Jonesy Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 (edited) Hi, Just looking for advice with applying for a 189 skilled visa. My story is as follows - I've been in Melbourne for nearly 4years on a 457 visa, originally from London - employer did not go for sponsoring me on the ENS route and left me with 6 months in Jan this year to sort it out myself. So I've got my Trade assessment done, my IELTS done with a score high enough to award me points bringing my EOI points to 65 which was enough for me to get my invitation to apply for this visa. However my 457 expires on the 26th July and its now the 20th - knowing time was short, my employment has ended with my sponsor as I would not have had a valid visa to work/stay and I have booked a flight back to the UK next week in order to not overstay as I was unsure of processing times etc. My main question is - should I use a visa/migrant agent to help me with my application ? I understand that they are more familiar with the process and will maybe have my application more prepared than I will doing it myself but with a cost of $4000 I don't know if its value for money. After being assigned a case officer, is it not just back and forth until its ready to be processed ? Many thanks for any advice. Edited July 20, 2016 by Jonesy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 If you apply for the 189 before the 457 expires then you will be a bridging visa to stay in Australia, although I am not sure what work rights it would give you. As for using an agent well many people manage without, it depends how good you are at reading the information and if your case is straightforward or not, if you already have a skills assessment then it should be cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieMay24 Posted July 20, 2016 Share Posted July 20, 2016 Once you apply for your 189, you will immediately be granted a bridging visa A that likely has full work rights. Check the bridging visa, but you probably don't need to leave either your employer or Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy Posted July 21, 2016 Author Share Posted July 21, 2016 Spoke to a visa agent today and got some good free advice so I'm pretty set now on my plan of attack. I've already put plans into action to leave Australia as I only have 5 days now but I am going to apply for the visa, get the bridging visa but still go back to the UK as planned and wait for the result. I have already left employment here so would be quite difficult to find another job with my visa status being uncertain and Ive given notice at the rental property as well so going back to the UK is locked in now - which is not a bad thing right now as its my mums 60th in a few weeks so I'll be there for that etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Spoke to a visa agent today and got some good free advice so I'm pretty set now on my plan of attack. I've already put plans into action to leave Australia as I only have 5 days now but I am going to apply for the visa, get the bridging visa but still go back to the UK as planned and wait for the result. I have already left employment here so would be quite difficult to find another job with my visa status being uncertain and Ive given notice at the rental property as well so going back to the UK is locked in now - which is not a bad thing right now as its my mums 60th in a few weeks so I'll be there for that etc. just be careful as the bridging visa issued will not have travel rights as standard i would imagine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonesy Posted September 22, 2016 Author Share Posted September 22, 2016 Bit overdue but heres an update. Hopefully might help others as well. So I returned to the UK as my visa application needed tweeking before I could lodge it properly. I used the services of a migration agent as I really didn't feel confident going through the process on my own plus it was too important to not do so. Spent time in August getting things prepared for lodging my application - EOI invite due to expire sept 20th. So after making sure my application was all good I lodged this at the end of August, already had my supporting documents etc ready including police checks and had my medical 2 weeks later. A week after I had my visa granted - this was 16th September. Overall was really quick from application to grant but with the aid of a migration agent that helped heaps - cost was not too bad at $1650 and was well worth it to me as there were some parts of my application that needed to be adjusted to match my Expression Of Interest which may have caused delays had I rushed into applying for it on my own. Looking for work now in Australia and making plans for the move back asap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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