Ozmaniac

I took that quote directly from the DIBP website. http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/457.aspx Select Visa applicants tab > Who could get this visa then scroll down to the second last paragraph of English language requirements

After 2 years in the regional area on a 187, you are a completely free agent and can work anywhere, for any employer in any occupation.

My apologies, my answer was wrong for your situation. If your nominated occupation needs a level of English language proficiency for a grant of registration, licence or membership, you need to provide evidence that you have the required level. You can do this by providing evidence that you have the relevant registration, licence or membership. You had to meet English requirements for registration so you will not need to do IELTS.

He must have misunderstood what he was told and there must be some other reason for the refusal. In order to be eligible to apply for citizenship, you must: have been living in Australia on a valid Australian visa for four years immediately before applying which must include the last 12 months as a permanent resident, and not have been absent from Australia for more than one year in total, in the 4 year period, including no more than 90 days in the year before applying. http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applying/how_to_apply/conferral_app_process/ See Step 2

If you're not a passport holder of an English speaking country, you must do IELTS, OET (or from some time in November, another approved English test) in order to apply for a 457 or any other visa. DIBP's requirements are quite separate from skills assessment requirements.

I'm not a nurse, but from many posts on here, I know that if you are already registered with AHPRA, you can apply for a modified assessment from ANMAC. There's no way to avoid the need for skills assessment, but the modified assessment is less expensive and less complex. http://www.anmac.org.au/international-services

Congratulations! If you're not claiming Partner Skills points, your wife actually only needs Functional English which is even easier to get than Competent - only an average of 4.5 is needed. The reason she needs it is to avoid needing to pay the Second Instalment of $4885 so it's well worth the effort. Cost of a 189 for you and your wife will be AUD$5280 i.e. $3520 for you and $1760 for your wife.

If you can get a positive skills assessment and 60 points, going for the 189 is an absolute no brainer. Costs the same as the other permanent visas, no sponsorship required and has not a single string attached. You can work anywhere, for anyone, in any occupation.

You've misunderstood the nature of a 187. A 187 IS a permanent visa. Once you have it, you have PR and no further application is required.

Apply online. It costs more (an additional AUD$80) to lodge a paper application and there is no benefit whatsoever in doing so. Most 417s that are applied for online are granted within hours.

Your Student visa expires on March 15 because that is the standard expiry date for Student visas granted for courses of over 10 months duration that finish at the end of the Australian academic year. There is no requirement for you to enrol in another course to cover the period between December and March 15 and because your course will no longer be in session, you can work full time during that period. Then of course, your Bridging visa will take effect and will also allow you to work full time.

Yes it is if you're asking about a stat dec from a supporting witness. http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/888.pdf Form 888

Here's a link to Form 47SP Application for migration to Australia by a partner (551 kB PDF). http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/47sp.pdf And one to Form 40SP Sponsorship for a partner to migrate to Australia (287 kB PDF). http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/40sp.pdf

Not if her mother is still alive or if she has any siblings, step parents or step siblings who are not permanently resident in Australia. Also, even if she's eligible to apply, the estimated waiting time for a RR visa is something like 56 years. If she applies in Australia, she could get as Bridging visa that would enable her to stay indefinitely, but it won't have work rights unless she's able to prove financial hardship. If she manages to get work rights, she'll find it more difficult to find a good job on a BV - employers don't understand them.

She has no entitlement to citizenship or PR and she isn't eligible for any other kind of visa unless she qualifies for skilled immigration in the same way as anyone else. It's unfortunate that she wasn't included on your original permanent visa while she was still a minor. She is an adult who is not a full time student or unable to work and is therefore not eligible for a Child visa. The only other type of family sponsored visa is a provisional 489 visa but for that, she must have qualifications in an occupation on the SOL, a positive skills assessment in that occupation, a score of at least 60 points on the points test AND, you must live in a 'designated area' (not Brisbane, Sydney, Wollongong or Newcastle). TBH, if she's eligible for that, she could probably get a permanent 189 visa without sponsorship - all she would get for the sponsorship would be 10 points on the points test.

You don't need to have your employment assessed by your skills assessment authority and can claim experience points without it. At the visa application stage, you will be required to provide evidence to your visa Case Officer for any experience for which you have claimed experience points on your EOI but you would need to do that even if CPA had already assessed it. If however you are in any way unclear regarding the validity for points of any of your experience, THEN it would be a good idea to have CPA assess it though your CO could still find that it isn't claimable even if CPA says it is - that's unlikely, but is still possible. Overclaiming points for experience is probably the most common reason for denial of a visa (and loss of your VAC) and sorting out grey areas before you get to the EOI stage can be a good move in that case.

