydney GPO Box 3857 Sydney 2001 Australia Mail from doctors/patients/clients: 138, 272 Victoria Ave Chatswood NSW 2067 Australia Tel: 61 2 9299 0012 Fax: 61 2 9475 0141 Fax UK: (+44) (0)20 7990 7740 drbaz@visamedicalopinion.com mgbaz@ozemail.com.au But these are quite old contact details. This used to be her website, but it appears not to be working: http://visamedicalopinion.com/ This seems to be the new alternative: http://www.visamedic.com/ I'd try to get in touch with her to see if she can help (she does not need to see people in person, but she of course charges for her time and opinion). Best of luck!

Hi Rob, First of all, as a 489 visa holder you need to make sure you continue to abide by the visa conditions (live and work and study - though this may not be relevant - in a regional area). But assuming that that is all fine, then as a 489 visa holder you have a few permanent visa options: 1) If you have a job and the employer wants to sponsor you for a permanent visa, you may be able to apply for one of the permanent employer sponsored visa options even before you have lived in a regional area for 2 years and qualify for the usual permanent visa pathway. Whether or not you can apply via this route will depend a lot on the job, on your employer, and your skills. But if, as you said, your occupation is not on the skilled list, this may well be problematic. 2) Once you have lived in a regional area for 2 years, and worked for at least 1 year fulltime within that 2 year period, you should be able to qualify for a permanent visa subclass 887. The requirements for this, in addition to the 2 years of living and 1 year of working, is that you also meet health and character requirements, like you had to do for the provisional visa. There is no requirement to be in any specific "skilled" occupation. Hope that helps. I guess if you have children then it will be up to you and your wife to decide which one of you will be including them in your application as secondary applicants.

Raymund you are going to have a battle on your hands as many case officers, especially new ones, tend to want to take the easy route and to go by what an assessment states. And there is no getting away from the risk that you will lose your application fee. From the details you have provided I would be arguing that you have been working at a "skilled" level since 2004. Arguably, possibly also since 2001, but it doesn't matter, 2004 is fine. You need to provide excellent, detailed references about the nature of your work since 2001, but particularly 2004. Make sure that you carefully read the ANZSCO description for accountants and address all of the points in that definition, to ensure that it is clear to the case officer that you are and have been a skilled accountant for at least 8 years. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/BAAE53E3A0A4E1C1CA257B95001310D7?opendocument I would advise you lodge an EOI with minimal points (60, if it is possible to get an ITA on the basis of 60, or 65) so that you then have some points up your sleeve at the visa application stage. Cheerio, Veronika

Hi Nel, If there is an existing condition then yes, it is quite normal that it is referred to the HOC. They may come back asking for more information from your husband's GP or a specialist in relation to the condition and the long term prognosis. If the condition is, as you described it, one that just requires and will just require a prescription in the future, then it should be fine, but the DIAC (with the help of HOC) need to make sure that the condition is not being caused by an underlying serious problem and that it will not be of a significant cost to the Australian Government. I've never had a client with the conditionto be honest, but I've just looked it up and I can see why they would want to make sure that there is no long term underlying problem - sometimes it seems to be caused by an underlying tumour. So I think that is all it is about. Best of luck! Cheers, Veronika