Visa eligibility conflicting advice

[seamyb85]

Hi

First time post having only found forum today and you all seem very knowledgeable so hoping you can reassure us on the Visa process.

I apologise for long email but want to give as much info as possible to help anyone kind enough to offer their assistance.

Looking to move to Aussie with wife as main applicant who is currently 39 and 4 months old so time is off the essence due to 10 points being lost at 40

Has been a Developer Programmer, since 2006 however from looking at the ANZSCO list her role could also be viewed as either a Software & Application Programmer or indeed an Analyst Programmmer all internchangable roles/duties as she has these skills in abundance (not biased...fact)

Has an uncle in Perth who is a citizen and could sponsor.

We have spoken to 2 agents one in UK over phone who has been great.

The other agent via email from Sydney, recommended from a distant family member who knew him when they lived there, a little slow on communicating, however due to time zones I am giving him the benefit of the doubt.

The UK agent has said we have 2 options either:

a Subclass 190 state sponsored Permanent Residence visa with state nomination from Victoria or Queensland with provided we are able to apply for the visa after skills assessment and state nomination before the 40th birthday 

OR

Subclass 491 Regional sponsored visa which is commencing from Nov 16.

 

FYI I am not doubting her rather more myself as the Sydney agent is saying this is wrong and has gotten in my head as he has said that:

The subclass 491 visa is the one I recommend. The 491 would be the option with uncle. It will give you best prospects.

 The 190 is less likely. Furthermore, Queensland is currently closed for the 190, so it won’t be possible to pursue that.

He even asked "Is the person advising you in the UK registered?"

For the record they are both are!!

 I have advised that the UK agent said the uncle Visa would take too long and as we obviously need this done before she turns 40, he ignored that comment and just said...

" Perth and Gold Coast are now designated as regional Australia so they are now eligible locations for the 491 visa which permits sponsorship by a family member and gets you extra points. Given that there is an uncle in Perth that can provide that sponsorship, this is best pathway for you. If Perth wasn’t designated as regional Australia, then the 491 wouldn’t be possible.

 The 190 is a separate program and has a separate occupations list to the 491. The 190 is currently closed to Expressions of Interest in Queensland.

But in a Nutshell The 491 is your best option, without doubt.

I feel he is saying without the uncle we have no hope perhaps i am misinterpreting that, i have asked that question yesterday still no reply.

Oh I should say he detailed our points as 

Points

• Age (39 years old) – 25 points
• English – 20 points (assuming she obtains superior score)
• Work experience outside Australia – 15 points
• Qualifications – 15 points
• Partner with qualification – 5 points
• Family member sponsorship in Perth – 15 points

 A points total of 95 would put you in a very strong position and I’d expect you’d receive an invitation to apply for permanent residency.

 

I hope you can understand my confusion as we want this done correctly and quickly plus we are signing up with someone and paying them significant funds on top of the standard Aussie immigration fees.

Any clarity/opinions would be so welcomed.

Furthermore (sorry) this is not straightforward I know but we are concerned about a couple of things which some have been slightly clarified but any further info would be great.

We have work experience from 2006 so minus the 2 years for training we have max points here at 15 however due to multiple jobs we are concerned about references as first job ended in 2009 due to economic downturn so not sure if we will be able to get appropriate reference followed by next job which was in the public sector and they don't do personal references merely state you worked there detailing "job title along with time frame"

So worried we would lose points here however UK agent has said we would still be ok but would lose 190 and just need to focus on 491 before 40th as these lost points would be offset against age points!

Does that sound right? 

Finally (at last you say and thanks if you are still reading at this point) we may have issues with payment evidence we can get bank statements but as you need 2 we are unable to get a second prior 2013. Phoned HMRC this morning and they are sending out the last 6 years proof but don't know what to do for 06-13?

Any ideas greatly appreciated...granted this is if only needed if we can get the work references for the first job as We have pension documents for 2nd job...however we are not giving up on work references.

Thanks you so much for reading and a million thanks for any advice you can give...i knew this would be difficult but man I'm pretty sure I now have grey hairs and I'm bald lol

 

 

[VERYSTORMY]

The main thing that they should have mentioned is that a 491 is not a permanent visa. It is a provisional visa which gives the ability to apply for a permanent visa is certain conditions are met over two years after moving. 

I am not sure how the new 491 yet works as it is replacing the 489. It seems very similar and would say that under a 489, Perth is NOT regional. 

Overall, I get the feel the UK agent is the better / giving the better advice. Is the Oz agent a registered MARA agent? 

[seamyb85]

Thanks for the reply.

Yea apparently he is though I have no idea how tbh.

Yes she detailed all of the requirements she def seems alot better.

Do you think the payment evidence will be a big issue as we can only provide bank statements showing the salary for her 1st job?

