Racmac

Your positive skills assessment is your admission to practice as a solicitor. 

Once you are admitted as a solicitor you can then apply for a visa. 

In in order to get admitted, you need to apply to the law society and find out what quals they require you to do. You then study and pass them. 

Then you apply to the board for admission and attend the admission ceremony  

Hi Racmac, it is possible to apply for a PR:

 

Direct Entry Stream.

You don’t even have to have a 457 to be eligible for this stream. Under Direct Entry Stream you need to obtain a skills assessment from a certifying body and have a minimum of 3 years work experience relevant to your occupation gained anywhere in the world. You must get your English tested on a particular level (IELTS 6), get your medical and character checks done. You don’t have to wait 2 years on a 457 to go through this stream. Some people are unable to get through Skill Assessment or are struggling to pass IELTS 6, therefore 2 years on 457 Visa is their “option of choice”.

Thanks - does this create any additional obligations on the employer?

I have been offered sponsorship on a 457 which is great, however I would like to be a permanent resident - if I get a 457 can I immediately apply for PR or are there any time restrictions?

Hi Everyone.

My ex is being difficult and will not allow my 16yr old daughter to migrate with us. Has anyone here been down the route of court regarding a similar case using the C100?

Any advice and time frames would be greatly appreciated as we were due to move around xmas time.

If you have to issue Court proceedings you wont be able to move at Christmas, you will be lucky to get a first hearing before Xmas!

Have sent you pm

TRAVEL is not same or equivalent to RELOCATE, consent to Travel had already been given by both parents when signed on passport application form. It will remain in force by default, minor is free to travel. Parent can notify the authority to place the minor on the PACE list, if decided to withdraw the consent to allow minor to travel. That is how Australian Legal System works.

 

By giving reason of RELOCATE as purpose of a trip rather then TRAVEL upon arrival on a tourist visa, sure you will be questioned for hours by Australian Boarder Force, not to mention to place you on next plane home.

 

To relocate a minor, involves not only legal part, but moral part consideration as well.

 

For the best interest of the daughter, my suggestion is very clear, a consent is REQUIRED, and to inform her father is RECOMMENDED even if daughter is able make her own decision legally, after turned 16.

 

I also made it very clear, to remove and relocate a minor without other parent's permission is very serious matter.

 

Not sure where I have suggested that signing on passport application form is giving consent to relocate.

 

Passport is a travel document, not a legal document for relocation.

 

See my original post below.

permission to apply for a passport is not giving consent to travel. You are wrong.

Interesting, where in my post I've said or suggested that a parent's signature on passport application form = approval of relocate to another country?

You are right both parents' approval needs to be in place, however the parents' approval had already been given by signed on passport application form, and will be remain in force as long as the passport is valid. Parent will need to inform the authority if any one of them wants to withdraw the approval

this is misleading advice.

You are right both parents' approval needs to be in place, however the parents' approval had already been given by signed on passport application form, and will be remain in force as long as the passport is valid. Parent will need to inform the authority if any one of them wants to withdraw the approval, then the minor's name will be on the prevention list, the minor will not free to travel/leave the country, that is how Australian legal system works, I personally don't in UK would be much different, as Australian Law largely based on British law (formally British Colonies).

 

Anyhow whatever I posted here can be concluded as following:

 

1. A permission from ex husband is needed or at least notify him in the event of daughter can make her own decision after turned 16.

 

2. To apply for a visa is possible but still needs E/H to sign. There is no short cut or way around to by pass the ex.

Please do not follow this advice!

A parent does not give approval to relocate to another country based on a signature on an application form for a passport.

I have already told you what the procedure is - go to mediation and then make an application at Court on a C100 form.

if you take her out of the country you could find yourself subject to proceedings under the Hague Convention.

You need to go to mediation and get an appointment. Either he turns up and you get him to agree or mediation signs the form and you issue an urgent application to court.

download c100 form and pay fee of £215, the court will list for a hearing date in about 6 weeks time. Cafcass will call on the phone and prepare a safeguarding letter in readiness for the hearing. Depending on the outcome of that letter depends on next steps.

if cafcass want a section 7 report then that will take another 8 weeks, if they don't want one it will be listed for a final hearing.

Hope that helps

this is what im asking though. i thought same sex couples are treated exactly the same as legally married couples under the law in oz. you say they arent treated equally so i am asking in what ways are same sex couples not treated equally.

