JJRocket Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Hi all, Will *try* to keep this short and sweet but hoping for some recommendations on how best to proceed with my partners 457 application, as its become a bit messy and unpredicatable... My partner and I have lodged an application for 457 sponsorship on May 25th. The paperwork was collected by me, but lodged by a lawyer (selected by the employer , not my preferred choice as not MARA) The lawyer also lodged the SBS and nomination. He received 2 requests for information for the business, and received 1 request for my partner. The request for my partner was for something that was already provided (evidence of qualifications) but the lawyer had uploaded all of my documents in bulk and so the case officer thought the evidence was missing? On Aug 17th I logged into IMMI myself and read a letter for Natural Justice, and after lots of panic, found out that the SBS had been rejected that day, due to not having evidence of training benchmark. On August 22nd the SBS was lodged again with the missing piece and additional $600 paid by the employer. My partner has been working for this employer for over 6 months and is enjoying the role...however should we just cut our losses and find another job? He has been on a bridging visa since June. The whole application has been a complete mess from start to finish and I wish I had been a little more confident at the start and pushed to employ and pay a good migration agent. This guy didn't include half of the necessary evidence for the SBS - we didn't know any of this until the rejection came through...3 months later. He has also uploaded all of the defacto evidence in bulk and I am so worried that the case officer will not be happy with this. Would a new SBS application now put us to the back of the queue again , does anyone know what sort of timeline are we looking at (Natural Justice letter gave us 28 days) Any advice would be greatly appreciated - I understand this is a general advice forum and non-specific but its got to be better than ringing immigration :wacko: Timeline 457 Application/SBS Application 25 May Request for Information 04 Aug Natural Justice Letter 17 Aug Resubmittal of SBS 22 Aug Today - still waiting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Arch Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Your message provides a good example of why it is advisable to consult with a registered migration agent or a lawyer who is a RMA: in fact, if the lawyer engaged by your partner's employer was not a RMA, he could not lawfully provide "immigration assistance" - including an application for approval of the employer as a Standard Business Sponsor - see section 276 of the Migration Act. If the lawyer does not regularly practice in this area, he/she may not be aware of this prohibition in the Act. In fact it is an offence for a person who is not a RMA to give immigration assistance, see section 280 of the Act. I do suggest that it would be advisable for your partner to bring these matters to the employers attention and suggest that it would be advisable for the employer to engage the services of a lawyer who is a RMA or a "non-lawyer" who is a RMA. In terms of the new or "fresh" application for approval of the employer as an SBS: yes, in theory the new application could be granted if it does meet the criteria for approval. Processing times for the assessment of the SBS application are variable. If the SBS is approved and the employer then nominates your partner for an occupation within the business, then in theory the SBS approval and the nomination could support the grant of a 457 visa to your partner. Your partner could apply for the 457 visa while h in Australia and holding only a bridging visa provided that he has not suffered the refusal of a previous visa application. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 The Border Force contacted one of my clients and told her I was not registered. RE: Ms xxxx DOB: xxxxx CID: xxxxx Box/File No: xxxx Dear Mr Westly Russell and Ms xxxxx I can see from the below email correspondence that you have advised your client not to communicate to the department regarding matters relating to their partner visa application for which they are currently being assessed for. Mr Russell, you did not appear to be registered with the MARA website on the day I call your client, which was 26/9/2016: The Register of agents was last updated on 26 Sep 2016 02:15:35 PM. Your search found 0 results. This was the reason, I contacted your client directly in order to follow up on requested documents to finalise her application and to check with you regarding your MARA registration. Thank you kindly. Kind regards, xxxxxx Case Officer - Team 5 Position Number: xxxxxx Sydney Temporary Partners Department of Immigration and Border Protection Telephone: 131 881 Email: nsw.tpp.team5@border.gov.au I received emails and telephone call in the middle of the night on Sunday from a distressed applicant and a nervous sponsor. I checked with thew OMARA and was assured that they had no server issues at relevant times. An aside: If the minister requests information, by any means, it must be provided, but it does not have to be provided immediately by an applicant who is walking down the street answering a cell phone that is breaking up. One might wonder whether it is good practice to give clients' telephone numbers if the system does not insist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wei Shu Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 Q: My partner and I have lodged an application for 457 sponsorship on May 25th. The paperwork was collected by me, but lodged by a lawyer (selected by the employer , not my preferred choice as not MARA) The lawyer also lodged the SBS and nomination. He received 2 requests for information for the business, and received 1 request for my partner. The request for my partner was for something that was already provided (evidence of qualifications) but the lawyer had uploaded all of my documents in bulk and so the case officer thought the evidence was missing? A: Correct, not a MARA agent, may lack of knowledge in Migration Legislations and experience. To provide documents in bulk is problematic, and should be avoid in doing so. There 3 applications involved, SBS, Nom and Visa, you need to upload supporting documents to the relevant application, never dump them in in bulk. I once been told by a case officer, over the phone, a few years back that they usually check cross the applications, say if documents for visa application are not there, then