Guest bwanas Posted February 26, 2010 Hi Everybody Can Gill or George or one of the gurus on this site please take a look at the following scenario and advise if my wife qualifies for the 10 points given for 'specific work experience'. My wife is an accountant (been assessed all OK) and has been working full time since she graduated in 1996 ie 40 hours per week. In 2007 she took 4 months maternity leave, from 1st September to 31st December 2007. She remained employed by the company on maternity pay. She took another position with the company still as an accountant but in another division and worked shorter hours, 25 hours per week from 1st Jan 2008. In 2009 she took 4 months maternity leave from 1st September to 31st December 2009. She remained employed by the company on maternity pay. She worked a notice period for January 2010 and left the company on 31st January 2010. She never broke service with the company. My question is: Does she still qualify for the 10 points as she has been out of work for 8 months of the past 4 years?:confused: We will be lodging during March 2010 after IELTS tests to get onto CSL. I do have an agent but would like a second opinion while I stew away until Monday when I can talk to her as she is doubting we get the 10 points? If anyone can provide advice from experience then that would be great.:smile: Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Gollywobbler Posted February 27, 2010 Hi bwanas Welcome to Poms in Oz. I'm not a migration agent. I've never been one or worked for one. However I am 90% sure that the agents have said on the boads several times that maternity leave does not count as "work" so it doesn't attract the points. Search on Poms in Oz and on British Expats for maternity leave / maternity pay, I sugggest. This question has definitely been answered by the agents and it is on one of the two forums somewhere. Cheers Gill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pumpkin 1,269 Posted February 27, 2010 Apologies if I am reading it incorrectly; but even if the maternity leave is not counted then she still has specific work experience for 36 of the last 48 months hasn't she? Thus the maternity leave question is irrelevant? I note she is not working now though, so she needs to get that application in quickly because if she cannot count maternity leave she will soon have had 12 months not working in the last 4 years. If she has a UK passport there is no need to delay the applicaiton until she has her IELTS result, it can be added later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Welshtone 1,149 Posted February 28, 2010 Apologies if I am reading it incorrectly; but even if the maternity leave is not counted then she still has specific work experience for 36 of the last 48 months hasn't she? Thus the maternity leave question is irrelevant? I note she is not working now though, so she needs to get that application in quickly because if she cannot count maternity leave she will soon have had 12 months not working in the last 4 years. If she has a UK passport there is no need to delay the applicaiton until she has her IELTS result, it can be added later. As pumpkin says, your wife meets 3/4 for 10 points as the DIAC requirements allow for up to 12 months leave/unemployment. Certain periods of PAID maternity leave can be counted as "paid employment for at least 20 hours per week". It comes down to a mathematical calcualtion.e.g. someone working 20 hours per week can count any 100% paid maternity. someone working 25 hours per week could not count 50% paid maternity leave as they are only getting paid for an equivalent of 12.5 hours per week. Regards Tony Coates Anthony Coates MARN: 0601801 tonycoates@eircom.net Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
