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Hi All, Below is my situation. I was working for organisation A for 6 years and 8 months till December 2013. In February, i Joined Organisation B at the same designation (Senior Business Analyst - IT - 261111). In May, i had my skill assessment done, but in my naivety, as i did not want to inform my employer that i'm planning on migrating to Australia, i only showed the reference letter from my previous employer i.e. 6 years and 8 months. I got my assessment result in June, and ACS deducted 2 years making my experience 4 years and 8 months. I recenly got my ielts result and got a band of 8 (min 7.5 so 10 points). So here is my points Age - 30 Qualification - 15 English - 10 Job - 5 / 10 if current experience is counted. I want to now, whether i should go ahead and show my current experience which is 9 months now making overall 5 years and 5 months, despite that my current experience has not been assessed by ACS. Would diac accept if i show them the reference letter and salary proofs from current employer. Cheers

Hello everyone. I have a few questions about this ACPO UK Police clearance and the conditions of its validity. I lived in the UK from 2006 to mid-2012, before moving to back to France between mid-2012 and early 2014. I've been in Australia since early 2013. I'm on my way to apply for PR through the 189 or 190 (unlikely, though). I have an ACPO clearance certificate from England issued in January 2014 (while I was in France), but I'm not sure if it will be valid when I apply for my PR visa in April 2015. I have read that these certificates are valid for 12 months (according to DIAC). However, I have also read that this rule doesn't apply, as long as I didn't return to live in the UK in between the date on the certificate and the date of visa submission. Has anybody got any personal experience to share on this matter? I'm worried about having to go through the whole process of obtaining a new certificate, as I've been extremely unlucky with mail since I landed in WA (i.e My supervised teaching practice statement from Liverpool Uni got lost twice! The letter containing my teaching diplomas sent from France arrived after 2 months!). Needless to say that if I can avoid relying on Australian Post, I will. Please let me know if you have any info on this matter. Thank you ever so much! Ana.

Hi all, I am to take my IELTS in a few weeks. While applying for the test online, do I need to select the option of sending my scores directly to DIAC or can I send my TRF to DIAC later on along with the other documents? Any sort of input is much appreciated.

Hi everyone, pretty new around here, but I have a HUUUGE dilemma: i was arguing with one friend of mine today on this matter - Is it required as a must to have work experience, as long as you get over 60 points from the other criterias (for 189 or 190 class visa)? I read most of the info on Skill Select section , and nowhere is specified that work experience is an compulsory criteria for DIAC. I really appreciate any kind of help. Thanks, Luci.

Hey Guys, I am confused whether professional years calculation is being done by DIAC itself or its totally based on ACS (Australian Computer Society) letter? Actually, I received positive skill assessment from ACS for ICT Business Analyst on June 2011. At that time, my total experience (according to ACS letter) was (5 years + 10 months) which was quite adequate to get positive result as it was more than 5 years. That time, I couldn't apply for immigration due to some circumstances. Currently, my experience is 7.6 years and I want to apply for EOI by getting 8 years experience points. Should I wait to complete 8 years OR can I still apply for ACS re-validation application to get new letter with extended expiry date (as its still more than 5 years experience). If yes then does it mean DIAC will be calculating professional years based on my experience certificates itself and ACS letter will only be referred for +ve skill assessment? Please help and if someone can share personal experience in such scenario. Thanks!

Hello everyone, I got my visa 857 granted july 2011, my 2 years contract would finish in 8 months time, however my employer has been under a lot of pressure and well, making story short most likely going bankrupt. I been in the country over 4 years in different visas, I called DIAC and they advised that i could apply for citizenship, so i did. I applied about 2 months ago still waiting to get an appointment to do the test (I recently called they said they had big loads of applications so would take some time, not sure how many months) I been reading the forums and I believe DIAC wont remove my PR if my employer goes bankrupt, due that I been working over a year with them and I been proving genuine effort is this correct? What would happen if in the next months I can not get another full-time job in regional Australia, financial situation is not at its best, do I have a time frame to get a job? Money is not an issue as me and my wife (which got spouse visa status) got a few savings, only concern is, what if i remain unemployed until i get citizenship. Other question I got is, as my wife is going to start a small business (not related to my skills) could I work with her there?. I'm worried in breaching my current visa conditions. Stressed about this situation, I thank your help in this matter. :arghh:

