Southlander

It's close but still doesnt seem to bridge the education gap. HND seems to be a level 5 in the UK. AITSL require AQF level 7, which is a bachelor degree equivalent (UK level 6) UK Level 5 = HND or UK foundation degree = AQF level 6 = diploma or associate degree.

That's the quirkiness of immigration to Australia. Following from what Quoll says (ignoring any work sentiments), it is not possible to obtain a positive skills assessment as a Primary School Teacher with a 3 year degree. Ironically you could obtain teaching registration from Queensland to teach, based on the 3 year teaching degree, without any need for English tests. Unfortunately there is no way around this. There is nothing that you can write, suggest or provide that will change their procedure/minds. Aitsl want 4 years of university. QCT status has no bearing, as is not something Australians acquire. They finish 4 years and they start teaching (provisional to full registration). The degree is not inferior to theirs but they just happen to only provide 4 year teaching degrees. The separate education bodies within the states recognise the UK 3 year degree for registration but not the immigration team, which is the one that counts. If you went there on a different visa stream your wife would probably get her teaching registration. But again this is not anything to do with immigration per se. A 1 year pgc will suffice but any work experience accrued to date will not count. Not sure if a minimum amount of post work experience will be needed to to obtain a positive outcome. The other option it to do a 2x year masters in Australia, maybe in Early Years. That way you will come out with both pathways to teach. And can have positive skills assessments in both. Again you need to decide how much you want to go and the risk you're prepared to take. Age obviously is tickin, so need to factor in how likely all can be achieved within the time frame. Please feel free to ask further, immigration is tough and you need to weigh up the odds. No risk no reward but it there is a degree of is it actually possible and figure it out as a family.

Thanks for clearing up though there was a typo. Looking at your link it may have played into your favour being from HK, but if they were also going by global processing times, you are over the threshold so could've been your time anyway. If they have put Hong Kong in priority processing category it would not make sense for them to not allow you in! That goes for anyone who has a visa granted, especially if it has time constraints. If I was you I would get my visa signed and sealed and let everyone else compete for the difference. Ultimately this is your choice and do what you feel comfortable with They are saying phase C to allow students and skilled applicants in, with "high caps", and phase D to open the borders to all. So you may be 6/7 months into your visa before entering and as little as 4 with any luck. All the best.

Hi, You may have got the date wrong 06/21, but why would your agent submit an application with a pcc that was close to expiring. Also the agent dissuading you to provide the info for a possible grant outcome that still may take another year to finalise. Bizarre. In my humble opinion I would do anything to get my grant, remember it's a competition for spots, who knows you may have to wait until after July next year should they use up their current quota before "borders open". There are hundreds of old applicants, with new ones joining every second. So anything to one up I would bite their hand off. Also you say that you got an email, I trust you mean the agent communicated this to you? Or who is exactly in charge of your application. I get not wanting to waste days, but nothing is certain until you get approved. Not all adds up.

Hi Brian, It's a painful wait. Most offshore are waiting +17 months, you just have to hang in there. No problem about your age, good thing you were invited and applied already. Keep us updated should you hear anything.

Hi Cal, I'm flattered with the offer . I think when our visa is granted I may not visit the site as often, so it would not be for me thanks. I note you mention admin, in that case the mods are doing a sterling job and the suggestions should be directed to them. If owners/admin would like to keep the site up to date, it would be sensible for them to put some time in doing this. It's actually a couple hours work. If not their thing, perhaps ask for feedback tlfrom posters to help with site improvements. I am definitely not up to speed on all topics, but have picked up here and there, and do know simple tweaks here and there will make a world of difference to the site. I suspect while they are getting clicks they are thinking no need to keep up with the current competition. If the admin would like to update the site, add/edit/consolidate a few categories that would be welcomed. If not, us minions will plough through as usual. Having started a thread about 190s offshore, we have done off track again

Citizenship threads yes, agreed, hundreds at the mo, (Pinned, duplicated etc. Etc etc) but rather their own centralised sub forum. I.e "skilled visas", "temporary visas", "citizenship questions". Correct me if I'm wrong but citizenship is not really visa related anymore. Besides the above there needs to be a general tidy up of threads, sub forums (as a lot are outdated), visa categories which are either redundant or in the incorrect category. Skilled PR 189/190 v skilled temp 491/482/old 489 are not the same. Pinned topics no longer needed or read. Site could be better but if there is no desire to change we will plod along with it.

