Adam Grey

You will need to be nominated again and then make a fresh visa application. Will take approximate 2-8 weeks on average.

Alan, have you lodged any 143 applications recently? We also found that the 864s were being assessed within a few weeks but the 143s are taking at least a year. Another plus point for onshore lodgement.

The visa situation isn't really an issue, you can get PR if the relationship breaks down and there's a child of the relationship. Can't offer any personal advice. I've had a similar situation and still searching for an answer myself! Things change and it can be rough, but the child is worth all the grey hairs and sacrifices.

A Medical Officer of the Commonwealth would make the assessment. An agent could give you an opinion based on previous experience of various conditions and the current health criteria, but we're talking about her health 1-2 years down the line so it's hard to predict anything and nobody can give you a definitive answer. Health conditions that cause a significant cost to the Australian healthcare system or result in the need for medical treatment that is in short supply generally cause a failure to meet the health criteria.

There's a few interesting upcoming amendments to the migration regulations that have just been announced: http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2014L00726 IMO the main one to highlight regards skills assessments. Previously skills assessments did not have an 'expiry date' for visa purposes, even though many assessing authority's liked to declare that they did. With the proposed amendment all skills assessments would have a 3 year validity period, or shorter if the assessing authority has specified an earlier expiry date.

Just in case you're not aware the 2 year period does not have to be as a Permanent Resident. Any period of lawful residence in Australia counts towards it. Also that onshore applicants have to be 'aged' (over 65).

A 'no further stay' condition is included on certain visas and prevents the applicant from applying for another visa while onshore. If we take a tourist visa as an example, the condition is unlikely to be imposed if the applicant is from a low-risk country like the United Kingdom. This would mean that a UK tourist will generally be able to apply for an onshore Contributory Parent Visa if they're eligible. Applying onshore has the benefit of being able to reside in Australia on a bridging visa while awaiting a decision and if the health criteria is not met there are ways of keeping your mum in the country (at least for a while). If she applied offshore and failed the health criteria there's no such possibility.

Yes a tourist visa will be fine provided it does not have condition 8503 (no further stay). Remember when applying for a tourist visa the intention must be to enter Australia as a genuine tourist.

In the event of ailing health you really want that application to be made onshore as there's ways of keeping the applicant in the country should the health criteria not be met.

Hi Steve, The recent changes effectively mean that the contributory parent visas are the only viable options available in this circumstance. Provided that you and your sister are the only children, your mum would meet the 'balance of family' criteria and the health issue you've mentioned does not give me too much cause for concern. The health criteria is met at the time of visa decision, which for this visa would be 1-2 years so please note deteriorating health can cause an issue. If affordable it is generally better to apply straight for the permanent visa without applying for the temporary version first. I would also point out that as your mother is considered 'aged' an onshore application would be possible as long as she held a substantive visa without a 'no further stay' condition at the time of lodgement. Applications made onshore can often be more beneficial, especially when the applicant is elderly and/or has a health condition. 1st stage Visa Application Charge for an sc 864 visa is $3,520. After 1-2 years when the visa is ready to be decided they will ask for a 2nd stage VAC of $43,600 and an Assurance of Support of $10,000 Hope this helps,

Because it's on the CSOL you'll need a state sponsorship sc190 or sc489. If you have a look on the state occupation lists you'll see the options are fairly limited. It's been that way for a while in this occupation. On the other hand this is probably the easiest occupation to get an employer-sponsorship for. It's cut throat and high turnover, but huge numbers of opportunities. If you're eligible for a WHV and haven't had one before, you're likely to be able to get over there and jump straight into a position. If you want to go for PR from that point onwards the ENS-Direct Entry stream is worth looking at until the state lists change in your favour. All the best,

Yeah it's pretty common. People get the visa, go over there and may not have any immediate positions in that occupation so they take whatever is available. As much as it defeats the point of skilled migration, the 189 visa has no conditions and the DIBP would never try and impose anything like that.

It's correct, but it's misleading for sure. Regulations can often seem misleading, vague or open to interpretation. That's why the policy manual that attempts to explain them is so huge.

