tasskal Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Hi All I was wondering if anyone could help with a very confusing visa conundrum In October I moved out to Mackay, QLD on a WHV with my girlfriend. We moved from Canada (I'm British and she is Australian) and the quickest way was through this visa. As I have heard from friends and also in past experience from living abroad I am looking for my next visa already. Let me tell you a bit about myself, I am a football (soccer) coach by trade I have been working around the world for 9 years in coaching, as people that know Mackay can imagine there isn't much of a market for football coaching here however I have managed to get myself two jobs one at a local school and another at a local club, both companies have already said they would support my long term visa application even though I haven't started working for them yet. I have told the club that they cannot employ me full time due to the 6 month working rule as well as the telling the school to wait till next year (ridiculous I know, I have had the same visa in America and Canada with no silly rule). As a result of me forcing myself not to work with them till the season starts in feb/march I have gotten myself an ABN (sole trader) and have started trying to do a few things on my own. Progress is slow as I expected being in a small Rugby League based town but I think in the future if things go well it could become successful as there is a huge gap in the market for what I plan to do and enough people are into football. This now leads on to my visa issue, the first and obvious idea was extending my WHV however I have now found out you cannot do this if you are living defacto with your partner so that I believe is ruled out. My next idea was the 457, this seemed the best option as I had companies willing to sponsor me which I heard is the hardest thing about getting the visa but, after doing more research into the sponsorship programme I have found that there is a minimum wage of around $55k, this unfortunately for the club is too much they are volunteer based and unless things went very well with the school I cant see them forking this out for the amount of hours I am doing. I then looked into the 457 with self sponsorship through my ABN, this idea may still be possible but its come to light that you can no longer sponsor yourself on a 457 as of this year. The next set of visa's I looked at were the 190 (skilled nominated), 489 (I have relatives here), 181 and the 186. I have struggled looking into these on two factors. 1 - They seem skill/points based which I assume means I need to be assessed by a third party company. I have done free assessments on a couple of online visa lawyers websites but do not fully trust them to start an application off 2 - also relating to 1 is that these visa's seem quite costly The last option which we have been trying to avoid is the spousal visa. Although this seems the easiest way long term, we just cannot afford the crazy $7k minimum for this visa. We don't want to apply from England as we really don't want to be apart even though it is slightly cheaper Apologies for the rambling but I am trying to give you an insight into the whole situation as it is pretty confusing, what I am really looking for help with is some viable options and solutions to my problems which put simply are: the cost of some visas out of my own pocket the 190/489/181/186 do I qualify also how much roughly in total are they ? avoiding this 6 month work rule ASAP or ways around it given my niche working climate is there a possibility of self sponsorship through my own business if so how and through what visa? is there a chance by april next year when eligible to apply the spousal will be cheaper and is there any ways around the cost Any help would be much appreciated as it looks like currently spousal is our only option and as a result we cant be spending unnecessary lawyer fees! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 It doesn't sound like you would have either the hours or salary for an employer sponsored 457 visa. A self sponsored 457 is far too complex for meaningful comments from a forum, you would need professional advise on that, but I doubt you could achieve it as I don't think you are planning to build a business, but just work for and by yourself? This is only a temporary visa anyway, you would still have to pay out for a permanent visa if some description later. Dont think skilled migration is going to be an option. You would need state sponsorship and Queensland is not sponsoring. Only NT and SA are but they are not going to sponsor somebody living in Queensland already, they have conditions to their sponsorship. No reason at all why you can't do the regional work and extend the WHV for a year. No idea why you think you can't because you are in a relationship. But easily the best route for you is the partner visa. In fact as i was reading the post I was thinking what on earth is he going on about when there is a partner visa! Then I got to the bit about cost. We all have to spend money on visas, if you could "get around" it well everybody would and visas would be free. You will need to pay for another visa or get ready to leave at the end of the WHV. I think the UK partner visa is cheaper so perhaps consider that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nemesis Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Hi All I was wondering if anyone could help with a very confusing visa conundrum In October I moved out to Mackay, QLD on a WHV with my girlfriend. We moved from Canada (I'm British and she is Australian) and the quickest way was through this visa. As I have heard from friends and also in past experience from living abroad I am looking for my next visa already. Let me tell you a bit about myself, I am a football (soccer) coach by trade I have been working around the world for 9 years in coaching, as people that know Mackay can imagine there isn't much of a market for football coaching here however I have managed to get myself