Yes, it's a brand new application so you need to provide the evidence again. No idea if it will be quicker. It may even take longer because you haven't been living together.

1) It doesn't matter where you get married as long as the marriage is legal in the country in which it take place. The Registry Office is usually where you get married in Australia if you are in a capital city if you have no other venue in mind. In other cities and towns, contact the local Magistrates Court to see if they offer this service, not all will. A registered celebrant can marry you virtually anywhere e.g. park, private home etc. 2) If you've lived together in a marriage-like de facto relationship for at least 6 months (and have evidence to prove it), she could apply now as a subsequent entrant on your 457. Otherwise, she will have to wait until after the marriage to apply. Your employer must give permission in writing for her to be added. 3) Sorry, not idea of the cost - contact some celebrants for a quote. One month and one day before the marriage, you must submit a Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM) with the celebrant. You can complete and sign the NOIM without her if she hasn't arrived in Australia but the celebrant must have her sign it before they can perform the marriage. http://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/Marriage/Pages/GettingmarriedinAustralia.aspx Getting married in Australia - includes link to the NOIM form

I hope you realise you all need to enter Australia to validate your visas; not simply the primary visa holder. Just saying because you've said "I go for 2 weeks..." rather than 'We go...". The 5 year re-entry rights on your 189s go from the visa grant date, not from the date you validate.

It is actually possible for only one of the partners to be in Australia when applying for the NOIM. See 4 on the following: http://www.ag.gov.au/FamiliesAndMarriage/Marriage/Documents/Notice-of-intended-marriage.pdf Notice of Intended Marriage

1. Depends on which stream of the 485 you can apply under. If you were granted your first student visa to Australia before 5 November 2011, you can apply for a 485 as a Chef (not as a cook) under the Graduate work stream even with only a diploma. If you were granted your first student visa to Australia on or after 5 November 2011, you cannot apply under the Post-Study Work stream with only a diploma. 2. Cook and Chef are not considered by DIBP to be 'closely related' occupations. You can't nominate one of those occupations and claim experience gained working as the other. 3. See 1. 4. See 1 re TR. If a state is sponsoring Cooks, you can apply for skills assessment as a Cook in order to apply for state sponsorship. 5. Again, whether you can get a 485 depends on 1. You can apply for skills assessment for either occupation but if you can't get a 485, you may not be able to stay in Australia to do so. 6. Many people go the 457/RSMS route and it works well for them. The question is always whether your employer will be willing to sponsor you for the RSMS after the 457. Some say they will do so and then renege on the promise while others do the right thing and follow through with the RSMS. Depends on the employer and your relationship with them.

They usually come through within a couple of weeks but unfortunately, there's no guarantee that that will apply in your case. Cross everything and hope for the best!

Sounds like they think you may have obtained your Student visa fraudulently. If you did, you have a BIG problem.

The minimum points required are 60. A 'closely related occupation' is defined as an occupation within the same ANZSCO Unit Group which is reflected in the first four digits of the ANZSCO number. Midwife is ANZSCO 254111 so is in Unit Group 2541. Registered Nurses however are in Unit Group 2544. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/915C6E1B056808D8CA2571E20083549F?opendocument ANZSCO Minor Group 254 If you fall short of points because you can't claim some of your work experience, IELTS is probably the best way to increase them. You of course need to do the Academic test for skills assessment but if you can only manage all 7s on that, you can do then do the General test (which is easier) for points in the hop of getting all 8s.

The occupation of Primary School Teacher is only on the CSOL and is therefore only eligible for employer or state sponsored visas. It is NOT eligible for a 189 visa. As you don't appear to have employer sponsorship (and will be most unlikely to be able to find any), that only leaves the possibility of a state sponsored, points tested 190 or 489 visa for which you must have a positive skills assessment from AITSL. AITSL's skills assessment guidelines clearly state that you must have "Study assessed by AITSL as comparable to at least four years full-time (or part-time equivalent) higher education (university) level study in Australia that results in a qualification/s comparable to the educational level of an Australian bachelor degree or higher". That's not all that is required so you should check the following: http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/aitsl_primary_school_teacher_application.docx AITSL Assessment criteria Primary School Teacher http://www.aitsl.edu.au/assessment-for-migration AITSL assessment for migration Registration is a separate matter and is handled locally by each state. You should search on teacher registration 'state' for individual state requirements but I think you'll find they will all require at least 4 years study.