They can't marry! That's how they are discriminated against

if you don't approve of gay marriage then don't marry someone of the same sex, it's quite simple !

WA told me what universities offered the courses in WA but only 1 of them did online and the other was over 2 modules and was very expensive.

I asked the board if could study elsewhere and provided my reasons and they approved UNE which are very geared up to online study.

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/211160-solicitor-applying-visa-189-skills-assessment.html

have you read this thread, lots of info on here that should answer all your questions.

Thanks for the info Racmac.

 

My plan is to emigrate in December 2019 when I will be two years post qualified as opposed to going over freshly qualified. Due to the solicitor occupation being on the flagged list for removal I was thinking of applying for a skills assessment in the next few months, undertake the necessary modules and apply for admission. From the other threads I have read on here, some have had to undertake 6 additional modules which would take a year to complete as you can only study a maximum of 3 per semester. Therefore I estimate a year to complete the additional modules. Hopefully the solicitor occupation will remain on the list the next year or two so that I can apply for my visa say September - December 2017. I am not too how long the visa process takes - I have read around 12 months which would take me to September - December 2018 if this is granted. I would then hope to emigrate in December 2019.

 

I am not sure if there is a time limit between having your visa granted and moving out as I wouldn't be looking to move out for around 12 months after my visa is granted. I will need to look into this more to see if this is possible.

Well the minimum subjects I mentioned above - the constitutional law ran from Feb to June and The other 2 you studied at your own time but they suggest 8 weeks each.

when you get skills assessed it takes about 2 months but I fear even f you apply with 2 years qualification you will have to do lots subjects. I have heard lots of stories of people doing 6/7 subjects. If you factor in the time and cost plus the risk that the occupation could be removed id be concerned. If you are working full time you will not be able to manage 3 modules a semester. I struggled with 1 subject, it was intense.

I I think you have 4 years from grant of visa to move to oz. Good luck anyway.

You need to apply to the law society in the state you wish to be admitted to, they will assess your skills and decide what modules you need to take to be the equivalent of a lawyer in Australia.

As as a trainee or NQ you will struggle. As a minimum you will have to study the following

professional responsibility

trusts and accounts

australian constitutional law

all of these can be studied

in line from uk.

As as a trainee you will not be able to rely on experience for some of the modules and if you got a grade of c or less then you will have to take the equivalent subject.

Once you you have done these subjects then you have to apply to be admitted and attend the ceremony in the state you applied to. Once you are admitted you can apply for a visa.

She was lucky to have been allowed to take the children out of oz without his consent! I have just taken my husband to court to take my son back to oz, luckily for me he was happy for us to go and signed it off as long as we stay in contact and visit every year. As for CSA, no she cant get anything, I wont get a penny and i dont want to either. Ive been allowed to go back to oz with my son so i am just thankful for that. If she was residing in oz with the kids and left and took them to the UK technically she has taken them without consent. I would advise she gets a solicitor ASAP. Good luck

It doesn't suggest anywhere that she removed the children without his consent and why should she be grateful they are his bloody kids and he has a legal and moral responsibility to financially support them.

As as I said above the cms do have jurisdiction of the children of they are in uk and she should make her application.

Hello all

 

First, I have found this thread incredibly useful so thank you to all contributors.

 

I am currently just about to complete pupillage at a common law set in UK with a focus on company, general chancery and, bizarrely, quite a bit of crime. I graduated from my LLB in 2014, finished Bar School in 2015 and was fortunate to immediately gain pupillage for which I am about to complete. Though this may sound a little optimistic, I would also hope to be accepted as a tenant in chambers.

 

My wife and I are about to pull the trigger and initiate a move to Oz. I am, fortunately, less concerned than I may have been about visa requirements as I believe my previous career as a secondary school teacher should still be valid to achieve a 189 visa.

 

I am, however, concerned about the number of academic subjects I may be forced to complete in order to gain a practising certificate. Does anyone have any experience about moving over from the UK bar? I am a little unclear as to whether post-qualification experience may be taken into account when assessing Academic subjects when one is yet to fall into the exemption category of +7 years PQE. For example, I did not study company law in the UK during my LLB yet I have spent almost 1/3 of my pupillage untangling complicated shareholder disputes; resolving partnership problems and applying for the compulsory winding up of companies.

