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As you might expect, we are asked a number of questions about visas, and so on this page we have tried to bring together those that seem to occur most often. Should I use a Migration Agent? How long will it take to obtain a visa? Can I move to Australia before I obtain a permanent residency visa? I am short of the Skilled Migration Pass Mark - what can I do? When should I submit the results of my medical examination and my police report? How long will I have to enter Australia after my visa is granted? How long is my permanent visa valid for? Will I need to obtain another visa in the future? Where can I find out more about skilled migration skills assessments? When can I become an Australian citizen? And what does this mean for me?
As a rule, if you are married or are in a relationship with an Australian citizen or permanent resident, have run a business (or plan to do so when you move to Australia), or work/have qualifications in a skilled occupation (as defined for the purpose of skilled migration) then you may well be in a position to make a successful application for a visa. However, without knowing more about your situation we simply can't answer this one. If you would like an initial appraisal carried out please contact us and we will be delighted to discuss your situation in more detail.
This is a difficult question to answer as much depends on how comfortable you are completing forms and dealing with the official bodies that might be involved with your visa application. Some find the visa application process straightforward and would rather not incur the Migration Agent's fees, while others value the comfort of engaging an agent who has been there before for what can be expected to be a life-changing decision. Indeed, for some their application isn't straightforward, particularly if there are (say) children involved from a previous relationship, if you are applying for one of the more involved visa categories, such as a business visa, if you are applying for a skilled visa and are approaching the cut-off age of 45, or if you are planning to apply for one of the less common visa categories. If you are considering a skilled migration visa application we also believe it makes sense to consider using a Registered Migration Agent for the skills assessment element of the application, particularly if you have a trade skill or work in IT and are looking at a skills assessment that is based on Recognition of Prior Learning. By way of background, it is worth noting that outside Australia a migration agent need not be registered to give immigration assistance - and an unregistered agent is not subject to requirements such as maintaining professional competence or being subject to the Migration Agent's Code of Conduct. Perhaps inevitably we therefore recommend that you engage a Registered Migration Agent if you are intending to use an Agent to assist with your visa application - details of all Registered Agents are available at the website of the overseeing body, the Migration Agents Registration Authority. Alan Collett of Go Matilda is a Registered Migration Agent, Number 0102534 and will be delighted to help with your visa application for a fixed fee - he can be contacted by clicking here.
This is one of those "it all depends" type of questions - in other words, what type of visa are you applying for, and in which office of the Department of Immigration will you be lodging your visa application? If you are applying in London, the current processing times are here and an independent third party website that can be a useful source of reference is austimeline.com At the time of preparing the content on this page the typical processing time for a Skilled Independent visa application submitted to Adelaide is about 12 months (unless your application has been identified as one to be fast tracked). State Nominated Independent visas can be processed in about half the time of a Skilled Independent visa application. And don't forget to add the time to obtain a skills assessment to these visa processing times (allow 3 months) if you want an indication of the overall processing time from the start of the decision to apply for a skilled visa through to the grant of your visa. Business Skills visa applications submitted to the new Business Skills Processing Centre in Perth should be processed in about 6 months.
In general, yes you can, but of course you will need a valid visa to be able to live in Australia. If you are applying for skilled migration you can (for example) work in Australia on a 457-employer sponsored visa while your skilled visa application is being processed. However, you must be outside Australia when your visa is ready to be granted, which for many means a short trip to the Australian Consulate in either Singapore or Auckland where your visa can be evidenced in your passport. You then return to Australia as a permanent resident. The issue here of course is finding the employer who will be willing to sponsor you for the 457-visa.
The pass mark for the Skilled Independent visa category is 120 points. In this situation, if you do not have close family living in Australia, we recommend you look at a two step strategy to permanent residency, in which you might make an application to a State or Territory Government for a sponsorship that would enable you to apply for a Skilled - Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa (subclass number 475). The skilled occupations sought by the State Governments of South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania are generally worth reviewing first in this regard. Please contact us if you would like an initial free discussion on your visa options.
The answer to this question depends on what category of visa you are applying for and where your visa application is being processed. In short, unless your application is for a Prospective Marriage, Spouse, Child, or Retirement visa we do not recommend submitting the results of your medical examination(s) until the Department of Immigration asks for them. We say this because medicals have a limited validity of 12 months and therefore if you submit them with a visa application that is likely to take 12 months to process you will almost certainly have to incur additional costs obtaining them again. By contrast, some posts encourage what is called "front-end loading" for certain visa categories whereby you submit your medicals, etc with your visa application, notably the High Commission in London for spouse visa applications. Note also that your personal doctor cannot carry out the medical examination - you will have to see a doctor who is approved by the Department of Immigration, and a list should be available at the website for your local immigration office. For most categories of visa we suggest that applicants might obtain their police certificates when lodging the visa application, particularly where certificates from the police in the UK are required, as these are not expensive and can be obtained relatively quickly.
