Mark Northam

Hi Feejay - Current state sponsorship info (and a lot more) here: http://anzscosearch.com Best, Mark Northam

Hi Feejay - It all depends on the particular state's policies and priorities - much of that is, unfortunately, unpublished. However a good resource is http://anzscosearch.com - they offer a free service showing the latest info on what occupations states are sponsoring including any additional occupation-specific requirements that a state may have. Re: 190 visa, unless a state requires work experience or your skills assessor does, there is no particular DIBP requirement for work experience for that visa if you can get the points you need (55 without state sponsorship points) otherwise. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

I'd have to agree with George - it is concerning to me that an agent is unwilling to answer questions of a client. To be blunt, if your agent is unwilling to answer questions, you may want to consider selecting another agent with a different policy regarding answering questions. There are a lot of very good registered migration agents out there, and there is absolutely no reason to settle for a lower level of service than what you expect and deserve. Best, Mark Northam

Hi Rossco - Thanks for the note. Whether the fee you quoted (that's about AUD$4,700 at today's rates) is a good value for you can depend on what type of work you're expecting the migration agent (MA) to do. Most migration agents work on a fixed fee basis which covers their work in advising you initially, preparing all forms and paperwork, lodging with DIBP, and acting as your appointed representative to deal with questions, concerns, etc from DIBP over the processing time of the visa which can range from a few months for a 457 to 24 months or more with a partner visa. Also, certain types of visas require that multiple application packages be prepared and lodged, for instance sc190 visas usually require a skills assessment, state sponsorship, and DIBP visa application be lodged. ENS and RSMS visas require that both a nomination and application package be lodged. Another issue is experience. If an agent is very experienced with a particular type of visa, that can increase the agent's value to you, especially if the visa involves subjective elements (ie, genuine relationship, genuine student, compelling and/or compassionate reasons, etc). The MARA publishes "average" fees (see http://www.mara.gov.au) however these tend to be in the middle from what I can see, and are prone to inaccuracy as reporting fees is voluntary and unverified - more experienced agents may charge more than MARA typical fees, and less experienced agents may charge less. In the end, you're buying 2 things in my view: First, you're buying the experience and knowledge of the agent including full knowledge of the various legislation and policy elements that may come into play with your visa so you don't have to spend the time and trouble of looking up that information yourself, and second, you're buying the ability to put the entire project onto the shoulders of the agent and having the agent carry the responsibility for completing all the various elements necessary for the project for however many months it may take for the project to complete. Whether a fee is "right" really means different things to different people - perhaps the better question is, is it worth it to you, given your level of knowledge about the process and underlying laws and the time you have available to prepare and lodge the visa application package(s), to do it yourself or have a professional do it. That question will be answered different ways by different people, as the value to each person may be different depending on their priorities, knowledge, and appetite for taking on this type of project themselves. Lots of people do their own visas these days, and lots of people use migration agents - there is no right or wrong to this, it's more of a question of what the value is to you given your particular circumstances. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Pfleger - You'd have to look carefully at the agreement or documents you were provided from NSW Skilled re: your obligation to them - normally it's live & work, but states have been known to change the language and requirements from time to time. Note that the obligation is not actually a condition of your visa, but is an agreement between you and the sponsoring state authority. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Excellent point from George re Sched 3. Unfortunately Schedule 3 is unforgiving and highly subjective, especially in regards to the "compelling" aspects of that legislation. As there is no overall waiver of Sched 3 available for 457 visas as there is for other visas such as partner visas, and given the points George mentioned re Sched 3, and given that DIBP will generally give no weight to agent mistakes/incompetence/negligence/etc as the final responsibility rests with the applicant in their view, you may want to point this out to your company so they will understand. What bothers me most about this situation is that due to poor communications (that's putting it nicely) by the agent and problems with the sponsorship/nomination that the company is responsible for (not you), you end up paying the price for problems that are not your fault in any way and were completely outside of your control. While the migration legislation comprehensively puts the liability on employers for paying the costs of sponsorship & nomination for the 457 visa programme, maybe it's time the legislation also put the liability on employers when employees are required to spend thousands of dollars due to problems or mistakes made by the employer and/or his agent. The way this has worked out, it's simply not fair to you.

