Visas & Advice Detail
Australia: Visa Options
These days you need more than £10 to emigrate down under. But which visa route offers you the best chance of a new life?
Skilled visas
Providing you meet the Basic Requirements for a skilled visa (see below), then your Australian emigration hopes are likely to rest on you scoring enough points to qualify for a skilled visa. At the start of 2009, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration (DIAC) introduced a Critical Skills List – a list of occupations deemed to be in particular demand Down Under. If your nominated occupation is included on the CSL when you lodge your application then your visa will qualify for expedited processing.
There are three main skilled visa options:
Skilled-Independent: This visa allows you to settle anywhere in Australia, and work (or not) in any occupation. To qualify applicants must satisfy the Basic Requirements and score 120 points in the points test.
Skilled-Sponsored: This requires an applicant to be sponsored either by a relative living in Oz (sibling, parent, uncle/aunt, or niece/nephew), or one of Australia's state or territory governments (providing you have an occupation on the sponsoring state's in-demand list). The applicant must satisfy the Basic Requirements, score 100 points and will be required to live in a particular state for a certain period of time (generally two years).
Regional-Sponsored: This is a temporary visa for those willing to reside in a regional area. The applicant needs to either be sponsored by a relative (as above but including a first cousin or grandparent) or by a state/territory government. Sponsorship is based on an applicant's desire to live and work in regional Oz. This visa lasts for three years, but can be made permanent after two, if the applicant has been resident in a regional area for two years, and employed for one. Applicants must meet Basic Requirements and score 100 points.
Basic requirements
To enter Oz as a skilled migrant you will need to meet the following Basic Requirements:
Be under 45 years of age when you apply; Have sufficient ability in the English language for working in Oz;
Nominate an occupation from the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) which fits your skills and qualifications – this must be positively assessed by a skill assessing body and can be based on formal qualifications, a trade and, in some cases, work experience; and
Have been in paid employment (at least 20 hours per week) in an occupation on the SOL for at least 12 of the 24 months immediately before applying.
You can be working in any occupation on the SOL, which means it can be different from your Nominated Occupation.
Jargon-buster
CSL, MODL, SOL... with all these abbreviations it's understandable that some of you may be a little confused by exactly which list means what. Here's a quick overview to help put your mind at ease.
Skilled Occupations List (SOL): The SOL lists the occupations which are acceptable for permanent migration under the General Skilled Migration category. You must be able to nominate a skill which fits your skills and qualifications, and you will need to be positively assessed by a relevant skill assessing body. Your Nominated Occupation can be based on formal qualifications, a trade, and in some limited cases, work experience.
Critical Skills List (CSL): If your Nominated Occupation is included on the CSL, your application is eligible for expedited processing. Engineers and healthcare professionals currently dominate the list.
Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL): Applicants with recent experience in an occupation included on the MODL qualify for extra points through the points system. Applicants whose nominated occupation appears on the MODL will have their application processed behind those: sponsored by an employer, nominated by a state or territory government, with an occupation on the CSL, or business skilled migrants.
State sponsorship: In order to qualify for state or territory sponsorship you need to nominate an occupation which appears on a region's 'in-demand' list. These lists vary by state, and can include occupations not listed on the SOL, CSL or MODL. State sponsorship applicants need to score 100 through the points system instead of 120 for Skilled-Independent applicants.
Business visas
Business visas have a two-stage process – temporary then
permanent. There are four main business categories:
Business Owner: For owners, part-owners and senior
managers of a business;
Senior Executive: For senior executive employees of major businesses;
Investor: For investors / business people willing to invest in Oz; and
Business Talent: For high-calibre business people who have sponsorship from a state/territory government.
Employer-sponsored
There are three employer-sponsored options: The 457 Work Permit is a temporary visa which lasts between three months and four years; The Employer Nomination Scheme is for employers to recruit permanent skilled staff from overseas if unable to fill a vacancy from within the Australian labour market; and the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme helps employers in regional areas unable to fill vacancies from home.
Family visas
A relative of a permanent resident or citizen of Australia does not have automatic entitlement to residence in Oz. Partner migration is for the spouse, prospective spouse or interdependent partner of an Australian permanent resident or citizen. Applicants are assessed over a two-stage process, with a temporary visa leading to a permanent one. Parents can apply for a visa if their child is a settled Australian citizen, permanent resident or an eligible New Zealand citizen. You must pass the balance of family test and be sponsored by your child in Australia. There are two
categories for parents, one allows those who invest a certain amount of money expedited entry to Oz. Other provisions exist for children, aged dependent relatives and carers of Oz residents or citizens.
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