Claudia CB

Hi there! Very very difficult situation, sorry to hear! Your employer actually has the obligation to inform the Department of this redundancy after which they will initiate proceedings to cancel your 457 visa. Now, depending on the timing and Case Officer you have you may still be offered a few months to remain, especially if you manage to line up another job and let them know you are in the process of applying for another visa. However, this is in their discretion so it may happen more quickly. As for the 187, I would strongly suggest that you withdraw the application because if your employer is no longer sponsoring you it will be refused and you will have that refusal on your application history. In addition, if it is refused you will find yourself subject to a bar which will prevent you from applying for most other visas while you are in Australia! It is absolutely a difficult situation because you are bound to your employer with the 457 visa so I would strongly strongly suggesting acting very quickly to make sure you find a job lined up or the posibility of applying for a different type of visa before proceedings to cancel your 457 begin or your 187 is refused. Claudia R

Hi there! As the others have mentioned, if you did not live together at all it is highly unlikely you will meet requirements to apply for a visa on de facto grounds. Your best bet is to look at visa options on your own because unless you are genuinely planning to get married (in which case a Prospective Marriage Visa would be a good way to go) it is unlikely that you will find a suitable visa as a partner. Do you have any qualifications? Work experience? If you do, you could look at finding someone who would sponsor you and start going down that pathway or even applying for a Skilled visa if you fulfill requirements. However, most of these visas are only for skilled people that have occupations which are in demand in Australia so unless you do have these skills, you will find it difficult to find an appropiate visa. You are right, it is difficult to obtain an Australian visa and sadly there will always be the black sheep that manage to get in through the loopholes... Either way, you may still have options available! Good luck! Claudia

Hi everyone! Paul, if you have that many points you should really consider applying for a skilled visa. The paperwork is quite high but in the end you would have a permanent visa which is independent from any employer so it might be worth the effort (especially if you are in no rush at the moment since you already have your 457). Otherwise, you may look into PR options through an employer-sponsored visa but that may mean either waiting another year until you have 2 years on the 457 or also having to go for a skills assessment and prove 3 years work experience if you wanted to apply directly for PR through an employer-sponsored visa. My opinion is if you fulfill the requirements, certainly consider a skilled visa! With your occupation, you don't need to have State sponsorship to apply (although it might help getting an invitation to apply quicker but it also means more paperwork and having to meet more requirements!) and your skills assessing authority is not VETASSESS, but TRA. Costs for TRA is $1000, just like Kate (although keep in mind every skills assessing authority charges a different fee so I'm not sure which one kate is referring to here!). You are looking at several months worth of paperwork and usually 6 - 12 months from very beginning to end (depends, of course, how fast you can be in collecting documents as well!). In my experience, skilled visas tend to be on the expensive end of the scale but then again you are looking at us working for our clients for a very long time. Either way, it is completely up to you to decide to use an agent or not! Good luck and let us know how you decide! Cheers, Claudia R

Hi Stella! Congratulations on having an employer willing to sponsor you! When you applied for your 485 visa, what occupation did you use? Marketing specialist does sound like that could be the case but it would be worth noting that the Department will look at what your occupation was when you applied for the 485 and look at your new visa application under that light. If you can obtain a full skills assessment, you should consider a permanent skilled visa (189 or 190) because you will not be bound to a particular employer with that visa and (although it takes a lot longer than a 457) it will give you more freedom and the security of knowing you can stay as a permanent resident. Keep in mind that the occupation you nominate must also be the actual occupation you have (not just a similar title). So you will need to look at the description on ANZSCO and the tasks that correspond to that occupation because if you don't perform those tasks chances are your visa may be refused. If you do want to go for a 457, your employer will need to apply to become a sponsor, then they nominate the occupation and finally you can apply for the visa (all three steps can be done at the same time). If you are not sure where to start, get in touch with a Migration Agent and I'm sure they will be happy to talk to your sponsor as well and explain the basic procedure! For you, this process may be simpler and much quicker since most occupations don't require a skills assessment but it also means you would have a temporary visa which is dependent on your employer. Good luck, sounds like you have pretty good cards at this moment and a few options open! Cheers, Claudia R

