Ausvisitor

If we discount the pro-rata occupations for a moment... Are invites to apply (for 189) strictly based on points alone or do they also consider the anzsco code? I guess what I'm asking is if there are 1500 plumbers with 75 points and I'm in the queue as a chef with 70 points will every plumber get an invite before me or is it a little more complex than just top of the points pile gets an invite?

Actually I wasn't sure I was correct and a bit of googling seems to suggest I was. Unless your visa grant has a condition attached to it (which would be written in the "conditions" area of the grant letter) then it apparently doesn't matter Any MARA agent here that can confirm this???

I think it has to be lead applicant first (or at same time) but it may also depend on what visa you actually have been granted... I've always been of the opinion (from what I've read) that the main applicant needs to land first but I could easily be wrong

I've no doubt I could do mine myself, the process is quite methodical. However it's very laborious and requires a lot of research - so I'm happy to outsource mine to an agent

I applied for VA priority but they asked for a couple of extra documents, so they refused the priority bit (but refunded the priority fee) The positive assessment however came back 23 days after application with no further intervening contact or interview.

I don't know if it is necessary or not to provide the extra marriage stuff your agent has suggested you provide but my advice would be to do it anyway .. You are paying the agent to make your visa journey as smooth as possible, if they suggest something is a good idea they haven't done it just to keep you busy, they can see an issue and are looking to remove it before it becomes a problem. It might be a very small issue (I.e. trying to explain why you've lived apart for two thirds of your married life) or it might be bigger, but I certainly wouldn't be trying to get their paid for expert advice verified by a bunch of people on a forum who don't know any of the background

Totally agree

In theory... However the actual citizenship process at the moment is taking longer than a year to process. So right now someone who got a visa moved over straight away and applied on the 4 year anniversary of arrival (and had lived in Oz constantly over those 4 years) would need an RRV for travel plans as their citizenship wouldn't complete before the initial 5 years ran out However when you come to do it the timelines very well may be different

Similar, our agent suggested that this wouldn't be an issue as thyroid meds are cheap, however it will mean their medical is looked at a bit more "keenly" I'd be keen to hear if anyone has any other opinions though

Is it ever published how many active EOI there are in the queue? I've seen on the NZ statistics that each month they say something like "we invited 600 EOI with 160 points or more to apply, there remain 500 EOI in the queue" Does Australia do anything similar?

Is it not 65 points as with all other points based visas?

It's possible but over the last few months it hasn't been happening. Do you need the superior English to get the extra 10 points or just the proficient rating. Superior shouldn't be considered as a "given" I know lots of people who've taken the test 5 or 6 times and just narrowly missed superior each time If you have 65 points (however they are made up) I'd apply and get on the ladder - as said by others you can update it later with more points and if next round they decided to invite loads of people with 65 points you'd be gutted to have missed out when you would otherwise have qualified

Been looking at 190 but now thinking maybe 489 would also be worth looking at. Question I have though is there are 3 of us 2 adults and a old-teen. How does the qualification to PR application work do all three have to live in region for 2 years and work in region for 1 year or is it just the main applicant? Reason for asking, 1 - partner may not work (one income family as in UK) 2 - child may get a place in good UK uni and so commute between UK and Oz for term times (so would be in country much less than us) and not working much (if at all) I will ask my agent but it just came to me now and thought some of you might know the answer anyway

It looks like you've applied in a closely related anzsco code but this seems more relevant Business Machine Mechanic –ANZSCO 342311. Installs, maintains and repairs electronic business equipment such as multi-function devices, photocopiers, scanners, fax machines and cash registers. I'm guessing though as 342311 isn't on the 189 list and is only available on the 190 for one state you've tried to massage his skills into the 342313 job code which is much more in demand.

One other piece of advice then is run the mock test in normal life conditions. i.e sit her down for the full 3 hours and run it as a straight through test but make sure that the rest of house just does it's usual stuff - if you take it in complete silence you'll get really spooked by the background noise of the other exam takers on the day

I'm certainly hoping it will be enough From what I understand from my agent the process of application is less point dependent if you go for State Nomination (you need to pass the basic thresholds) but the state's can "pick out" applications they are in need of and invite accordingly. However I would recommend getting an MA - I'm an expert in processes and form filling bureaucracy but for a couple of thousand I'm more than happy to outsource this headache to someone who knows the process inside out

Good to hear, I was worried that my donut addiction might cause problems...

So very true, if you make your livelihood giving advice to others surely you must also be aware of the benefit experts can give you.

Thanks. I wasn't necessarily thinking about the biggies I was more wondering about do they care about general fitness and weight type stuff? I'm not the international athlete I was in my youth anymore

Hi I'm curious as to what the medical screening entails and what sort of things would be considered as no-go as far as the AU government is concerned Anyone who knows this or had been through it and willing to share their knowledge? It would be gratefully received.

My understanding of this is that if she is a student (and therefore dependent on you) she stands a decent chance, however if she is in full time work and supporting herself then just having parents in country that she isn't dependent on is usually not enough of a reason. I'm only going of what others have told me as I have a similar potential issue in the future (although we haven't even got a visa yet so in our case it is all hypothetical)

Also it's about fluency, so it's best to say something rather than nothing. For example one set of questions is repeat the sentence... Now if you can't remember all the words you heard just say the ones you can, the system gives you partial credit for the words you do say, it gives you nothing if you say nothing That's probably all, but if you have anything else you want to ask just let me know

The other piece of advice is to forgot the others doing the test, it's really a bit weird having 10 people in a room all in little cubicles talking away at the same time. Just ignore them, you are all getting different questions from a large question bank and in differing order so there is no benefit to hearing another person's answer. Similarly if the person next to you is answering one word answers and you are still on read aloud it isn't an indication that they are ahead or behind you it's just the duration of the questions they've been asked as opposed to you. Also the start time runs from when you hit start so some people who have been in the room longer will have started earlier - it doesn't matter each of you have your own independent time allowance - so don't feel the need to rush to catch up

There are loads of free YouTube videos that show what each type of question is like (there are 20 types across the exam). Well worth a Google, but you can't mark them (they are just videos) so you can only get a feel for how you doing. I spent the $30usd and got a mock test from Pearson themselves (which is identical to the real thing except you take it at home and the score isn't valid for immigration - it's even marked by the same computer marker as the real thing) Thanks gives you a real indicator of where your strengths and weaknesses lie

I needed 79+ in PTE because I'm an old fuddy duddy. Tried IELTS got 3 9s and a 7.5 in writing. IELTS takes an age to schedule and get results back, instead I went online to Pearson booked a test 3 days in the future (started at 2pm) and got the results back by 6:30am the next morning. All 90s (top mark) even the non immigration required supporting skills. It's really easy and if English is your first language it's very difficult to get wrong, I guess if you need 79+ the nerves might hit but if all you need is functional I can't see a problem