Guest RobynT84 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Hi All, I'm very new to this so please forgive me if this question has been asked (and answered!) many times before. I did search first. My husband and I have just signed the contract with our agent and are beginning the process.. Yippee!:jiggy: I have done a great deal of research and am learning a lot but I have recently read a few posts on here where people are commenting on the category they are in. My husband is applying for a 176 as an Urban & Regional Planner and try as I might I have been unable to find a list of skills/jobs and their associated category... any advise would be appreciated. Also, I have looked through a few timelines and the I'm baffled! There are people who have been waiting since 2008 who have only just been granted their visa, and others who applied early last year and are expecting their visa any day now.... so confusing! Although I know I should not expect a quick turn around, when you read of people waiting only a year it's hard not to hope for the same! Please feel free to bring me down to earth! Thanks Robyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RobynT84 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Forgot to say... We're applying for Victoria Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozmaniac Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Urban and Regional Planner is on Victoria's SMP so if you are granted the sponsorship and apply for a 176 with it, you will be category 2. If you were to go for a 175 independent visa, cat 2 doesn't apply to independent visas, so in that case, you would be cat 3. Regarding the wide variations in timelines... Category 2 only applies to state sponsored visas where the applicant's occupation is on a state SMP. The first SMPs were only released within the last couple of months and as soon as they were, all eligible applications took priority over everything but employer sponsored visas. Some of the cat 2 applicants had been languishing in cat 4 or cat 3 for ages and had applied back in 2008 or even late 2007. Others had only applied quite recently but because there were not nearly as many cat 2 applicants as cat 3 and 4, once cat 2 started processing, things happened very quickly even for them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest VickyMel Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Hi Robyn Welcome to PIO! The reason that there are such a wide range of application dates for the 176 is that the Australian governemnet switched the priorities a couple of times in recent years. The 176 was a high priority - and lost of people switched to that visa from another visa type that lost priority. Then the 176 dropped in priority and we all waited for a while... Then in November some of the 176's gained high priority again (others are still left behind) and that is why you see such a wide range - DIAC is now catching up with all the people who were for a long time a low priority but are now high again - plus lots of people applying for this visa at the moment because it has that high priority. There is a thread for people who are waiting to hear from VIC if you have not already got sponsorship - http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/99554-new-vic-smp-where-you-now.html Good luck - hope it all moves quickly for you VickyMel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RobynT84 Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Hiya, Thank you both very much for getting back to me, I really do appreciate it - It seems as though it could go either way for us in terms of timescales. I will definately take a look at the thread you mentioned VickyMel Thanks again Robyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.