 

Further, I note that several members (particularly @ Libbyyella and @ racman) are studying at UNU. I wondered if to comply with the constitutional Priestley 11 requirement you had to do both constitutional modules or only one? Is this also the case for the other wider units (equivalent of 6 modules in other non-award universities)?

 

If anyone has studied any of the academic course online at UNU, I would appreciate some comments on their experience of the process.

 

Many thanks

sorry only just seen your message. I would say that you need to put an extraordinary amount of detail on your application to the board, tell them exactly what areas

of company law you have done and hope for the best.

I did did constitutional law law220 module online, some unis

offer it as 2 modules but clearly that increases the costs so I did the 1 module online.

Myself and libbyyella had to also do professional responsibility and accounts. Again online.

Child maintenance service have jurisdiction over the children so she can make a claim as she would normally. Enforcement will clearly be more difficult but it is possible, be warned however that CMS are absolutely useless and it will be a battle

Quick question, we have applied for our holiday visas which have been granted with no issue but one of the conditions is no criminal convictions.

My partner has a conviction from 2008 for drunk and disorderly. I'm bit worried that if we don't contact them and say he has this conviction we may run into problems later because he didn't declare it but on the other hand I don't really want to open can of worms and create problem for holiday visa!

What do you suggest?

i've been reading this thread with interest - i've just graduated with a first and been offered a training contract with a firm doing criminal law (alot of the work they do is 'duty solicitor work'), immigration law, family law, and employment law, amongst others. i did company and family law at uni but not civil procedure. i am also considering going into accounting or data with one of the accounting firms. the problem is that most of the jobs in the big accounting firms have already been filled - they tend to recruit a year or 6 months in advance. i am therefore considering doing paralegal (or other temporary work) work for 6 -12 months whilst trying to get into the higher paid accounting jobs.

 

which route do you recommend i take?

Well you have done well to secure the offer of a training contract so well done. You need to go with where your heart is? Is it in law or accountancy?

if you want to emigrate to Australia then I don't think accountants are on the list and solicitors are on the list but you will need good few years experience and then at least 3 exams and be admitted in oz

1. Does anyone know whether all states will mark the same i.e. if we applied to NSW for an assessment, are they likely to come back with the same results?

 

2. Say husband studies the units specified by WA, is admitted and gains a positive skills assessment, if we then opt for the 190 state sponsored visa, are we restricted to only being able to apply to WA or can we use that positive skills assement for other states (e.g. NSW). I think previously it used to be that in order to practice in other states you had to be admitted to them individually (in addition to the state you were currently practising in) however I'm sure I read somewhere that this had been abolished.

My understanding is that they all follow the same principle rules but I'm guessing there is some room for human differences. As far as I know once you have been admitted in one state you can apply to any other state and its just a case of completing the admission process in the other state.

Did you consider appealing against the decision?

Unfortunately doesn't seem to make any difference whether you have already studied them or not - I have done most of these at a very prestigious uni with lots of experience as a solicitor but still have a list that long. Seems that there are a lot of hurdles for UK solicitors. Although the profession is on the skills list, in reality there are large numbers of qualified solicitors looking for jobs - from what I have seen in QLD there isn't a shortage of lawyers so I don't think that the Law Society is that desperate to have people come over.

Hope this doesn't come across as negative! Just speaking from my experience over here and with the right profile / experience there should be opportunities.

I can't agree with this based on my personal circumstances, I am 12 years qualified and have studied these subjects at uni and I have only been told to study constitutional law, professional responsibility and accounts. None of the others that the guy above has been told to do.

im sure I read that you can appeal on the basis of experience and appeal generally, it may be worth doing that to see if can reduce the amount of subjects?

So today we've receive hubby's assessment back from the WA Legal Board - he's been advised he needs to study the following:

Admin

Constitutional Law

Company law

Civil Procedure

Evidence

Trust and Office Accounting

Ethics and Professional responsibility

 

It's more than we'd hoped so now it's time to see where he can study these whilst in the UK and calculate how much it'll all be before deciding whether to progress or not. Feeling slightly deflated as it feeling more and more likely that we may need to reconsider whether we go down this route

wow, that's a lot to study. Has he not studied these subjects a UK degree level? How many years qualified is he?

Hi @Racmac & @Libbyella , we're currently in the process of submitted my husband's details to WA to see what extra subjects he will need to study for a positive skills assessment. We had previously been told he would need to sit his exams in Australia but from reading the post above it sounds like you've been able to take them in the UK? If so that would be a massive help!

