budeman Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Hello, Am hoping someone could offer some advice. My wife and I applied for a 189 visa using my ACCA qualification (full member) to apply as an accountant. My assessment form from the ICAA states that the ACCA qualification is equivalent to a Bachelors degree and when I inquired with a migration agent previously they also stated this was correct. So on my visa application I was advised to put down my level of education as that of Bachelors (Other) We are not going through an agent but all the information we are required to provide has been sent off, we are just waiting the results of the medical and police checks to come through. However I received an email asking for my Bachelors certificate. I replied advising that my ACCA is a Bachelors equivalent but again they responded saying that skills assessment is not evidence of education taken. I am not sure what do to as it does clearly state on the ICAA assessment that my skills are Bachelors equivalent - I could re-send the documents and highlight areas but reading other posts I feel this is not beneficial. Any advice would be greatly appreciated? Thanks, Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boganbear Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Have you sen them a copy of the certificate of you passing the qualification? They say they want to see the evidence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budeman Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Have you sen them a copy of the certificate of you passing the qualification? They say they want to see the evidence Yes to date I have sent my ACCA membership certificate, a letter of good standing, my exam transcript and my assessment for from the ICAA. Not sure what else I can give them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
youngfreewild Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Yes to date I have sent my ACCA membership certificate, a letter of good standing, my exam transcript and my assessment for from the ICAA. Not sure what else I can give them? I don't have any advice to offer but I'd be interested to hear what the outcome is, I am applying for a 189 under 'Management Accountant', I am CIMA qualified and getting my skills assessed through CPA. I don't have a degree either but believe my qualification is regarded as equivalent to a degree. Good Luck, surely they have made a mistake... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scattley Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Yes to date I have sent my ACCA membership certificate, a letter of good standing, my exam transcript and my assessment for from the ICAA. Not sure what else I can give them? You could try sending them what they are asking! they are asking for your Bachelors Degee certificate yet you are arguing with them that they don't need it. Lesson 1 ...don't argue with government officials. All that happens is that they reject your application outright due to you not providing the documents asked for (which is precisely what you are doing). They are being nice in giving you an extra chance to give them the correct documents and all you have done is effectively say "you don't need that, I have sent you what you need" . They know what they are doing....you don't. So follow their instructions or don't expect to get a visa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M1cha3la Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 I am not 100% sure as DH did our 189 through an agent, but I do not think you should of claimed a bachelors for education (our agent was murky (i did not fully understand) about points for ACCA). I would consult with @wrussell or another agent as from what I can understand it can be tricky... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budeman Posted December 16, 2014 Author Share Posted December 16, 2014 You could try sending them what they are asking! they are asking for your Bachelors Degee certificate yet you are arguing with them that they don't need it. Lesson 1 ...don't argue with government officials. All that happens is that they reject your application outright due to you not providing the documents asked for (which is precisely what you are doing). They are being nice in giving you an extra chance to give them the correct documents and all you have done is effectively say "you don't need that, I have sent you what you need" . They know what they are doing....you don't. So follow their instructions or don't expect to get a visa I don't think you understand - I do not have a Bachelors Certificate. I am a full member of the ACCA which was assessed and decreed equivalent to a Bachelors. Because of this on my EOI my level of education was deemed to be Bachelors (Other) and so awarded 15 points rather than 10 points for a tertiary skill. Obviously as I put Bachelors (indicating all the while that my qualification was an ACCA membership) on my EOI, I replicated this on my Visa application. Because of this when they asked for my Bachelors I thought that providing all my documents relating to my ACCA qualification would be sufficient. I was just wondering if anyone else here had been in a similar situation who could offer advice.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 I don't know what I selected when I completed my application recently but I only received 10 points for my CIMA qualification based on the selection I made. CIMA is also equivalent to a bachelor's degree... I will try to have a look at my application later as I'd imagine were in a similar position qualification wise.. but don't understand why yours would be worth 15 and mine 10? (I was surprised when I was only awarded 10, as I too thought I would get 15). I hope for your sake you haven't over claimed by selecting the wrong option somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted December 19, 2014 Share Posted December 19, 2014 met the requirements for: (a) the award of a doctorate by an Australian educational institution; or (b) the award of a doctorate, by another educational institution, that the Minister is satisfied is of a recognised standard – 20 points met the requirements for: (a) the award of at least a bachelor degree by an Australian educational institution; or (b) the award of at least a bachelor degree by another educational institution, that the Minister is satisfied is of a recognised standard - 15 points met the requirements for the award of a diploma by an Australian educational institution – 10 points met the requirements for the award of a trade qualification by an Australian educational institution – 10 points attained a qualification or award recognised by the relevant assessing authority for the applicant’s nominated skilled occupation as being suitable for the occupation – 10 points Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I assume this is where you said your highest qualification was a bachelor's degree and got 15 points... whereas I said recognised qualification and got 10.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I think you are mixing up two things. A trade qualification may be equivalent to a degree when it comes to assessing skills, but it is not actually a degree. The visa application giving points is looking for actual degrees. This is an interesting thread: http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/156621-overclaiming-eoi-instant-application-refusal.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benthomas010 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 That's where I think the OP may have made an error and why the CO isn't satisfied. Accounting qualifications are seen as equivalent to degrees... but they aren't degrees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budeman Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 That's where I think the OP may have made an error and why the CO isn't satisfied. Accounting qualifications are seen as equivalent to degrees... but they aren't degrees. Ok I can see where you are coming from there it makes sense as to why they keep asking. The only reason I put it down as Bachelors (Other) was because I would not have had enough points on the EOI if I had put it down as a trade qualification. Putting it down as Bachelors (Other) gave me the 15 points I needed. Based on the info I put down for the EOI I got my invite so I thought I needed to put the same info down so as to be consistent. Any advice on what to do? