General Skilled Migrant Visas

1. General. Australia has a non-discriminatory immigration policy. Anyone from any country can apply to migrate to Australia regardless of ethnic origin, gender, racial origin, religion or sexual preference. However, all applicants for permanent residence or in some cases temporary residence entry to Australia, must meet the health requirement and character requirement. This to ensure that no one is allowed entry into Australia if his or her presence in Australia would not be to the interest of the Australian community.

2.   Australia's 2005-2006 migration program places emphasis on attracting new migrants who have the education, business or work skills, which will contribute to Australia's economic growth. Usually they would have at least one of the following characteristics: -

* A high level of education and occupational skills; or
* A good track record in business; or
* Outstanding talents in a particular field.

3.   Migrants are selected from four major streams namely: -

* General Skilled Migrant Stream;
* Business Skills Migrant Stream;
* Family Reunion Migrant Stream;
* Refugee & Humanitarian Stream.

4.   General Skilled Migrants.  These migrants are those that have work skills or abilities that will benefit Australia. They are likely to be drawn from academically qualified applicants and tradespersons or overseas students or trainees who have completed at least one and a half to two years of study or training in Australia. Most of these applications are likely to be points tested before their applications can be approved.

5.    Independent or Australian Sponsored Skilled Stream. Entry into Australia under this stream is entirely dependent on the Points Test except for Designated Area sponsored applications where there is no Points Test. The aim of the Points Test is to identify factors in a potential migrant, which will benefit Australia or help with settlement. The following Basic Requirements MUST be met: -

* The applicant must be under 45 years of age at the time of application;
* The applicant must have sufficient ability in the English language for working in Australia;
* The applicant must have post-secondary such as university or trade qualifications (in some cases substantial relevant work experience may be acceptable);
* When applying, the applicant must nominate a skilled occupation that fits his/her skills and qualifications. If the nominated occupation is not in the Skilled Occupations List he/she may not apply. However if an applicant's occupation is not in the Skilled Occupations List, the applicant is invited to contact James Tan Immigration Consultants for a more detailed opinion as this problem may be resolved in certain exceptional cases;
* Depending on the occupation nominated, the applicant must have been in paid employment in the nominated skilled occupation for at least 12 out of the 18 months or two out of the three years prior to lodgment of application. For a Designated Area sponsored applicant he/she must have been in paid employment for 6 out of the 12 months; or
* If the applicant wishes to take advantage of the Recent Work Experience concession, he/she must have completed a two-year duration Australian academic or trade qualification less than 6 months before lodgment of his/her application.

6.   Independent or Australian Sponsored Skilled Overseas Student Stream. This stream is similar to the Independent or Australian Sponsored Skilled Stream but is only available to eligible overseas students in Australia wishing to apply for permanent residence immediately upon successful completion of at least a 16 months course of study or training whilst physically in Australia studying for a degree, diploma or trade qualification that is acceptable for migration purpose.   In addition the applicant must hold or possess the following: -

* Must have all the basic requirements (except the work experience requirement) of the Independent and Australian Sponsored Skilled Stream;
* The successful nominated occupation assessment must be at least 60 points or if he/she has successfully completed an Australian doctorate degree and if he/she holds a nominated occupation assessment of 50 points to enable the applicant to be eligible to apply for the Independent Skilled Overseas Student Stream;
* The successful nominated occupation assessment must be at least 40 points to enable the applicant to be eligible to apply for the Australian Sponsored Skilled Overseas Student Stream.

Applicants for the above Overseas Student categories of visas are strongly advised to apply for the Graduate Skilled (Temporary) (Class UQ) Subclass 497 visa as soon as they receive the receipt for the lodgement of their assessment of nominated occupation. The application when granted will give the applicants and their family members included in their applications a period of stay of up to six months by which they must by law, lodge their applications for their permanent residence visas. The visas will also grant the applicants working rights pending the outcome of their permanent residence visa applications.