We would hate to lose that experience because of one thing which 13 years old.

 

 

[Raul Senise]

There is insufficient information to assess your options, but a few points to consider:

• There is little difference between Software & Application Programmer or Analyst Programmer as they are in the same ANZSCO group, although it may have an impact if considering State sponsorship;
• Both these occupations are in the pro rata group as they are oversubscribed;
• Queensland sponsorship for 190 has been closed since July 2019;
• The Subclass 491 visa is a provisional visa, it is not a Permanent Visa;
• Not all of the relevant Regulations and Policy for the subclass 491 visa have been released yet, so it is premature to do a definitive assessment under this subclass;
• The points system will be changing soon. Already lodged Expressions of Interests (EOIs) will retrospectively be given additional points, it is not known what score will be required to gain an invite.

 

 

 

 

[wrussell]

From what you have posted, if you play your cards correctly, you might not lose any work experience points.

Check the ACS website.

Some of the advice you have been given appears to be ill considered.

A RMA who is willing to offer definitive advice without seeing all the relevant qualification and work experience documents has more nerve than I have. 

[seamyb85]

Both have seen the CV 

What advise exactly seems ill advised?

I'm hoping you mean the oz agent!!

[path2aus]

13 minutes ago, seamyb85 said:

Both have seen the CV 

What advise exactly seems ill advised?

I'm hoping you mean the oz agent!!

Both Raul and Russell who have responded above are reputed RMA's. Like they say, talking about 491 at the moment is too early as there isn't much information available at the moment on the same.

[seamyb85]

So am I right in thinking that you are saying that it is best to sign with neither agent?

Reason I ask is agent has sent contract through to sign although there is a clause they would not take on our case unless they truly believed there was an excellent chance of us obtaining a visa based on the inform we have sent them via email.

Re the 491 being so new I take it no RMA can advice on it so all new immigration advice must stop until this info is released...which is what one RMA told us over the phone although he did push to arrange a paid telephone consultation...seems to be a trend!!!

[wrussell]

By lodging an application that does not have at least reasonable prospects of success a RMA is looking for trouble. For technical reasons, and in my clients' best interests, I have from time to time lodged applications that had poor or no prospects of success.

Here are two clauses from my service agreement:

 1.      If we form the opinion at any stage that your application has no reasonable prospects of success, we will stop acting for you and advise you why we formed this opinion and send you a Statement of Account. This is unlikely to happen unless there are changes to the migration legislation, or regulations, or changes to your circumstances or your sponsor’s or nominator’s circumstances that affect your case.

 2.      We do not represent clients unless we are confident that we can successfully finalise their cases. If for any reason we cannot act further for you, or you decide to act on your own behalf, we will notify the relevant authorities that we no longer act for you and we will send you:

 a)      A Statement of Account

b)      A refund of the balance of the funds we are holding for you in our Clients’ Account, or an account for fees outstanding, as applicable.

c)      If you pay the required postage we shall return paper documents that are your property.

The trend of RMAs expecting to be paid is outrageous. RMAs who want to be paid should  be mercilessly castigated. 

 

[seamyb85]

Too true and they give you guys a bad rep...because I have become so suspicious right now after having spoken to 3 agents:

1st was easy to kick to the curb because they just sounded like a sales man despite advertising free phone consultation every question was answered by we can discuss that in a paid consultation.

2nd was a family member recommendation who is so slow at answering emails and gives what appears to be conflicting advise as he previously said uncle route was a no go as it takes too long and went radio silent on us until I sent email advising I had spoke to someone else who had given advice and would no longer need him...he came back in 9 mins to say that agent was wrong when asking if they were registered (they are) it felt like he was scared to lose business.

Final agent has phoned twice and answers emails in a timely manner and from chatting to her seems to know her stuff.

I am suspicious in nature however the fact they have been put info in writing eases my concerns as I have clear proof of being misinformed or lied too as there service agreements have similar wording to yours about accepting to proceed with case really is confusing.

[Marisawright]

The agents who have replied on this thread are both highly reputable and many of our members have used their services with good results.

However it has to be said that if there’s already a flood of applicants for those occupations, you should be prepared for a disappointment even with the best agent

Edited November 5, 2019 by Marisawright

[seamyb85]

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying.

[wrussell]

 re CV

From our assessment form: 

Voluntary work might be of interest to a prospective employer or a skills assessing authority, but will NOT satisfy visa work experience criteria. If you do not provide full details of all employment it is impossible to assess whether you can satisfy the applicable work experience criteria. If you are working on a contract basis, when does it finish? ‘Refer to attached CV’ rarely gives us the information we need and is usually a waste of time. Can you obtain employment certifications/duty statement (as applicable) from your previous/current employers?

