The Gees Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 (edited) Grateful for any advice. .. Am overjoyed to have received an invitation to apply on an offshore 491 to QLD (and totally shocked as had almost given up hope, particularly as I'll turn 45 this summer!). I have applied as a secondary school teacher. Since lodging my EOI I have been granted Irish citizenship. I am a UK citizen and passport holder but applied for the Irish citizenship through descent in order to keep it alive as family heritage and as a future option for my children. The Irish citizenship came through in the new year (having taken about 3 years!) and I went to update my EOI and then didn't because according to their website, QLD aren't even open for offshore. So my question is - what is the best approach to take here? I can no longer update my EOI as it has been locked due to the invitation being issued. Do I try and contact them directly and apologise profusely and offer my explanation or have I stuffed up my chances on the application? I have no intention of trying to mislead or hide any info - do I submit the application and wait for them to ask the question about citizenship, which will surely arise? I understand that I can submit another EOI, but as I mentioned previously, I am on a bit of a tight time frame due to my age. Many thanks for any advice you can offer Edited April 22, 2022 by The Gees spag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobs_Ahoy Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 (edited) I’m not sure about your citizenship issue, although would hope it’s not a problem if the change happened after QLD invited you and doesn’t effect your points, but will you have an issue with some of the QLD nomination requirements? As you said, they are (supposedly) closed to offshore applicants, and some of their requirements would be impossible/difficult to meet unless you were onshore - eg having worked full time in Queensland for 6 months, having a job offer, etc. Edited April 22, 2022 by Cobs_Ahoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gees Posted April 22, 2022 Author Share Posted April 22, 2022 38 minutes ago, Cobs_Ahoy said: I’m not sure about your citizenship issue, although would hope it’s not a problem if the change happened after QLD invited you and doesn’t effect your points, but will you have an issue with some of the QLD nomination requirements? As you said, they are (supposedly) closed to offshore applicants, and some of their requirements would be impossible/difficult to meet unless you were onshore - eg having worked full time in Queensland for 6 months, having a job offer, etc. Thank you. I am really not sure why the invitation has come - my EOI is clear that I am offshore - maybe they are clearing a backlog. I'm sure it will unfold! I think I haven't been clear though - the change happened after my EOI was submitted but before QLD invited me. I hadn't updated my EOI because their website said they weren't accepting offshore submissions, so I thought I had time to update it before they opened the offshore submissions. I will also ask our agent for advice but obviously can't do so until Monday and was panicking a bit! Thanks again for the reply Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted April 22, 2022 Share Posted April 22, 2022 Your agent should be able to help, that is what you pay them for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobs_Ahoy Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 Oh I see, well fingers crossed for you, at least you have an agent to run it past. Logically you would hope that if it isn’t linked to points then it won’t matter. There is a person on here ( @Bluey128 I think) who recently mentioned sticking an EoI into QLD even though she is offshore as her agent said they do sometimes invite, so perhaps you are just very lucky and your profession is desperately needed. I saw that NSW invited a load of teachers recently, and their premier is now encouraging non-vaccinated teachers to return to their previous jobs, so I’m guessing there is a real shortage in some states. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gees Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 3 hours ago, Cobs_Ahoy said: Oh I see, well fingers crossed for you, at least you have an agent to run it past. Logically you would hope that if it isn’t linked to points then it won’t matter. There is a person on here ( @Bluey128 I think) who recently mentioned sticking an EoI into QLD even though she is offshore as her agent said they do sometimes invite, so perhaps you are just very lucky and your profession is desperately needed. I saw that NSW invited a load of teachers recently, and their premier is now encouraging non-vaccinated teachers to return to their previous jobs, so I’m guessing there is a real shortage in some states. Thank you, that's interesting. I submitted this particular EOI in November so maybe they are still working through their back log. Hopefully if there is a shortage of teachers it will make it easier to find work within the location limits of the 491. It's a really strange feeling as we had given up hope really and even started rethinking our plans, particularly as we needed to think about stability and education choices for our children. Life has been on hold for such a long time and we sold our house in 2019 when we started this process so really have been in limbo! Fingers crossed that it's a sign things are opening up for offshore generally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobs_Ahoy Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 Great to hear of someone squeezing through in the nick of time! It’s tough being in limbo when you have kids, we’ve been plotting this for a couple of years and just at the stage of telling people now we’ve received the invite, will be telling the kids first (our eldest is 6 and youngest is 2). Out of interest, how many points did you have for the 491? I got invited by NSW as in offshore nurse with 90points (including the 15 for nomination). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gees Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 A similar situation then! It's been really tough sitting in rented accommodation, watching the cost of houses go up in Australia and here in the UK - worrying that the proceeds of our house sale pre-Covid would get us less and less wherever we end up. I've got 85 points, including the 15 for nomination. It's a family sponsored 491. Congratulations on your invite too! Did that come through recently? Well done on keeping it all quiet. As a teacher I had to tell my head as a courtesy when I applied for the skills accreditation as I needed the reference. I think I'll keep this news quiet until I am more confident all is okay with the EOI error ! Whereabouts in NSW are you headed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulhand Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 4 hours ago, The Gees said: It's a family sponsored 491. So it’s not a Queensland sponsored invite as your original post suggested? If it’s family sponsored, the state’s policy is irrelevant, it is a Commonwealth level invite. That makes more sense. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobs_Ahoy Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 Ahhhhhh, you’ve got a family sponsored 491, maybe that’s why you got invited as I think the invites for that stream are selected by Department of Home Affairs rather than the individual states, so QLD being closed doesn’t make any difference in those cases. Might be wrong though, I haven’t got an agent so have read quite a bit about the process, some of it is likely wrong! sounds like you’ve had a really tough pandemic, sounds like thing could be looking up for you now? Where in Queensland are you hoping to go? My 491 limits me to the northern rivers area of NSW, I’ve potentially got some work around Byron/Tweed/Lismore. I got my state nomination through on 8th April and visa invite on 20th, aiming to get out there by October if processing for nurses keeps at current times, but have to sell our house first and reluctant to that before the visa is granted (for reason you will probably understand more than most!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gees Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 50 minutes ago, paulhand said: So it’s not a Queensland sponsored invite as your original post suggested? If it’s family sponsored, the state’s policy is irrelevant, it is a Commonwealth level invite. That makes more sense. I didn't realise! Thank you for the explanation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Gees Posted April 23, 2022 Author Share Posted April 23, 2022 @Cobs_Ahoy It sounds like you have researched very well and know your stuff! Did you find out the processing times through your own research too? We're aiming for the sunshine coast (and the visa obviously limits where we can live and work). Yes, all very tricky trying to get timings right when you have family considerations as well. Good luck to you, it sounds as though you are very much on the ball so I'm sure it'll all work out perfectly with the house, and the market is certainly in your favour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobs_Ahoy Posted April 23, 2022 Share Posted April 23, 2022 Ahhhh Sunshine Coast was exactly where I wanted to go, unfortunately with Queensland closed to offshore applicants I decided to just go as far north in NSW as I could! I joined some Facebook groups recently to scope out visa times, 95% of what’s posted on them is useless but I kept my eyes out for nurses posting their grant times just to give me an idea. Good luck with your application, hope you get some reassuring feedback from your agent on Monday, it’s nail biting waiting for stuff like this but seems like the visa-God’s are looking favourably on you at the minute! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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