two jobs one at a local school and another at a local club, both companies have already said they would support my long term visa application even though I haven't started working for them yet. I have told the club that they cannot employ me full time due to the 6 month working rule as well as the telling the school to wait till next year (ridiculous I know, I have had the same visa in America and Canada with no silly rule). They can employ you full time, they just can't employ you permanently. Canada and America have totally different visa rules - in fact the USA does not even have a WHV. As a result of me forcing myself not to work with them till the season starts in feb/march I have gotten myself an ABN (sole trader) and have started trying to do a few things on my own. Progress is slow as I expected being in a small Rugby League based town but I think in the future if things go well it could become successful as there is a huge gap in the market for what I plan to do and enough people are into football. This now leads on to my visa issue, the first and obvious idea was extending my WHV however I have now found out you cannot do this if you are living defacto with your partner so that I believe is ruled out. Rubbish. You can be de facto on a WHV. You just cannot have children dependent on you whilst on it. My next idea was the 457, this seemed the best option as I had companies willing to sponsor me which I heard is the hardest thing about getting the visa but, after doing more research into the sponsorship programme I have found that there is a minimum wage of around $55k, this unfortunately for the club is too much they are volunteer based and unless things went very well with the school I cant see them forking this out for the amount of hours I am doing. I then looked into the 457 with self sponsorship through my ABN, this idea may still be possible but its come to light that you can no longer sponsor yourself on a 457 as of this year. The next set of visa's I looked at were the 190 (skilled nominated), 489 (I have relatives here), 181 and the 186. I have struggled looking into these on two factors. 1 - They seem skill/points based which I assume means I need to be assessed by a third party company. I have done free assessments on a couple of online visa lawyers websites but do not fully trust them to start an application off 2 - also relating to 1 is that these visa's seem quite costly They are cheaper than a partner visa (not sure about the 181, never come across that one) and there is a whole forum full of recommended agents here, no need pick an unknown. However, make sure first that your skill is on the appropriate list, CSOL or SOL The last option which we have been trying to avoid is the spousal visa. Although this seems the easiest way long term, we just cannot afford the crazy $7k minimum for this visa. We don't want to apply from England as we really don't want to be apart even though it is slightly cheaper Applying from the UK is the same price as applying onshore. Apologies for the rambling but I am trying to give you an insight into the whole situation as it is pretty confusing, what I am really looking for help with is some viable options and solutions to my problems which put simply are: the cost of some visas out of my own pocket the 190/489/181/186 do I qualify also how much roughly in total are they ? avoiding this 6 month work rule ASAP or ways around it given my niche working climate is there a possibility of self sponsorship through my own business if so how and through what visa? is there a chance by april next year when eligible to apply the spousal will be cheaper and is there any ways around the cost Any help would be much appreciated as it looks like currently spousal is our only option and as a result we cant be spending unnecessary lawyer fees! Thanks There are no ways round the cost and if the price of a visa (especially the artner visa) goes down i think we'll all faint from shock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samson Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Work for the remaining 10 months of your visa and then lodge a partner visa ... save very hard in that 10 months... or keep the bank account looking good with regular income and a job and they hand out creditcards like sweets over here.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul Senise Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Based on your questions, you are very confused about your situation and options and you may waste a lot of time and energy on dead ends. Get some professional advice early so you can plot an achievable pathway to your visa goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaggieMay24 Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 As Raul has suggested, speak with a migration agent. You have been misinformed on some things and may have more options than you think. A migration agent is the best person to help you sort out the fact from the fiction and suggest strategies that will help you move forward correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tasskal Posted December 2, 2016 Author Share Posted December 2, 2016 Thank you all for the help Seems like my options are spousal or extending the WHV, due to the situation with the 6 month work limit we will try to go for a spousal visa if we have the money. My final questions therefore would be once I have applied for the spousal visa can I get permission to work longer than 6 months with my current employer even if my original visa is still valid? Also once the bridging visa kicks in does that mean it is an extension of terms on my WHV where I would only have another 6 months work at that company ? Samson said about getting a job with a steady income, this is very difficult in my field of work in the area I live and getting any kind of job is tough as there is a lot of unemployment here and my lack of experience in other areas holds me back. Would this then qualify for an extension on 8547 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.