Rara82

It's Offshore Skills Assessment Program (OSAP) Sara

Hi Rob I don't have a guide but when I completed the EOI for my husband in the education section I selected AQF Certificate III - the institution I put as 'VETASSESS' the campus I put 'n/a - OSAP Assessment'. Then in the Skills Assessment section, I put TRA as the assessing authority. I hope that helps.

Thanks supercow and Orlando, all the best to you both!

We have also received the golden email today with our grants. We are over the moon and want to send a big shout out and massive thank you to the wonderful people on PIO, we couldn't have done this without you. Quick question though, my husband's (main applicant) grant letter is addressed to our current address and my grant letter is addressed to our old address which we moved out of in March. I imagine this is just an oversight. Do you think I should advise them of the error? I'm not sure if it will matter or not. :confused:

We have submitted our 189 visa application today and updated the online tracker. We wanted to thank all on this forum, especially @adele244, for being so helpful. Hopefully we will be able to be just as informative and helpful to future wannabe applicants. All the best guys and gals.

Hi @adele244 - sorry for delayed reply. Yes, our timelines are very similar! We are doing the process without an agent, how about you? I hope your husband's technical interview goes well, am sure it will. My husband has his PTE on 11th May. He did have his practical assessment booked in for 30th May, but unfortunately, VETASSESS have just cancelled it (grrrrr!) so we need to book a technical interview instead. We were hoping to have the visa application submitted by 1st July as Carpenter is one of the flagged occupations on the SOL. Anyhow, if everything goes well, we are hoping to be based around Sydney as that's where all our friends are. How about you guys?

Massive congratulations supercow! My husband's PTE is booked for the 11th May - so I will report back, hopefully with some good news. I'll be looking out for your thread

Thanks thomasvo - I think we'll do the same.

That's really good to hear @thomasvo. I am booking my husband's PTE exam this weekend. Hopefully, for the second week of May and I too will post an update on how he gets on. Can anyone recommend any good websites or books which may help with revision or practice? He has had a few sessions with a tutor already but this was more focused on the IELTS which, after reading the above, we have decided to leave for now.

Great post evenezia! Wishing you all the very best with your application! Keep us posted!

Sorry I can't answer your question familyof4 but I wanted to say massive congratulations on the visa grant. Wishing you all the very best once you get to Australia. Please keep us posted with everything

Well done for getting statements for 2 suppliers. That's where I am having difficulty. My OH is applying as a Carpenter and Joiner (self-employed). We have been able to get a number of reference letters from companies he has sub-contracted to and letters from private customers but struggling with acquiring letters from suppliers as my OH would always shop around for the best deals for materials and tools and would rarely open an account. I think we will at the very least be able to get one supplier letter but otherwise it will be lots of receipts and supplier invoices and then keeping our finger's crossed! Sounds like you are nearly all set - wishing you all the best xx

Hi Adele Just wondering if you found the answer to your question above, i.e. whether you did have to acquire 3 statements from suppliers?

That's good Robwilliams, sounds like however you completed the EOI, the correct points have been claimed. Wishing you all the best for your application.

Thanks Ozmaniac. This clarification definitely helps us out and hopefully will assist others wondering about claiming these points. Thank you again

Thanks Engaus After all the submitted paperwork has been assessed by VETASSESS and the technical/practical is passed, in addition to receiving a positive skills assessment, VETASSESS also, at the same time, award an AQF certificate III for trade occupations. If no apprenticeship has been completed, they take three years of skilled employment (Recognition of Prior Learning RPL) as substitute for formal study/training. If an apprenticeship was completed or NVQ, I understand the newly awarded AQF III supersedes these qualifications for migration purposes. Therefore the AQF certificate III has been awarded by an approved assessing authority. An agent has advised this would enable us to claim the 10 points below under the educational section (wording taken from MIGRATION AMENDMENT REGULATIONS): 6C75 attained a qualification or award recognised by the relevant assessing authority for the applicant's nominated skilled occupation as being suitable for the occupation 10 points (this is also as per WRussell's earlier post, whom I forgot to thank earlier, thanks WRussell). I also am no expert (far from it) which is why I am grateful to be corrected should I be mistaken on any of the above. Thanks again for your time and thoughts - much appreciated. Sara [TABLE=width: 492] [TR] [TD] [/TD] [TD][/TD] [TD][/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Thanks for responding Robwilliams. I appreciate this is a grey area. Are you able to expand on the reasons why this award/qualification (AQF III) would not be eligible for ten points under the education section? It is strange that there are applicants who have claimed these points successfully and have had their visas granted.