[VERYSTORMY]

What has been posted is what I hoped would be posted when I made the first reply. 

In follow up, I would chose one of the two above and appoint them. This doesn't mean just having a conversation, but appoint them to deal with the application 

[seamyb85]

Do you mean appoint Raul/Russell or the agents I have talked about? 

[Marisawright]

1 minute ago, seamyb85 said:

Do you mean appoint Raul/Russell or the agents I have talked about? 

Obviously as we know nothing about your agents, we can't judge whether they're any good.  We do know and trust Raul and Westly.

From memory, both of them offer a free initial consultation.

Edited November 6, 2019 by Marisawright

[seamyb85]

Thanks but after 3 free initial consultations it usually results in we need more information and you need to retain our services first at a cost of approx £/$1k and also you need to sign a contract.

thanks anyway, we will get there in the end, just obviously no easy route as I was confused/worried before now my head is about to explode lol 

[Marisawright]

5 minutes ago, seamyb85 said:

Thanks but after 3 free initial consultations it usually results in we need more information and you need to retain our services first at a cost of approx £/$1k and also you need to sign  

Yes of course. There’s only so much they can give away for free. 

What I m saying is that you have two opinions and no way of knowing which one is right. Rather than guess which one to go with, ditch them both and hire one that comes recommended here.

[wrussell]

When we undertake a free preliminary assessment, there are five likely outcomes:

1. The  prospective applicant/s do not and cannot qualify and we advise why this is so.

2. A detailed assessment is required, for which we charge a consultation fee.

3. The  prospective applicant/s might takes steps to qualify, for advice about which we charge a consultation fee.

4. It is clear that the prospective applicant/s qualify, in which case we send a service agreement. 

5.  The assessment form is not adequately completed (in about 90% of cases) in which case we let them know what is lacking and sometimes charge a consultation fee. 

The following are often ignored:

Complete this form and send it to us as an email attachment and a Registered Migration Agent will assess your visa prospects.

If a question does not apply to you write N/A. Spouses of applicants MUST complete a separate assessment form, so must de facto (common law) partners and same-sex partners and dependants 17 years of age or older; even if not applying for a visa. Please send files to us in pdf, Jpeg or Word format as email attachments  not via Dropbox, or Google Docs, or  similar and not in Apple Pages format.

What is your approximate net worth? (Assets minus Liabilities)

If applicable include your partner’s net worth. We need this information to advise whether a business visa might be an option and to advise whether you have enough ‘settlement money’ for a state nomination application.

[samlab]

16 hours ago, seamyb85 said:

Thanks but after 3 free initial consultations it usually results in we need more information and you need to retain our services first at a cost of approx £/$1k and also you need to sign a contract.

thanks anyway, we will get there in the end, just obviously no easy route as I was confused/worried before now my head is about to explode lol 

Welcome to the world of emigration! It’s not an easy process and until you get PR it’s a really stressful journey. Ask anyone who’s ever done it. 
It’s going to cost you a lot of money to get to live here but if your serious and want to reduce the stress a little bit.. a good agent is worth the money.

[SWMOY04]

On ‎06‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 23:41, seamyb85 said:

Thanks but after 3 free initial consultations it usually results in we need more information and you need to retain our services first at a cost of approx £/$1k and also you need to sign a contract.

thanks anyway, we will get there in the end, just obviously no easy route as I was confused/worried before now my head is about to explode lol 

I usedan agent to move over to Oz... intial consultation was free... then the paid one lasted about an hour and cost us about 35pounds... and that was only to reassure him all we had said in the short 15 minute conversation was actually fact... from there, a payment schedule coinciding with the stages of our PR was sent to us and we worked reall well with them. very straightforward.

BOTH @wrussell and @Raul Senise have consistently given equally good advice when I read through the threads ....and on some occasions better advice than my agent (but that's with benefit of hindsight on my part).

I would suggest you go with either of the above two... not just to talk... I can safely assume that your situation is going to require an agents input and I don't think that'll be free

[wrussell]

20/20 hindsight is available to almost anyone.

I am presenting for eye surgery later today and hope to develop 20/20 foresight.

[seamyb85]

Thanks for the "advice" but I think that's enough for now

Appreciate the advice 

I'm sure I can't close off or delete this thread so hopefully a moderator can do this because too much advice/opinions can actually be a bad thing. 

I'll just go to Canada instead lol 

[ali]

On 08/11/2019 at 07:04, seamyb85 said:

Thanks for the "advice" but I think that's enough for now

Appreciate the advice 

I'm sure I can't close off or delete this thread so hopefully a moderator can do this because too much advice/opinions can actually be a bad thing. 

I'll just go to Canada instead lol 

Unless a thread breaks the forum rules it remains open 

[seamyb85]

You telling me to break the rules??!?!?