Stu

Hi All,

I am a UK citizen with the correct number of points to migrate to
Australia under a General Skilled Visa? (IT Graduate + experience)
yippee

I have been studying the immigration website and noticed that
applications outside of Australia can take 12 months to process!

Do applications normally take 12 months or are they sometimes processed
quicker? what's the average time?

when my approval comes through how long do I have to migrate to
Australia? will I have to move straight away or in x number of months?

I'm currently a director of a high-tech business in the UK that I would
like to start in Australia. Can I apply for a business
visa? is this quicker? will I be able to work for other people under a
business visa?

many thanks for your help guys

Stu

brian0

I can't answer the business visa questions, but timeline wise I think the 12 month number is a bit on the long side now, but not wildly so. Most non-MODL 136 Skilled Independent visas will likely take something in the 6-9 month range. Figure 4 months from application to CO assigned and 2 more months to do the meds/pcc stuff. Add onto that any delays you have due to unexpected issues and you could be looking at 9 months easy. That's also assuming you don't count the skills assessment time, which sometimes takes longer than the visa itself with all the paperwork required. My timeline for my 139 skilled sponsored visa was almost exactly 1 year including the skills assessment time.

Once you have the visa you will be given a first entry date. This date is based on 12 months from the earlier of the police check or the medical, whichever you did first. So if you get your PCC on Jan 1, 2006 for example you would get until Jan 1, 2007 to enter. That's the danger of frontloading a visa application is that you are burning up entry time waiting for the processing. Also, if you happen to run into medical issues you might be required to enter within 6 months of the medical, which could shorten the window you have even more. Most people seem to end up with 4-6 months to enter at least. The entry date is set in stone though, so if you miss it you will lose your visa.

Cheers,
Brian

johnnybrockie

its took me since feb should be getting my visa by early dec does take some time but its goes quickly

paulb

Feels like a lifetime!

Stu

thanks guys,

what's a non-MODL ?

I first went to Australia on a working holiday visa
for a year, can I get this visa again?

if so could I apply inside Australia for my general skilled?


also when I get my general skilled visa, how long will I have
to live in Australia for? can I leave and come back for holidays?


thanks so much for your help

Rob Morton-Jone

With the help of the Go Matilda team, we got our 136 visas thru in around 4 months but my occupation was, and still is, on the MODL

Stu

I can't believe computer programmer isn't down on the list

maybe I should become a Hairdresser

brian0

There are 2 skills lists, the SOL which your skill must be listed on to be able to apply for a skilled visa of any sort, and the MODL, which is a much shorter list of "in demand" skills (a small subset of those on the SOL). Having your skill on the MODL simply gives you additional points (15) towards the pass mark, and also may provide some advantage in processing speed.

Once you get your visa you will be able to live in Australia for 5 years and enter and exit as often as you like. Once the 5 years are up you will either need to have become a citizen (3 years residency requirement - this just changed) or get a Return Resident Visa (RRV). The agents on this forum usually recommend that you try to get citizenship rather than the RRV. If you don't have an RRV and your visa has expired then if you were to leave the country you would lose you PR status. You can stay in Australia with an expired visa, and maintain your PR status so long as you don't leave the country. This means that even if you don't have the 3 years residency at the end of the 5 year visa you don't necessarily need an RRV so long as you don't want to leave the country. You can stay and apply for citizenship once you have the 3 years of residency.

Hope that helps!
Brian