Hey there! Well done on getting the Skills Assessment. With regards to where to live: this can be a bit tricky to decide! Keep in mind that your occupation is currently considered "Limited" by ACT so you'd have to get it verified before being able to apply, this could influence your decision. It is not incredibly difficult but can be quite tricky with regards to providing advertisements. VIC appears to be available so as long as you can meet the other requirements it could be a good way to go. Personally, I've had very good experiences dealing with the ACT SMP team, VIC seems to be longer and a little more complicated but it can certainly be done! Have a look at ads, ACT may be less competitive than VIC? There are a lot of advertised opportunities in Melbourne, for example, but we have had a number of clients be very frustrated with the fact that the competition is enormous because a lot of people want to go to the big cities. It also depends on what style of life you are envisioning...a smaller city or a larger fashion capital? As Pomqueen mentioned, it's great that you have a choice so have a look at the requirements and possible opportunities, maybe even get in touch wiht a few employers and make a decision then! Cheers, Claudia

Hey Cassie! Sounds like you already have a lot of information. I just wanted to add the following: 1. 457 vs Skilled visa (189 or 190): Generally speaking, a 457 will be a much easier way to obtain a visa to allow you to remain in Australia. It is very very unlikely that you'd be able to get all the paperwork done including Skills Assessment to lodge your EOI and then apply for a Skilled visa within a few months so it might be worth instead going down the 457 pathway and then looking at whether you would like to apply for a permanent visa through an employer or on your own. 2. Bridging visa: as already mentioned, you cannot apply for this but it gets issued automatically when you apply for a visa while you are in Australia on your Working Holiday visa. The bridging visa, however, will have the same conditions as the previous visa so you need to be careful! 3. Second working holiday: sounds like you could meet requirements to apply for a second working holiday visa based on the job you had and the postcode for Warwick (4370?). Your employer will need to sign and fill in the form and submit a few papers concerning the work you did there. Keep in mind the Department have been actively monitoring employers that certify this so just make sure the information is accurate and truthful (which it should be anyway ) 4. Requirements: I would not like to advertise our services in the public forum so I will go ahead and send you a PM with a bit more information if you are interested in engaging an Agent. Also, I can let you know a bit more about the requirements from an employers side. 5. Prices: the prices you were given here are not accurate. Since September 2013, there are new fees in place (our friends from the Department still have an active link to the old form on their website I'm afraid) as follows: 457 visa application base charge: $1035 plus additional applicant charge and subsequent temporary entrant charge. 457 sponsorship is now $420 and 457 nomination is now $330.00 Also, sponsorship is not automatically valid for 3 years anymore but rather until the nominations are used up OR the three years have passed. Sounds like you do have quite a lot of options at your disposal though! Cheers! Claudia R

Good luck with the appointment and definitely make sure you get a letter from the specialist including any symptoms, estimate of costs for treatment, medicine, etc. In the end I'm afraid only the panel doctors have the final decision but it can certainly help gage the likelihood of passing the medical test! Keep us posted!

Hey there, Looks like your question has been answered It is possible but the process will be Direct Entry so you will not have the "benefits" of having worked for them for at least 2 years (hence, not needing to prove certain requirements). Where is the person working? If it is a regional area, then direct entry for a regional employer-sponsored visa may be an option! It is sometimes more accessible than the "standard" employer-sponsored visa but it depends on whether you fulfill the requirements or not. So, it may be possible but your friend needs to fulfill all other criteria! Cheers

Hey there Don't let others see how good you have it we have a lot of clients who have a hard time finding a sponsor! The company will usually specify in the contract how long they would like to keep you for, etc. so the visa can be granted based on this period. Are they aware of the criteria to sponsor someone? You might find that once they are aware of the amount of work involved they may only wish to sponsor you if you decide to stay on for a longer amount of time... Either way, you are able to change sponsors if you find a different one there is no minimum amount of time you need to stay with your current sponsor, it will be quite a lot of paper-work involved though in getting the new sponsorship and nomination done for them but it is possible. I think you may want to start by getting your employer on-board with everything that will need tobe done on their part and see if they are willing to help out or, if not, you can then focus on finding a different cooperative employer. Cheers and good luck! Claudia

Hi there! You do need a full skills assessment to apply for a visa as this is a requirement from the Department of Immigration. In addition, your points test advice letter will state what your qualification is equivalent to and how many years you have worked in the skilled occupation at the appropiate level in order to obtain points. They are two separate things: one says that you actually have the skills required but the other tells the Department how many points they should allocate for each area. This is the best way to claim the points so I would strongly recommend that you obtain it, the fee is small compared to the degree of certainty that it provides with your application... Good luck!

