Michael P

They can't force him in the sense that there must be a reasonable buyout price in the employment contract addendum. Maybe he has to pay all or a portion of the company's visa costs, which would be reasonable. If there's no written agreement about it, he is free to leave. It is not a legal requirement in that case - more a moral one as they did spend a lot of money on his visa. We were told by my wifes employer that it cost them $5.500 all expenses included. So maybe it's worth it depending on how great the new offer is - maybe it's not.... If in doubt, talk to a lawyer.

We got the Golden Email this morning. Thanks to everyone who posted on this forum - I learned a lot about the visa system from this place! Here's the timeline: Visa: 186 DE Nomination and Visa Applied: 3 Jul 2020 Nomination Approved: 8 Jul 2020 S56 Req: 3 Jul 2020 (NPC with alternate name spellings) - Submitted 21 Jul 2020 S56 Req: 11 Aug 2020 (NPC with further alternate name spellings) - Submitted 1 Sep 2020 Onshore: Yes (on a 457 visa expiring 17/11/2020) State: NSW No. of applicants: 6 Role: 253111 Medical Practitioner Medicals Completed: 17 Aug 2020 Visa Status: Granted 24 Sep 2020 All the best to everyone. May you all get Golden Emails sooner than expected! (even if I realise that it usually doesn't go that way...)

Was that 4% in total, or 4% after nomination+health approval?

Out of curiosity, are there ever anyone who gets their visa application rejected after their nomination and health check has been approved? Or is it more or less a formality (and wait) after that?

I know several colleagues who also had the CISSP recognized as Advanced Diploma. So unless they changed policy in the past couple of years, I'd say it's still a safe bet. Afterall, it is MUCH harder to achieve a CISSP than any Cisco or Microsoft Professional Level certifications. I also hold CCNP Routing & Switching and didn't even submit it as I knew the CISSP was sufficient...

Just wanted to share my experience with the health assessment. 4 family members got direct clearance. My 16-year old son and I initially didn't, and our status just showed "Assessment in Progress - no action required". I don't know why my son did not get the initial clearance. The MO told me at the health assessment that he had found traces of blood in my urine though and it would need further lab testing. We did it on a Tuesday. The results were in on Immiaccount on Friday which is when the status updated to "Assessment in Progress" for my son and I, while my wife and our 3 daughters immediately went to "Health Clearance Provided". I spent the WHOLE week worrying and worrying, and making contingency planning for what to do if we were rejected. It was totally needless as the status automatically updated the following Tuesday to "Health Clearance Provided" for both my son and I. Point being, don't worry if the health assessment doesn't immediately clear. It could very well be something completely irrelevant for the visa. Enjoy every day like you normally would, and tackle each challenge only as they appear! I hope this can help someone else to relax a bit if they are in the same boat one day.

Anyone with ideas how long it takes after submitting the second s56 response? 3 July: s56 requesting more AFP certificates with alternate name spellings (due to international characters in middle name) 11 August: s56 requesting more AFP certificates for my daughter with different first- and lastname combinations (ie. LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME MIDDLENAME and alternate ones with MIDDLE NAME LASTNAME, FIRSTNAME) I submitted the requested AFP's today - a total of 6 for my daughter, 4 each for the rest of us - so no less than 26!! AFP certificates. AFP actually cancelled one of the certificates as they felt my daughter kept applying in error, which caused some unnecessary delay

It was recognized as Education at the level of Advanced Diploma or equivalent. My experience was both before and after CISSP (3 year before and 13 years after).

Yes and no. I have 70 points, but that's hardly enough. The new points system for 491 will do wonders for me (15 more points plus possibly 5-10 points for STEM). But as my new employer is happy to sponsor a 494, I don't think I'll have anything to gain.

I got my CISSP recognised by ACS as Advanced Diploma equivalent when I did my skills assessment.

Wouldn't make sense to have an age limit, as you need 3 years minimum on a 491/494 first to get 191. But since the 491/494 has a 5-year validity period, there is a very natural age limit of 50

Hi, I arrived in Australia on a 457 visa in November 2016 working as 263111 Computer Network and Systems Engineer and have been full time employed since in rural Australia (NSW). Late last year my sponsoring company changed my manager, and the new one was really terrible. Micromanagement at it's worst, and nowhere near appealing or acceptable to someone like me with 25 years of experience in IT. Told me that he was not likely to agree to PR sponsorship as well, so obviously I started looking around. When I found a new employer and resigned, he suddenly wanted to sponsor me anyway?? Anyway, I don't work that way, so I stuck to the resignation and in June this year, I finally changed employer and my 457 visa was transferred to them. No problems there. So here's my problem: With the new 191/494 visa's, I have gotten a bit confused. Knowing that I have to work 2 years for the same employer on my 457 to apply for ENS/RSMS (186/187) - I assume this is still the case? - I know that changing my employer messed up my chance of getting 186/187 PR within this 457 Visa validity period (as I can effectively only work 16 months with my new employer before it expires). I was planning to get a new 4 year 482 TRS visa before my current 457 expires. Work 3 years on that, and then make the PR transition. But if I understand the new 494 correctly, it is now more advantageous for my new employer to sponsor me on that, and then go for the new 191 after 3 years. Correct? Why would anyone go for the 4-year 482 over the 5-year 494? Will the 494 excempt me from paying school fees (currently paying $16,000/year for public school)? Would there perhaps be a "grandfathering" built into the 191 so I could go for that directly, as I've been here 3 years in November? Hope you can help me out here - I am looking for the fastest route to PR given my situation. Thanks heaps, Michael

Check your spam folder or try from another email address... It currently says: For urgent requests for assistance, please include the words Priority Request for Assistance in the subject line of your email. If there are exceptional circumstances requiring the urgent allocation of a case please the words Priority Allocation Request in the subject line of your email. Such requests will NOT be considered further unless there is a brief statement providing reasons for the request. If there is no statement or the request is considered not to be urgent, you will not receive a response and/or the application will be processed within the normal timeframe. If the request is considered to be urgent, we will contact you within 48 hours. Please do not use this option as your default position for emails sent to this mailbox. The reason we don’t respond, if the request is not considered urgent, is related to the volume of such requests and our efforts to limit the staff resources we lose from our primary focus of finalising applications.

Send a blank email to 457@border.gov.au and you will get the instructions in the auto-reply. You need to have special circumstances like current visa expiry coming up very soon, financial hardship due to their processing times, etc...

131 881 as they mention on their website... If you are outside Australia, you can always call +61 131 881 using Skype... I don't know if it works from an overseas landline or mobile, but Skype does. Don't know if the 457 team is in Perth, so not sure if that would work