Mark Northam

Hi Ankit - In addition to George's excellent analysis, I'll add that we're seeing more and more Indian applicants being subjected to very strict verification of work experience, where DIBP people will either call the employer (or former employer) or show up unannounced at the workplace and start asking questions and showing a picture of you to people. We're also seeing, again in India, DIBP case officers contacting former employers and even if the work experience has been deemed as skilled by ACS, asking the workplace supervisor whether you have done each of the tasks listed on the ANZSCO tasks/duties for your occupation. Where things get difficult there is if the case officer doesn't understand the technical issues involved in your employment, and/or if whoever they manage to get on the phone doesn't understand the tasks/duties of your employment - imagine an HR supervisor being asked about whether you worked with network routers, switches, modems, etc - you get the idea. If the workplace "interview" DIBP conducts doesn't work out 100%, DIBP these days is very quick to make allegations under PIC 4020 that carry a 3 year ban from Australia, with no requirement on DIBP's part other than to believe that you have provided false information or bogus documents - in other words, they don't need to prove it, they only need to believe it. Moral of the story is to make sure, especially for Indian employer references, that the employer is ready to provide specific details about your employment there to a DIBP representative if/when contacted via phone or in person. If that's not possible, then you may want to consider not claiming that reference for points and instead try to meet the points test by increasing your English score, etc. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Craigash - All depends on the visa and skills assessor requirements - DIBP requires a minimum of 6 for each of the 4 bands if using IELTS, however some skills assessors and state sponsorship authorities have created higher minimum scores for particular occupations. In most cases for skilled visas, the overall score is not relevant - only the minimum score across the 4 bands is. Suggest he checks the skills assessor requirements and state sponsorship requirements carefully for his occupation, and also whether he needs the extra 10 points (IELTS minimum 7 on each of 4 bands or equivalent) or 20 points (minimum 8 on each of 4 bands or equivalent) for his visa if it's a points tested skills visa. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Missmoffitt - If there is no court order or similar legal documents granting or confirming your 100% custody of the children, then normally Form 1229 plus certified copy of the other parent's passport (the one who isn't migrating) should be sufficient. More and more we're seeing DIBP contact the non-migrating parent to confirm their permission for the child(ren) to migrate so this is something that may come up. Hope this helps -

Hi 1090jh - Great question. If you go to the ACS website at http://acs.org.au and look in the skilled migration area, you'll see a downloadable file which has expanded descriptions of each of the occupations ACS assesses - you can use these expanded detailed descriptions to determine which of the occupations your skills/experience/education most closely matches. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi SuperstadDJ01 - Those are the broad strokes - in more detail (and I've omitted the agent part since you can have an agent do all, some, or none of this): 0. Using the skilled points test, ensure that you will have at least 60 points - this is necessary to lodge an EOI for a 189 visa. 190 visa requires 55 (+5 from state), 489 visa requires 50 (+ 10 from state) 1. Gather documents necessary for skills assessment and lodge skills assessment application. This usually includes employer reference letters and related documents, but all assessors are different 2. If IELTS required for skills assessment, obtain suitable IELTS results prior to lodging skills assessment, otherwise obtain suitable IELTS results prior to lodging Expression of Interest (EOI) 3. Lodge EOI with your SkillSelect account from DIBP 4. Await invitation to apply for 189 (waiting time depends on your points test score and the number of people ahead of you in the queue for your occupation) 5. If/when invitation arrives, apply within 60 days and include all required documents (will be some of the same documents you used for skills assessment, plus more) 6. Await visa decision from DIBP Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Draqen4 - The onshore partner visa is a combination of 2 applications - the subclass 820 provisional partner visa and the subclass 801 permanent (PR) partner visa. Typically the 820 is taking 12-18 months to be processed, but sometimes longer. You are eligible to put through additional forms and documents to further the 801 application 2 years after the original application date as the 820 is usually granted first unless you are in a long term partner relationship. If the initial decision on your visa application happens more than 24 months after you lodged the application, DIBP normally grants the PR partner visa (801) straight away since you would already qualify to be considered for it. Otherwise, if the 820 is granted prior to December, you can put through additional forms/evidence as soon as you reach 2 years from the original time of application for the visa. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Pkrulhan - Normally you would have received a response from DIBP just after you lodged with an acknowledgment of your application. After that, it's a matter of waiting in the queue for DIBP to get around to processing your application - as these are normally running 8-10 months to process, there's a good chance you'll hear something before the end of the year. Assuming you gave DIBP permission to communicate with you via email, always good to check your spam/junk folder to make sure nothing from them was miscategorised as junk by your email program. It's a pity that DIBP doesn't provide updates or a way to see how far an application has progressed - essentially all you can do is to wait. Given you're this far into the process however, it wouldn't hurt for you to do the medical checks (see Organise Health Examinations link on ImmiAccount screen for your application) and provide police clearance certificates. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Sandy11 - There is no specific requirement under the RSMS visa that the applicant has already commenced working for the nominating employer (presumably under some other type of visa that allows work). However, DIBP will need to be satisfied that you are sufficiently skilled to be able to do the work to an Australian standard. However if you are applying for the RSMS visa under the direct entry stream (ie, have not held a 457 visa with the sponsoring employer for 2 yrs), you'll need to pass a skills assessment for the RSMS visa as cook is on the list of occupations where this is required. Also, re: RCB approval, some RCB's will view it as a positive factor if you are already working for the nominating employer. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Flupo2000 - Thanks for the note. It's a strategic decision usually - I assume since you're talking about a skills assessment and a nomination/visa, that you're referring to a subclass 186 ENS Direct Entry visa application. Advantages of lodging nom and app together for this include getting a bridging visa sooner (that's usually why people do this), and the overall processing time of the package can speed up if the application is already on board when the nomination is approved vs waiting to lodge the application until after the nomination is approved. Downside is that the visa application fees are at risk if you lodge both together and the nomination is refused, however in this case many people either lodge a new nomination with DIBP and attempt to get DIBP to attach the existing visa application to the new nomination, or in the case of nomination refusal allow the visa to be refused and take both cases (nom + app) to the AAT Tribunal to be heard together. The choice of lodging a nom and app together or not depends entirely on your own unique circumstances and plans, so best to consider all of these first then decide what strategic option is best for you. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Djuki - Sorry for any confusion - I was referring to VETASSESS's master list of occupations - each occupation they assess belongs to one of their groups, and each group has slightly different requirements for the number of years of experience combined with the educational qualifications. Suggest you contact SSSI to clarify - they appear to require employment referees, but best to check with them directly. Best, Mark Northam

