Any Other Way?

[Guest Letasha]

Hi I know this will probably sound very childish and whiney but surely there is more than one way to skin a cat - or in my case get to oz sooner rather than later! I had always thought (as ignorant as i was) that if you drag your but to uni, get a degree, dont get yourself a criminal record -hey presto u get to oz HA!

 

I have completed my accounts degree and after deciding last yr to take the plunge once and for all I find out I have to complete my professional accounts exams first arrgh :arghh: I thought i may have been able to sit these over there and become chartered if i chose to. So just to set the record straight for me pls - does having a degree count for zero like i think it does??? The OH has not had his own business long enough either so me spending 2/3 yrs completing these exams seems the only way.

 

I just want to get there asap - i would rather have my daughter start school there rather unsettling her on top of everything else

 

I spoke to an agent who told me an option was to move to Adelaide on a state sponsor or something like that but we have our hearts set on Perth. Sorry to rattle on but even coming on this site upsets me as our dream just seems a lifetime away.

 

If anybody has advice i would be very grateful to hear it thanks in advance x :notworthy:

[Guest Letasha]

Think i will build myself a mudhut on the beach and claim squatter rights :biglaugh: Just bumping up sorry

[Guest Anne]

I came out on a working/holiday visa and got it two days after applying online and could enter Oz straight away

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Letasha

 

I spoke to an agent who told me an option was to move to Adelaide on a state sponsor or something like that but we have our hearts set on Perth.

 

 

I know absolutely nothing about the process of qualifying as an accountant. What did the Agent suggest that you should nominate as your occupation?

 

A-Z Occupations List - Australian Skills Recognition Information

 

The ASRI list says who the relevant skills assessment authorities are. The SOL is here:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/1121i.pdf

 

I would think that the Agent means the subclass 475 provisional visa with potential sponsorship from South Australia. The SA list of occupations for which they will consider SA sponsorship for the 475 visa is here:

 

http://www.immigration.sa.gov.au/pdfs/gsm/OccupationList_Provisional.pdf

 

Is your proposed nominated occupation on the current list for SA?

 

The SA State Migration website is here:

 

Immigration SA :: Sponsoring Skilled and Business Migrants

 

Don't knock it for the minute, please. Just bear with me instead.

 

The information about the visa is here:

 

Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa (subclass 475)

 

You only need 90 Points of your own for this visa and the State will supply the remaining 10 points to get you up to 100:

 

Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa (subclass 475)

 

But you insist that you would prefer Perth. OK. You would have to forget about Perth Metro and think in terms of Mandurah, Bunbury or maybe Geraldton instead. The map of Regional WA is here. Mandurah is in the Peel Region. 75kms from Perth CBD and about 45 minutes into the CBD on the regular, reliable commuter rail link.

 

State Migration Centre Living in the Regions

 

The WA State Burble about the SRS 475 visa is here:

 

State Migration Centre Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa

 

Note that it says that if the occupation is not on their 475 List but it is on the SOL and one of their 9 Regional Development Commissions supports the application, WA will consider State Sponsorship. Their List is not set in tablets of stone, though SA told me on the phone that their own list is set in tablets of stone. However WA specifically told me that their system is potentially flexible.

 

I rang WA a few weeks back to ask about this. To my astonishment, a most helpful lady there told me that the application for sponsorship can be supported by, say, the Kimberley Region but the visa holder would be free to move to any part of Regional SA that suits him or her. So you could move to Mandurah with the backing of Kimberley or any of the others. You would not need specific backing from Peel.

 

Nothing would convince one of the Regions to back you faster than a job offer would. It is not WA policy to insist on a job offer in this situation (though that is how Tasmania and I think also Victoria deal with it) but a job offer would obviously improve your chances.

 

The job offer could come from a small firm of accountants who would not be able to meet the employers' criteria for sponsoring you for a visa because the firm is too small, for example. If the employer were a large firm of accountants with the ability to offer you the either/or option then you could consider whether to run with employer sponsorship or whether to try for a sc 475 visa instead.

 

Also, please read this page carefully:

 

General Skilled Migration

 

Let us say that SA sponsor you and you apply for a 475 visa. Once you get that, you start job-hunting. Preferably you do a rekkie trip to both Adelaide and Mandurah. Once you see Adelaide you might change your minds about it and conclude that it would suit you better than WA. If you are offered a job in Regional WA though, there is no reason why you shouldn't move to WA.

