C&R

Hello - this is a great forum, and your advice is invaluable.
This is our story.
Myself and boyfriend are British and work and live in Shanghai. We moved here in November 2002. I am 32, my boyfriend is 33.
We want to apply for residence in Australia. My boyfriend will apply, and I will apply too, as a de-facto spouse. We are unmarried, but have been together 13 years.

We are in the process of beginning to found out which skills assessment body we should apply under, my boyfriend is the general manager of an Engineering company here in Shanghai, but has only been in the position for the last 2 years. Before being promoted to GM, he was working as an operations manager for the same company here in China. In the UK he worked as a Mechanical engineer, for the same company 2 years prior to us moving to China.

First question -
It seems we cannot apply to AIM for skills assessment, as my bf has not had 5 years managerial experience, but we cannot apply under IEA because his degree is not accredited within the engineering body they refer to. As such should he apply under Vetassess, as an Engineer?

2nd question -
My father lives in Australia, he has permanent residence, and is willing to sponsor us. Does he complete the form 40, and we just include this along with form 47sk? Because I am not the main applicant, can he still sponsor us based on my boyfriends relationship with him, even though we are not married?

3rd question -
Medical checks/ x-ray/police checks. We are planning to visit the UK for one week in August, to gather the relevant information we need to support our application. I cannot find out how to arrange the medical/x-rays here in Shanghai, so should we arrange doctors appointments before we get to the UK and have the examinations done when we are there? - hopefully we would have submitted the Skills assessment before then. Do the doctors send the xrays/health examinations results to Australia, or do they give them to us, so we can send the results to Oz from China as and when required?

I presume all we need to do is send off the police checks forms, and when completed, all the police need to do is then forward the results back to our address in China? Or is it easier to not tell them we are in China, and get them to use an address in the UK to send them to, and then they can be forwarded onto us by a family member?

4th question -
100k investment - we can afford to go through this process, as we presume we will need the extra points. If we want to move to Queensland, are we better investing in the Queensland government?

I am afraid all this seems so complicated, yet, we are alot clearer with certain aspects of the visa application process, after finding this website, it really has been invaluable, as the Australian Consulate here has been extremely unhelpful, and the immigration website does not seem to cater towards anyone in our position.

As such, any help or advice from you guys would be greatly appreciated.
Claire

Alan Collett

Hello Claire!

The first issue you must address is whether your partner can obtain a positive skills assessment classification, as without that you can't obtain a skilled visa. As you have said that he has a degree that would indicate he can obtain a skills assessment classification from VETASSESS, and as you have a relative who is able to sponsor your visa application that would probably (emphasis - PROBABLY) be the way to go ...

Note also that a skills assessment classification is possible through the IEA without a degree that is recognised under one of the Accords, via their CDR pathway.

Given that you can attain a skills assessment classification:

1. Yes, your father can Sponsor your application.

2. Be aware that you will also require an Assurer (need not be a relative, but often is) who is able and willing to provide an Assurance of Support. An Assurer has to satisfy an income test, which requires the Assurer to present Tax Assessment Notices issued by the ATO for the last two income tax years which demonstrate assessable income of an amount that exceeds a figure that is contingent on the number of dependents. As a guide, if the Assurer's assessable income for the last two tax years exceeds A$40,000 all should be well in this regard.

3. Medicals and police reports: recognise that these have a useful life for Australian immigration purposes of 12 months. See also:
http://www.gomatilda.com/visas/faqs.cfm#06

4. There's no obligation to lodge the capital investment of $100k with the Treasury Corporation in the State or Territory where you plan to live, and it adds nothing to the processing of your visa application.

5. Where does your father live? If in Sydney be aware that your nominated occupation has to be on what is known as the SSASSL. If in a Designated Area (and he has done so for the last 12 months) you might be able to apply for the non points tested Skilled - Designated Area Sponsored visa (subclass number 139).


Hope this helps to progress your plans - if you would like a chat about visa strategy:
http://www.gomatilda.com/contact.cfm#appraisal

Best regards.

C&R

Thank you Alan!
Re this point you made:

2. Be aware that you will also require an Assurer (need not be a relative, but often is) who is able and willing to provide an Assurance of Support. An Assurer has to satisfy an income test, which requires the Assurer to present Tax Assessment Notices issued by the ATO for the last two income tax years which demonstrate assessable income of an amount that exceeds a figure that is contingent on the number of dependents. As a guide, if the Assurer's assessable income for the last two tax years exceeds A$40,000 all should be well in this regard.

I have never heard of this - thank you for pointing it out. So, could a British friend of ours, who lives in Oz do this for us? or is it better to come from my Father? who lives in Queensland by the way...is it basically an insurance kind of thing, to say they are willing to support us financially wise?