Hi AJ - It might be possible to talk DIBP into waiting some amount of time before canceling the 457 after the 90 days provided for a 457 visa holder to find a new sponsor by advising them of the partner's work towards a 190, but no guarantee DIBP will provide the additional time - may depend on the attitude of the case officer you get, etc - risky. Key issue in this scenario is getting the 190 application in to DIBP prior to the 457 being cancelled. Once the 457 is cancelled, that also cancels the secondary applicant's 457 which leaves both without any visa in Australia and no good way to make a valid 190 application onshore as the 190 requires a substantive visa or a bridging visa A, B or C at the time of application. Offshore application for a 190 might be a possibility in that scenario. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Dario - Assuming you are not claiming any points for work experience, the key comes down to whether SSSI or VETASSESS will provide a skills assessment based on whatever work experience you may have in the occupation you select. I believe you may have an issue at VETASSESS as most of their assessments require a qualifying educational qualification and a minimum amount of work experience, although there are several options for each of the groups (Group A/B/C/etc) of occupations. Remember that skills assessors make up their own requirements, which can in many cases be more difficult to satisfy than DIBP's requirements such as the points test, etc. Best to check carefully with each skills assessor to see what their minimum work, educational and language requirements might be. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi MattNon - Happy to assist - see website info below in my signature. Best, Mark Northam

Hi Aussiepom - Happy to assist. Re 1, I'd suggest she says she wants to spend time with you in Australia as you're her husband, and be noncommittal about everything else including if she intends to lodge a partner visa, etc - essentially, make the decision to do so after she arrives and is comfortable with Australia. Re 2, Yes, and for onshore partner visa bridging visa is granted upon lodgment in most cases. Re 3, no problem, just apply for a Bridging Visa B 2+ weeks prior to the intended travel. Re 4, her full work rights under a bridging visa A would begin only after the bridging visa is granted AND activates - it will activate when she overstays (ie, remains in Australia beyond) the max stay period allowed after entry on the visitor visa. While that is often 3 months, on some UK visitor visas it ends up being 1 year which means she has a long time to wait until the work rights begin. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Picachu - Thanks for the note. No way to predict with accuracy whether DIBP will need further clarification of the different company work experience listings. I assume the ACS skills assessment listing shows dates for a combined work experience at both companies (but only the new company name). If the HR reference is clear about the split and the payslips are as well, that's likely to satisfy DIBP who primarily looks for evidence of payment at their stage and rarely delves into revisiting the subject of whether the work was relevant to your occupation (although I've seen this happening more and more) if the skills assessor has signed off on the work being skilled and relevant. Main thing I would suggest is making sure that anyone that might be contacted at the current company will be ready to take a call (or site visit) from DIBP and will have the correct information to relay - DIBP is really getting busy with PIC 4020 fraudulent document/inaccurate information allegations re: work experience based on phone interviews with anonymous employees at the company who for one reason or another don't provide the same information as you've claimed in your visa application either about duties/tasks or about the duration of your employment, etc. Best, Mark Northam

