Raul Senise

Finally some good news for prospective migrants. “The pass mark for points tested skilled migrants who complete an expression of interest (EOI) through SkillSelect will be lowered from 65 points to 60 points from July 1.”

Be mindful that if you have no qualifications, RPL with the Australian Computer Society requires 8 years of IT employment experience. At least 6 years specific to the occupation being nominated and an additional 2 years which does not need to be relevant to the nominated occupation.

Here are a few of my application dates over the last few months to give you an idea of DRC times: Nom and Visa Lodged 25/05/2012 - Nom and Visa Approved 08/06/2012 Nom and Visa Lodged 15/05/2012 - Nom and Visa Approved 26/05/2012 Nom and Visa Lodged 02/05/2012 - Nom and Visa Approved 19/05/2012 Nomination Lodged 05/03/2012 - Nomination Approved 03/04/2012 Nom and Visa Lodged 26/03/2012 - Nom and Visa Approved 17/04/2012 Nom and Visa Lodged 10/02/2012 - Nom and Visa Approved 22/03/2012 Nomination Lodged 10/02/2012 - Nomination Approved 26/03/2012

Be mindful that this will no longer apply under the new Regulations coming into effect from the 1st of July. Under the new rules you will need to have been employed by your ENS sponsor for the full 24 months.

As you have only been employed on your 457 for a period of 14 months you will need a skills assessment otherwise you will not qualify for ENS. A valid skills assessment is a “Time if Lodgement” criteria. The occupation of Graphic Designer is assessed by Vetassess and generally you will require a Degree and 12 months experience. After being on the 457 for more than 24 months you can apply for ENS without the need for a skills assessment. The Regulations for ENS are changing considerably from the 1st of July.

Based on the information in your post, it is unlikely that you will succeed at MRT as you do not appear to have met the Regulations for the visa. MRT can not order the department to be lenient and making a genuine mistake is not a reason for MRT to overturn a decision. They are only able to rule on whether the decision was correct according to the Regulations.

The big question is how long have you been living together as a de facto couple? Also why is your partner not included as a secondary applicant on your current 457 visa?

No, you do not get invited straight away. The information used on the EOI will be used to rank candidates, meaning that simply meeting the points requirement for the visa does not guarantee that you will get invited. The Department will periodically invite the highest ranked candidates to fill the quota for that specific invitation period. Where you need to be careful is that if invited, the claims you have made on the EOI must be able to be substantiated at Time of Invitation. If your EOI claims are incorrect the visa application may be refused even if you meet the points.

I do not believe that the intention of the policy is to “split families up”. The reality is that if the Australian Government granted unlimited parent visas every year, to everyone who qualified (i.e. met the balance of family test), it would bankrupt the Medicare and Social Security system in a very short period of time.

The truth is we won’t know until, 1) We can see the Regulations and 2), we can see how the Department runs the new system. In my opinion and I stress this is only my opinion, things won’t change too much from what they are now and where the system has been heading for some years now. Some time back the Department expressed it’s view that the system should move to more of a demand driven system in order to better address Australia’s skills needs, i.e. demand from Australian employers. The traditional points system has not been coping well with addressing Australia’s needs for two main reasons: 1. it is too easy to find loopholes and exploit the system (as we saw with international students studying Cooking and Hairdressing for an easy pathway to PR) and thus skew the proportion of occupations towards a handful of “easy target” occupations; 2. the fact that an applicant nominates a particular occupation on their Visa application does not mean they will work in that occupation when they arrive in Australia. Under the new system the employer driven visas (457, ENS and RSMS) will continue to receive priority as they have been. I am of the opinion that State sponsored visas will continue to be processed quickly and “Invited” under skilled select, because they are addressing a specific demand from the States and Territories. The independent skilled visa will be used to top up the skilled stream by selecting very highly skilled people in demand in Australia as the need arises. As always visa processing will continue, as highlighted by the fact that the visa numbers for the next program year have been increased from the current year.

Are you sure that the agent you used is an actual “Agent”. Is it possible that they are simply farming work out to other agents such as Visa Bureau? It would be very unusual for DIAC to send a request to the wrong agent and even more unusual for that agent to then contact you and request documents, if you are not their client.

The “Job Title” and the “Occupation” you nominate are two separate issues. The Job Title will differ from organisation to organisation, however, the duties of the position must closely correspond to the duties of an ANZSCO occupation which is on the 457 list.

With all due respect, if you believe that the only change to the Employer Nomination Scheme from the 1st of July is the English requirement, I would suggest you undertake further research on the subject.

The fact that the company is making a loss will make the application more difficult but not impossible. I would advise caution as it is much more difficult to fix the matter if it is done incorrectly and refused.

This statement seems to contradict itself. You say that it is very easy but it took you six month to understand it? Me mindful that the Regulations for this visa will be changing on the 1st of July, so you may need another 6 month to work out the new rules.

You do not require Police Clearances for a 457 visa unless you have a criminal record.

Usually if insufficient information is provided the case officer will request further information/documentation and allow 28 days for a response. This can cause delays as even if the documentation is provided within this timeframe, it may be a while before the case officer reviews it. The sponsorship side of the application has become more complicated and this is most often where errors or delays occur. I cannot comment on the consultant the company used as I do not know who they are, but wonder if they are a registered agent and if so if they regularly prepare 457 sponsorships. Good luck, hope it is resolved soon.

If your question is in regards to Sponsorship for the subclass 457, the applications are generally being processed very quickly at the moment, with most of mine going through within a week or two. Delays will arise however, if the application is not lodged complete and the case officer needs to request further documents. It should not be taking months to process.

Your first step would probably be a Subclass 417 working holiday visa. This is valid for 12 months and allows you to work throughout your stay, but no more than six months with any one employer. You can get a second 12 month Subclass 417 working holiday visa if you do 3 month of specified regional work during the first visa. During this initial stay you can look at other options such as a temporary working visa (subclass 457). Even though your occupation is not on the Schedule 1 SOL, it is on the 457 occupation list, as well as the ENSOL and Schedule 2 State Sponsored SOL.

This comment keeps popping up in 457 post lately and is not correct. There is no labour market testing for the 457 program. The Australian employer does NOT have to show that the position can not be filled locally.

Possibly. It depends on what occupation you are nominating and what country you come from.

The Job Ready Program is a TRA skills assessment. This is the skills assessment pathway that international student, who have gained their trade qualifications in Australia, must undertake.

Possibly, but it will depend on your specific circumstances and the specific details of the position being offered.

The definition under the Migration Regulations of the various English Language competencies was changes as of the 1st of July 2011. As such for IELTS to be considered, for either threshold or points, it must have been done prior to the date of lodgement. The change of Regulation neutralised the old High Court decision which used to allow IELTS to be accepted up until the time of decision.

It will depend on which visa subclass you are looking to apply under, as the definition of full time work can vary. Also as previously mentioned, assessing Authorities have different guidelines. You will need to be more specific with your question if you want cogent answers.