Ausvisitor

4 hours ago, goggins said:

Thanks Paul I have asked my asked my agent but they can take up to 5 working days to reply and it’s a bank holiday here plus I thought it would be good to get involved on this forum

I'd get a different agent, mine answers within 24 hours even on a weekend (and usually even quicker). When he is on holiday he lets you know in advance and so you don't expect a reply until he gets back, but even so you often do...

Having to wait 5 days for a general reply to an simple question from someone you are paying thousands to isn't acceptable in my opinion...

Got an invite to apply for 190 nomination. Is that the hard part over or is the nomination itself also competitive (or is that just getting asked to apply)

Assuming we get the nomination, does that speed up the actual visa process or is it the same as the 189 from there on?

7 hours ago, Nemesis said:

Certainly wouldn't be using that agency. The age limit for 189 and 190 was changed back to 45 a  couple of years ago. 

I agree that I wouldn't use them as they are out of date

T-Bone I'd add the following about your statement on culture in NYC and California.

As someone who has worked in both locations I can tell you that whilst NYC is overtly pressurised and confrontational, California is much more reserved - however that is only on the surface. I always found it way more pressure in CA where it wasn't obvious what other people were thinking.

If you are hoping to move to CA to get an easier USA lifestyle you will be disappointed - it's generally more stressful to achieve the same level of success on the West coast than the East

7 hours ago, SWMOY04 said:

I think they have been having high points (but this depends on your skill)...

65 points is the minimum and I think most have been applying with 70 or 75 points and so you may have been leap-frogged by a few people in the time..

 

all the best in your application 

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

8 minutes ago, VERYSTORMY said:

Yes. With out a doubt. There are a number of excellent agents that post on the forum regularly 

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.

7 hours ago, username303 said:

I already am applying through a registered agent. He suggested that we should talk to her thyroid specialist to get an idea of her prognosis. We checked that the cost of the medication is minimal. He cited an incident when someone with dementia (I know its far worse than thyroid) was forced to withdraw their application (with fear of refusal) as his doctor gave a negative report to the dept. of immigration when they asked for prognosis of his condition.

 

Thanks for the reply. Did you mention in your application that you are actively taking medicine?

Just on another note, my agent also suggested that we should get some testimonies from friend/family (Form 888 -Statutory declaration by a supporting witness. in relation to a Partner or Prospective Marriage). Do you guys think it's necessary? We've been married since 2016 and living together since early 2018. We've already included wedding album, marriage certificate etc. Thanks!

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

3 hours ago, VERYSTORMY said:

The general advice is that if ever there is a medical issue, it is worth speaking to a specialist agent such as George Lombard 

Totally agree

10 hours ago, DT55 said:

You can (currently) apply for citizenship after 4 years which would remove the need to bother with the RRV

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?

1 hour ago, Sheral Singh said:

 

The subclass 489 visa is a state sponsored visa which is issued to skilled immigrants contributing positively to Canadian economy. A minimum of 60 points are required in order to reach the other end of the pipeline and be a successful Australia PR holder. Following is the process through which a candidate ought to go through, to be fortunate to be a part of Australian economy:

1) Check the experience as per the Skilled occupation list as released by Australian government.

2) You need to make sure that all the eligibility criteria set.

3) Skills Assessment need to processed.

4) If found eligible, submit the Expression of Interest (EOI) via SkillSelect

5) Get yourself sponsored.

6) Apply for the visa under Subclass 489.

7) Receive your visa 

The above points provides the crux of the whole process. It may look to be simple but can be made into a complex one soon if everything doesn't go the right way. You need not to leave the room for skepticism. 

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

4 minutes ago, Mikeh said:

Thanks for your reply. 

Is it possible to get invitation with 65point?

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

2 hours ago, Darylj said:

Juat got a successful skills assessment back from vetasses. English test is next week and hoping for full points which would take me to 75 points overall counting the extra 10 for SA. Will this be enough as I heard it possibly would not be and now I'm stressing about doing this application myself so any agent recommendations that are based in adelaide would be great also?

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...

On 22/03/2019 at 17:56, VERYSTORMY said:

As a management consultant, I would imagine you understand the benefit of using an expert. So, I would strongly recommend running it past a registered migration agent. 

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.

57 minutes ago, lesleyB said:

Thanks Paul. We fully intended being back before 2020 and it looks like we will be if all goes to plan. In which case we won't need it but my daughter will if she comes later. I suppose us living there will be substantial ties enough for her?

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)