 

With regards to the addtional subjects you had to both study, what sort of timescales have you come across in terms of how long it's taken you to study them all? I appreciate it may differ according to personal circumstances however on another posting someone had said that they encountered delays because universities would only allow them to to study a certain number per semester.

Hi @louisella. Both myself and libbyella have to study professional responsibility and accounts, these have been done on line with college of law. You can study these at any time, I did both together and took the exams after 8 weeks. There is also assignment for them. It's all done on line but you will need to find somewhere to take exams local to you, I went to a private school and did them there.

we also have to study constitutional law, the only one in WA that you can do online is Edith curran uni but it is split into 2 courses and double the price.

We are both studying CL at university of New England, [you will need to get permission from legal practice board] it's all online and they state that most of their students are online. We will have to take exams at their specified centre which for us will be Leeds.

I cant ant imagine working full time and studying more than CL at a time so beware of that, I'm findi it really tough. your hubby will need to check what trimesters the CL runs in, I don't think it runs in trimester 3 and trimester 1 has already started few weeks ago. So if you can't do it in trimester 2 then your going to have to wait until next Feb!

Feel free to ask any questions!

Hello - a bit of a practical question, in terms of studying for the additional core subjects, is anyone aware if it's possible to get a student visa for this? I understand in QLD that you get up to 2 years to complete the core subjects. My thinking is it would be better to study in Australia whilst gaining paralegal work in Australian firms to build experience and connections, rather than doing the subjects in the UK (which I've read on another forum is possible. Southern Cross?)

 

Also, where the LLB and the LPC/BVC is assessed, does the admission board differentiate which courses at either undergrad or post grad level need studying? I'm a bit confused as I imagine that core subjects will be needed for both levels to cross qualify? Which would obviously mean enrollment at an undergrad and post grad institution. If I'm making this more complicated that it actually is apologies!

 

Certainly sounds like a very complicated and expensive route to migration!

 

Grateful for any light shed

I'm not sure if you are qualified in UK? but my worry would be that there are lots of law graduates in Oz - same as in UK and its not going to be easy to secure a paralegal position. there are however more senior qualified positions available.

I have been told to study professional responsibility and accounts as practical subjects - I have studied these online and did exams at a local school.

I will start studying constitutional law in next few weeks at UNE - online and take exam in June.

Then you have to apply to be admitted (more money) and then attend admission ceremony in whatever state you applied to.

Hello Anon, I'm an overseas lawyer and I first thought of going through the solicitor occupation. I had my academic credentials assessed and the NSW LPAB asked me to take 6 subjects. Then I realized i still need a PLT after those subjects. Also some unis split subjects into two separate units. My guess is to get more money from overseas lawyers looking to complete their requirements lol. You're lucky you only need to take exams.

 

Anyway, I may be drifting off topic here but have you considered getting a skills assessment from vetassess for the occupation 'judicial and other legal professionals nec' anzsco code 271299. It is in the state sponsor list for SA, well it was open then it closed then it opened again. It is also in the ACT list but has some requirements.

 

I got an assessment from Vetassess. Just that vetassess does not include the first year post qualification. I'm not sure how they would go about computing your pre-qualification work experience.

That's really interesting - having looked it says "not classified elsewhere" Would they not expect a Solicitor to go under band of Solicitor? How long did VETASSES take to assess you?

This may speed up my process!

Trainee solicitor will not allow you to pass your skills assessment, they don't even accept your training as work experience I'm afraid. I have just applied to have my skills assessed and I am 12 years qualified. I had to complete a form and show what experience I have in the compulsory academic subjects and the compulsory practical subjects (LPC is not equivalent) Luckily I was able to show by my 12 years experience I had covered some of the subjects by working and not necessarily studying.

I have been told to study professional responsibility and accounts as practical subjects and then constitutional law as an academic subject, these are the bare minimum anyone would have to do. I have heard of others being forced to do 5 or 6 subjects.

Once you have passed them you then need to apply to be admitted to the role, then you need to attend the admission ceremony in that particular state - at that point you will have positive skills assessment.

Your other option may be to look at corporate or construction law and see if you can get one of the large firms to employ you in Oz however I wouldn't fancy your chances, there are lots of graduates looking for legal jobs. What Oz is short of is the more senior lawyers (according to some of the firms and recruitment people I have spoken to)