457 Visa - Gold Coast, QLD

[emj1986]

Hi,

 

My partner has accepted a job offer on the Gold Coast and the company are sponsoring us both to come out on a 457 Visa. The company have applied for authorisation to sponsor this week and when they have received this, they will commence the visa application process. What are your experiences in the time this takes for approval? What are the chances of us getting declined and for what reasons? Will we need to go for medicals etc? (the job is in the IT industry).

 

The reason for so many questions is that we now have a house to sell. Renting it out isnt an option as its an old cottage with all the associated 'quirks' (or problems I should say!) and letting a property management company loose on it would be like digging our own financial graves! We dont want to put it on the market until the visa's are approved but are also conscious of the time it may take to sell (chances are if its 6 months or more, my partner may go out before me and set us up out there while I stay here and tie up all the loose ends).

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Emma

[srh82]

Hi Emma

 

It might be an idea to check with your partners' new employer on how long they think it will take.

 

In my case the 457 visa for myself and my partner was granted in 6 days (!!). We didn't need medicals but I think it depends where you have lived in the past.

 

There has been a bit of scrutiny over 457 abuse by the government here (for semi-skilled occupations rather than something skilled like I.T.), so I guess it may take longer.

 

I can't really comment on what can go wrong with these things.

 

Best of luck

 

srh82 (Brisbane, QLD)

[chubbs75]

 

There has been a bit of scrutiny over 457 abuse by the government here (for semi-skilled occupations rather than something skilled like I.T.), so I guess it may take longer.

 

)

 

Unfortunately they are scrutinising all applications after the 1st of July changes.

[Alaska]

Just be aware that the 457 doesn't always mean that you can apply for PR so be prepared that you may have to go back. With that in mind make sure you are 100% about selling your house.

We are on the 457 and so far so good but no guarantees. We have held onto our house until we have that PR visa in our hands. I know you say that renting an option, but make sure that you are happy that you will no longer have a house to go back to if you don't stay long term.

 

Hope it all works out for you. I am heading a lot of positive stories about houses selling much quicker recently so it might not take too long - fingers crossed!

[emj1986]

Just be aware that the 457 doesn't always mean that you can apply for PR so be prepared that you may have to go back. With that in mind make sure you are 100% about selling your house.

We are on the 457 and so far so good but no guarantees. We have held onto our house until we have that PR visa in our hands. I know you say that renting an option, but make sure that you are happy that you will no longer have a house to go back to if you don't stay long term.

 

Hope it all works out for you. I am heading a lot of positive stories about houses selling much quicker recently so it might not take too long - fingers crossed!

 

Hope so too :unsure:

 

We already have a rental property here that we are keeping just incase it all goes wrong out there - although obviously we hope we will never have to come back once we've gone through all the hassle of getting out there in the first place!

[MrsPOB]

Hi Emma,

 

I'm in the same position as your partner, I've been offered and accepted an ICT position - although based in NSW (Sydney). My new employer is working with a specialist immigration firm who is taking care of the whole 457 process on my behalf (including my husband, as he's coming as my dependent). What's happened in my case is that I've been assigned a migration agent and he's given me a run down of the whole process as well as times - at the moment he's saying 4-6 weeks due to the July 1st changes in the law. More time is being spent looking through all the applications and justifications.

 

For us, the nomination application (the request to be able to sponsor your partner and you by the company) and our 457 application were submitted at the same time, as that seems to streamline the process instead of doing it in a linear fashion. From what the MA said, it makes it easier to address any additional questions that come up and also avoid any delays later in the process - what these could be, I'm not sure.

 

As far as why your partner could be denied, especially in ICT/IT, it all comes down to the job description and your partner's experience, education and certification. They literally have to be a mirror image of each other, my MA was very specific about getting information on my background and experience. He wanted to make sure that I could check off each bullet point of the job description of the job I'd be doing. I think what also will make it a bit more easier for them to be approved, as a sponsor for me in particular, is they were recruiting in the local market for more than 12 months and were unsuccessful in securing a local candidate. And it's something they could easily prove.

 

I think your best bet is to ask your partner to ask them for an estimated time for their nomination application to be submitted and approved, because after that you'd need to pull all the paperwork together to submit your 457. You might even see if they can give you a listing of all the information they will need in advance, cause I know that in itself might take some time. I submitted professional references going back 10 years, so tracking people down did take more than a few days - which of course can always add to the time.

 

For medicals, unless he's working in the health or education industry where he'll be in contact with others that shouldn't be necessary. Although, they can request it IF your information raises some red flags, like where you are moving from, if he's been in a dangerous environment, has known medical issues, etc. But of course, it's at their discretion.