Last month I received my successful CDR result. I've been recognized as 'Engineering Technologist' and my bachelor degree is comparable to 'AQF Associate Degree'. But here is ANZSCO's description of an 'Engineering Technologist': "This occupation has a level of skill commensurate with a Bachelor degree or higher qualification." And here is DIAC's clause for receiving points for Educational Qualification: "You can receive 10 points for documents that prove you have an award or qualification recognized by the assessing authority in the assessment of the skilled occupation". Can I receive that 10 points for educational qualification? I am concern that what EA has recognized is not what ANZSCO expect for an Engineering Technologist.

The Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Chris Bowen MP, has set new priority processing arrangements for certain skilled migration visas. These arrangements include the new skilled visa subclasses introduced in the skilled migration reforms and continue to give regional employer sponsored visas the highest processing priority. The priority processing arrangements enable the department to consider and finalise visa applications in an order of priority that the minister considers appropriate. The new priority processing arrangements apply to applications for the following visas: Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) certain points based skilled migration. See: Fact Sheet 24 – Overview of Skilled Migration to Australia From 1 July 2012, processing priorities (with highest priority listed first) are: applications from people who are sponsored under the RSMS program applications from people who are sponsored under the ENS program applications from people who are nominated by a state or territory government agency applications from people who have nominated an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) – Schedule 1 in effect from 1 July 2012 See: Skilled Occupation List all other applications. Applications for visa subclasses 186, 187, 189, 190, or 489 which are lodged through SkillSelect will be given the highest priority within each priority processing group. The changes to priority processing arrangements address the needs of industry by targeting skills in demand across a number of sectors, while ensuring that the Skilled Migration Program is responsive to the current economic climate and the needs of the Australian economy. Priority processing arrangements are subject to changes in response to Australia’s economic situation and do not change visa eligibility criteria. Priority processing arrangements apply to current applications, including those in the final stages of processing. Departmental case officers must follow the direction made by the minister about priority processing and can not process applications outside of the set order. Refunds of costs incurred during processing are not available for delays in processing. Applicants are not entitled to a refund of their Visa Application Charge (VAC) or compensation for other costs incurred in making an application. [h=2]Priority processing groups[/h] [h=3]RSMS, ENS and state or territory nominated applications—priority groups 1, 2 and 3[/h] Applications from people who are applying under the RSMS are processed as priority group 1. ENS are processed as priority group 2. Applications from people who are nominated by a state or territory government agency under a state migration plan receive the third highest level of priority processing. [h=3]Occupations on the SOL – Schedule 1 in effect at 1 July 2012—priority group 4[/h] All skilled migration applicants with a nominated occupation on the SOL – Schedule 1 are included in priority group 4. This includes both independent and family sponsored applications. Existing applicants with a nominated occupation added to the SOL will be allocated to case officers before more recently lodged applications in this priority group. [h=3]All other applications—priority group 5[/h] Skilled migration applicants with a nominated occupation that is not on the SOL and who are not nominated by a state or territory government under a state migration plan will be processed under priority group 5. Applicants should not contact the department to request that their application be exempt from the priority processing direction. Case officers do not have discretion to exempt applications. Applicants with a nominated occupation removed from the SOL who have already been allocated a case officer will be contacted directly by their case officer. Applicants with a nominated occupation removed from the SOL who were not allocated to a case officer before 1 July 2012 will only be allocated to a case officer when applications from higher priority groups have been allocated. Many priority group 5 applicants still face a considerable wait until their application is allocated to a case officer for processing and may wish to consider other options. [h=3]Options available to applicants