Thanks all for replying. You are all my heroes! :wink: We are in the same boat Adele, we know the IELTS is crazy hard so it would be amazing if we get these ten points from the awarded AQF III. The above responses are also in harmony with what this chap said in the below link: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/196629-help-eoi-trade-qualification.html

Thanks so much for replying Leah. That makes sense and I'm also inclined to think the same. Although, I'm at a complete loss on how we would input the study dates for this award/qualification when doing the EOI as there was technically no study due to the qualification being awarded as part of a skills assessment. Anyone had any experience with this? Thanks again Leah

Hi all Any help/advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated as I keep going around in circles trying to find the answer to the following: When an applicant passes the practical assessment with Vetassess and they receive an AQF certificate III (based on 3 years skilled work experience as Capenter and Joiner), can this then be used to claim 10 points under the educational qualifications, where it states 'You have completed a trade qualification for award by an Australian educational institution.' or 'You have attained a qualification or award recognised by the relevant assessing authority in determining your skills for your nominated occupation.'? Unfortunately, I have received conflicting information. An agent we have asked says these points can be claimed, but I believe we would have to input start and end dates of study which we would not have as the qualification was obtained through skills assessment. Any ideas? Thanks for your time. Sara

No guts, no glory! Really enjoyed reading your post, thank you. Wishing you and your family all the happiness for your future down under!

Thank you so much for looking up that. That certainly answers my question. Think we will likely submit to VETASSESS. Thank you again and all the best with your application

Thanks for your response familyof4. Congratulations on your OH's successful assessment. After reading NeelD's post, I have done a bit more digging to find the difference between getting skills assessed by VETASSESS or TRA, I've not got very far!! The official immigration website says TRA for carpenter/joiner so we may have to go with them. Has anybody else been confused about whether to go with TRA or VETASSESS? sara

Hi NeelD Thanks so much for replying. Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression the TRA have (recently) outsourced some assessments to Vetassess and Victoria University; including carpenters. I didn't think TRA was an option for us, but I would like to be corrected as I understand it's a cheaper option. My OH does indeed have a CSCS card so gaining the NVQ would definitely be something we could do, thanks for the suggestion! How exciting that you are at the last hurdle and waiting for your visa to be granted! Wishing you the very best!

Hi all I'm Sara and a newbie to this all, so apologies in advance for any ignorance on my part. My OH and I are hoping to apply for a 189 visa with carpentry being his nominated skill. He has 8 years of experience, but all of this has been self-employed working for private customers and subcontracting to larger firms. He has absolutely no formal qualifications. We are in the overwhelming process of acquiring all the paperwork needed as evidence for the VETASSESS assessment. Most of the big firms he has worked for are writing us detailed reference letters and it's these letters that will form most of the evidence against the competencies on the fact sheet. My question is... If VETASSESS only want the last 5 years worth of evidence, and we have 8 years of experience, when we come to apply for the visa, will we still able to claim the points for 3 years of skilled work (I'm led to believe those 5 years will be classed as training)? Hope that makes sense! If we can't claim those 5 points we may have to apply for 190 visa instead. Also, we are contacting his private customers to give reference letters and I'll also be getting copies of his invoices. Can anyone answer whether a selection of letters for each year might suffice, or will we have to provide back to back letters with no gaps? If the latter is correct, am I right in thinking a statutory declaration might be easier? Thanks for for your time. Sara