Hi all

I am here in Sydney on a 457 visa and the month before Christmas, out of the blue I have been made redundant!!!

I have applied for a permanant skilled visa so that I am no longer tied in to an employer but I am not sure how long this will take. I have a couple of questions that I am hoping one of you may be able to help with.

1) Will I be able to get a bridging visa to cover the time that my 457 expires to a possible permanent visa being granted??

2) Will my wife still be able to carry on working for her current employer bearing in mind she is on my 457 visa. She is really happy at work but we do not believe that her company will be able to sponsor her / us.

Any help / advise welcome.
Thanks
Markinhull

Can't provide a full answer but I trust you are aware that your 457 effectively expires 28 days after your emplyment ceases.

I understand, anecdotally, that it should not be diffciult to achieve a bridging visa for yourself and presumably your wife to allow to her remain legally employed.

I strongly suggest you take professional advice though from an agent.

I think it depends if the perm visa you applied for can be granted onshore or can only granted offshore (175 for example) but don't quote me on that.

If you applied for a perm visa and is still working for your sponsor under the current 457 in the meantime then there isn't any changes so everything will be as it is. When you get your perm visa you can either continue with your current job or find a new one (Your wife is included in your perm visa application I assume so she can continue working at her current job as a perm resident). The 457 will be automatically overwritten with the perm visa.

I think the issue here is that with redundancy does that cancel the 457 visa (which it does) and does that affect the eligibility of the spouse to remain legally employed (presumbaly on a bridging visa); to which I don't now the answer.

Certainly once PR is gained then the spouse will be able to be employed legally

Missed the redundancy part!

If a redundancy casued the loss of job hence loss of 457 and you applied for an offshore perm visa then I think you will need to leave Oz until your perm visa granted. Either that or look for another sponsor while waiting for the perm visa to come through.

If you lose your 457 your wife would be in the same case as she is under your 457. I understand a bridging visa retains the visa class of your last visa it bridges. In this case of a 457 I am not sure how it works. You mentioned a perm skilled visa, I assume its an 175? In that case its an offshore visa.

I will leave it to others who knows more to answer.

I think you should get some professional advice from an agent.

Hopefully a bridging visa will allow them to stay in Australia until immediately before PR is issued, then they just to have leave briefly for it to actually be issued.

I didn't think that a bridging visa was available for a 457 - speak to an agent ASAP.

Thanks for all of the advice.

I think a trip in to Immigration is in order.

Markinhull

I don't know whether it is or isn't but it would seem that the 457 visa is one which has the largest risk of early unintended expiry that may result in the need for a bridging visa so hopefully they can get one

You should visit a good agent before you go anywhere near Immigration!

No basis for this statement if the PR application is an offshore one.

- When did you apply for your skilled visa?

- It is unlikely you have an entitlement to a bridging visa if you have applied for an offshore skilled visa (eg subclasses 175, 176, 475).

- Consider speaking with an agent - quickly. It may (emphasis - MAY) be possible to expedite processing given that your wife is employed and the termination of your 457 visa will require you to depart Australia until your permanent residency visas are granted.

- In case of need: http://www.gomatilda.com/contact.cfm#ouroffices
(you can reach me, and my RMA colleagues Stephen Dickson and Sarah White via any of the numbers in Australia - Stephen and I are based in VIC, while Sarah is in QLD).

Best regards.

Hi Mark,

Give us a call on 97990085, since you're in Sydney I think we may be able to help in practical terms.

Cheers,

George Lombard

The immigration and government should do something to protect those who have 457 visa.