katyjoy

Hi guys,

I am posting on behalf of two friends from the UK who are here on a holiday visa and wish to STAY!!!!!!

It appears that the only way maybe through a student visa, studying a skill in demand and then applying for residency through the skills in demands route.

Has anyone actually applied or proceeded down this road whilst in Australia?
Or has anyone got any ADVICE, HELP or suggestions on how these guys can get to stay?

Both are mid 30's with three children, (one child to be 18 as of next month). They have enough money due to the sale of their house in England to support themselves for two years, whilst studying etc......

Thanks for you help in advance, all help needed ASAP

TA Kate

Wendy

It may be better to post in the Immigration Forum here You should get a better response in there.

YoSemite

Have PMed you

Paul&Nic

Can't help on applying from Oz, as we applied in the UK, but are here studying with the hope of obtaining PR though it.

I'd look into the 18 year old tho as unless they're in and continue to be in full time education right up to when your friend can 'apply' for PR, they'll have to make their own PR application. There is a cut off point of 21 / 22 (I think) but if the child of a PR applicant is over 18, they HAVE to be fully dependant on the applicant and as I say in 'full time' education. If they leave or get a full time job they're on their own!

That's how I see it anyway, but aint an agent so I'd def look into it!

Best of luck top them tho, I can see why ANYONE would want to stay! ...

FloridaLee

I'd be interested to know if other people have done this too. Please help if you can Thx.

YoSemite

i'm here on a student visa, and applied from within australia, so any questions just ask away......

FloridaLee

,

1. How long did it take to get the student visa ?
2. What was the process you had to go through ? ,
3. Can dependents .. i.e. wife and kids stay in Oz whilst husband is on student visa ?
4. If you are on a student visa , do you have to finish your course or can you find a job where they are willing to sponser you and swap visa's easily?
5. Can the course be part time ?

erm .. think thats all for now ..

Cheers

Lee

Paul&Nic

My answers (altho I applied in the UK)

1. Student Visa took 10 days to get confirmation, but as I've said to others you HAVE to have your COE (confirmation of enrolment) in place for yourself and ANY kids coming with you. Not too hard to do, but will take a little time to sort out. Also your medical will have to of been done and on it's way to Oz House ready for when your application arrives.

2. Kinda answered already, but enrol on your course. For me this was a $1000 deposit to school to get COE. Enrol kids with Education Queensland. Had to pay a full year for both kids ($12k odd). All 4 of us had our medicals. Downloaded application form from the DIMIA website and sent it off to Oz House. Got email conformation it arrived, and 10 days later email saying it had been granted. If no kids, you can apply online and it's quicker!

3. Yup! Myself and partner are both studying over here and the the kids are on her visa. If it was one of us then the other would simply be allowed to come and stay on the others visa. BOTH of you can only work part time (max 20 hours pw)

4. Not sure on this one, but if you stop your course your visa expires and you gotta go! .... unless you CAN apply for a diff visa ?!?! Once you complete your course the visa is cancelled, and if it's your plan, you can apply for a 'bridging visa' which you use while you apply for PR.

5. Depending on your plans. If your looking to apply for PR after then DIMIA insist you study for a min amount of hours per week, I think it's 20 - 25, not exactly sure. My course is full time mon - fri, 9 - 4.30 for the first 10 weeks, then if you want you can drop to 3 days a week. Any 3 days, but you have to do that 20 - 25 hours per week to keep DIMIA happy.

If you don't plan to apply for PR after then I'm sure you can do whatever hours you want, or what the Institute offer!

IF PR is your goal, then DIMIA want 2 years of study along with a min of Cert III. Now this 2 years is 2 'academic' years, which is 16 months. Basically if you study at a private school that doesn't take the normal breaks that the likes of the TAFE take, you can go 'flat out', take no breaks, and if all goes well complete your 2 year course in 16 months, and apply for PR.

Hope that's of some use ...

YoSemite

1) straight away!!!! visa was actually granted before we'd completed our medicals so we actually got the visa when we handed the medicals into the DIMIA office.

2) to get the visa.... got an ETA (holiday visa) - arrived in australia - filled in online student visa application form - transferred (automatically) onto bridging visa - booked medicals for a few days later (could have had sooner but was busy looking for a house!) - went for xray and medical - handed medical into DIMIA office and visa granted, printed and stuck in passport.

to get the Confirmation of Enrollement (which as Paul&Nic said you must have to apply for student visa) you have to had applied for a course, been accpted, paid your fees and overseas student health cover premium.

3) what Paul&Nic said!!!!!!!

4) I would imagine that DIMIA would not be too keen on you doing this! when you apply for a student visa its granted because you're wanting to come to australia to study.... not to look for a job!

my (current) course finishes on 24th november but my visa lasts until 31st January 07... the excess is there to allow me to attend a graduation ceremony and/or apply for a further visa (which is what I'm doing to move on to my next course)

5) all the information I have says that the course MUST be full time which is 20+ hours a week on your timetable. you also must attend a mininum of 80% of your classes, you are not allowed to miss any classes to go to work, and you can only work a max of 20hours per week during term time, unlimited curing the holidays. there is a guy on another course at my tafe who was recently deported for working more than 20 hours and missing classes to work!!!!



as already mentioned, you have to study for a minimum of 2 years towards a cert III or above... if there's anyone thinking about doing a degree in order to get PR then you would do good to consider Bond University on the Gold Course (go Bond woohooooo!!!) where you can do a bachelors degree in a number of sujects in 2 years (instead of 3 years at other uni's) as Bond has a tri semester system. it's slightly more expensive than a state uni as Bond is private, but it gets you in and our faster and back to worker quicker!

www.bond.edu.au

FloridaLee

Thanks so much (both of you) for the excellent answers

Looks like I might now have a backup plan if my PR app doesn't make it

I'm also sure the info will help a lot of other people.

Many Thanks again

Lee

YoSemite

just remember you also need to have international student fees!!

mine for my BA/LLB are $114,000 for tuition alone. that doesn't cover any other costs like campus fees, health cover, etc etc.

Paul&Nic

Or become a Hairdresser for $18k ... ...

katyjoy

$114000??? OUCH!

Is hairdressing the cheapest course to study then? $18k is not cheap but is a damn site cheaper than $114k!

Also any dependants have to be funded through school I believe, does anyone know the current cost for schooling?

thanks

Paul&Nic

Not sure if Hairdressing is the cheapest to be honest, but would guess it was down there.

Yeah private schooling for non PR is higher because you won't be eligible for a grant from the government, and this'll give you an example of Queensland's fee's :

http://www.eqi.com.au/fees.htm

katyjoy

Cheers guys,

after a little searching we found the vic school fees (for a dependant student - ie they are here on their parents student visa) to be:


Primary (Prep - Grade 6)
(CRICOS 019047G) $5,813.00 per student per year
Junior Secondary (Year 7 - 10)
(CRICOS 019048F) $7,763.00 per student per year
Senior Secondary (Year 11 - 12)
(CRICOS 019048F) $8,663.00 per student per year


anyone know of any other cheap courses that are worth 60 points on the SOL list?