in priority group 5 [/h] Visa applicants currently in priority group 5 may want to: submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect – if invited to apply, this would require a new visa application including payment of the relevant VAC See: SkillSelect continue to await a decision on their visa application consider their eligibility for an employer sponsored visa, which would require a new visa application including payment of the relevant VAC consider their eligibility for nomination by a state or territory government under a state migration plan, which may require a new visa application apply for another substantive visa withdraw their application. Applicants who decide to withdraw their application are not entitled to a refund of the VAC or compensation for other costs incurred in making an application. [h=2]Summary of skilled migration visas subject to priority processing directions [/h] The following skilled migration visas are subject to priority processing: Skilled – Independent (subclass 175) Skilled – Sponsored (subclass 176) Skilled – Independent (subclass 189) Skilled – Nominated (subclass 190) Skilled – Regional Sponsored (subclass 475) Skilled – Regional Sponsored (subclass 487) Skilled – Regional (Provisional) (subclass 489) Skilled – Independent Regional (Provisional) (subclass 495) Skilled – Designated Area-sponsored (Provisional) (subclass 496) Graduate – Skilled (subclass 497) Skilled – Onshore Independent New Zealand Citizen (subclass 861) Skilled – Onshore Australian–sponsored New Zealand Citizen (subclass 862) Skilled – Onshore Designated Area–sponsored New Zealand Citizen (subclass 863) Skilled – Independent Overseas Student (subclass 880) Skilled – Australian-sponsored Overseas Student (subclass 881) Skilled – Designated Area-sponsored Overseas Student (subclass 882) Skilled – Independent (subclass 885) Skilled – Sponsored (subclass 886) [h=2]Summary of skilled migration visas exempt from priority processing directions[/h] The following visa subclasses are exempt from priority processing and are processed in the order in which they are received: Skilled – Recognised Graduate (subclass 476) Skilled – Graduate (subclass 485) Skilled – Regional (subclass 887) The following applications are also exempt from priority processing and will be processed in the order in which they are received: applications that are remitted to the department by the Migration Review Tribunal (MRT) applications where it is readily apparent that the criteria for grant of a visa would not be satisfied applications from the holders of eligible subclass 495, 496, 475 or 487 visas for a Skilled – Sponsored Provisional (subclass 489) visa in the Second Provisional Visa stream applications from subsequent entrant applicants. [h=2]Processing times[/h] Estimates of processing times that may apply to different types of applicants are provided as a guide only. As processing times are dependent on a range of factors, individual processing times may vary considerably from the published estimates. Estimates are subject to change in response to changes in application rates and skilled migration policy. Information on estimated processing times is available in the Client Services Charter. See: Skilled Migration Visa Processing Times Further information is available on the department's website. See: www.immi.gov.au The department also operates a national general enquiries line. Telephone: 131 881 Hours of operation: Monday to Friday from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm. Recorded information is available outside these hours. Produced by the National Communications Branch, Department of Immigration and Citizenship

Noticed a lot of same questions on processing times and the link to DIAC site is here for you. Hope this helps. [h=2]Links to processing times by visa type[/h] http://www.immi.gov.au/about/charters/client-services-charter/standards/2.1.htm

Hello All, With the ENS186 Direct Stream, 3 year experience is required but it does not mention if all 3 years needs to be full-time or part of it being part-time is acceptable. I have 2 years full-time and 2 years part-time experience but not sure if its worth to lodge a case with DIAC with my experience. Not sure if DIAC would consider 2 years part-time to be equal to 1 year full-time ? Can anyone provide suggestions/feedback regarding the same ? Appreciate your time. Cheers.

Has anyone ever tried 'begging' to DIAC for further information on their application, it clearly says on the contact department email form that general enquiries will be ignored but surely someone in DIAC is actually human, surely they can see spending $3000 and having no response and no definitive timescale that you will ever get a response is plainly unfair. How hard is it for them to tell us where they are up too for each visa class in plain and simple English, if you want to continue to wait having some information gives you at least something to make an informed decision on.