Don't know if I'd be eligible?

[Frater]

Just registered here as it seems like an insightful community and couldn't find an answer online. 

I'll start off with my situation:

I'm 24 years old my grandmother moved from the UK to Australia in the late 70s with my mother (she's not sure if she had citizenship or permanent residency) my grandmother got remarried to my grandfather who is Australian and they've been living in WA ever since. My mother spent her teens there then moved back to the UK, met my father and I was born. I've been over around 6 times through my life and had a working holiday visa in 2014 to test the waters. Since coming back I've gotten into a relationship, we've been living together for 2 years and have been discussing the idea of moving over. I myself only have high school equivalent. Didn't get a trade after school as I wanted to travel. Wish I did now. No where will take on a 24 year old as it's cheaper for them to hire someone younger. I've looked into TAFE international and doing a 2 year carpentry course which gets you qualified but it works out to ~£18,000 which we don't have available. My partner also only has high school qualifications apart from a BSL qualification she got from college for a job over here (both her parents are deaf). 

So our only options are one of us some how getting a job / qualification on skilled occupation list or through family. My grandfather has dementia but I don't think he's bad enough yet that I'd be able to apply as a carer + my aunt is over there so they'd probably expect her to fill that roll. 

 

Are there any other options available to us? 

Thanks in advance. 

[rammygirl]

Might be worth investigations if you have any claim to citizenship via your mother. If she became a citizen before you were born it might be worth it. She may not have realised it but she may still be able to prove and claim citizenship. It would be worth a look anyway. 

[Marisawright]

On 10/05/2019 at 10:12, Frater said:

So our only options are one of us some how getting a job / qualification on skilled occupation list or through family. .

Having family in Australia might earn you a few extra points (depending on the relationship) but otherwise it's useless, I'm afraid.  It's worth researching if your mother is an Australian citizen, because then you'd be able to claim citizenship too - but many people who migrated in the 1970's never bothered to get citizenship, so I'd say it's unlikely. 

Getting a job won't help either. Most employer-sponsored visas are temporary, for two to four years only. For some of them, there's the possibility of applying for permanent residency after that, but it's far from guaranteed.

It's almost impossible to find an employer who'll sponsor you for a permanent visa, because it takes a year or more to get the visa approved.  Think about it - how many employers would offer you a job, then wait a whole year for you to arrive?

To apply for a visa, you need to have the qualifications AND the experience specified on the skilled occupation list.  So your only option is for one of you to retrain.

Be wary of anyone who suggests you get a student visa and do your retraining in Australia.  There's a lot of agencies that look very reputable but are basically scams - they get paid by the Australian colleges, so they're not acting in your interest.    Basically, it will cost you four or five times as much to retrain in Australia, and you and your partner would only be allowed to work 20 hours a week - so you'd use up all your savings, live on the poverty line and even then, you might not get a visa at the end (because the rules change all the time).

So if one of you is going to retrain, do it in the UK where one of you can continue working and build up your savings for the move.