457 Visa Confusion!

[chris]

Ok so my employer has offered me as a mechanic on a 457 visa, I am currently on a working hold a visa and have been with the company for 3.5 months. I am yet to be nominated but my employer is in the process of sorting that out (they have sponsored other employees in the past so shouldn't be too much of an issue).

 

Basically my girlfriend went to a migration agents today that we were reccomended to, and they have quoted us a price of $9000! I'm sure this is a bit steeply priced. We are both from the UK and have believe we have sufficient paper work to prove we are in an ongoing de facto relationship (joint bank accounts, shared address etc).

 

We'd both be happy at applying ourselves without the help of an agent, but is this the right thing to do? Do many people do this?

 

Also I believe we are going to get certified documents of birth certificates etc, however they are in the UK. Is there a way around this? I'm worried that we haven't got much time as my visa conditions only allow me to work for o e employer for 6 months, I've already been there for 3 and a half so I guess I'm going to have to also apply for another bridging visa that allows me to extend the time I can work.

 

Feel like there are so many issues!:chatterbox:

 

Any infomation would be useful people!

Thanks in advance

[Bungo]

Does the cost include the actual visa fee? And the employers agent fees as well as for the actual application? It is maybe less common for people to do the employer sponsored visa by themselves, but some do. I am not sure I would want to spend $9k for a temporary visa, I would rather apply for a skilled migrant visa and then at least it is permanent. Trouble is you probably don't have enough time for that.

 

Unfortunately, you guess wrong, it is not possible to just apply for a bridging visa. They cannot be applied for all by themselves, it is just part of the next substantive visa application. So you cannot buy time, you need to lodge a new visa application, be it the 457 or some other before this one expires.

[Raul Senise]

Ok so my employer has offered me as a mechanic on a 457 visa, I am currently on a working hold a visa and have been with the company for 3.5 months. I am yet to be nominated but my employer is in the process of sorting that out (they have sponsored other employees in the past so shouldn't be too much of an issue).

 

Basically my girlfriend went to a migration agents today that we were reccomended to, and they have quoted us a price of $9000! I'm sure this is a bit steeply priced. We are both from the UK and have believe we have sufficient paper work to prove we are in an ongoing de facto relationship (joint bank accounts, shared address etc).

 

We'd both be happy at applying ourselves without the help of an agent, but is this the right thing to do? Do many people do this?

 

Also I believe we are going to get certified documents of birth certificates etc, however they are in the UK. Is there a way around this? I'm worried that we haven't got much time as my visa conditions only allow me to work for o e employer for 6 months, I've already been there for 3 and a half so I guess I'm going to have to also apply for another bridging visa that allows me to extend the time I can work.

 

Feel like there are so many issues!

 

Any infomation would be useful people!

Thanks in advance

 

Does the $9,000 include the lodgement fees?

 

If you and your girlfriend are both on your second working holiday visa the lodgement fees alone for the subclass 457 would be $3,470 (1,035 plus 700 subsequent entrant for each applicant).

 

Make sure that they are not making you pay for your sponsor's nomination application as well. This is not allowed as your sponsor must pay all costs associated with the sponsorship and nomination applications. You are only allowed to pay for costs associated with the visa application.

 

You may want to consider getting a few quotes for comparison.