Holiday Visa to TRV
 

I am speaking with a potential employer (immigration lawyer!) in Sydney who has offered me a job. He wants me to go out on a standard holiday/tourist visa, then when I arrive, he will apply for TRV for me, using a bridging visa for the interim period. He makes it all sound easy and legite, but I can't help hearing alarm bells in the back of my mind. I guess that's because I am the one taking the risk by giving everything up here on a holiday visa! Has anyone heard of this happening before - successfully or unsuccessfully? And any suggestions/comments are most welcome. I REALLY want to be in Sydney, so my heart is telling me to go for it, but unfortunately it's not just me I have to consider - I'll be going with my 2 yr old toddler :confused:

Re: Holiday Visa to TRV
 

I think others have posted that a business ETA is a possible way to
come out to Australia in the circumstances you suggest. A work permit
application could be done onshore, allowing you to work.

But, have you thought about:

- what might happen if the work permit was refused?

- what's your strategy to get permanent residence in Australia,
assuming you're giving up a life in the UK? You could otherwise end
up having to go home in a few years.

- did you know that when you send your child to school (as a temporary
resident) you'll be liable to pay school fees in NSW - about A$5k per
year?

If you do want to go out there on a work permit, it would seem more
sensible to apply for the work permit (subclass 457 visa) offshore.
The process is usually fairly quick.

Jeremy

    >On Wed, 23 Oct 2002 09:30:06 +0000, caroldawn wrote:
    >I am speaking with a potential employer (immigration lawyer!) in Sydney
    >who has offered me a job. He wants me to go out on a standard
    >holiday/tourist visa, then when I arrive, he will apply for TRV for me,
    >using a bridging visa for the interim period. He makes it all sound
    >easy and legite, but I can't help hearing alarm bells in the back of my
    >mind. I guess that's because I am the one taking the risk by giving
    >everything up here on a holiday visa! Has anyone heard of this
    >happening before - successfully or unsuccessfully? And any
    >suggestions/comments are most welcome. I REALLY want to be in Sydney,
    >so my heart is telling me to go for it, but unfortunately it's not just
    >me I have to consider - I'll be going with my 2 yr old toddler
    >:confused:
    >--

Holiday visa to TRV
 

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Jeremy. However, the issues you've pointed out, I believe I have covered.

my contact assures me that he will get me the work permit - it's what he does for a living after all!

for Permanent visa, my understanding is that after 12-18 months we can put an application in for this based on ENS.

paying for my childs schooling shouldn't be a problem as it'll be a couple of years before she's eligible, and hopefully I'll be permanent by then. If not, hey, I'm paying a fortune for her daycare at present, so I know it will be a saving in comparison! And being optimistic, if I'm there, it can only be a matter of time before I get permanent status - right?!

If I did the 457 visa application offshore, do you know what the average process time is currently - I've been advised it will be far quicker doing it our way, and as he wants me to start work in Feb, it seems logical.

As for having to come back to the UK ... well it is my home, I don't hate the place, so it wouldn't be the end of my world if I had to return. I'm also keeping a property here, so that I'll have a house to come back to if this should be the case.

I'm just trying to chase a dream that I've had for the past 10 years. After a couple of spells working "casually" in Oz, I've always felt that I was destined to be back. I have a strong network of friends there too, so that helps, but if it all goes pear shaped in a few years, I'll just pick up and carry on wherever. I'm a great believer in fate, so what will be, will be.

I'm not a dream chaser normally, in fact I'm a very realistic/ conservative type of person, but this has been bothering me now for 10 years, and now I've been offered the opportunity to do something about it. I don't think I'd ever forgive myself if I didn't follow through ...

The same thing happened to me. We have a long standing PR application in on Hubbys skills, when the company I work for said they where prepared to speed the move up by sponsoring me for 457. They were prepared to apply when I was in UK, (approxiate time 8-10 weeks quoted at the time) but the agent was ill and they then suggested we came here and apply for 457 on shore.

I got a ETA Business and the family got Holiday ETAs. We had the medicals and everything ready in the UK and then brought them with us. Trouble was from a personal point of view everyone was telling it was fine and rather expected route. But it didn't feel like it - I was worried about going through the airport on arrival in Aus, the kids 10,12 knew we planned to stay and we were telling them not to say anything if asked - we were just on holiday!!! We arranged to have our household contents shipped before we made the flight over!!! I do not know the legalities but felt it was bordering on illegal? Can any one comment on this. Getting one way flights was difficult too, two travel agents refused to sell us one way flight with no forwarding flights on ETAs. Trailfinders in the end helped with this. We stated we were unsure of our plans and wanted to leave ourselves open to change plans and we might go back through the States. The comment was as it was the responsibility of the airline to get you out if you are refused entry they could make up their minds about carrying you with one way tickets! I was feeling less and less comfortable. A basic process was turning into a nightmare (allbeit to most people in my mind only).

Getting into Aus at the airport was painless no one asked anything - but what if they had? Disaster finally struck as I knew it would my daughter was refused a 457 - on medical (she is partially deaf - big deal but we have to abide by the rules of the country we hope to stay in) . It was only George Lombard (personally now comes highly recommended) giving us the advice that she needed the bridging visa tout suite! (otherwise she would be illegal after the ETA ran out, 3 months) Her bridging visa was restrictive - no leaving the country etc, ok I know most people wouldn't think about letting a 10 year old leave anyway but we had plans for her to spend some time in Canada with her Grandad. It was all in all a bit of a nightmare. Finally after lots of campaigning on our part her 457 was granted in August. We have our fingers crossed for the PR!

I have personally heard from people the process to apply for 457 through this route is painless and know of successful cases - no bad ones bar us! But it spolit our flights over and put me through some sleepless nights. If PR does not come through for us we have our house still in the UK (not selling until PR is in my grubby mitts).

My thoughts are is you need to start work in February - that is plenty of time to get the ok from AHC in London well before now. The company has to have approval before the application can be made - have they got Pre Qualification Status for their applications? If so surely there is no problem to get your application in here? If the company want you, is there really a problem following the process?

I wish you all the best.

Regards