Hi Matt, A centralised thread for 190s O/S was overdue. Citizenship questions seem to have taken over POI. Can't get away from them, I even asked the moderators to create a dedicated citizenship thread for them but don't think it was received well. It's a horrible situation for all of us. Everyone is doing, trying different things to pass time, and continue close to normal life as possible 'till we get our visas. I gather you applied for state nomination Apr 2019 and only received it last year sometime? Normally once state nomination is approved/granted, you have 6 weeks to apply for your main visa with the doha. Did you apply whilst still in the UK and went to Bali after? Our agents all seem to be in sit back mode, not a lot they can do for us I would think besides a nudge here and there for a response. I would though remain in contact with them if I were you just to let them know you are still about. Also if circumstances change your side, ie moved to another country you would need to advise them. If you stay in another country for 12 months you will need a police clearance from them as well as back home for your applaction. Some of us don't want to go down this road per se, but wouldn't mind being stuck in Bali. What does make me laugh is that you can find every topic under the sun regarding migration from, family with no right seeks to stay in oz, to please help parent visas, students at their homes abroad saying their dreams of oz is shattered although they their primary motive should be studying and leaving after, but nothing, nadda for us skilled, paid upfront migrants. Go figure

Hi @Smith270310 I relate to everything you are saying. We are finding it extremely hard too, living in limbo with no information coming our way. With young children as well it makes it more tougher to stay positive. I think for us our status hasn't changed for some time, but with @NQ679 saying their status changed, that may just be signs that processing is resuming. Keep in mind case officers are dotted all over and work at different speeds on their file allocations. As Joe says, just need to hang in there, who knows things just may take a postive turn.

@nomadiccarpenterWe are in the same mindset. We also discussed if we would go elsewhere to ease things up a bit, but more police checks put us off too. We should've perhaps moved about locally but no one could've predicted what has happened. Kids make it difficult, and can't believe they may need to start another year September... Ironically I wouldn't mind being in the States until then ! I will sort the group for us today. Again if I missed anyone (190's O/S) just jump in and let us know. (Preferably applicants who applied before and up to April 2020) Best

Absolutely, some of the threads just seem to have gone astray or off topic. Apols also for not quoting you, couldn't remember all off hand, probably missed others too. Should you like to join a private group, or if anyone else in a similar position as us and wants thinks it's a good idea please let me know. But a centralised thread is a start! I think the fact that you can be sponsored, and apply and get told that they only process so many a year and you have no visibility whatsoever as to when that may be. Processing times are just a smoke screen (covid too) and every stage of the visa process seems to be much longer than you anticipate. I also like that processing times for some skilled visa's are split between onshore/offshore but not for 190's... As much as we have every desire to go and still can't wait, I think the stress it puts on you is not something you really expected. It could be a much more transparent process. But I think it's deliberate as a lot of the "on the fencers" would not invest in it if they knew.

Just checking into our fellow offshore +15 months 190`s, thought it would be useful to have a new thread for us. We are now at 19 months and not a dickie bird . Crazy crazy wating times. We could be in a position that we applied in 2019 and may not get our grant until 2022/2023 . Quotas for this year's 190`s have been released @ 14,400 for 2021/2022 program. A FOI released recently by the Doha suggested that there were 11,500 unprocessed 190's as at the end of March 2021. The DoHA planning levels for this year is 11,200 visa grants Should the states use up all their new/current quota of 14,400 nominations for the 190's, which they will, there will be over 10,000 visa applicants who will not get their visa's this year, and will have to wait for the next year's quota released again from July 2022 onwards. For those of us that applied end 2019 beginning of 2020, we may be waiting for around a minimum of 2.5 years for the grant should they continue to ignore us. It also look extremely ominous for offshore applicants who manage to get invited for 190's from now on, may be looking at a 2 year wait minimum, job offer or not before their visa grant is processed or even looked at. My suggestion would be to go for employer nomination (not PR) if your job is on the pmsol list and you have an irrevocable job offer. For the 190 offshore, pmsol or not, it's a long road and no short cuts at the moment unfortunately. (Current time frame is 17 months) There are around 5,500 onshore 190 applicants waiting for their grants and lots are already working in Pmsol occupations and have not been expedited. Also 5,600 offshores as of end of March 2021 lots too in pmsol occupations. So they are not in any hurry to grant 190's. Maybe the new quota is just for us legacy applicants, happy days! On a side note, 20,000 temporary visa holder entered Australia last month. Go figure... If any of you below are up for a whatsapp group, or private Facebook group let me know could create one..? Can pm after. @31Hillbury @Joe/Rose @Domo @NQ679

Assumed India were on a travel ban to enter Australia considering UK has done just that. I gather oz border closures is for everyone opposed to select countries, so if you manage to get flight and have PR then is ok.

Wonder what the circumstances were for granting it sooner than others. Pwrhaps now that India are pretty a no go in terms of covid there will be no flights from India to anywhere so no risk them flying to Australia.

Just seen on Fbook, an OFFSHORE person from Punjabi has just got their 190 visa. Occupation was non-critical, "Manufacturer" for SA! Let's hope this is the beginning https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1662015954003375

Perhaps, but at least they can get things moving. Some countries are already considered 3rd tier, so are already being scrutinised more than others. But should our covid data be favourable, we should not be held up to appease others. Saying that India is not on the UK Red flag list for flying in. And others with lower risks ar banned, so yes politics is playing its role.