 

Hopefully the above helps. Feel free to DM me if you like as we have just started our 457 journey.

 

- Jennifer

[emj1986]

Thanks Jennifer - keep us up to date! Will post again as soon as we have any news...hope its not too long a wait

[Raul Senise]

Hi,

 

My partner has accepted a job offer on the Gold Coast and the company are sponsoring us both to come out on a 457 Visa. The company have applied for authorisation to sponsor this week and when they have received this, they will commence the visa application process. What are your experiences in the time this takes for approval?

 

Gaining approval to sponsor overseas workers is only stage 1 of a 3 stage process. The chance of success for this first application will be entirely dependant on whether the company meet the requirements, which is something you as the visa applicant cannot know or assume.

 

What are the chances of us getting declined and for what reasons?

 

It depends on the specific circumstances and whether the company, the position offered and you and your husband meet all of the requirements.

 

Will we need to go for medicals etc? (the job is in the IT industry).

 

That will depend on a number of circumstances including where you have lived and traveled in the last five years.

 

The reason for so many questions is that we now have a house to sell. Renting it out isnt an option as its an old cottage with all the associated 'quirks' (or problems I should say!) and letting a property management company loose on it would be like digging our own financial graves! We dont want to put it on the market until the visa's are approved but are also conscious of the time it may take to sell (chances are if its 6 months or more, my partner may go out before me and set us up out there while I stay here and tie up all the loose ends).

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Emma

 

I never recommend that applicants make any irreversible decisions, especially large ones such selling a home or leaving a job, until the visa has been approved.

 

Considering that the company has not even been approved to sponsor and your visa application has not even been lodged I believe your planning is premature.

 

If the company is using an Agent to lodge all of the applications, you should at least have them assess your matter to determine if your husband even meets the visa requirements.

[emj1986]

Thanks for all the info Raul - and I can see by your signature that you know what you're talking about!

 

We are absolutely not selling our house before visa approval but as its in a bit of a state (and was only bought a month before all this came about, with an original view to rennovating over the next 5-10 years) I just wanted a rough idea of the processing time as we want to get it market ready by the time the approval comes through (if/when it does) so as not to delay things at our end. As I said earlier, we have another property which we are keeping hold of incase we decide/have to return to the UK at any point. Also, neither of us will be handing in our notices at work until we get approval although I have informally discussed it with my very understanding boss as we have offices out in Brisbane and it would be ideal for me to have a job to go to immediately at the other end.

[emj1986]

Just thought I would put a quick update on here to say what a complete nightmare this process has been so far. A bit of background first:

 

 

I have been with my partner for 8 years, engaged for 7. For a number of reasons our finances etc have always been independant of each other - his name is on the mortgage for this house and the last, he pays all the utilities, water etc and I transfer my share into his bank account each month. We recently moved into a new house (shortly before the job offer or we would never have moved in the first place!) and as a result, all the things I had hoarded over the years - xmas/birthday cards, old phone bills etc etc all went in the bin. Anything we did take with us was stuffed into various boxes which are now in our cellar in our new house.

 

So now the point of my post - The company sposoring my parter have employed an agency (supposed to be the dogs danglies) to process our visa applications. But it seems no matter how much information we provide, they keep coming back rejecting it as insufficient. They just dont seem to account for real life at all. Just a couple of things from the million page long list of evidence they need from is were:

 

joint bills/bank account statements/other things addressed to the both of us

evidence of cards/gifts that we have exchanged over the years

proof of our co-habitation at our old address and new address

 

So there-in lies the problem - we dont have a joint bank account and all bills are paid solely by my partner. All the cards that we have exchanged over the years went in the bin before we moved and I have never kept gift receipts longer than post the date that they were bought for - and to be honest, we have never really bought 'gifts' for each other, we just go on holidays (I have send the email confirmations for most of our holidays but could find nothing pre-dating 2010). The only outgoing I have each month that I would be billed for is my mobile phone and ive always had paperless statements - this would all be well and good if I hadnt changed provider when we moved so I dont have ANY proof in the way of bills that I ever lived at my old address and I can only find other evidence in the way of bank statements dating back to 2010. They have asked us for the sales contract, mortgage letters, council rates etc for both properties which I cant find because we literally just moved and are still pretty much living out of boxes.

 

Im not complaining about how thorough they are - I only wish the UK had the same stringency regarding immigration. Im just finding it so frustrating that they dont seem to account for real life situations - not every couple are financially tied to each other, not everyone keep cards, not everyone buy physical gifts for each other (we tend to just take holidays etc), people lose things/throw things away.

 

Does anyone have any advice or alternatives that I could provide as evidence? The only thing I can think of is electoral role to show we have been living together for x amount of years.