Hi Kezzles - No, but once on BVE if it is not issued with work rights you can make an application to add work rights to the BVE, depending on your circumstances. Best, Mark Northam

Hi Kezzles - Lodging an 820/801 would not cancel out your 457 visa, however would be important to lodge the 820/801 application while still holding a valid 457 to avoid Schedule 3 issues. Assuming you did that and later after the 820/801 was lodged DIBP cancelled your 457, it would also automatically cancel the BVA you would have from the 820/801 lodgment leaving you with no visa, however you can then go to DIBP and get a BVE to remain in Australia until a decision on the 820/801. If you are holding 457 and granted 820, the 820 will replace the 457 and your sponsorship work restriction (condition 8107) would end upon grant of the 820. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Sarah - In addition to the good advice being provided by the other agents, I would suggest you look into registering your de facto relationship (assuming the partner visa was lodged as de facto partners) with the Australian state you live in. This can be accepted by DIBP or the AAT at the time of decision, and automatically satisfies the requirement that the de facto relationship existed for the 12 months prior to application. There is a separate assessment of whether a "genuine" de facto relationship existed at the time of application and the time of decision, but that's a separate assessment from the 12-month assessment. Registration of relationships is possible in Australian states other than SA and WA - see your state's births, deaths and marriages or equivalent office for details for your particular state. Finally, it's important to be ready to argue both the 12-month requirement (unless satisfied by the registration of the de facto relationship) AND any genuine relationship arguments that may come up as the AAT often looks for both in these types of cases. Hope this helps -

Hi Sheperdn - I'd suggest having a good look at the AnzscoSearch website - http://www.anzscosearch.com as you can see the tasks/duties for occupations there and see which occupations are on the SOL list (eligible for 189 visa) or the CSOL list (eligible for state sponsored 190 or 489 visa if a state chooses to sponsor that occupation). Hope this helps -

Hi Westly - We're seeing a substantially increased 457 nomination refusal rate for small businesses, usually based on "genuine position" assumptions and conclusions by the case officer, having never stepped foot in the sponsoring employer's business or even bothering to contact the employer to clarify. While the 457 applicant can always let the visa be refused and take the nom + visa all to the AAT, it's time-consuming and expensive. However in my experience AAT members on balance seem to be taking a much fairer and open-minded approach to the genuine position issue, and of course it helps when the employer is there in the hearing room with the member to explain exactly why the position is important to the company. It's also interesting to note that the AAT often ignores DIBP policy, as is their option to do, which leaves policy-heavy assessments like genuine position open to a much wider array of information and evidence at the AAT. Plus, overly-simplistic (some might say lazy) decision making by DIBP based on stereotyping businesses by their size and simply saying that the "size/scope/scale of the business" is not compatible with the ANZSCO details of an occupation is unfair to both businesses and applicants. I've often wondered if DIBP case officers have their records noted when their decisions are reversed by the AAT. Seeing as DIBP keeps a scorecard for every migration agent noting the ratio of refusals to approvals, seems only fair that case officers should be measured by a similar system.

We're seeing the same thing as Leanne is - 457 processing times blown out to many months, not to mention the additional scrutiny, especially on small companies and non-trade professions (ie, marketing specialist, etc).

Hi - Difficult to estimate, as DIBP processing times vary widely based on caseload. We're seeing anywhere from 4 months to 9 months processing times for subclass 189 applications currently, but that's not necessarily an indication of your processing time. Higher processing times are tending to be for applicants from higher risk countries where the security checking procedures by external agencies can take longer - ie, Lebanon, etc. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Nissa - Moving to a different state than the one that sponsored you during the currency of a state-sponsored 489 visa may not be considered a breach of your visa conditions, but may well be considered a breach of your agreement with the state that sponosred you and potentially could cause issues later on re: character depending on the circumstances. Best, Mark Northam

Hi Trapme - Thanks for the note. No good way to predict if/when you will get an invitation as it depends on the number of people ahead of you in the queue (same points but older EOI effective dates + those with higher points), which is not something DIBP publishes. Re: counting time employed by an overseas company but here on a business visitor visa, I expect in the end it would likely be ruled as overseas experience as you continued to be payrolled by the overseas company, however it's not a sure thing by any means, especially as DIBP tends to focus on the physical location of the person doing the work in assessing employment. This might also be dependent to some extent on whether the work would be seen as more akin to the work you did on your 457. With no clear policy guidance from DIBP, this would likely be something that could go either way, so there is that risk in claiming it. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Purpleal - In my view it's too early to make any judgments based on this new proposed visa - the details are simply not yet available and still very much undecided about this new visa. I'd certainly keep a close eye on this as things develop, but it may be too early to abandon the sc143 application based on aspirational ideas that have been floated for this new proposed visa. Best, Mark Northam