491 visa grant for offshore non-essential workers

[skyeman]

4 minutes ago, Sparks21 said:

Thank you! What a rollercoaster ride it’s been! Have you booked your flights yet? 

We have all been incredibly patient, felt like it was never going to come. Container goes today and flights are in 10 days what about you?

[Sparks21]

41 minutes ago, skyeman said:

We have all been incredibly patient, felt like it was never going to come. Container goes today and flights are in 10 days what about you?

Oh wow! You guys must be absolutely buzzing!!!! Just in time for summer! ⛱

we are looking at August currently, but are fluid with our timeline. We will probably book after Christmas. 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Sparks21

[Sparkybaz]

Congratulations ! 

[Phil1712]

10 hours ago, skyeman said:

We have all been incredibly patient, felt like it was never going to come. Container goes today and flights are in 10 days what about you?

Good luck 

[Waz05]

Hope it's ok to ask some questions around 491 visa. We have had successful skills assessment for my wife who is main visa applicant as a Nurse. We are now at a stage where we are about to submit 491 EOI by the migration agent. 

One things that I am little confused about and maybe I should have done more research into it.

There is designated area we have to live and work in. Does this apply both the main applicant and the partner? 

Am I correct in thinking the we can live and work anywhere within those postcodes?

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skill-occupation-list/regional-postcodes

I work in IT and my concern is it means I may not be able to work for organisation that not based out of main cities. There is also question around remote working does it invalidate the visa?

Is anyone able to offer any insight or advice?

Sorry for so many questions I am concerned in terms of securing a job. 

[Raplin45]

9 hours ago, Waz05 said:

Hope it's ok to ask some questions around 491 visa. We have had successful skills assessment for my wife who is main visa applicant as a Nurse. We are now at a stage where we are about to submit 491 EOI by the migration agent. 

One things that I am little confused about and maybe I should have done more research into it.

There is designated area we have to live and work in. Does this apply both the main applicant and the partner? 

Am I correct in thinking the we can live and work anywhere within those postcodes?

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/working-in-australia/skill-occupation-list/regional-postcodes

I work in IT and my concern is it means I may not be able to work for organisation that not based out of main cities. There is also question around remote working does it invalidate the visa?

Is anyone able to offer any insight or advice?

Sorry for so many questions I am concerned in terms of securing a job. 

Hiya,

To the best of my knowledge all visa terms that apply to your wife will also apply to you as you would have made a commitment to the state/region that your 491 is linked to, so if/when you go to apply for permanent residence when applicable you can show that you met the terms of your visa. The remote working thing I'm not 100% on as I've seen some different answers - my agent suggested it would be ok but I have seen others say the company you work for must be based in the regional area. We're aiming for South Australia so Adelaide is included which makes it less of a concern for us. I'd like to think your agent would be able to give you the advice you need though on those queries. 

As a side note (and I'm sure you've weighed everything up re. points and sought advice from your agent so feel free to totally ignore me ), from what I've seen there's a high focus on visas being allocated to medical professionals at the mo so would the 189/190 be an option if your job is better suited to one of the major cities'?

Edited November 16, 2022 by Raplin45

[Neil7908]

Hi there,

I created 2 EOIs a few weeks ago, both for the 491 but 1 for South Australia and one for New South Wales. We got an email on Friday with an invitation to apply from NSW, which we were of course delighted about.

However, we have now received an invite on the other EOI from South Australia, and considering further we would prefer to accept that.

Is there any issue in turning down the invite from NSW? Should we just ignore the email from them and just withdraw that EOI? Or is there something else we should do? We dont want to do anything that will cause us to be denied.

Any help or thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

[Waz05]

13 hours ago, Raplin45 said:

Hiya,

To the best of my knowledge all visa terms that apply to your wife will also apply to you as you would have made a commitment to the state/region that your 491 is linked to, so if/when you go to apply for permanent residence when applicable you can show that you met the terms of your visa. The remote working thing I'm not 100% on as I've seen some different answers - my agent suggested it would be ok but I have seen others say the company you work for must be based in the regional area. We're aiming for South Australia so Adelaide is included which makes it less of a concern for us. I'd like to think your agent would be able to give you the advice you need though on those queries. 

