Skilled visas allow a person and the person’s family to live and work in Australia.

Skilled visas, businessman, builder, nurse, architect. Isolated over white backgroundThese skilled visas can be temporary skilled visas and permanent skilled visas.

The skilled visas we can offer advice and assistance with include:

  1. Employer Nomination Scheme (subclass 186)
  2. Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (subclass 187)
  3. Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189)
  4. Skilled Nominated visa (subclass 190)
  5. Skilled-Recognised Graduate visa (subclass 476)
  6. Skilled Regional (provisional) visa (subclass 489)
  7. Skilled Regional visa (subclass 887)
  8. State or Territory Sponsored Business Owner visa (subclass 892)
  9. State or Territory Sponsored Investor visa (subclass 893)

Requirements for Skilled Visas 

Some of the requirements for these visas includes:

  1. You must be invited to apply;
  2. You should have a suitable skills assessment;
  3. You must have an eligible occupation;
  4. You must have relevant work experience;
  5. You will need to have the right licensing, registration or membership;
  6. You will need to be nominated by state govt or an employer;
  7. You must be this below a certain age (some exceptions);
  8. You must score 65 points or more in the points test;
  9. You must have a good level of English language;
  10. You must meet the skills requirement;
  11. You must meet the health requirement;
  12. You must meet the character requirement;
  13. You must have paid back any debt owed to the Australian government;
  14. You must sign the Australian values statement; and
  15. You must not have had a visa cancelled or a previous application refused.

Obviously, different visas have different combination of the above requirements.  Contact us to discuss your requirements.

I Will discuss these requirements a little further below.

You must be Invited to Apply

Firstly, you must be invited to apply for the visa by submitting an expression of interest.

Your skilled occupation must be on the relevant eligible skilled occupations list.

You should have a Suitable Skills Assessment

You will then have to have your skills assessed by the appropriate authority.

For example, for solicitors the relevant State Law Association.  For trades, then Trades Recognition Australia, and so on.

The skills assessment is a check that your relevant skills meet the standards to work in your skilled occupation in Australia.

You will need to provide a scanned certified copy of the skills assessment with the visa application.

You cannot apply for a skilled migration visa if you do not get a positive assessment result.  The skills assessment is critical to the visa.

You must have an Eligible Occupation

Your occupation must be an eligible occupation.

The eligible skilled occupations are contained in the eligible skilled occupations list.

If you have an eligible skilled occupation then you will need the relevant work experience.

You must have Relevant Work Experience

Some visa applicants need to have at least 3 years relevant work experience in their skilled occupation.

If you have at least 3 years work experience in the skilled occupation, then (if required) you will need to obtain the correct licensing, registration, or membership to your professional body.

You must have Licensing, Registration or Membership

If required, to be eligible for the Employer Nomination – Subclass 186 visa, applicants need to be licensed, registered, or a member of the correct professional body.

Queensland Law Society for solicitors for example.

However, you may not be eligible for licensing, registration, or membership to your professional body unless you have had a positive skills assessment.

You Must be Nominated

Some visa applicant must be nominated by an Australian employer whose business is actively and lawfully operating.

You must apply for the visa within 6 months of the nomination being approved.

Before being nominated, the employer must advertise the position twice, and not receive any eligible applicants.  The employer must provide evidence of these attempts when nominating.

If the nomination is allowed, the Employer Nomination – Subclass 186 visa applicant must be less than the required age.

Be Less than the Required Age

To qualify for a lot of Australian working visas you must be under the maximum age threshold.

Currently, the age is 45 years old.

However, Australian visa requirements change all the time, so please contact us to provide details in your particular case.

The above exemptions apply to the age requirements too.

Score the Required Points on the Points Test

A skilled migrant applying for a subclass 189 will also need to score 65 points on the points test.

You can check online with the Immigration Department’s Points Calculator.

The points are currently calculated on the following criteria:

  1. Age;
  2. English language level;
  3. Work experience outside Australia;
  4. Work experience in Australia;
  5. Your qualifications;
  6. Amount of Australian study;
  7. Any specialist education requirement;
  8. If you speak a community language;
  9. If you have studied in regional Australia;
  10. Your partner’s skills; and
  11. If you have completed a professional year in Australia.

Speak to a Competent Level of English

You must have a competent level of the English language.

To prove you have the required level of English, you will need to provide evidence that you are a passport holding citizen of the following countries:

  1. United Kingdom;
  2. United States of America;
  3. Canada;
  4. New Zealand; or
  5. Republic of Ireland.

Alternatively, you will need to provide evidence of the following:

  1. Score at least 6 for each of the 4 components in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS); or
  2. Score at least 12 for listening, 13 for reading, 21 for writing and 18 for speaking in the Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-based Test (TOEFL iBT); or
  3. Score at least 50 for each of the 4 components in the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic); or
  4. Score at least B for each of the 4 components of the Occupational English Test (OET); or
  5. Score at least 169 in each of the 4 components of the Cambridge C1 Advanced test.

Health Requirements for Skilled Visas

To meet the health requirement, an applicant must not have a disease or condition that:

  1. A cost to healthcare and/or community service of AUD $49,000 or more; and/or
  2. Prejudices access to scarce health services to Australians in services including most commonly cancer, functional impairment, HIV infection, intellectual impairment, renal disease or failure.

Some of the test for the Skilled Independent Visa – Subclass 189 may include:

  1. Chest x-ray;
  2. Hepatitis b and c test;
  3. HIV test;
  4. Medical examination; and
  5. TB screening test.

This is not required in all cases but depends on where the applicant is coming from and what they intend to do when in Australia.

A Skilled Independent Visa applicant must also meet the character requirements of the visa.

Character Requirements for Skilled Visas

The character requirements mean that the applicant and others included in the application must be of good character and must remain of good character.

The character requirements include (but not limited to) whether:

  1. You have been sentenced to a term, or two or more terms, of imprisonment of 12 months or more;
  2. You are or have been a member of, or have an association with, a person or group or organisation that are involved in criminal conduct;
  3. Serious crimes such as crimes against humanity, crimes involving torture or slavery, genocide, people smuggling, people trafficking, sexually based offences involving a child, and/or war crimes, ect; and/or
  4. Received an adverse security assessment by ASIO.

For more information, the character requirements are provided at section 501 of the Migration Act 1958.

Paid Back Debt to the Australian Government

Obviously, if you owe the Australian Government money (medical for example), you must have paid it back.

Alternatively, you could have entered into a formal arrangement to pay it back.

Skilled Visas Assistance

This brief overview is a very simple outline of what is involved in migrating with skilled visas.

We strongly advise that you contact us to find out how we can help you and your family migrate to Australia as a skilled migrant on a skilled visa.

 

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