sebkos

Hi,

I am an ACCA qualification holder as well as CIA (Institute of Internal Auditors).

I am a german citizen and consider leaving my ugly country towards Australia or Canada. But I have a couple of questions and hope someone here is able to provide me some informations:

- if I apply now for immgration in Australia without a job offer, how long would the whole process take including skills assessment, visa process, etc?
- is the skills assessment for ACCA qualification holders successful in general or are applicants also being denied?
- do ACCA qualification holders also get a positive skills assessmant for Canada (for example CGA)?
- did it become more difficult to emigrate to these countries due to the financial crisis?

I appreciate any answers,

Seb

Bermudashorts

Hi Seb,

I am also applying at the moment as an ACCA and am happy to share the knowledge I have picked up so far.

Without a job offer you are presumably thinking of a GSM 175 / 176 visa. The 175 will take the longest and as far as I can tell it is easily going to take 12 - 18 months. You can expediate this if you take the English IELTS test and score 7 in each module. Then you can make a 175 with CSL application, I don't know how much quicker this will be, maybe that will take about 6 to 8 months is just my estimate based on what I have read around. Applying for a 176visa (which is for a particular state) would also speed the process up.

ACCA is acceptable for skills assessment, I think you should have a degree as well (maybe somebody else can clarify on that). I wouldn't like to say that everyone with ACCA gets a positive assessment though, you also need the right work experience.

Don't know anything about Canada.

The financial crisis is clearly hitting jobs and as most of us will need one, it makes emigrating more difficult IMHO. There is a lot of noise about cutbacks at the moment, but personally I think ability to find a job is more of a concern.

sebkos

Hi Bermudashorts,

thanks a lot for your helpful answer. Sounds not too bad cause I was expecting something around 3 years.

But do you know if Australia makes a distinction between citizens of Commonwealth countries and citizen of other countries?

And does the length of the application process also depend on the country from where you apply? I know that it's like that if you apply for Immgration in Canada.

Bermudashorts

For Australia, no I am pretty sure that being part of commonwealth is not making any difference to my application time frames.

I have realised though, you would need to do an additional step, the IELTS test is optional for people with passports from the UK speaking countries but it would be compulsory for you as a German passport holder.

I have seen reference to High Risk and Low Risk countries, I don't know what difference this makes but I guess it must mean something otherwise it wouldn't be mentioned. But I would have assumed that Germany like UK is low risk anyway

Leedelta

Hi,

I'm a FCCA and have applied under 175 GSM MODL CSL.

Bermudashorts is correct in her info.

I got assessed in early 2008 by ICAA. The assessment lasts for 5 years.

I also completed the IELTS. The results are valid for 2 years.

So if you have time on your side you could get skills assessed during 2009 and it would be valid till 2014. Maybe things will have impoved globally by then

It took about 5 weeks to complete my skills assessment.

Being from Germany I guess that you must complete IELTS as you would not able to avail of the 15 points that certain passport holders get. IELTS results are usually available 2-3 weeks after examination date.

I am from the Republic of Ireland and we seem to be processed quickly. 6-12 months is the average. But with the new priorities in place this could become 4-18 months.

With regards to Canada, I cannot help you. Sorry.