7.  Skilled Independent Regional Visa. With effect from 01 July 2004, the Australian Government introduced a new class of visa called the Skilled Independent Regional Visa (SIR). The SIR visa is designed to attract highly skilled people currently offshore, or onshore overseas students who have just completed a two-year course of study or training at a university or training institution in Regional Australia to migrate to regional or low population growth areas of Australia. This category of visa is particularly beneficial to those applicants who do not meet the 120 passmark or have no eligible relative to sponsor them for skilled migration. The SIR visa requires the applicant to score at least a pass mark of 110 and is a 3-year temporary visa, which can lead to permanent residence. This category of visa is additional to the current crop of General Skilled Migration classes of visas. The Minister of Immigration has announced that with effect from 01 July 2005 applicants who apply for the SIR visa will be granted 10 additional points. The end result would be that those applicants who would normally score only 100 points at present would from 01 July 2005 be able to score 110 points and therefore realise their dream to migrate with their families to live and enjoy the lifestyle of Australia. To be eligible to apply the SIR visa applicant must: -

* Be less than 45 years of age at the time of lodgement of the SIR visa application;
* Have at least vocational English language proficiency. This means scoring at least 5.0 in each of the 4 bands of the IELTS test;
* Nominate and have been successfully assessed by the relevant Australian assessing authority for an occupation on the Skilled Occupation Lists;
* Have recent work experience in a skilled occupation, or if he or she is an overseas student, is eligible for exemption from this requirement because the applicant has recently completed an Australian qualification after a minimum of two years study in Australia;
* If applying as an overseas student or trainee must have just completed his/her two year course or training at an academic institution or training establishment located in an area considered to be regional or area of low population growth;
* Meet the SIR visa passmark of 110 points; and
* Have obtained sponsorship by an Australian State or Territory Government.

8.    Duration and Conditions. The SIR visa is a temporary visa initially granted for a 3-year period. There are a number of conditions attached to the visa namely: -

* The successful applicant and his/her family are required to live, work and study in a regional area in Australia;
* The applicant must have resided in Australia for at least two years, and been employed or operated a business for at least a total of 12 months, to apply for a permanent visa;
* The permanent residence visa classes available to SIR visa holders are the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) visa, or the State/Territory Sponsored Business Owner (SBO) visa; or Skilled State and territory Nominated Independent (STNI) visa.
If the applicant cannot meet the visa requirements to be granted a permanent residence visa after three years, a further one year SIR visa only may be granted if the applicant have complied with the conditions of the visa.

9.    Location of Regional Areas. Under the SIR visa, the applicant and his/her family must live and work or operate a business in certain gazetted areas. That means the successful applicant may live and work or be self-employed anywhere in Australia except in the metropolitan areas of Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne or the Australian Capital Territory, Canberra. Applicants should note however that anywhere in the states or territory of South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are currently classified as a regional area. Therefore an applicant can choose to live, work or be self-employed in the cities of Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart.

10.  Application Lodgement. All applications for the SIR visa must be lodged at the Adelaide Skilled Processing Centre in Australia. If the applicant is an overseas student and has just completed a course of at least one and a half years to 2 years duration of full-tine academic study and lodges his/her application within 6 months of completion of his/her course, the application may be lodged onshore and the applicant will be granted a bridging visa pending the outcome of his/her application. In all other cases the application would be considered as an offshore application when the application is lodged. SIR visa applications receive priority processing. This means the applications will be processed ahead of other applications in the general skilled migration category.

11.   Conclusion.  If an applicant is able to meet all the requirements of any particular category of visa he/she intends to apply for, then he/she is invited to contact James Tan Immigration Consultants by completing the Assessment Form in this website for a proper assessment to determine whether an application should be lodged with the Department of Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs. This assessment costs only AUD$150.00 and is credited to the applicant's fees payable if he/she proceeds to instruct us to proceed with an application. In all instances lodgment fees (which can be quite substantial) once paid to the Australian Department of Immigration is non-refundable. Therefore the AUD$150.00 assessment fee paid is money well spent.

12.    Please note that the immigration information provided in this website is a guide only. You are advised to contact James Tan Immigration Consultants or the Department of Immigration & Multicultural & Indigenous Affairs for specific answers to any question affecting your case. For a prompt reply to any query with regard to your case you are invited to submit your confidential completed Assessment Form to James Tan Immigration Consultants for an accurate assessment of your specific case.