Mark & Amanda

Hi Fruitball (and everyone else!)

Have been reading posts on this forum for a while but this is my first contribution.

I am interested to see that you are probably going to Townsville. My husband is starting work at Townsville hospital (he is a pharmacist) in November. We have 457 visas which came through last week.

For the time being I will remain in the UK, although I am going with him in November for the first couple of weeks. We will wait and see what it's like before deciding whether to apply for PR.

When are you due to go?

Amanda

fruitball

Hello Amanda,

We plan to go in February. My wife will be glad to know that we're not the only ones heading to Townsville!

We were last there in '88 and really liked it. Not too big and not too small.

Will you be working over there?

PeteY

Blimey another one going to Townsville!! This morning i though Les and I were the only ones ! Now there are 3 of us on here.

Search for posts by a chap called Les.

He moved to Townsville a while ago.

Cheers

Pete.

johanne

Hi auto...
just looking at this pr thingy, my brother is in aussie at the moment on a whv he started work today for a computer firm near sydney, he wants to apply for pr so he can get a permanent job and nono of this 3 months here and 2 months there...if he applied he says he would send his application to adelaide ( they seem to get done quicker ) so what your saying is that you can actually apply within australia for pr and go to a mission to validate?
let me know and then i can email my brother
cheers
johanne..

bondipom

There is an IT bloke employed at another office of the company that I work for. He is Brazilian and has been sponsored. The poor bloke is on less than me and is on call 24/7. I haven't known him to take a holiday and his average working week seems to be 50 hours.

The company have him by the knackers. Just a word of warning.

auto

Hi Johanne
As I understand it you can only validate in Oz if you are sponsered by a company. If you go it alone ( which I think is best) you will need to go offshore.
Hope this helps
Auto

Ceri

Who on earth told you that??(an unscrupulous agent maybe?)

Number one you are not tied to them for three years.. we left the company after a year of us getting PR to set up a business for the competition.

Number two you certainly don't have to use an agent... we didn't. The company did their bit, filled out the relevant forms and we did our bit filling out the relevant forms on our side... you do not have to use an agent at all! (did an agent tell you this?)

As for missions.. not sure what you mean.. when you get approved for PR you just go down to the immigration office with your letter of approval (in my case it was in Brisbane).. and get your passport stamped with the PR visa.... easy

Cheers

auto

NUMBER 1- the 3 years are asked for by the employer who sponsered you as they pay for all the fees invovled.

NUMBER 2- The company use the agent and they do all your work

A mission is an immigration office and if you are not sponsered and apply in Oz you will have to leave the country for up to 5 days.

I know this to be a fact because we have just gone through it

Ceri

You are better off asking your question in the immigration forum to get the correct answers.

If he applies for sponsored PR.. he is certainly not tied to them. we applied for PR after 4 years of being here, the company sponsored us for PR and we did not use an agent After a year of being PR we up and left for another company.
Ask Alan (an agent) your questions in the immigration forum. It took us a couple of months to be approved. We applied to the Sydney ( as that's were head office of our company was).. when we were approved... they send you a letter... ttake that letter to the nearest immigration office and they will put the PR visa into your passport... easy

Cheers

Ceri

Auto I have also been through it... and you do not need an agent. The company who sponsored us did the paperwork themselves.. and we did our own and submitted it to the immigration.

You are not tied to your company... only if you have signed a personal contract with them... but as far as immigration goes... you can leave them.. this is coming from a person who left my company after a year


Cheers

auto

Ceri
You seem to have a big thing against agents. What I am trying across to you is as the company sponsoring you is paying for PR they want a commitment from you that you will not leave after it comes through, that is why we went it alone and therefore have to go offshore to collect our visas.
Hope this is clearer. ( you are turning into an Aussie you sound like you think you are right all the time )

Ceri

you are trying to tell people you will get stuck in a three year contract... this is not the case.
And it's probably the reason why these questions should be asked in the immigration forum.. so they can receive the correct answers from the people in the know

Sorry if I offended you, but I was just saying that you do not need an agent (which you said "you must use an agent") and you also said you're stuck with your company for three years... which again is untrue. I left my company after a year and I did not use an agent, it's got nothing to do with a dislike of agents... I neither like or dislike them.

You are trying to tell people that they will be stuck for three years.. this is not the case.

I certainly don't know everything, and I do not pretend to either.. but it seems to me you're the one with the prob .. you don't like being wrong. I did not mean to offend you and I really think that they should get advice from someone "in the know"... i.e the immigration forum where there are agents willing to answer these questions
Cheers

owieb

Well said! :lecture:

Alan Collett

fruitball,

If your wife is a nurse she can look forward to a permanent visa application being processed relatively quickly, as applicants for permanent skilled visas with this occupation are to be processed as a priority under a Ministerial Direction. In practice this means your permanent residency visa application should be through in about 3 to 6 months.

Add to this the time taken to obtain a skills assessment from the Australian Nursing Council, and in preparing your skills assessment and visa applications => you could have a permanent visa in about 6 months.

I mention all this as it might change the way you and your wife feel about her taking a 457-employer sponsored position, in that you can anticipate being able to leave the sponsoring employer relatively soon if it doesn't work out as planned.

Best regards.

RichS

My Wife and I arrived in Aus on a travel visa.

My wife is a nurse, and as such set about obtaining sponsorship for a 457. Very quickly it became apparent that the shortage of nurses is so acute here that she could choose her sponsor pretty much at will.

We obtained the visa which was for 3 years. My wife is very happy with her employers and they and they have now agreed to sponsor her PR application. Hopefully that will be approved and she will continue to work for them.

Some points to note from the reponses so far:

1. You are not tied to 3 years if you are sponsored by an employer. There is an implication in the application that you should stay with an employer for that long, but you will note that actually the liability is on the employer to prove there is a job available for not less than 36 months duration.

2. The original poster - don't be put off by the stories of people being flogged to death on 457 visas - in your line of work it would be simple, and by no means unusual to transfer employment and obtain another 457. You can also renew your 457 and should manage to get an extension.

3. If you do get sponsored by a health provider you will not need to satisfy the points test.

4. No way do you need an agent - I suspect whoever said that has been fleeced (no pun intended if its the Welsh lady).