SJB101

Hi everyone,

Our family is in a really complicated situation so please bear with me (apologies for a long post!!)

So our situation is this (in as concise a way as I can put it): we came to Australia on a 457 visa in December 2016 with my husband as primary applicant, and we live in Perth WA. It was all going well until the news broke in April this year of the 457 visa being abolished and with it the age limit to be able to apply reducing to 45. Unfortunately my husband is 46, and our chances of being able to apply for PR will in effect vanish by March 2018, 9 months before hubby is eligible to apply on the TRT 2 year stream. He was unable to apply by direct entry before July due to not enough post grad experience, and unable to apply via the regional sponsored as Perth is no longer regional

So it looks like our days in this beautiful country are numbered and our lives are being destroyed, all over 9 poxy months!! Yes there is a chance that existing 457 visa holders conditions will be grandfathered, but 1) we dont know if that will happen 2) when it will be announced for sure and 3) I havent heard that this condition accounts for those in the 45+ age bracket...

Now onto me...I am 38, been a housewife for the past 5+ years, having before worked in the family business in the UK. Prior to that I was a lab technician, with about 8 years experience but I dont have any qualifications whatsoever having gone into lab work almost straight from school. I was advised that I could be eligible to apply for PR from a regional sponsored visa, as I would only need over 3 years of experience in place of any formal qualifications....cos a regional visa is not skills assessed.

BUT....that would mean I would not only need to get an employer to sponsor me on a full time job for at least 2 years IN A REGIONAL AREA....but during the time it takes to process hubby would have to stay in his 457 visa sponsored job IN PERTH until my visa was granted (around 14 months)!!! Now I know a lot of people would say "stuff that" but at the moment we are willing to try absolutely ANYTHING to stay here...

That being said, it leads me to my question. How on earth do I go about getting someone to sponsor me on a regional visa?? Is there any websites, forums or can anyone point me in the right direction?? I have no idea of where to start, most jobs I have seen on SEEK and other job sites require formal qualifications or certificates, and over 95% of them are in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or Brisbane (all metropolitan areas). I've applied to a few but no response as yet...

And while on the subject, has anyone got a regional sponsored job with no qualifications, how did you do it, where did you go and what was the application process?

Oh and one final thing....I need to have a sponsored position in place by March 2018 as life science technician (closest to my job) is on the short term list and will no longer be able to apply after then.

Can anyone help?? The easiest thing obviously is if we know for sure that my husband can apply for PR due to our conditions being grandfathered, then I wouldnt have to relocate and leave my kids and husband behind for over a year, but we need a back up plan if hubby cant apply, and this is our back up plan

(We have a petition going on a certain website to try to fight this, message me if you want to sign it)

Thanks in advance xxx

verystormy

There are a lot of big issues, first, very few employers will sponsor straight to a 187. Most will offer a 457 as a 187 can take a LONG time to process, which means keeping a job unfilled for the period. The issue with which is that there is very little pathway to PR from a 457 for your occupation.


Even if they did, a 187 would require a skills assessment, the only way around the skills assessment is if you were on a 457 for two years then a 187 wouldn't require a skills assessment. At the moment, you would not pass a skills assessment due to no work experience in the last 5 years.


My advice is to speak to a good migration agent to go through options, but it may be you have to accept that the 457 visa is what it is. A temp visa with the assumption the holder leaves at the end of the visa

SJB101

I did. Thats where I got the information from. I didnt believe it either, but she said I could apply for PR on a 187 being a secondary applicant on my husbands 457 visa, as I have no restrictions on working hours etc, even with my ancient work experience alone. If the changes are confirmed that you have to be under 45 for the two year requirement AND there is no grandfathering we have no hope for PR and our lives go down the toilet, so any chance at all, no matter how small, and how far fetched it seems, we have to go for with both hands.

Chances are, any potential employers will have the same outlook as you but I am not going to spend the next few months sitting on my hands and will at least try it.

A lot of families have come to Aus on a 457 visa who, like us, have uprooted their lives for a better life over here. It will destroy us if we had to leave.

verystormy

All you can do is apply for jobs and hope for the best, but it isn't going to be easy.


I know what you thought with your 457 and I moved to Oz on a 457. But, I always tell everyone that they need to assume they will be leaving once the 457 expires, if not before and should treat it as a temporary move. It is what it says on the tin. A temporary visa and there has never been any guarantee of anything else. Many people who do it, do become PR, but many don't and not just because of things such as this. For example, the skills lists change every year and occupations are removed which often prevents people who came on an occupation that was on the list from applying for PR if it is removed.

Dorothy

I really think that you are going to struggle to find a job as a life scientist with no formal qualifications. Especially in a rural location. In WA the specimen collection centres require a certificate, so it's pretty much a certainty that the lab that processes specimens will require at least a diploma if not a degree. I honestly can't see how DIBP would agree that you are a life scientist with no formal qualifications.

As VS says, while it is unfortunate, it's looking like you're going to be looking at going home at the end of the 457, whicjh is the intention of the temporary 457 visa.

Amazulu

How many times have wee seen people on the temporary 457 visa treat it like it's some kind of permanent visa? Over the years I've worked with and interacted with people on a 457 who have settled down, bought houses etc only to lose their jobs and have had to rip up their lives at short notice. It can destroy people

The Australian government makes it very clear that the 457 is temporary and that those on it should not get too settled

It's a ridiculous visa anyway and it is good that we are getting rid of it. It should be strictly high-skilled PR or nothing

brits1

I agree about being PR or nothing, I have know quite a few people who have gone through merry hell to stay in Aus and spend a huge amount of money trying to get a PR visa when their temporary visa's have come to an end and for most they all did go back to their respective countries