@DukeNinja you hit the nail on the head. Agree with all you say. But really good to hear people are routing for us On a side note, India recorded 200k new covid cases in a single day, population of over a billion. Common sense suggests it will be a long time before anyone would want them to fly into your country, regardless of visa type. Hopefully they are not delaying our visas based on the global outlook. The UK on the other hand are averaging 75 new cases a day. So coupled with vaccines we should be firmly on the radar

So ISCAH have concluded that case officers are scattered all around Australia, working at different speeds It seems they have invited a lot of people since lockdown has started and when they open the floodgates again July, the number of unprocessed cases will be huge! Cannot see how they will be able to clear they new cohort, with old in one year unless they start to clear the current backlog. The whole cycle then starts again, old and new in the revised 10% and so forth. Numbers suggest 3,600 visas grants left this year only if they are willing to fill their 11,200 quota, but over 8,000 applicants waiting... My gut feeling is +16 months will be the new miminum norm before any chance of a grant as the bottleneck will only get larger. On a plus note, seems borders may start relaxing come October so may be good news for us offshore longtimers. Let's hope the case officers have the go ahead to finalise us now.

I've seen this too, offshore grants given to non-critical 491's, so limited chance of an exemption and can remain offshore. There are also 190's onshore in critical occupations who have not yet received grants, +12 months. I think they prefer processing visas that may trip you out leading up to PR. I.e employment sponsored, provisional and temp visas.

@CapitalS I agree with the way things are being picked up, there seems to be no specific set of rules they apply. Who are soho (or did you mean the doha), are they a centralised processing office based in a single state? @Domo even though they seem to be applying this publicised directive, they still seem to be sidelining us when there is a chance to grant the visa. 189s should not be given offshore before us. Also the poor 491s given visas as they know they can't get in off the bat. If we don't get our grants before July that means we would have missed out on jul19-jun20, jul20-Jun21 and thrown in with the next visa cohort of Jul21-jun22 applicants... And as we are in the 10% it's easy to make the processing times look plum for good reading.

At least we are seeing discussions being had now, not specifically to our cause but there are rumblings. Whilst we wait we are closer to our vaccination here so that may prove useful for flying. Going forward, who actually processes our submitted 190 visa application, post successful state nomination? I used to think it was in a single department within the DHA but now I'm not so certain anymore? Does it differ from state to state and the visa category? Can some be processed by the state etc, or are all done by DHA. I also note on some other forums posters seem to suggest that their states are issuing grants, so can it be selective state determined, influenced by border closures. For arguments sake BMSQ said recently they are not accepting nor processing further 190 visa nominations until next year as they have used up their allotted quota. Therefore they will be concentrating on processing the backlog of already submitted 190 visa applications. If anyone knows how it actually works??? Best

A dash of optimism here and there can do wonders for the morale . Yes, still here too . We're into 16 months and it's s extremely difficult for us as well. Naive, yes somewhat , optimistic, hell yes ! Regarding grant numbers, I can't see how they could have exhausted their visa grant quota's of 190's for this year. As such waiting for July will be more a "default" way of consolidating for the next fiscal year, albeit with a profound backlog and 1000's more waiting for invites to join the race again, if they choose to complicate things further. Logically they should use up their given quota now before the next year starts. Also granting our visas, won't cause too many issues, we get the assurity that our visas are granted and as others have pointed out we may not get on a plane anyway. Also hopefully there are enough medical practitioners assisting with covid in their long awaited big roll out in oz and grants can now go to other fields! Let's hope for common sense and we all get out grants soon, maybe even share a beer when we get there and get off this dang forum and enjoy the lifestyle that is on offer. May tap in with an occasional hello and spout of knowledge, optimism for the next cohort as some have done for us! If we hear anything relative to us, let's keep updating . Best to us all.

Thanks for all the comments. @rammygirl Hi, I am still a UK resident, my licence can be renewed as the window is open (with a nominal charge) , but is still valid for some time. Also the UK address will be continual even when in Australia. I want them for dual purposes each to their own jurisdiction. The UK driving licence though is an excellent form of ID (not necessarily your address), just like your passport What did you do with your UK licence in Australia or do you have the paper one? @North to South Hi, I really only want to keep it because I can, I wouldn't voluntarily give it up , but neither would I use it beyond its primary measures. The aforementioned address will still be my UK based address for when I'm in the UK. Thanks again & more comments welcomed.

Cheers DN, that answers that

Hi all, when converting your UK licence to Australia do you relenquish your UK licence or is it returned to you once the checks are done. So then have your oz one and UK one. I have an option of renewing my UK licence now for a further 10 years so would like to keep it going if I get to keep it. If you have gone through the process fairly recently or aware the process is still the same please can you let me know what happens. We will be heading to qld fyi. Many thanks