Newbie - Confused!!!!

[juliepatterson]

Hi, I'm new to this site and this forum, so apologies in advance for my obvious ignorance and excitement!

Just beginning the long and arduous process of emigration to Oz. (Me, my Husband, and our 2 kids, age 7 and 5.)

Rick and I worked and travelled in Oz (on a working Visa) 11 years ago (feels like yesterday ah!!!) and LOVED every minute of it! Although we know that our future in Oz will not be anything like our bumming/visitor experience, we are still very much of the opinion that Oz can offer a better future for us and our children, than the one we would have in Northern Ireland.

So, we have decided to bite the bullet and having done some preliminary research online; I am already baffled....

 

Rick, (my hub) is an IT Support Specialist and his profession is listed on the SOL.

I know that he will need to be assessed by ACS. My questions are :-

Does he need to complete an Expression of Interest?

What is the starting point - do we really need a Migration Agent or if his job is listed on the SOL is it a fairly straight forward VISA application?

Which Visa do we need to apply for under the SOL?

Do we also need state sponsorship?

Finally, does he need to get a job prior to actually getting the Visa.

 

I have already contacted a few migration agents, including The Emigration Group and Signet Consulting, and am thinking of paying the initial Appraisal fee of around £90 to kick start the process, but don't want to throw money down the drain if I can do this myself. I am fairly admin savvy but at the same time, want to ensure that our application is as fast and as good quality as it can possibly be - ti is a costly process afterall and we want to get it right from the start off.

 

Anyway any advice is very much appreciated and thanks for taking time to read this.

[bell123321]

Hi welcome to the forums, I can only help with a little bit but sure someone else will be able to come along and help better. Comments in red.

 

Hi, I'm new to this site and this forum, so apologies in advance for my obvious ignorance and excitement!

Just beginning the long and arduous process of emigration to Oz. (Me, my Husband, and our 2 kids, age 7 and 5.)

Rick and I worked and travelled in Oz (on a working Visa) 11 years ago (feels like yesterday ah!!!) and LOVED every minute of it! Although we know that our future in Oz will not be anything like our bumming/visitor experience, we are still very much of the opinion that Oz can offer a better future for us and our children, than the one we would have in Northern Ireland.

So, we have decided to bite the bullet and having done some preliminary research online; I am already baffled....

 

Rick, (my hub) is an IT Support Specialist and his profession is listed on the SOL.

I know that he will need to be assessed by ACS. My questions are :-

Does he need to complete an Expression of Interest?Yes but he will need to get his skilled assessed first and do his IELTS test first before submitting an EOI

What is the starting point - do we really need a Migration Agent or if his job is listed on the SOL is it a fairly straight forward VISA application?No many people do it without an agent to save money. If you follow the checklists correctly you should be fine doing it yourself especially if your okay with paperwork.

Which Visa do we need to apply for under the SOL? How many points do you currently have? Have a look at the migration website and the calculator to let us know how many points you think you have. You can get extra points by sitting the IELTS test by scoring high. This will then let you know if you need to apply for possibly state sponsorship to get the extra points.

Do we also need state sponsorship?Depending on how many points you have?

Finally, does he need to get a job prior to actually getting the Visa? Generally no if you going for skilled independent visa then no, if you are for example going for state sponsorship in WA I think they have some conditions attached to certain jobs that means you need a job first.

 

I have already contacted a few migration agents, including The Emigration Group and Signet Consulting, and am thinking of paying the initial Appraisal fee of around £90 to kick start the process, but don't want to throw money down the drain if I can do this myself. I am fairly admin savvy but at the same time, want to ensure that our application is as fast and as good quality as it can possibly be - ti is a costly process afterall and we want to get it right from the start off.

 

Anyway any advice is very much appreciated and thanks for taking time to read this.

Sorry i can not be of much more use but have a look at the following link if you haven't already: http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/Find-a-visa.aspx

 

Should tell you the requirements etc. Hopefully someone else can help better with your questions.

