mt9754

If you are worried I would seek professional advice.

I filled in the EOI to match my ACS letter.  In my situation I was comfortable that the differences on my ACS letter were sensible simplifications of the evidence I had submitted and were not a mistake. 

Yep, it soon adds up:

£4k Visas, assessments, medicals

£5k Moving costs at both ends (eg movecube, excess baggage, taxis, customs taxes, flights

£15k 6 month spending fund until finding new jobs, rental deposit, 6 weeks rent.

£1k bed clothes and pillows, electrical devices, kitchen utensils, clothes

£2k Quarantine costs

£1k temporary rent until finding property

£1k other - driving licenses, etc.

I think it’s all he can do really given the guidelines passed down to him (when it comes to Melbourne).

Australia are hanging in there for an effective vaccine, I don’t think there’s a plan B.  The economy will struggle in one way or another until then.

I would work from 2 angles.  

1.Try to find your perfect ANZSCO Code (irrespective of 189/190).

2. See if it’s on any skilled lists.  Read through the skilled occupation lists to see if a very similar ANZSCO Code is on there that you may qualify for.

Maybe start here?  https://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/searchclass.nsf/(Searchattmnt)?openagent

I searched for “Financial”,  maybe Bookkeeper is closest?  Have a read of the job descriptions.

28 minutes ago, Mmmbop said:

Thanks for the info. I'm not convinced that's correct though. The page I linked specifically links to the general residence requirement, rather than this one you've shared. I suspect it may just be they've thrown the word 'special' in there and this is confusing things.

It says at the top of the page you shared that this provision is for people who do not meet the general residence requirement, but require an exemption. I do meet the general residence requirement.

Perhaps you're right though, I'll look into it more. 

 

The original site you quoted, the link was auto filled by a computer.  It was not the correct link, notice how it didn’t highlight “Special”

4 hours ago, Mmmbop said:

The residency requirement is the one I linked in my OP: https://www.seekvisa.com.au/australian-citizenship-residency-requirement/

We do meet this, as I said. 

So that link is for residency requirement.  

If you leave the country then you must meet “Special Residency Requirement”, this is a different list of requirements:

https://www.australiavisa.com/immigration-news/australian-citizenship-special-residence-requirement/

The article says you must meet the “special residency requirement” (not the normal residency requirement).   Have a look but unless you’re in the olympics you probably don’t qualify.

I moved out during Covid on a fresh 190.  Everything went fine. 

They check you're eligible to fly at your departure airport when you drop off your bags.  As I understand it, they can't print your final boarding passes until it clears - the check-in desk staff know the process fairly well and it's part of the frantic typing that happens when u check in.  Ours went through automatically on their computer system so they didn't need to call ahead to double check. 

When we got to the other side the immigration was absolutely fine, but the whole airport experience was very different.  You follow a prescribed route from air bridge to bus.

You will have to pay for 14 days quarantine.  I would also check-in and turn up at the airport nice and early for your flight given the current caps on passenger numbers.

Hope this helps

Can i ask, what colour medicare card is it? I’m presuming it’s not green until you get the 190.

Have you updated your immiaccount with your new passport number?

Also worth checking Vevo as to whether it thinks you are onshore or offshore.

You may have accidentally entered the country on a visitor visa when you returned with your new passport.

Looking at Immitracker they're currently processing applications submitted in November and December 2019, with the occasional lucky grant for applications submitted between December 2019 and May 2020.  

If you still want your UK Sim in your phone just in case someone calls you but you want an Australia number as well, then if you have a newish iPhone then it probably supports eSims(check first!) which allow you to do this.  It's also useful if you have poor coverage on Vodafone, get a Telstra PAYG as a backup too for when you go rural.

I set mine up and it's working great.  I got a physical Vodafone Sim from Woolies, signed up, then requested an eSim replacement on the website.  10 minutes later I could take the physical sim out and throw it away.  I then put my UK sim back in the phone. 

I'm connected to both networks at the same time and can receive calls from both numbers, this sounds complicated but honestly Apple make it easy to understand and use.

Flights are beginning to open up,  Doha is open, Singapore and Hong Kong will be accepting transit passengers from next week (2nd June and 1st June respectively).

Check the "Messages" section, you should have an electronic letter in there

If you're someone who wants to live and breathe visas for the next 6 to 12 months then feel free to do it yourself.  If you don't want to have to constantly check for changes to skilled occupations lists, quotas etc etc and you want to be sure you don't make silly mistakes or that you don't miss an opportunity then i'd get an agent.

Tbh, if you've done all the prep upto your EOI then i'd do the rest yourself as well.  IMO the visa isn't as challenging as all the legwork you have to put in just to get an invite to apply.

There's nothing at the moment that allows you to extend the IED, there is currently a waiver for people who have missed their IED due to COVID.  Considering Feb 2021 is a long way away and things are moving very quickly at the moment, I would check back in nearer the time to see what the latest guidance is.

I estimate about the same for me.  I had a blip on my medical too, if I didn't have private health insurance through my employer I would have had to pay another £1500 on top as well (for all the tests to confirm it was nothing serious)!

1 hour ago, Raye said:

 

Hi,

Has anyone had any solid information from department of home affairs regarding not being able to activate visas due to the travel restrictions connected to the coronavirus? 

Holders of Granted visas - can you still enter as long as flights are available? To activate? 

Are extensions to activation dates given as these as extenuating circumstances? 

Thanks in advance

 

 

Yes, Home Affairs have updated their advice: https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/news-media/current-alerts/novel-coronavirus

If you are a temporary visa holder you will be refused entry.  You must seek a new visa when travel restrictions get lifted.

If you are a permanent visa holder you should not travel unless it is essential.  If you miss your IED then you should contact the departmental office that granted you the visa after travel restrictions have been lifted.  If you cannot avoid travel then you must self isolate for 14 days on arrival.

Are you applying for the 491 SBO?  If so, full details of eligibility are here: https://migration.qld.gov.au/skilled-visa-options/im-operating-a-small-business-in-regional-queensland/

Honesty is always the best policy, it's always better to give too much information than too little.  I'm sure they'll want you to explain the details and they can decide if it's important or not.

"On the bridging visa it will give you the same work rights as a your previous visa"

Presumably your previous visa in this situation would be the tourist visa, so you would have no right to work on the bridging visa?

Please note specifically for 189 visa, your occupation must be on the Medium/Long term list (in section 8 here https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019L00278), which means some of the occupations listed are not currently relevant for 189 (eg Web Developer).

You should be able to get points for your degree providing it's from an institution that Australia recognise.

However, the skills assessment from ACS is tough and it's easier if you've got a relevant degree.  Have a read but I think it's possible to get a positive skills assessment result without a relevant degree if you have 6+ years of relevant experience.  https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-skills/Skills Assessment Guidelines for Applicants V5-6 Aug 2018.pdf

Regarding Multimedia Specialist, the official descriptions from ACS are here: https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-skills/ANZSCO_Code_Information.pdf .  I expect it's just a specialist field and so they don't get many applicants.

It depends which visa you're applying for, and from which country.  Full details here: 

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-support/meeting-our-requirements/biometrics

If the changes in November go through then you should be able to get a further 5 points for your partner speaking English which should move you up the queue slightly.  Additionally, if you don't mind living out in Regional Australia, then the new visa changes should swing things in your favour a bit too.  We also don't know what the elections in 3 weeks will mean, 189/190 could get a bit of a boost depending on how things go there.

Only after an invite.  If you've visited Australia in the past few years then you probably already have an immi account - you will have used it to enter the country as a tourist (eVisitor 651).