jonny_2good

me and my partner have decided to go down a different route to attain a visa, we are also now about to use an agent.

we are to be sponsored in a designated area and my girlfriend will be the main skilled applicant.

We have been given differing info from various agents. how long do you need to have had experience in a profession, we have been told 6 months for an office manager (not points based) but another agent told us 1 year.

Also my partner has a HND, is this enough to be equivelent for the aussie diploma ? (HND is a 2 year full time course).

Also does this experience have to be in the same job? I have just changed jobs (same profession) and thus have set the counter back to 0 so if her HND is not good enough we then have to wait another year or 6 months.

JAJ

For Skilled Designated Area Sponsored with a 40 point nominated occupation you need 12 months skilled work experience in the last 18 months before application.

A HND should be enough to get a Vetassess skill assessment in a 40 point occupation. However this - in itself - does *not* mean that the DIMIA work experience requirement is going to be met. They will assess that separately and are on the lookout for cases where work experience is not in a 'skilled' occupation but in a related semi-skilled or clerical occupation (which is not on the skilled occupations list).

All this is in the Skilled Migration Booklet which you should download from the DIMIA website and read. There will be a new version on 1 July.

When applying for skilled sponsored, the main applicant must be the person with the Australian relative. The spouse can contribute the skill requirements.

And if you're not legally married, you need to be able to evidence at least 12 months cohabitation at time of application.

Sponsorship and assurance documentation must be submitted at time of application (although the assurance rules may be changing soon).

There are probably some other issues you need to be aware of too, so you should certainly use a good agent.

Jeremy