Hi Manofpeace - Thanks for the note. The agent should have sent you a copy of the application to approve prior to lodging so you could approve (or not) the auto withdraw choice on the 457 application - not sure if this happened or not. Furthermore, since the agent had to take deliberate steps to withdraw the sponsorship and nomination application, the agent certainly should have alerted you to this and asked if you wanted to change your response re: auto-withdraw via Form 1023 prior to the sponsorship and nomination being withdrawn, which would cause the 457 to auto-withdraw assuming the Yes box is ticked for that, leaving you with no bridging visa as of 28 days after the withdrawal. Re: BVC, you may want to confirm with your agent whether the 3yr exclusion period would apply (on all temporary visa applications) depending on your circumstances. There is a somewhat complex part of the migration law that deals with whether the exclusion period is imposed if you depart Australia holding a bridging visa C, D or E having to do with how long before you held that bridging visa or a previous bridging visa it was since you had held a substantive visa. I would not assume that you automatically have the 3yr excl period unless that is confirmed. Re: chances of success re: auto-withdrawal challenge, this is tricky as unless there is a refusal, the decision may not be able to be appealed at the AAT tribunal. You may want to try and work with DIBP to see if there are any other options available, and it may make sense to consult with another migration agent to get a second opinion on all of this once you've briefed the agent on all the details of your particular circumstances. Sometimes a small detail can make a big difference in options available in these types of circumstances, and sometimes the case officer is somewhat flexible. My concern here is that given the agent knew or should have known you were on a bridging visa and would have been left with no visa in case of a withdrawal, and given your intention and your employer's attention (I assume) to continue employment, the agent's judgment in not alerting you to the spon/nom withdrawals and suggesting you change your auto-withdraw response is cause for concern, and that agent may not be the best agent to be representing your interests (as opposed to your employer's) in this type of situation. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Stu - Great questions. The subclass 186 ENS employer sponsored permanent residence visa application, under the TRT pathway (applicant spends 2 years on 457 visa for nominating employer) is an online application. As some employer information is required that the employer may consider is confidential, frequently the employer will lodge the nomination part of the application themselves on their own ImmiAccount. However if the employer chooses to allow the visa applicant to prepare and lodge the nomination, that's fine too - the choice is the employer's. There is no requirement that the nomination and visa application parts of the 186 application must be done from the same ImmiAccount. The visa application can be lodged after the nomination is lodged - some applicants wait until the nomination is approved to lodge the visa application part of the 186, however this is not required and you could lodge your application after lodging the nomination (but before the nomination is decided). The risk in doing it this way is that if the nomination is refused, it puts the visa application fees paid to DIBP at risk. However if the applicant needs a bridging visa to remain in Australia (ie, current visa expiring soon), many applicants lodge the visa application after lodging the nomination application. Re: document checklist, there are detailed checklists for both the nomination and visa application parts of the application available on the DIBP site at http://border.gov.au Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi QLD - While there are annual caps on various visas and on total migration to Australia via visas, the 187 RSMS visa is alive and well - have heard nothing about any substantial changes to the visa. Mark Northam

Hi Jen - With dozens of types of visas for Australia, the choice of visa or type of visa can certainly be daunting. To start with, there are generally two families of visas that people who come to work in Australia look for - employer sponsored visas where they are sponsored by employers (subclass 457, 186, 187) and skilled visas that people can qualify for based on their qualifications, work experience and age (subclasses 489, 189, 190). Depending on whether you're looking for an employer sponsored position or want to try and qualify without employer sponsorship, you might go to the DIBP (immigration dept) website at http://border.gov.au and investigate the 6 visas mentioned here - each visa has a three-digit subclass number, so you can look on the DIBP site or even use Google (ie, google "DIBP 457 visa"). Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Ahmad - I have to agree with Alan on this one, having clients who have been through this situation. Best, Mark N.

Hi Blighty - The commitment you make to your sponsoring state is more than a preference, it's a commitment - sometimes a contractual commitment depending on the state - to that state. While I have never heard of a breach of that commitment being used to scuttle a citizenship application and have never heard of a state trying to enforce that commitment in court, doesn't mean it couldn't happen. If you or anyone finds themselves in a situation where they have been sponsored by a state and are unable to find suitable work in that state, suggest fully documenting a good-faith, extensive job search prior to giving up and looking in another state. This type of evidence could be very helpful if questions are ever asked later on about why you did not fulfill the 2 year commitment. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

The only issue with this type of situation is that sometimes DIBP will refuse a BVB as unnecessary if the existing sc600 visitor visa will extend past the expected return date on the BVB application. Issues can also come up if the person does get the BVB, but returns prior to the sc600 visitor visa expiring and DIBP re-enters them into the country on the visitor visa - this can cause the applicant to have to wait out the 3 month maximum stay period before the BVB reactivates, and during the 3 months they have no work rights. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Amandarina - Australian citizens do not need health checks or visas to re-enter Australia, so while they should be declared in a visa application if asked about your family members, etc, they should be included but should not be listed as "migrating" applicants. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Sapphilor - Lawful residence means on any visa, including a visitor, student, bridging, etc visa. So based on your info, 1 Jan 2013 would be the beginning of your lawful residence in Australia. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Dan - I believe you received an invitation from NSW to apply for NSW sponsorship for a sc190 visa - the information you're asking about would normally be provided to the immigration dept (DIBP) after you are approved by NSW for state sponsorship and NSW then causes DIBP to issue you an invitation to apply for the sc190 visa. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi Welder85 - I'm not sure that would be sufficient - the reference letter is fine to confirm employment, but DIBP generally wants evidence of payment as well for employment claimed for work experience. "a few payslips" may not be sufficient by themselves - I'd look for any other corroborating evidence such as tax documents, or see if you can get your old bank statements from the bank, etc. If none of that works, perhaps a signed statement from the payroll department of the employer or something like that might help.

Hi Welder85 - This is generally within the discretion of case officers, however usually you need to show proof of payment of one kind or another for all work experience you wish to claim for points. Normally if you do not have all payslips from a particular year or period, other third party evidence such as bank statements or tax notices can work. If you were self-employed, that makes things a bit more difficult but the same general principals apply. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam

Hi - http://www.migrationtranslators.com.au has worked well for our clients - they're 100% online and if you specify NAATI translation, that will be acceptable for DIBP.

Hi Lorraine - For sponsoring a parent, the sponsor must generally be a permanent resident and "settled" in Australia - "settled" essentially means having been legally in Australia for 2 years (DIBP policy) but the key is that the person be legally in Australia - time spent on previous visas prior to gaining PR generally counts towards the 2 years "settled" policy. Hope this helps - Best, Mark Northam