As a side note (and I'm sure you've weighed everything up re. points and sought advice from your agent so feel free to totally ignore me ), from what I've seen there's a high focus on visas being allocated to medical professionals at the mo so would the 189/190 be an option if your job is better suited to one of the major cities'?

Thanks for the reply, we had chat with our migration agent and decided to go with WA as Perth is covered under 491 visa option. EOI has now been submitted. We were considering SA but in the end went with WA. 189/190 is something we were keen on but the points and other factors have ruled that out for us. 

Does anyone have any idea on lead time for response to EOI, our agent is saying it's difficult to give an estimate timeframe? I just wondered what peoples recent experience has been. 

[Marisawright]

Oops wrong thread.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Marisawright

[Waz05]

Thought I'd provide an update, things have moved really fast, after submitting EOI we got the go ahead to apply for the visa, we have started the process of getting things moving on the application as there is set time to get this done.

 

[RJG]

Hi, we are in the process of organising a move to Australia having secured a 491 visa with my husband as the main applicant.

My question is do we have to arrive in Australia together or can one of us move out and the other follow at a later date? Can’t seem to find the answer to this anywhere.

Many thanks in Advance

[rammygirl]

Look at your visa grant notice. If no condition about who must arrive first is stated then it doesn’t matter. 

[RJG]

14 minutes ago, rammygirl said:

Look at your visa grant notice. If no condition about who must arrive first is stated then it doesn’t matter. 

Thank you, can’t see anything on the grant letter

[Marisawright]

23 hours ago, RJG said:

Hi, we are in the process of organising a move to Australia having secured a 491 visa with my husband as the main applicant.

My question is do we have to arrive in Australia together or can one of us move out and the other follow at a later date? Can’t seem to find the answer to this anywhere.

You definitely don't have to arrive together, but I thought the main applicant had to arrive first, because the whole visa grant relies on him coming to Australia.  

Edited January 17, 2023 by Marisawright

[rammygirl]

2 hours ago, Marisawright said:

You definitely don't have to arrive together, but I thought the main applicant had to arrive first, because the whole visa grant relies on him coming to Australia.  

Only if it is applied as a specific condition. It used to be common but doesn’t seem to be now. It was clear on our visa that the main applicant should arrive first with a condition number and everything. 

[BritChickx]

491 Victoria visa granted last month! 

Nurse - 70+ 15 points (myself and partner).

EOI August 2022

Invite to apply Sept 2022

Visa lodged 21st September

CO contact november 2022

Medicals and police checks cleared December 10th

Visa granted 29th December  

Used the DUC who I would highly recommend

[BritChickx]

On 16/01/2023 at 21:39, RJG said:

Hi, we are in the process of organising a move to Australia having secured a 491 visa with my husband as the main applicant.

My question is do we have to arrive in Australia together or can one of us move out and the other follow at a later date? Can’t seem to find the answer to this anywhere.

Many thanks in Advance

There's nothing on our grant letters to indicate that I (main applicant) have to arrive before my partner. We are going together but if we weren't it doesn't look like it would be an issue (on ours at least).

[RJG]

5 hours ago, BritChickx said:

There's nothing on our grant letters to indicate that I (main applicant) have to arrive before my partner. We are going together but if we weren't it doesn't look like it would be an issue (on ours at least).

Many thanks for your reply, we’ve checked our visa conditions and no mention of it either. Will maybe try and contact immigration to see what they say.

Ps congratulations on your visa for VIC - we used to live there and it’s lovely

 

[RJG]

20 hours ago, rammygirl said:

Only if it is applied as a specific condition. It used to be common but doesn’t seem to be now. It was clear on our visa that the main applicant should arrive first with a condition number and everything. 

Thanks for your reply, we checked our visa conditions and no mention of it so fingers crossed

[RJG]

23 hours ago, Marisawright said:

You definitely don't have to arrive together, but I thought the main applicant had to arrive first, because the whole visa grant relies on him coming to Australia.  

Thanks Marissa, we don’t have any conditions on our grant letter mentioning this but will double check with the immigration people just to be sure .