 

Your desire to move to SA must be genuine right up until the time when you go there in the flesh to investigate SA. However you would not be prevented from changing your mind and moving to WA instead if you get an irresistible job offer from, say, an employer in Mandurah.

 

It seems to me that logic dictates investigating the job market, house prices and schooling in both areas thoroughly before you plan your next move. Have you done that?

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Guest Letasha]

WOW thanks Gill for your very detailed and informative reply. I am going to take a while to get through all this info and answer you in full - just so u know i am on it lol!

 

The agents i spoke to did say that in order for me to be able to be classed as an accountant i would either have to be chartered or have my degree compared to the ozzy degree and match 9 out of 12 of the subjects (with tax and law now being non specific). I was going to do my professional exams but my employer is messing me around with this - adding even more time onto things. I also seen a thread on here where a girl had an accounts degree and 9 yrs exp and was still refused by the ICAA as she fell short in one subject area. I am sure one agent of the 2 also mentioned that i could nominate office manager as my profession but unsure how this could work. Would certainly consider the Mandourah area - but would i be allowed to accept a job offer in the CBD?

 

 

Thanks a million!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Lestasha

 

I have no understanding (literally none) of the skills requirements for any of the 3 Accountancy bodies. I've never looked at any of their websites and wouldn't understand a word of them if I did.

 

"Office Manager" gets bandied around a lot. The ASRI list is a truncated version of the ASCO Code, which is the authoritative document:

 

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

 

Please see pages 249 et seq, using the page numbers at the foot of each page of the Code itself. The alphabetical index of occupations is at the back.

 

Both of the incidents that I've heard about happened to involve George Lombard in Sydney. George is hugely experienced plus loaded with commonsense.

 

Visa Info | George Lombard Consultancy Pty. Ltd.

 

The first girl had been told by another Registered Migration Agent that she could call herself a "Project or Program Administrator." George was asked for a second opinion. He looked at the girl's CV and said immediately that it described a girl doing general secretarial/clerical/admin tasks at the bottom of the hierarchy in quite a large office. Her pay reflected this fact. P/PA is an Associate Professional role so one would expect commensurate pay and a couple of underlings to help with the secretarial type aspects of the P/PA's job.

 

The second lady had been told that she could call herself an "Office Manager." She works part time, 21 hours a week in an Admin role in one of the departments of a local authority. Again, a second opinion was sought from George. He said that a department of the size she described would have one Office Manager who works 38 hours a week minimum, has people reporting to him/her and whose role is very specific - to keep the place running smoothly so that the specialist staff can get on with their own work unimpeded. The lady told me that when she followed George's logic and drew an organisational chart showing who does what in her department, it was clear that somebody else is the "Office Manager."

 

I must admit that when I looked at both roles in ASCO, prior to the clients asking George and then telling me what George had told them, it seemed to me that "Office Manager" and "Project or Program Administrator" are more or less interchangeable because the descriptions of both are so very general and vague. George says that the State authorities do consider the person's CV and so does DIAC, though Vetassess doesn't. Vetassess merely consider the person's academic qualifications only.

 

Apparently some COs at DIAC go through the work experience claims with a fine toothcomb but others more or less glance at them and accept whatever the visa applicant says. The allocation of COs is random. The files are moved on to his/her desk as s/he completes the last batch. The new batch could contain anything from doctors to dustmen I gather.

 

I don't think it is difficult to deduce that it is much easier with a specific skill - eg Civil Engineering Technologist. God knows what he does but it would mean something to an engineer, obviously. It is not on the WA list but they accepted it from one of our members recently. With all the mining and construction work in Regional WA it is easy to believe that several of the Regions probably endorsed the idea of sponsoring the Civil Engineering Technologist. I suspect it is less straightforward with middle managers and administrators.

 

No - you would have to live and work outside of the Perth Metro area. Obviously you could go into the Metro for meetings connected with work and you can go wherever you like in your spare time. But the office you work in from day to day must be outside of the Perth Metro area. However the WA lady told me that offices are relocating to Mandurah because rents are lower, it is less of a scrum than the CBD, workers prefer not to have a lengthy journey to work and houses are cheaper in the Peel region.

 

I think you need to investigate what sort of work you would actually look for and do in, say, Mandurah.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[Guest Letasha]

Hi Anne i just realised i hadnt thanked you for replying. A W/H Visa is not an option for us as i have a daughter and another baby on the way who would not be covered by this type if visa. Thanks for replying tho :wubclub: