diana_justin

I am new to this site. Me and my husband are looking migrate to australia and have some questions.

I am irish/canadian and my husband's canadian. we live in canada and are looking into the possibility of migrating to australia.

Is there anyone here who can help us with a canadian tax issue thing- would DIAC accept this.

My husband works as a carpenter and as a carpenter he has worked on numerous projects, and each more than 20hrs/week. But in Canada, we have something called T4 and T4A. His employer, issued him a T4A meaning it was sort a contract and he was not being paid per hour , instead a flat rate . But my husband did work more than 20hrs per week for more than 3 continuously and the company can testify that. and we would like to claim points for Specific Work experience=10 points.

The reason why the company issued a T4A instead of T4 is pay less taxes. Had they issued T4 , it would mean paying minimum wage of 10.50 in Ontario, plus other contributions such as health and safety union, unemployment insurance etc.

Would DIAC accept this?

I apologize for my question being so long.

Thank you

Andy_P

Hi.

The first thing you should do is take a look at the DIAC website and have a go at the VISA wizard.

Tons of info on there.

Secondly, have a search of these forums. Chances are whatever questions you have may have already been answered in one form or another.


EDIT: I posted my answer before you did your edits. I'm afraid I can't help you with your tax question.

diana_justin

We did and we do qualify for a 175 visa assuming my husband passes vetassess carpentry test.

But we would like to have the tax thing resolved before we invest in vetassess test.

I guess this website is very british , so chances of finding another fellow canadian are slim but it would be really nice if someone could throw some light and guide us.


Thank you once again.

sonlymewalter

DIAC are only interested in you providing evidence of work experience. If you are not able to demonstrate the required hours worked due to avoiding paying full Tax for the reasons you mention you will have to explain this to them. Whether DIAC will accept your evidence or not is not known.

Dorothy

There are a number of fellow Canadians on this site, me included.

For the T4A, it makes no difference whether it's a T4 or T4A. So long as your husband meets the full time work requirements for DIAC. Full time means more than 20 hours per week of work in his nominated profession. We were never asked to provide anything tax related in our application. Only a reference from my husband's employer stating what he did, how many hours per week he did it and how much he got paid for doing it.

diana_justin

Also, I read on this website that there is a new SOL coming out in May 2011. Is the government planning on shutting down the general skill migration for this year in May?

We really want to know as we are going to pay a lot of money to vetassess and we just want be sure.

Thanks a lot and God bless us all.

Dorothy

No, skilled migration does not "shut down". The new SOL is a regular occurrence (the occupations list changes with the needs of the country) Even if it did stop in May it would still start again in July when the new financial year starts.

Do you have an agent you're working with?

diana_justin

the thing is that mu husband qualifies under the old system only and not under the new one. we would like to have some time to go for the vetassess process but if the gsm migration shut down in may, we will waste money, [

just need some reassurances from you guys who have been here for a while.

God bless us all.

Dorothy

What reassurance do you want? Nobody knows what will happen with DIAC. If he qualifies now he would be wise to apply now. This is almost May and I'm not sure of Vetassess timescales, but I would think he'd be cutting it close if he wants to apply to DIAC before 30 June.

What has happened in some previous years is that the quota for skilled visas gets filled before the end of June so they stop granting visas for a few weeks. There have also been times when they stopped accepting applications, but again, nobody knows when (or if) that may happen. One thing is certain though...If he doesn't apply he won't get a visa.

Bermudashorts

If you do not qualify under the new points system, then you have two options at this point. First is you forget about skilled migration and get on with your life as it is. Second is you apply for skills assessment, hope it comes back in time and hope that DIAC do not close to new applications.

We do not know if they will stop taking applications between now and July. None of us knew in advance last time they stopped taking applications either.

newjersey

a third, option, however more difficult it may be, is trying your luck with an employer sponsored visas - either a permanent one, the 121 (aka ENS) or a temporary one 457, accepting the risks of it being temporary and working toward being sponsored for the ENS visa. The hard part would be finding an employer willing to sponsor.

diana_justin

I did take a look at how the applications need to be lodged-paper or online.

I am just curious, considering the Adelaide cent re processes the 175 applications, how do you get your final visa? do you send your passport to Adelaide?

what about online applications? does the embassy give you the visa?

newjersey

Whichever application you decide to go with, once you receive a grant letter you then go to the nearest Australian mission and have a visa label placed in your passport. Electronic applications allow for two things - tracking your case status online (not being kept up to date some times and causes undue stress esp when you start checking it four times daily) and ability to upload your evidence electronically (provides savings on couriers and notary/solicitor authenticating paper copies). It is also widely believed that electronic apps are processed quicker due to reduced admin overhead, but with everyones case being different there is no way to tell if there is any sizeable benefit in processing time