help with visa

[davidholly]

hi all me and my partner are wanting to apply for our visas after xmas i am a pharmacy technician and partner a sheet metal worker/welder.

think we go on his points as on the skills list but any recommendations on a visa professional to help us along the way would be a big help?

 

we are wanting to go to brisbane. how long/cost does the permanent visa take to process?

 

thanks

[srg73]

Pharmacy technicians do not exist over here, you would be considered a pharmacy assistant meaning your qualifications will count for little.

 

Do your homework with visas as each is designed to serve a particular purpose. I expect you will conclude that you should attempt to gain a 189 or 190 being independant or state sponsored perminant residence.

 

S

[CaptainC]

hi all me and my partner are wanting to apply for our visas after xmas i am a pharmacy technician and partner a sheet metal worker/welder.

think we go on his points as on the skills list but any recommendations on a visa professional to help us along the way would be a big help?

 

we are wanting to go to brisbane. how long/cost does the permanent visa take to process?

 

thanks

 

If you wish to use a migration agent then you should visit http://www.mara.gov.au and use the agent finder to locate a registered agent. All registered agents worldwide can be found on this government website.

 

The danger of using an unregistered agent is that you will have little or no recourse if they make a mistake.

 

If your application is fairly straightforward then it is possible to do it without an agent. Lots of people do this, it is fairly easy if you know what you're doing, so have a look around the forum and ask any questions that you have.

[davidholly]

yeah we have been over and looked for jobs earlier in year and although pharmacy technicians don't exist, i did contact baxter healthcare in brisbane and the job there is pretty much the same. my partner doesn't want to go as a sponsored sheet metal worker/ welder just incase he doesn't like the company he wants the freedom to have a look around as was quite a few when we were over.

 

think we are going to use a registered agent instead of doing it ourselves saves all the hassle and worry. i will have a look on the mara site thanks

[Skyba]

Whatever you do just use a MARA agent. A lot of people will say not to use one others will swear by them. I did it a little differently. The entire process is very very straight forward you just need to properly research what you need to do. I am an electrician so I had to do practical skills assessments etc. I completed this part entirely off of my own all back and got myself into a position where I was decision ready and just needed to submit the EOI, then apply for the visa and carry out police checks and Medicals. I found an agent who would take over our application from the EOI stage which saved me a huge chunk of money. I probably could have completed it on my own but getting a MARA registered agent gave us that peace of mind. The only downside is it's difficult to then pass everything over and rely on someone else to chase things up and inform you once you've been on control from the start.

 

as for timescale it's completely up to you. We started the whole process about 11 months ago and we are now just waiting for our response from the case officer as to whether we've been granted our visa or not. You could do it quicker depends on how in-depth the skills assessment is and whether you need a practical test or not which obviously prolongs it as you have to wait for the assessment days. Once you are decision ready it's all down to Australian immigration. We waited 3 months for our EOI invitation and then 10 days for a case officer and we've been waiting just over a month and still no news.