Provided you get the positive assessment and demonstrate 3 years experience, the Direct Entry pathway is fine to use. Companies often find it cheaper to outsource migration work then to have a dedicated trained advisor in HR/Compliance. Even large global corporates with international relocation teams will outsource the work rather than have to spend time on CPD and keeping up with regulation changes. Consider the agent service fee for 1 ENS application, you'd be looking at $3-4,000 on average. Now consider the cost for one employee to train, obtain registration, continue their development, maintain a professional library, spend time doing the applications, spend time ensuring business sponsorship compliance.......Lots of companies want to keep it in-house but often it's false economy.

To be perfectly honest your Migration Agent should be answering all these questions, they're not there to simply make the visa application, peace of mind throughout the process is also important. If you're unsure about the process, ask them to clarify it.

In most cases and provided that your application is ready for a decision, the CO will use some common sense and grant the visa before your travel. Around Dec they like to finalise as many things as they can as well. It's worth a friendly nudge to point them in that direction nearer the time.

Not in all cases. The assessing authority for Mechanics outsources work for a large proportion of their applicants, so while they are officially the authority, if you're in that band of people and apply directly to them it will get returned as invalid and you'll have a bit of a wait for a refund.

But they don't have to be psychotherapists when they get there! :cute:

Yeah it's one of those rare occupations on the SOL doesn't have the applicant jumping through hoops for an assessment.....I'm always surprised by how few people nominate it.

We had a client once that graduated in law, nominated conference and events manager, but just wanted to go and work on cattle stations......You're a Permanent Resident, go and do whatever you want to do!

It's no problem. Yeah if you're looking specifically at 'Psychotherapist' it is on the SOL, that part of my comment was more for the benefit of everyone. The 1 year post qualification experience requirement I mentioned still applies as it's an assessing authority requirement. The fees for international students can be expensive (I've no idea of UK student fees so can't compare), but you get to be in Australia, you can work (no more than 40 hours per fortnight while your course is in session), you'll get an Australian qualification at the end and depending on your course you'll likely be eligible for a temporary graduate visa post-qualification which can give you time in Australia to complete that post-qualification work experience you'll need for the skills assessment. Worth a bit of consideration. Good luck with whatever you choose.

There's a few things I would suggest for anyone interested in an Independent Skilled Visa: 1. Check the Skilled Occupation Lists for the exact occupation you wish to pursue 2. If on the CSOL, check the availability of state sponsors 3. Check out the assessing authority for the occupation you intend to nominate. Make sure you know exactly what is required by them. 4. Make sure you're aware of how the points test works and check if you meet the benchmark total in your case for example if you're going to go down the 'psychotherapy' pathway I know you're going to need at least 1 year post-qualification experience in that field on top of a highly relevant qualification assessed as equivalent to an Australian Bachelor or higher degree. Each occupation/assessing authority/state has these little stipulations here or there that need to be looked out for. The most important pitfall is that the system is constantly changing and in 3 years time I guarantee it will be very different to how it is today. By all means plan ahead but be prepared for change. Did you consider completing your qualification in Australia? I'm not sure, but whatever is happening the one in front has a look of complete disappointment!

It really depends on your eligibility to obtain a positive skills assessment. You mentioned 10 years experience but haven't stated if you're formally qualified. If you are formally qualified and meet the required points benchmarks and other criteria, then an Independent Skilled Migration visa would be my recommended pathway. If you're not qualified then an assessment through TRA is not going to be possible and this means that an independent skilled migration visa or the direct entry stream of the ENS would not be an immediate option. You could look at an RPL course or similar to gain a qualification quickly, but we're going off on a tangent. If you're not eligible for a positive skills assessment then the WHV>457>ENS - TRT stream is an option but I'd echo the risk factors mentioned above. May I ask what your motivation was for exploring this route first over the 189?

It will let you, don't worry.

Hi Lynsey, You don't have to complete 2 years of work with an employer to be eligible for ENS, that's only for the TRT stream and for that it must be for 2 years in the nominated occupation as the holder of a 457 visa. Be really careful with any application where you're going to state that you worked for a company for 9 months on a WHV as well. Unless you got an extension waiver or it was split over 2 WHVs, you can only work for one individual company for a maximum of 6 months on a WHV. Breaching your previous visa conditions can have a negative effect on future applications. All the best,