Podcast #1: What is Required to Move to Australia with Alex McManus

Podcast #1: What is Required to Move to Australia with Alex McManus

Australia Made Simple podcast series. www.Australiamadesimple.com

Hello and welcome to the Australia Made Simple podcast series with me Alexander McManus.

With over a decade of Australian migration experience, I’m here to tell you exactly what is required to move to Australia. For this podcast I am assuming you’d like to move to Australia on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.

If you are looking for information on more temporary ways to move to Australia, such as a working holiday visa, there are other podcasts in this series that cover that specifically.

So, let’s dive straight in.

What are the exact requirements in order to move to Australia?

Firstly, it’s important to cover that are a lots of different terminology used to describe what is essentially skilled migration to Australia. You may have heard phrases such as live and work visas, skilled migration and, of course, permanent residency as well. These are all more user-friendly terms to describe two of the most sought-after, heavyweight visas currently available for Australia, these being the 189 and 190 subclass.

Both of these sought-after Australian Visa classes allow you and your family to live and work in Australia without restriction. You can come and go as you please, access Medicare, education for children without contribution and you can access the full range of financial services in Australia as if you were an Australian citizen. This includes financial services such as loans, overdrafts, credit cards, mortgages and of course you are allowed to own property on that 189 and 190 visa subclass as well. With those visa classes, eventually after a couple of years you will also be eligible to sponsor other qualifying family members to Australia with you.

The biggest benefit to the 189 and 190 subclass are that they are a pathway to Australian citizenship. So citizenship and dual nationality are available to you if you are in Australia and you are enjoying life.

Of course, on the flip side, whilst it’s called permanent residency it is simply as permanent as you choose to make it. Some people use their permanent residency visa to live and work in Australia for say, a period of three to five years and then, after that point, maybe sometimes choose to return to their country of origin.

So the first absolute requirement in terms of skilled migration is around age. You have to be under 45 years at the time you are invited to apply. So remembering therefore that the process itself can take anything from one year to 18 months and potentially even 2 years, your age is taken at the end of the process and not to start.

So if you are 42 or 43 years old for example, I would certainly recommend that you get the process started as soon as possible.

The second requirement in order to move to Australia is that you need to have an occupation that is either on the medium long-term strategic skills list or the short-term skilled occupations list. If your occupation is on the medium long-term list, the MLTSSL, then you are, by default, also on the short-term strategic skills list. However if you are only included on the short-term skilled occupation list, you are not then, by default, included on that Medium long-term list as well.

So what’s the difference between the two lists?

Well if you’re on the medium long-term list you are potentially eligible for that 189 Visa subclass and because you are on the medium list you are also eligible, potentially, for that 190 visa subclass as well.

If however you are on the short-term list your eligibility stops at the 190 Visa subclass and not the 189. Now the only difference between those two visas is that the 190 Visa has an element of State nomination and state sponsorship. What that means is that an individual state or territory will lend their backing to your expression of Interest or your Australian visa application.

The trade off here is simply that the sponsoring state or territory will expect you to live and work in their state or territory for a period of two years and then after that 2 year period has expired, then obviously you are free to to work anywhere in Australia without restriction as per the 189 Visa class.

There are other podcasts in this series dedicated to explaining the 189 Visa and the 190 visa subclass and of course for further information feel free to head over to AustraliaMadeSimple.com, take a free visa assessment and someone will be more than happy to talk it through with you in a lot more detail.

As a general rule though all skilled trades are going to be on that Medium long-term 189 list. Other common professions on that list are Nurses, Secondary School Teachers , Accountants Engineers and those in specialized IT or ICT occupations.

Once we have identified our occupation on one of those lists, the next key requirement is to score a minimum of 65 points on the Australian Immigration Point Score Matrix. Again for more information on accurately calculating your immigration points for Australia, head over to our other podcast which takes a deep dive into calculating accurately your immigration points.

So we’re aged under 45 years old, we have an occupation on one of the in demand lists and we are now scoring 65 points on the point score Matrix. What next?

Well the next requirement is actually to get the process started and underway.

So the first requirement therefore in your actual application is going to be a positive skills assessment. Skills assessments are run by third-party bodies tied to immigration. It is their job to say that you are you say you are, that you have the right skills, the right experience and the right qualifications.

Every occupation code has a separate skills assessment body dedicated to that profession. So for example with Nurses it’s ANMAC, The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council. For skilled trades it’s VETASSESS on behalf of the TRA. For Secondary School Teachers it’s the AITSL and so on.

There is no one-size-fits-all guide to skills assessment because each and every skills assessment authority has their own separate and independent list of key criteria.

However, with the exception of skilled trades, the assessment process is not necessarily a physical examination or a test of your expertise in a particular profession.

These assessments are paper-based, so they are documentation heavy. You are going to likely need to provide everything from qualifications, transcripts, training, identification, payslips and most importantly of all, references, that can be used to evidence and substantiate your claimed time in a particular profession.

Here at Australia Made Simple we use dedicated occupation specialists for this specific stage in the process, so you can be assured that the account manager you’re working with has significant experience and expertise in your particular profession, skill or trade.

