Visa Option

[QS123!]

Hi all,

just wanting thoughts on the best visa to apply for to get me to Australia ASAP!

I am currently working as a Quantity Surveyor in the UK and have 3 1/2 years of experience. I'm a UK citizen. I'm hoping my line of work would grant me an exemption to travel under critical skills.

I am wanting to make the move to Oz as my girlfriend is currently stuck there due to corona (she is Aussie). Unfortunately/fortunately depending on how you look at it, we cannot prove a de facto relationship.

I have an unofficial verbal offer of employment from a company and are willing to sponsor but they are a bit slow at the moment.

a WHV is pretty much off the cards as I held one of these in 2013 but did not complete 3 months regional work to obtain a 2nd one. I currently hold a ETA visa valid until Jan 2021.

Any advice on the best visa to apply for would be much appreciated and also ay advice in the skills assessment by AIQS would also be appreciated.

 

Thanks

[Quoll]

Your girlfriend can apply for an exemption to leave Australia to live “permanently” with you (assuming she can get visa or has U.K. passport) and that’s likely to be a whole lot quicker than you getting permission to travel.  I don’t think QS are in such high demand that they would be granted an exemption to travel even if you could get a temp visa. It’s not like you would be in the front line for fighting C19 and it appears that most temp visa exemptions being granted are for medical personnel at the moment.

[Marisawright]

If you're not de facto, then your only options are to get a sponsored or skilled visa in your own right.   

Under normal circumstances, a sponsored visa would be your quickest route - however the borders are closed to temporary visa holders at the moment (which may be why the employer is being slow - no point hiring you if they can't get you into the country).  QS do important work but I'm struggling to see how an employer could claim "critical skills" - you may be important to that project, but to the country as a whole?  

Word is the restrictions won't ease until till some time in 2021.   So I'd say, all you can do is apply for a skilled visa and be patient. 

As Quoll said, your other option is for your girlfriend to leave Australia.   She would need to sell her home/end her lease and leaver her job, then provide evidence of both those things to Immigration to prove that she's leaving Australia permanently.   Of course that won't work if she can't get a visa to enter the UK.   You could also look at other countries and see if there's somewhere you could both get visas.

[wrussell]

Quote

Unfortunately/fortunately depending on how you look at it, we cannot prove a de facto relationship.

Are you sure about that?

[Marisawright]

48 minutes ago, wrussell said:

Are you sure about that?

This may be worth looking into.   A de facto relationship is "the equivalent of marriage", but even married couples have to live separately sometimes, due to work or family commitments.   If you have a solid, long-standing relationship and can prove you have a shared life in spite of your physical separation, you might stand a chance of a partner visa.  

If you don't have evidence of a shared life now, then it could be worth a consultation with someone like Westly to see what you could do to establish such evidence, with a view to a future application.  It is much harder to do if you don't live together, which is why you'll need professional advice.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Marisawright