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 If you don't have enough points without the Bachelors, I suspect you aren't going to get a visa even if you withdraw and submit a new application. You might talk to a migration agent and see whether there are other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekingsuk Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Ignore Scattley, you are well within your grounds to go back and say that you don't have a bachelor's degree and the points claimed are as equivalent of a bachelor degree. I am ACCA, and have recently been granted the 189. My agent sent through my examination transcript, and membership certificate which substitutes the Bachelors. Stand your ground and be clear with your case officer. Sometimes they can be blinkered... Good luck with the application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budeman Posted December 20, 2014 Author Share Posted December 20, 2014 Ignore Scattley, you are well within your grounds to go back and say that you don't have a bachelor's degree and the points claimed are as equivalent of a bachelor degree. I am ACCA, and have recently been granted the 189. My agent sent through my examination transcript, and membership certificate which substitutes the Bachelors. Stand your ground and be clear with your case officer. Sometimes they can be blinkered... Good luck with the application. Phew, thanks for the reply - good to hear advice from someone who has been in the exact same position. Out of interest, did you put down Bachelors as your level of education or something else? If so did you have any issues with them? Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syed1995 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I am also an ACCA member with no any onther degree , I have not yet applied for visa but will do it when i will get 7 bands in ielt , But i am scared that i might face the same situation as you are facing , So finally what result you got ??? And how many points you claimed ?? IMO if you had used an agent you might not have faced this situation as using an experianced agent give good and desired result. Syed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekingsuk Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Yes. I did use my ACCA qualification as the equivilent of abachelors in my application, and this have me the points I needed. They assessed it as equivilent to an Australian bachelors degree, and I was granted my visa without any hurdles. As I said, the only information I gave to my agent to supply as evidence was my certificate of membership and exam trascript. These threads would be so much more useful if those that have no experience in the matter at hand didn't chime in to confuse and scaremonger!!! Keeping working at your application, but make sure you don't take my job when you get there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syed1995 Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Yes. I did use my ACCA qualification as the equivilent of abachelors in my application, and this have me the points I needed. They assessed it as equivilent to an Australian bachelors degree, and I was granted my visa without any hurdles. As I said, the only information I gave to my agent to supply as evidence was my certificate of membership and exam trascript. These threads would be so much more useful if those that have no experience in the matter at hand didn't chime in to confuse and scaremonger!!! Keeping working at your application, but make sure you don't take my job when you get there! Hi , This is not the point you are talking about , all people know ACCA is recognized as australian bachelor , the point is why budeman got 10 points on his ACCA membership and why they are asking him for bachelor hons certificate as ACCA himself equal to a bachelor.............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quinkla Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Attachment This clearly states that the ACCA membership counts as equivalent of Bachelors for the purpose of awarding points for the General Skills Migration points test. Unless this is just inserting text that you have typed yourself, it looks clear to me that you should be claiming 15 points - as you did. It is not too late to seek the assistance of a registered migration agent who should have handled similarish things before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamffc Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 How ridiculous is it that a professional qualification is treated as inferior to a degree!? I am only ACCA part qualified but was able to get a visa based on my degree whereas a friend of mine is ACA qualified yet had to jump through all sorts of hoops to get his. Sorry that doesn't offer any constructive but had to be said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 How ridiculous is it that a professional qualification is treated as inferior to a degree!? I am only ACCA part qualified but was able to get a visa based on my degree whereas a friend of mine is ACA qualified yet had to jump through all sorts of hoops to get his. Sorry that doesn't offer any constructive but had to be said. It is not a matter of an applicant satisfying all the criteria for a visa, it is a matter of an applicant satisfying the minister's delegate (case officer) that all the criteria are satisfied. Provided a case officer makes an honest attempt to exercise jurisdiction, s/he faces no consequences for being wrong. There have been numerous applicants who satisfied the criteria and were refused visas, because the did not satisfy the delegate (case officer). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lair it Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Oxford brookes university can grant u the bachelor degree for ACCA grads:wink: I learnt from my staff who got his degree from the uni through his ACCA course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budeman Posted December 22, 2014 Author Share Posted December 22, 2014 It is not a matter of an applicant satisfying all the criteria for a visa, it is a matter of an applicant satisfying the minister's delegate (case officer) that all the criteria are satisfied. Provided a case officer makes an honest attempt to exercise jurisdiction, s/he faces no consequences for being wrong. There have been numerous applicants who satisfied the criteria and were refused visas, because the did not satisfy the delegate (case officer). It's a bit disappointing (and frustrating) that there isn't more consistency based around satisfying criteria for a Visa especially considering the amount of money that is paid. Regarding the CO's, the emails that I have had back have been from different people, so I didn't think that my case was just being handled by just the one person? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 It's a bit disappointing (and frustrating) that there isn't more consistency based around satisfying criteria for a Visa especially considering the amount of money that is paid. You can say that again. Regarding the CO's, the emails that I have had back have been from different people, so I didn't think that my case was just being handled by just the one person? They used to be, but now GSM applications are handled by 'teams', as far as I can tell it is a case of first up- best dressed. At the end of the day a (section 65) authorised delegate has to make the decision. I had a look to see if any cases similar to yours had gone to review, but I did not find one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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