If you are moving to Australia with a permanent residency visa the visa will show an Initial Entry Date. This is the date by which you must have passed through immigration clearance and have had your passport stamped - if you haven't done this by the Initial Entry Date your visa will be invalid. By contrast temporary visas don't have an Initial Entry Date - they are valid for entry into Australia from the date of visa grant for the period of the visa's validity. The Initial Entry Date on the visa is usually determined by the dates of your medical, chest X-ray, and police report. In summary, each of these has a 12-month useful life, and your Initial Entry Date will be 12 months from the earliest of the three dates. It is worth mentioning here that your initial entry to Australia does not have to be your permanent move - you can travel to Australia for a holiday to validate your visa.
The initial permanent visa that you obtain will allow you to remain in Australia for the rest of your life. However, it also has an expiry date - which is only an issue if you leave Australia after the permanent visa has expired, and want to return to Australia: the initial visa cannot be used to re-enter Australia after it has expired. Once the initial visa has expired there are in essence two options available if you find yourself intending to travel outside Australia and wanting to return:
Save for those who become Australian citizens at birth, to become an Australian citizen you must have lived in Australia as a permanent resident for at least 2 years out of the last 5 years, AND for 1 year out of the last 2 at the date that you apply for citizenship. As policy the Department of Immigration interprets these requirements as follows: 1 year = 365 days
Clearly this interpretation only becomes an issue if you are frequently travelling to and from Australia. Importantly for some, it should be noted that taking Australian citizenship might cause you to lose citizenship of your original country - many countries (such as the UK) allow their citizens to take citizenship of another country, but others don't, and as such you might lose the right to freely enter your original country if you take Australian citizenship.
Until late August 2004, if you applied successfully to Trades Recognition Australia for a skills assessment on the basis of your trade skills you would have been advised of a "deeming date" in your classification letter. The deeming date is the date on which the assessing body considers that you have attained the necessary skills appropriate to your nominated occupation - and importantly to satisfy the basic work experience requirement for skilled migration this period of work experience must be after the deeming date noted in the skills assessment. Skills assessment classifications issued by TRA no longer include a reference to deeming dates.
The best place to find out more about the requirements of your skills assessment is the website of the assessing body that will be reviewing your qualification/work experience. The current Skilled Occupations List showing the assessing body for each occupation is here and here are the links to the assessing bodies: AACA - Architects Accreditation Council of Australia AASW - Australian Association of Social Workers ACOPRA - Australian Council of Physiotherapy Regulating Authorities ACS - Australian Computing Society ADC - Australian Dental Council AIM - Australian Institute of Management AIMS - Australian Institute of Medical Scientists AIQS - Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors AIR - Australian Institute of Radiography AIWCW - Australian Institute of Welfare and Community Workers ANCI - Australian Nursing Council Incorporated ANZSNM - Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine APC - Australian Podiatry Council APEC - Australian Pharmacy Examining Council APS - Australian Psychological Society AVBC - Australian Veterinary Boards Council CASA - Civil Aviation Safety Authority CPAA - Certified Practising Accountants Australia COTRBI - Council of Occupational Therapists Registration Board Incorporated DAA - Dieticians Association of Australia ICAA - Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia IEAust - Institute of Engineers, Australia ISA - Institution of Surveyors, Australia NAATI - National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters NIA - National Institute of Accountants NOOSR - National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition OCANZ - Optometry Council of Australia and New Zealand SCORB - State Chiropractors and Osteopaths Registration Board - please contact us for details of the registrar for the State or Territory in which you intend to live SLAA - State Legal Admission Authority - you must be admitted as a barrister or solicitor in the State or Territory in which you intend to live - please contact us for details SPAA - Speech Pathology Association of Australia TRA - Trades Recognition Australia VETASSESS - Vocational Education and Training Assessment Services
The short answer to the first question is no, if you are applying now for a Retirement Visa you will not be eligible for Medicare when you arrive in Australia (applicants for a Retirement Visa prior to 1st December 1998 had the option of whether or not to enrol in the Medicare program). The Health Insurance Commission has advised us that in their view people who move to Australia on a Retirement Visa from the UK have ceased to be residents of the UK and as such are not able to make use of the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement that exists between the two countries. As Retirement Visa holders are required to maintain private health insurance with an Australian insurer for the duration of their visa this means that they must obtain what is called Overseas Visitors Health Cover - please contact us if you would like an indication of the cost of premiums with our associate insurer, Australian Unity. As to obtaining a permanent visa once you have been in Australia for a few years on a Retirement Visa, this is no longer possible.
Save for those who become Australian citizens at birth, it is usually the case that to become an Australian citizen you must have lived in Australia as a permanent resident for at least 2 years out of the last 5 years, AND for 1 year out of the last 2 at the date that you apply for citizenship. As policy the Department of Immigration interprets these requirements as follows: 1 year = 365 days
Clearly this interpretation only becomes an issue if you are frequently travelling to and from Australia. Importantly for some, it should be noted that taking Australian citizenship might cause you to lose citizenship of your original country - many countries (such as the UK) allow their citizens to take citizenship of another country, but others don't, and as such you might lose the right to freely enter your original country if you take Australian citizenship. Becoming an Australian means rights and responsibilities: Responsibilities
Rights
There is more information on becoming an Australian citizen at the Citizenship website.
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