Many thanks for your help
Claire

Alan Collett

An AoS is (in essence) an obligation on the part of the Assurer to make good any claims you might have on eligible Centrelink benefits within two years of your arrival in Australia. In practice, there is a two year bar on newly arrived migrants claiming CL benefits unless there is severe hardship, so there is a low risk of the Assurer being called upon financially - but the risk is there nonetheless.

One thing I didn't mention is that the Assurer is required to lodge a Bond of $3,500 for the main applicant and $1,500 for the partner/spouse of the main applicant, plus another $1,500 for all others aged 18 or over who are included on the visa application. So in your case the Assurer would have to lodge Bonds totalling $5,000.

These are lodged with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for two years, and are also available to CL if you make any claims for eligible benefits; if there are none the Bonds are refunded to the Assurer.

The DIMIA factsheet on AoS explains the above more fully:
http://www.immi.gov.au/facts/34aos.htm

As to whether a relative or a close friend should act as Assurer - it is more a question of who is happy to!

Hope this helps.

C&R

But if we are planning to apply using the form 47sk application for independent skilled migration, and just using the sponsorship form 40 from my Father to support the application, then surely we don't need the Assurer? Thanks again for your advice.

Alan Collett

An Assurer is mandatory for any family sponsored skilled visa application ... in other words you need a Sponsor and an Assurer for your planned visa pathway.

Best regards.

brian0

Hi,

I think you need to read Booklet 6 on the DIMIA site more closely. There are several types of skilled visa classes, which you seem to be getting a bit muddled up. The Skill Independent (subclass 136) visa requires no sponsorship and no assurance of support, but you need to be able to meet the 120 point pass mark on the points test. The Skilled Australia Sponsored (subclass 138) visa requires a sponsor and an assurance of support, but has a pass mark of only 110 points. The Skill Designated Area Sponsored (subclass 139) visa requires a sponsor (who lives in a Designated Area) and an assurance of support, but is NOT points tested, so you only need to meet the "basic requirements" of skill, age, and language ability (see "basic requirements" near the beginning of booklet 6 for full explanation).

You need to decide if you can meet the 120 point mark for the independent class of visa as this is the "easiest" from a process perspective. You then won't need a sponsor or an assurer. If you can't meet the 120 point barrier then a sponsored visa class is you best way in. You should then choose either the 138 or 139 depending on whether your father lives in a designated area or not. Note that not all of Queensland is part of the designated area, so check booklet 6 to see if his postcode is within the designated area. If you go the sponsored route (either 138 or 139) then you will need your father to sponsor you and fill in form 40, and you will need to arrange for an assurer, which could also be your father so long as he meets the required income levels.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

Cheers,
Brian

C&R

Brian - this does help, thank you very much.

You are right, we do need to do more research on which skilled visa to apply for. We want to try for the skilled dependent subclass 136, and think we could pass the 120 point mark. But should we find after further research, we do not reach the magic number, then plan B is to bring my Father into the process and use him as a sponsor, and apply for the subclass 138/139 instead. I guess that was why we were unaware of the assurer aspect, because we had not looked into this option more thoroughly.
Thanks to this website, we have learnt an awful lot about the visa process today.

Good luck in Oz Brian!

C&R

Can someone please clarify the following - Do the doctors send the xrays/health examinations results to Australia, or do they give them to us, so we can send the results to Oz from China as and when required?

spottydog

As far as I know the UK doctors send them, it may be different in China, probably best to ask a doctor there. Don't forget that the medicals have a shelf life of 12 months (or in some cases 6 months) for initial entry the same as the police checks.

George Lombard

Hi Claire and Richard,

You're getting swamped with advice, I know, but I wondered how you were so easily dissuaded from going through the Institute of Engineers Australia. Although Richard might not have a Washington Accord degree, he probably still has options with them with a CDR. Against that is the much easier task of doing a Vetassess assessment and then being sponsored by Claire's father.

Cheers,

George Lombard

www.austimmigration.com.au

C&R

Spottydog thanks - we will see if there are any doctors here in China who can do the medicals then, good point. If the docs send the info themselves, it will be way to early to have the medical/x-ray done next month.

On the Immigration website, all I can find are doctors who are 'accredited' in the UK. Does anyone know if there is a list of doctors on the website who can do the medical and x-rays outside of the UK? I have searched and searched to no avail.

Thanks George! We will look into the Institute of engineers again. Without an agent, its hard to know what to do, which visa we should apply for etc. But honestly, I cannot stress enough how much help everyone has been on here. I am so glad we found this website.

Thanks everyone.

JAJ

There are panel doctors in virtually every country:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/doctors/index.htm


Jeremy

C&R

Thank you. Another question ticked off the checklist..!