they may be check if docs have been uploaded wrongly to the nomination application, and it may be happened if application for Nom and Visa are allocated to same the case officer, as well as processed at same time. Two requests for sponsoring business, 1 for SBS application and 1 for Nomination, and the other one is for visa application. Q: On Aug 17th I logged into IMMI myself and read a letter for Natural Justice, and after lots of panic, found out that the SBS had been rejected that day, due to not having evidence of training benchmark. On August 22nd the SBS was lodged again with the missing piece and additional $600 paid by the employer. A: There is a possibility of documents not have been provided by the sponsor, they may be busy, certainly it should have been followed it up and make a request for extension of time before the deadline to ensure not being refused for fail to provide enough documents or evidence. What is $600 paid for, it higher then fee for SBS but lower then SBS + Nomination, which the sponsoring business needs to lodge. Q: My partner has been working for this employer for over 6 months and is enjoying the role...however should we just cut our losses and find another job? He has been on a bridging visa since June. A: Don't do it now, if the sponsoring business withdraw the sponsorship, then you only have 28 days to find a new employer, or will be a refusal, unless you decided to withdraw the visa application. Q: Would a new SBS application now put us to the back of the queue again , does anyone know what sort of timeline are we looking at (Natural Justice letter gave us 28 days) A: Yes in most cases, you will just have to wait for allocation, and currently will be 2.5 to 3 months time. 28 days is a prescribed period of time to provide documents on S.65 letter, once you have received the letter you will need read it carefully and provide what being requested, unless something may not in favour. It is your decision whether to provide further information been requested, but not must be, and under S.62 of Migration Act, the Minister can not take further action if failure to provide, but a decision may be, and sure will be made on what ever evidence been provided. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanne Stevens Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 That's pretty appalling. The "Find an Agent" section of the MARA website is extremely syntax sensitive I have found, even an extra space after a persons name will return an invalid result. I also had a client contact me and politely suggest that she could not find evidence of my registration on the MARA website when she checked - turned out she was searching on my names in the wrong order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leanne Stevens Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 The Border Force contacted one of my clients and told her I was not registered. RE: Ms xxxx DOB: xxxxx CID: xxxxx Box/File No: xxxx Dear Mr Westly Russell and Ms xxxxx I can see from the below email correspondence that you have advised your client not to communicate to the department regarding matters relating to their partner visa application for which they are currently being assessed for. Mr Russell, you did not appear to be registered with the MARA website on the day I call your client, which was 26/9/2016: The Register of agents was last updated on 26 Sep 2016 02:15:35 PM. Your search found 0 results. This was the reason, I contacted your client directly in order to follow up on requested documents to finalise her application and to check with you regarding your MARA registration. Thank you kindly. Kind regards, xxxxxx Case Officer - Team 5 Position Number: xxxxxx Sydney Temporary Partners Department of Immigration and Border Protection Telephone: 131 881 Email: nsw.tpp.team5@border.gov.au I received emails and telephone call in the middle of the night on Sunday from a distressed applicant and a nervous sponsor. I checked with thew OMARA and was assured that they had no server issues at relevant times. An aside: If the minister requests information, by any means, it must be provided, but it does not have to be provided immediately by an applicant who is walking down the street answering a cell phone that is breaking up. One might wonder whether it is good practice to give clients' telephone numbers if the system does not insist. That's pretty appalling Westly. The "Find an Agent" section is extremely sensitive and even an extra space put in after a person's name will return an invalid result. I also had a client politely question me as to whether I was actually registered as she tried to search on my name and nothing came up. Turns out she had put my two names in the wrong order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prita Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 hi guys, im writing again, dont know if anybody remembered my posts, i posted on 28/9/16 tht my 457 refused, my sponsor had been informed tht he did not full fill the requirements for training benchmark ( i dont have much details and dont even know wht is all this abt) but he had been given 21 days of time if he had any queries and can apply for review the application, my employer now fullfilled the requirement and has re submitted the sbs again a month ago, i.e. 19/9/16, if any one can help me to know... what r the chances of approval now and how much time it will take again in processing any help is much appreciated. my time line: Sponsorship and nomination applied - 17th may 2016 visa applied - 30th may request for medical - 19 july submitted following week natural injustice - 28/09/16 resubmission of sbs - 19/09/2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJRocket Posted October 18, 2016 Author Share Posted October 18, 2016 Thank you to everyone for the replies , the companys SBS was just approved, so hopefully we are going to get our 457 approval soon. Its been a long road. \ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fida Posted January 8, 2018 Share Posted January 8, 2018 Hi Guys.. While reading your above posts i thought to check my MARA agent details too on Website, And to my SURPRISe my AGENt is NOT AT ALL REGISTERED, Nothing is coming up where as i tried for some other agent , it appeared her registration in a second.... I would call that website number at 9am NSW time., Now i doubt why dept has not contacted yet for anything though its 9months passed Feeling so low and stressed at work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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