Student Visa - IT Diploma??

[Guest James185]

Hi, I am trying to find out if a 2 year IT diploma would be a suitable course to study with view to gaining residnecy in Australia.. Go Matilda sent me a list of suitable courses and an IT diploma was on there but then a different migration agent said that only a degree in IT would suffice.. I am very keen on doing an IT diploma but only if it was suitable for PR, I can't afford to waste the money and time if it's not!

 

Does anyone have any idea about this or is there somebody that I can speak to to find out? I have been in touch with a few people but most agents want money up front before they will offer advice!!

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks

James

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hello James

 

Welcome to Poms in Oz.

 

To be honest, I think it is probably beyond the scope of the forum to answer your question accurately.

 

Education Agents might be able to help:

 

Study Options: Information on application, entry requirements and visas

 

AIEC

 

Andrew Smith from AIEC posts on here as connaust:

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/members/connaust.html

 

George Lombard is a migration agent in Sydney who might be kind enough to offer some quick, general advice:

 

Visa Info | George Lombard Consultancy Pty. Ltd.

 

Peter Chiam is widely regarded as a guru in what people need for IT skills visas for Oz. You might have to pay Peter £50 or £70 but the main reason why he charges for a consultation is to make sure that people are serious and are not simply wasting his time, which is reasonable, I feel:

 

Ptlabs Consulting

 

Every single occupation you can think of in Oz is listed in the ASCO Code:

 

http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/Lookup/A86A0162E6F672DFCA256ADB001D10D4/$File/asco.pdf

 

The explanation of how the Code works is at the front. The alphabetical index of occupations with their page numbers is at the back, and use the page numbers at teh foot of each page of the Code itself to get to the right place. The ASCO Code is the authoritative document, but it is soon to be replace by a joint ANZSCO Code, so watch out for the introduction of the new version, on the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.

 

A simplified version for migration purposes is here:

 

A-Z Occupations List - Australian Skills Recognition Information

 

Some IT occupations require a degree. Others (eg Computer Support Technician) require a Diploma.

 

You have to make very sure that the type of Diploma you would get from the course would be the right type for migration purposes later. I've never gone into the work experience/qualifications end of things deeply enough to know anything much about it beyond my vague description.

 

In your shoes, what I would do is to gen up on the range of visas available to someone who has completed a course of study in Australia:

 

Visa Options – Professionals and other Skilled Migrants – Workers – Visas & Immigration

 

Information Booklets - Applications & Forms - Visas & Immigration

 

Gen up on the websites of the Australian Computer Society and Vetassess too. The ACS deal with degree-level IT skills I think and Vetassess do the skills assessments for Diploma level seems to be the rough gist.

 

Evolution provided you with plenty of equipment for asking questions and understanding answers, as well! Once you have the basics under your belt, I would contact people like Vetassess and see what they have to say about a particular course or whatever.

 

Australia is a million miles ahead of the UK in its use of Government websites and I have never come across a crummy one in the various Aussie Govt websites which are of particular interest to me. Find the relevant ones, study them and query them if you are not sure, I suggest.

 

Finally, Australian Immigration legislation is the most tweaked about body of law you will ever see in your life. They cannot resist tweaking it every 6 weeks or so and they give it major shakeups every couple of years.

 

Alan Collett of Go Matilda usually writes very useful articles whenever there is a change that is of interest to a particular group of would-be migrants:

 

Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - News

 

I happen to be interested in Parent visas so I pounce on everything Alan writes about those and ignore everything aimed at accountants - but I guess we all do that according to our own interests in the subject.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Guest James185]

Thanks very much for your reply Gill, I am going to get in touch with a few people that you have listed to see if they can advise me.. I have a friend who moved to Sydney on a student visa a couple of years back to do a childcare course thinking that it would provide a suitable pathway to residency only to find that the course wasn't suitable after stuying for over a year! I don't want to make the same mistake!

 

Thanks again, I really appreciate your help..