[VERYSTORMY]

You can use sworn statements from family and friends. The immigration consultants should be able to advise on how you do this.

 

You can also use photographs of you together - i did when we originally applied as we struggled with joint bills.

 

Do either of you have life insurance which benefits the other?

 

Evidence from the electoral role showing you were both registered at the same address.

 

Copies of old emails between yourselves or from other people addressed to both of you

 

On a side note. I would be very careful about selling the house for this. There have been a significant number of people having disasters with 457 visas recently - people being laid off and having to return to the UK as the economy in Oz is slowing significantly. I would think about renting it out so if the worst happens you have something to go back to.

[emj1986]

You can use sworn statements from family and friends. The immigration consultants should be able to advise on how you do this.

 

You can also use photographs of you together - i did when we originally applied as we struggled with joint bills.

 

Do either of you have life insurance which benefits the other?

 

Evidence from the electoral role showing you were both registered at the same address.

 

Copies of old emails between yourselves or from other people addressed to both of you

 

On a side note. I would be very careful about selling the house for this. There have been a significant number of people having disasters with 457 visas recently - people being laid off and having to return to the UK as the economy in Oz is slowing significantly. I would think about renting it out so if the worst happens you have something to go back to.

 

We have to sell the house we are currently living in - we have 2 houses, 1 of which we rent out so we are going to keep the one we rent out as a fall back. We could never rent our new house out for enough to cover the mortgage so it would cost us too much to keep both. But you're right, it would be insane to completely sever all ties with the UK based on a 457 - ive been reading the horror stories too :sad:

 

 

We have already sent them sworn statements from family and friends - most of which they told us had insufficient detail so we had to get them re-done. We also sent a couple of photos but I hate having my photo taken so that was also like pulling teeth trying to find any of us together - im normally the one behind the camera not in front of it!

 

The life insurance is a great idea -hadnt thought of that one so will get onto that asap. My emails only date back to 2010 but thats another one I hadnt thought of - thanks for the help :smile:

[gumster]

What about doing a will together? I'm pretty sick of our migration agents & really wished I'd done the whole thing myself because at least then I would know what was happening as I only seem to get any feedback when I've emailed them & they don't seem to contact me with any updates!

[emj1986]

What about doing a will together? I'm pretty sick of our migration agents & really wished I'd done the whole thing myself because at least then I would know what was happening as I only seem to get any feedback when I've emailed them & they don't seem to contact me with any updates!

 

Ours isnt great at responding either. We started the process weeks ago but we never find out if what we sent was good enough until 1-2 weeks after we sent it, then we have to find more stuff, resend, and the issues start all over again. Plus the time difference issues as they are based in Oz. I can understand - they probably have hundreds of applications on the go at any one time but it doesnt make it any easier for us as individuals!

 

As it stands, we have submitted all (hopefully!) of our info, the sponsor company has submitted all of theirs, the MA advised us of receipt of the info this morning and said she would get back to us next week after shes had chance to go through it all - this is the same email we have every friday, which preceeds Mondays email saying its insufficient - heres hoping for some good news next monday for a change! After days of going through boxes, I managed to find a Council Tax letter addressed to the both of us at our new address in respect of our old address, along with a couple of other gems which I think should be more than sufficient to prove we have in fact been together for the past 8 years (I wish grey hairs were considered proof lol!)

[Chortlepuss]

I came over on 457 with IT in 2007 - very quick turnaround. Mind you that was in days when IT was a shortage skill - hardly the case now, especially with huge supply of local candidates. Perhaps your skill is pretty obscure - I'm amazed anyone is sponsored for IT these days! Best to be careful as others have said - if things go wrong with employer unless you have a genuine skill in demand, getting a new role could be challenging if not impossible on the Gold Coast.

[emj1986]

I came over on 457 with IT in 2007 - very quick turnaround. Mind you that was in days when IT was a shortage skill - hardly the case now, especially with huge supply of local candidates. Perhaps your skill is pretty obscure - I'm amazed anyone is sponsored for IT these days! Best to be careful as others have said - if things go wrong with employer unless you have a genuine skill in demand, getting a new role could be challenging if not impossible on the Gold Coast.

 

Its the OH thats getting the sponsorship - hes a DR Solutions Consultant. The Company thats sponsoring him havent been able to find anyone else with his skill set. Its quite a niche area of DR that he specialises in. Why would it be so hard to get another role in IT in the Gold Coast specifically if the worst happened? Has the economy been more so affected in that area than others?

[emj1986]

So, after nearly 2 months of going back and forth with the MA, our applications have finally been submitted!!! But from the looks of it, we are in for a pretty long wait:sad: