Cristine

Hi guys,

On page 7 of Booklet 6, it says:

"If your nominated occupation is worth 60 points (and mine is,
Translator) you must provide evidence that you have been in paid
employment in a skilled occupation (any occupation listed on SOL,
SSASSL and ENSOL) for at least 12 of the 18 months immediately before
applying."

Considering that my 5-year work experience is in teaching English as a
Second Language, and that the ENSOL list released this year included
that profession (page 8 of form 1121i), I could count that as recent
work experience, right? (please tell me I'm right!)

Just checking:
- profession: 60 points - Translator
- age: 30 points - 27 years old
- IELTS certificate: 20 points
- community language: 5 bonus points - Portuguese
- spouse skills point: 5 points [my husband is also a Translator, 28
years old, has recent work experience as a Translator, has IELTS
certificate and skills assessment]

That adds up to 120 points. If my thinking is correct, that I can claim
points for work experience as a teacher, then I could also add 5
points for Specific Work Experience, right?

If that is also correct, then we could apply
* on his name, with me as a skilled spouse (120 points)
* on my name, with him as a skilled spouse (125 points)
* or I could even apply just by myself with him as a spouse - but not
a skilled spouse - (120 points)

Is that also correct? Which would be our best option?

We are so excited we just can't wait to hear from you experienced
people from this forum. I also hope this helps other people that are in
our same situation. And I DO hope I can soon post a thread here saying:
We got it!!!

Thanks for any help!

Cristine (and Fabricio)

Cristine

Forgot to mention that this is about Australia.

Cheers!

John J

It looks OK.

Your second option looks to be the safe bet if your husband already has his skills assessment and IELTS. Just make sure about the requirements for the community language bonus points. Tertiary qualification where all the instruction was in this langauge with evidence supporting it.

linux

Do you remember that you must get assessment at NAATI?

Cristine

Yes, and also the IELTS certificate. The problem I had was showing recent work experience, so if that's taken care of, all I gotta do is pass these tests, request PCC and Medicals, and apply!

George Lombard

Hi Cristine,

I am so sorry to burst your bubble but this seems very much an error in Booklet 6.

The rule about "recent work experience" comes from the text of Schedule 2 of the Migration Regulations. It's similar for all the general skilled migration subclasses, however, for example, it says this about the subclass 136 visa:

136.213

(1) Subject to subclause (2), the applicant has been employed in a skilled occupation:

(a) if 60 points are specified by Gazette Notice as available for the skilled occupation nominated in the application — for a period of, or for periods totalling, at least 12 months in the period of 18 months immediately before the day on which the application was made; or

(b) if 40 or 50 points are specified by Gazette Notice as available for the skilled occupation nominated in the application — for a period of, or for periods totalling, at least 24 months in the period of 36 months immediately before the day on which the application was made.

...

Now you need to see what the regulations say about the term "skilled occupation", and that's defined in regulation 1.03 as an occupation listed in a relevant Gazette Notice. The Gazette Notice in question is No.36 of 8 September last year, and it's clearly not the ENSOL list. Schedule A is the SOL and Schedule B is the shorter SSASSL. So the short answer is that your work isn't going to be regarded as skilled. If you apply for skilled migration in reliance on the booklet, your application will be refused. I don't think they'd even give your money back :-( I'd love to be proven wrong on this, but I don't think I will be.

Cheers,

George Lombard

www.austimmigration.com.au

brian0

Perhaps they can then apply using her husband's skills as she mentioned that he has recent work experience as a translator which is on the SOL. If he has the required length of time (12 months) then shouldn't that be sufficient?

Cheers,
Brian

Cristine

Unfortunately this is not possible because he'd be 5 points short for Skilled Independent (115 points) without my proof of recent work experience. He's got 60 points for occupation, 30 for age, 20 points for IELTS certificate, 5 points for community language = 115 + 5 spouse points = 120 (the exact same situation as mine)

Thanks for the input all of you guys, especially George Lombard.
Any other thoughts? Please helps us out! We need just 5 more points!

Cristine

JAJ

Does he not get any points for work experience?

If you are short on points your options are usually:

- have an Australian relative sponsor you for skilled sponsored; or
- have a participating state sponsor you for STNI or Skill Matching; or
- find an Australian employer to sponsor you for ENS or RSMS;
- if all else fails, look at the temporary Skilled Independent Regional (SIR) visa. South Australia is probably the most popular sponsorship option with this visa.

Jeremy

SuperSeagulls

Cristine

I have PM'd you ...about Brazil

SS

brian0

Sorry, I was probably not being clear enough. My point was that if he has the required experience in an SOL occupation (translator) then maybe he can get the 10 points for specific work experience. Seeing as his recent experience is as a translator which is on the SOL and does qualify for use on a skilled application then he should be able to make the 120 point mark if he has >3 years experience doing that in the past 4 years. You'll have to fill us in a bit more on what his experience is and how long he's been doing it, but if he does have the required experience then he should be able to make the pass mark without even the need for your spouse skills.

Note that he doesn't need to have worked in the same job for those 3 years, but it does have to be at least a "closely related" occupation and on the SOL to qualify.

Cheers,
Brian

JAJ

The way the work experience points are allocated is confusing.

Firstly, do you have 3 years work experience (in the four years before application) in a SOL occupation. If yes, continue, if no, then zero points.

Then, if you have a 60 point nominated occupation *and* the work experience is in the same occupation, or a closely related one, 10 points.

Otherwise - 5 points.

This does not include the bonus points available for Australian work experience.

Jeremy

Cristine

Brian and Jeremy,

The fact is that he's going to be there a full year this October, so he's not able to get points for 3 years of work experience. And before that he didn't work in an occupation that is listed, so our only chance of getting the 5 points is with Spouse points.

Cristine

Cristine

Hi George,

Even though you are probably right, I thought of asking the Adelaide office for confirmation since they may not be aware of the discrepancy between the booklet and the Gazette Notice. It doesn't hurt to try, right? And maybe in the future they will correct that on Booklet 6.

But I was wondering: what are the odds that they will answer it? Is there a way of putting things that would boost my chances of being answered? Any advice on that?

Cristine