Hi there! Certainly try to avoid applying on the last day!! Many clients have found themselves becoming unlawful because of this so better to sort of everything you need beforehand. So you say you lived together at your parent's house? Plus you have been living on your own since May (which has been 9 months now). If you haven't fulfilled the 12 month requirement on your own this can get tricky but if you lived for at least 12 months including the stay at the parent's house then you may fulfill requirements. You will need some good arguments and strong evidence but this can be counted. It is all a question of putting together a good application and really digging for evidence but the fact that you lived at your parent's house does not prevent you from proving the 12 month living together requirement. Definitely make sure you get onto collecting paperwork and getting the process started as soon as you can (you'll find it will be time-consuming to find everything you need so best to get started straight away!). Cheers!

Hi there! It may not necessarily be worth doing the full medicals up-front as they will expire after 12 months as already mentioned so you may find yourself having to re-do them, plus you will likely not know the results as they are sent directly to the Department of Immigration. Not all medical conditions will mean that you "fail" the exam but it will depend on the severity of it and other factors. What we have done in the past is contacted the doctor and they have offered a consultation and tests as a preliminary measure (this means they are the same tests but were not sent as part of the visa application but rather done as a private patient). In the end, it does mean that you end up paying twice for medicals but this is the only way to obtain some degree of certainty if you are worried (and I say "some degree" VERY carefully because no Migration Agent will be able to guarantee a particular outcome based on medical tests). If there is a problem at this stage, you can look at your chances and assess whether you would actually likely "fail" or whether with some strong arguments, you may still get it through. There are guidelines in the migration regulations and policies for when the Department of Immigration will refuse an application on medical grounds. At the same time, you can also prepare for any potential appeal that may happen. However, without a doctor's opinion no-one can say! Finally, not all doctors are this cooperative I'm afraid Cheers!

Hi there! Sounds like you're one of the lucky ones who found an employer willing to sponsor Whether or not your construction job will be classified as specific work depends on what it is exactly that you will be doing? However, there's a lot of activities in these area that are considered (provided, of course that you are also working within the regional postcode). If you do fulfill these two requirements you may be able to apply for a second working holiday visa. With regards to employer-sponsorship: if you apply for a 457 visa it can actually be valid for up to four years! So this is certainly something to keep in mind if you are considering staying here for a longer period of time. However, you will need to meet requirements which do start with finding an occupation that is on the list. There are a number of other requirements, especially for your potential sponsor, but it can be worthwhile making the effort. I'm afraid without an exact description though it is hard to say whether or not you'd be eligible based on the information you have provided. Some occupations will require you to obtain a skills assessment for the 457 visa but these are only a few so it would depend on which occupation you are looking to nominate and what nationality you hold. Cheers and good luck! Claudia

Hi there! As already mentioned, both Residential Care Officer and Youth Worker are in VETASSESS group C which will still require you to have at least an AQF diploma or equivalent. You state you have some post-secondary qualifications but didn't specify what they were? You would need to have a Migration Agent review your profile in detail including qualifications to be able to determine whether you are likely to meet requirements. In addition, you also need to look into the other visa criteria. You state that you are also studying so does this mean you are still working? The reason I ask is because otherwise you may find that you have "lost" points for work experience in the last 10 years if you have not worked sufficient hours. The pathway I am considering right now is Skilled Migration since it sounds like you could consider this a realistic pathway based on your age, work experience and possible occupation. However, there is a lot more information that is required before being able to determine your eligiblity in detail (for example, where are you considering living in Australia to look into State Sponsorship, other factors that may award you extra points, etc). Get in touch if you'd like representation from us, sounds like you are starting to look into the right places Cheers!

Hi Jason Generally only trade occupations from particular countries require a skills assessment for a 457 (the Case Officers reserve the right to ask for one though they rarely do unless it is required from the beginning). With regards to not having a degree, this will depend on the occupation you are nominating! You need to be aware of the skills and qualifications required for the occupation you have chosen and then see whether you can prove you have the skills without a degree (I make a very important note here that there are a lot of occupations where you NEED to have a degree and cannot substitute work experience for this) so whatever you do, make sure you are aware of the skills required. If you go to a permanent employer-sponsored visa through the transitional pathway you will not be requested to provide a skills assessment (because your skills will have already been determined when you apply for the 457). With regards to having to prove they couldn't hire someone local, this is a rather new requirement that was just introduced but there are a number of exceptions depending (again) on your occupation. My advice (I know I'm terribly biased :biggrin:) is to talk to a Migration Agent who can tell you exactly what is required for your occupation and for the prospective visa so you go into it with your eyes open and avoid making costly mistakes. Either way, I wish you the best of luck and it sounds like you could have good chances of getting to Australia through the employer-sponsored pathway! Cheers,