Lisa-93

Hi everyone,

I have never been so stressed in my entire life! I am sure I am not the only one in this boat. For two years myself and my other half have been planning our migration, due to my studies at University we have been unable to migrate until July 2015. Everything went swimmingly, all the research, skills assessment etc.. until now. I cannot get this problem out of my head! In a nut shell, we have calculated our points as 55, due to attain the remaining 5 points through NSW sponsorship on the next intake in Feb. Here is a breakdown of our points:

Skilled employment outside Australia: 8 years (from Jan 2007) = 15 points
Age: 25 years = 30 points
Qualification: Level 2, NVQ2 and Level 3 in Plumbing recognised by assessing authority = 10 points

My problem lies mostly with skilled employment. My partner has been employed as a Plumber since September 2006, but is only "on the books" working full time hours since Jan 2007 (which is where we have calculated points from). However there is a lot of tension flying round in regards to when you are considered skilled in that occupation, given that he began studies in September 2006.

Please put yourselves in the minds of an immigration case officer, and consider the below evidence when deciding how to award points:

*Bank statements and payslips showing paid full time hours since 2007 to present
*Employment references (two separate bosses) stating employment start date is January 2007
*P60's from 2008-present

Is the above evidence sufficient enough to award 15 points for 8 years skilled employment?

I am going crazy over here as I thought everything was sorted up until I had this epiphany that the points may be wrong.

Secondly, the plumbing qualifications that I have stated are "assessed as comparable to Australian standard by assessing authority".. we haven't had official points test advice for this, but the qualifications were stated under "training qualification" on our skills assessment from VETASSESS (it is also common knowledge that the NVQ2 is comparable) but is this official evidence for the qualification points?

Thank you all so much for your help, I cannot believe this has happened I feel like we're back at square one from two years ago when we should really be boxed off and ready to apply for SS.

Hope anyone can shed some light and offer some advice in relation to the points, thanks

msmyrtle

Is there any reason your partner can't sit IELTS for the extra 10 or 20 points?

Lisa-93

Hi,

I forgot to mention this aspect - my partner has sat the IELTS test in November and scored L 6.5 W 5.5 R 5.5 S 9.0 (overall 6.5) and is adamant he does not want to resit as he struggles with reading and writing (although he is native English) and believes it would be a waste of money because he will "never pass". If there is no other way around it I'm sure he will resit after some further revision but we just want to avoid this as like I say he is not confident and has an inability to score well on reading and writing.

msmyrtle

Ah well - yeah going from 5.5 to 7 or 8 is probably a bit ambitious.

Maybe I didn't see it in your first post, but what is the date of the qualification? If he began his studies in 2006, and is a 3 or 4 year course, that would only mean 4 or 5 years experience. Pre-qualification experience doesn't typically count as skilled as it is assumed that there is an apprenticeship aspect of their training.

ETA: I had a re-read again of your post, if your partner is 25 now there is no way he will get 8 years of experience unless he qualified as a plumber by the age of 17.

msmyrtle

This post by George Lombard in the stickied thread) discusses the issue of overclaiming experience points prior to qualification:

http://britishexpats.com/forum/immig.../#post10418537

Lisa-93

You have just confirmed my suspicions! I was worried that it would all have to be post qualification (which would be from 2009). However, on the DIBP it says nothing at all about qualifications for skilled employment, it just states it must be full time and paid, which it was. They need to make this more clear! We have an appointment with a migration agent on Monday to present all evidence and points claims to get their opinion, so hopefully this will clear the air.

Just wondering if you have a view on the future prospects of NSW sponsorship..? If we do not have the 55 points as previously thought our back up plan is to get working holiday visa, work in skilled employment in Australia for 12 months to get 5 points which will take us back up to 55 then apply for SS. Do you have any knowledge on the future of NSW sponsorship i.e. how long will they offer it for, if it stops when will it reopen and any outlook on plumbers being taken off sponsor list?

Want to stick my head in the sand

msmyrtle

Sorry I don't have the foggiest what NSW (or any of the states, for that matter) intend on doing - nobody does, really.

There was another poster on here a while ago that claimed to have an extremely high score - like 85 points or something, because he also counted pre-qualification apprenticeship work experience.

The only downside to the working holiday plan is that you are limited to an employer for 6 months. So, unless you max out the 6 month period twice, it may be difficult to get a full year's worth of experience. There's also the 3-month regional work experience to get a second year's WHV. You and your partner would have to weigh up whether you want to take that sort of risk with your future record of employment to do that though.

Surely if you're playing the long game and considering doing this, it may almost be a better plan to stay employed in the UK (and saving up the $$ to move) and hire a tutor/test coach to improve his English score??

Lisa-93

Well your last point is an option, something we can discuss over Christmas. The plan for the WHV would be to do three months regional work as soon as we arrive to get it out the way and then work with a plumbing company for first 6 months (at some point we will apply for second WHV which once granted, he can continue to work for the same plumbing company for a further 6 months as this will be on the second WHV). So this should total 12 months skilled employment with one employer, but it doesn't matter if we extend the visa and work for two different companies for six months at a time, so long as its being a plumber. I am devastated it could come to this especially considering everything was considered "sorted" for over 18 months, I am annoyed that we have only really realised this now. Thanks for your help anyway, any further advice would be appreciated if anyone else wishes to comment.

Lisa and Joe

msmyrtle

Best of luck with whatever you guys decide to do.

Lisa-93

Thank you, will probably post the outcome on here

old.sparkles

Points are only awarded for skilled experience, so not all the experience will count. 5 years experience are worth 10 points, and if your OH does not want to do IELTS again, one option would be to look at the temporary visa 489. This has a pathway to PR after living and working in regional Australia for 2 years.