Generally speaking the skills assessment requirement for Australia can take around 3 to 5 months to complete from start to finish. Usually the assessment bodies themselves allow themselves around about 12 weeks in order to process your paperwork. However, in terms of gathering that paperwork together in the first place, so that we’re submitting a decision ready 100% compliant documentation bundle, that process usually takes between 1 and 2 months.

Now also, if your occupation or profession requires licensing or registration in Australia, the skills assessment then serves dual purpose. One, a positive skills Assessment allows us to go on and make what’s called your Expression Of Interest (EOI) and two, it also provides the benchmark or the starting point for that professional licensing or trade recognition in Australia.

So now assuming that we have your positive skills assessment in our hand, what is the next requirement in order to move to Australia?

Well the next requirement is to submit what’s called an Expression Of Interest (EOI). This is done online, directly with the Department of Home affairs. You may well have heard Expression of Interest referred to as skills select. So this Expression Of Interest is where you are required to present all of the information about you your family and your ultimate application as well.

From making that expression of Interest you will go into a database or a pool of other candidates from all around the world, who are looking to move to Australia at exactly the same time as you. After your expression of interest is live, then every month after, Australia will do what are called invitation rounds.

Invitation rounds lead us on to our next requirement, in that, to be able to lodge your formal visa application you have to receive what’s called an Invitation To Apply (ITA). Now this invitation to apply can come directly from immigration or alternatively it can come via one of the States or Territories that may choose or may decide to lend their weight to your application.

It’s an absolute requirement therefore, that in order to make your formal visa application that you have to have received this Invitation To Apply.

After receiving your Invitation To Apply there is a financial requirement that falls due. If you have received an invitation to apply from one of the States or Territories, it could well be that there are further requirements that are needed in order to progress your application. This can take the form of either a job offer for example or may require you to make a declaration of a certain amount of funds. In terms of the job offer, it’s important to remember that not all States and Territories require this, so do feel free to reach out to us at Australiamadesimple.com if you would like to discuss this in greater detail.

In terms of financial requirements, usually this is a declaration that you can support yourself for an initial period once you’ve landed in Australia. Usually this period is for around about 3 months. You are not necessarily required to physically demonstrate cash in the Bank although you are required to make a signed declaration.

Okay

So what else is required to move to Australia?

I appreciate that this is quite a lengthy list, although, do be assured we are nearly at the end.

At this stage we have received the Invitation To Apply, you have settled the Australian government fees and you’ve been allocated a case officer. At this stage you are going to be required to upload lots and lots of different documents, all certified, that are designed to identify you, your skills and actually backup all of the claims made during the Expression Of Interest stage and again going back to skills assessment. As well at this stage, police checks are going to be required. You will need a police check for every country you have lived in for longer than 6 months.

Medicals are also required at this stage, so once your Australian Visa fees have settled you will be issued with something called a HAP code, HAP. You then take this HAP code to a registered medical provider who is licensed and authorized by Australian immigration. After the medical they will then upload the results of your medical directly to Australian Immigration to be viewable by your case officer.

You may also be required to complete what is called a form 80. Whilst this form is not explicitly referred to, we find that, more often than not, it is a key requirement from your Australian case officer. So as you can see, lots and lots requirements in order to move to Australia.

The requirements are designed to be tough. If it was easy everyone would do it and also do remember that in terms of that 189 or 190 Visa subclass, potentially, here we have Australia offering you a pathway to citizenship and Dual Nationality. So, of course, security checks are going to be stringent and the requirements lengthy.

After a few months then with your case officer, your visas will be granted. Sometimes this is an anticlimax during the whole process because the issuing of your visas is confirmed by a simple email. A simple email that will drop into your inbox, usually overnight, and all it simply says is that your visas have been granted. For most people the celebration is short-lived because as soon as the Visas are granted then the next thing is, what’s the next requirement? What do I need to do? How do I get out to Australia? How do I emigrate?

On this podcast page you will also see a checklist of requirements to move to Australia once your visas have been granted.

Generally speaking, you have a little bit of breathing space between when your visas have been granted until when you actually have to move. This breathing space is usually 1 year.

What that means is that once your visas have been issued and granted they are banked, they can’t be rescinded. At this point some people are ready to move, some people are ready to move immediately. Others need to tie up some loose ends. So with that in mind Australia then gives you one year in which to activate your visas. Activation happens by physically passing through Australia’s borders.

At this stage, passing through their borders, whether it be for holidays, whether it to be look at areas, whether it be for job interviews, all of those things are fine. You simply need to pass through Australia’s borders within one year of your visas being granted and accepted to activate them.

So that’s it, I’m pretty much talked out on everything to do with emigrating to Australia requirements. For more information head over to Australiamadesimple.com. Alternatively take one of our free visa assessments that will come through to one of the occupation specialists in your profession, trade or occupation. They can talk it through with you in a lot more detail.

We use these consultations to simply get to know you and for you to get to know us. There is absolutely no obligation and no fees are due at that stage either. Really we use these consultations to make sure that you are eligible to emigrate to Australia, to answer any and all questions that you may have and then together, during these consultations, we like to work out the best and most viable Visa pathway for you.

I think what remains to be said is thanks for listening it’s been fun.