[Ozmaniac]

Sorry for being a wet blanket, but I think you'd better look at the SOL again. IT Support occupations are only on the CSOL which means that they're only eligible for a points tested visa IF the occupation is also listed on a state occupation list and IF you can get sponsorship approval from that state. He may be eligible to apply under some other IT occupation but checking that out will need to be your first step. Otherwise, only employer sponsored visas are possible.

http://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/skilled-occupations-lists/sol.aspx The SOL

http://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/skilled-occupations-lists/csol.aspx The CSOL

[juliepatterson]

Thanks guys!

Ozmaniac - we thought that ICT Systems Engineer on the SOL is support-related no? (Rick's current job title is Systems Engineer.)

Does anyone know where can we find job descriptions for these roles? I do see lots more ICT Support roles such as Systems Administrator/Manager on the CSOL too, but again I'd like to know what exactly these roles are and also how they are assessed by ACS.

Thanks again for the links etc.

[bell123321]

Thanks guys!

Ozmaniac - we thought that ICT Systems Engineer on the SOL is support-related no? (Rick's current job title is Systems Engineer.)

Does anyone know where can we find job descriptions for these roles? I do see lots more ICT Support roles such as Systems Administrator/Manager on the CSOL too, but again I'd like to know what exactly these roles are and also how they are assessed by ACS.

Thanks again for the links etc.

 

Have a look at this website, put in the job and you can get a list of the requirements/description of the job:

 

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/1220.0Search02013,%20Version%201.2?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1220.0&issue=2013,%20Version%201.2&num=&view=

[juliepatterson]

Thank you - that's very helpful. :wink:

[takeachance]

I'm an IT support and my skill assessment for Computer Network and Systems Engineer came out positive from ACS. As you know IT support is a very generic role and what matter is the job description. I focused on networking and computer systems administration, so that's why I applied for the above role. If your husband is focusing on software support for example, he may be successfully assessed as a Software Engineer. Hope this helps.

[Diane1968]

Hi Julie , can't help with your questions but I see you are from Bangor. We are from Comber/Crossgar and have been here in Melbourne from January 2013. Just wishing you luck in your journey to Australia

Diane

[Lasanga Herath]

Does he need to complete an Expression of Interest?

No , First step is choosing the right Visa catogary. If it is a skill migrant 189 or 190. For this you have to check whether your profession is in SOL. If it is in SOL, you can apply for 189 which is PR / no restriction, mean that you can live and work in anywhere in Ausi. But you have to score 60 points in Skill point test.

If your profession is not in SOL , still you can go for 190 which is state sponsored category. The pro side is you will get 5 additional marks for point test. Con is you have to live and work for first 2 years in sponsored state.

 

Upon finalization that , you have to logged Skill assessment with ACS. This assessment will give green light for your profession as well as for the experience years.

 

Then with the outcome of the assessment you may logged the EOI (Expression of Interest) . Since you in Iralnd you don't need to sit for IELTS, but of you lagging with the points , obviously you can go for IELTS and score 7.0 or more in each to qualify for points.

What is the starting point - do we really need a Migration Agent or if his job is listed on the SOL is it a fairly straight forward VISA application?

Mentioned above, Yes if it is SOL bit strait forward.

Which Visa do we need to apply for under the SOL? 189

 

Do we also need state sponsorship? State sponsorship required only for 190

 

Finally, does he need to get a job prior to actually getting the Visa.? No , not required.

[Robbouk]

Sorry for being a wet blanket, but I think you'd better look at the SOL again. IT Support occupations are only on the CSOL which means that they're only eligible for a points tested visa IF the occupation is also listed on a state occupation list and IF you can get sponsorship approval from that state. He may be eligible to apply under some other IT occupation but checking that out will need to be your first step. Otherwise, only employer sponsored visas are possible.

http://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/skilled-occupations-lists/sol.aspx The SOL

http://www.immi.gov.au/Work/Pages/skilled-occupations-lists/csol.aspx The CSOL

 

I had a similar situation, I am a ICT professional (multi-skilled), currently working as a Senior IT Project Manager, but also worked as IT Manager, Developer, Analyst Programmer, Product Specialist, Business Analyst etc. When I first looked at this I thought I should put myself down as a IT Project Manager, but when the ACS assessed my skills, they suggested that I change my choice to an Analyst Programmer as that is where most of my career has been spent. I then got a successful result giving me the points I needed.

 

So I think you should get the Skills assessed before worrying too much about the SOL & CSOL lists.

 

Hope that helps.