Hi there,

Currently in oz on a 457 work sponsorship, and now all off a sudden have an email requesting meds/police checks for the 475 ss we applied for in 2009! eeeek , should we forge ahead on the 475 and not tell our employer? We have been told by employer we cant get permanent for 2 years. Im thinking the SS will be more secure, but will employer ever find out? Our agent seems to think we dont have to tell them. We are presently living/working in a regional area, but what if we were moved to the non regional area on the 475? Really confused as to what to do.

The 475 is a regional visa, so you would have to stay in a regional area to satisfy the visa requirements. http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener...migration/475/ You do realise that it is not a permanent residence visa, don't you?

No, you do not have to tell your employer anything. I do have to wonder why you are paying an agent if you do not believe what he's telling you.

If you are already living and working in a regional area, then why would you not proceed with the 475 visa? Whilst it is not a permanent visa, it is a pathway to PR. Whereas the 457 visa is not, your employer might not sponsor you for PR in two years, anything could happen before then that means they are unable to.

I would recommend you proceed with the 475 visa but you must comply with the requirements to stay in a regional area. Is there some reason you believe your employer might ask you to move? Employers do not ask people to move location on a regular basis.

I can see no reason why you would not tell your employer.

If you have a skill assessment - which you should have if you can apply for a 475 visa - then you ought to be able to get ENS permanent residence before 2 years. RSMS is also possible before 2 years.

IF your employer would sponsor you, that is.

The 475 might work as an insurance policy but be careful in that once you have it, there may be a waiting time before you can get another visa - although last time I looked you could still go from a 475 to an offshore ENS visa. Probably time to get some professional advice on your options?

Hi again, thanks for that, exdactly what you said was my thoughts, I cant see us having to be asked to move, but employer said we would be reviewed in 6 months as to whether we wanted to stay in Towns or go to Brisbane, but that was the only problem i thought may crop up, as you say, there is no guarantee with the current visa whereas the 475- to permanent Im lead to belive is pretty straight forward at the end of the 2 years on an 887 visa. We already were told by the company we would have to be on $165,500 to be eligable for ens right now. Plus we do our permanent medicals now and would not have to do them in 2 years. Just hate not mentioning to employer and dont want it to be an issue further down the road, when they realise, weve changed visas!

Why would you wonder that I do not take everything my agent says as gospel? I always like to cover myself for all eventualities, which is why I posted asking for a bit of advice. Is it not the purpose of the forum, to post things that we are unsure of?, too much of this getting shot down in flames and being made to feel stupid on this site, just because perhaps we are not as knowledgeable as some people.
Yes I do realise that it is NOT a permanent visa.

Hi , thanks for that, when you say a waiting time, can you explain please why that would be a problem?Yes we had a skills assesment, which visa is this offshore ENS one? I thought you HAD to do the 12 months work/24 months living in Regional area, before you had a hope in applying for permanent on a visa 887,. Our employer says after 2 years on the current 457 we would gain permanent, but whos to says there is work with that company in 2 years, as I said before, I just want to cover our backs as were a family of 6

You are mixing up two visas in that response. So for the 475, yed you definitely need to work 12m / live 24 months in the regional area once you get the visa in order to progress to PR. So if you have just been sent for medicals and PCC it is quite possible you will get the visa soon and then you only have 12 months before you are PR assuming you continue to work in the regional area.

I still see absolutely no reason not to tell your employer or why they would have the slightest concern about your changing visa, would have thought they would be glad in fact as it means they no longer have obligations. Talk to them. Talk to them about why you cannot be transferred to Brisbane whilst you are on this visa.

You will not gain PR after two years on the 457 visa, even if there is still work for you. You would only get PR if the employer is willing to sponsor you for another permanent visa. They don't have to wait for two years to do this, they could do it now if they wanted and they have no obligation to do it in two years. They might just not want the hassle. In order for them to sponsor you for a permanent visa you have to have EITHER:

- a skills assessment
- salary over $250k (it seems to have gone up)
- worked for two years on a qualifying visa like the 457

So you see they could sponsor you for PR now.

Maybe you could ask them are they willing to do that and if not proceed with the 475, tell them what you are doing and tell them that if they cannot provide employer sponsoship, you will proceed with the 475 visa which means you will not be able to relocate to Brisbane under the terms of the visa.

I think it would be very foolish to pass over the chance of the 475 visa and ultimately PR on the offchance that your employer decides to sponsor you in the future. Take control of your own destiny.

Because your agent is presumably in Australia, which would make him/her MARA registered. Along with registration they are required to keep up to date with visa regulations and changes. The posters on this forum for the most part are not migration agents and therefore do not have the information your agent would. We can only advise generally and the advice you get here will not necessarily be correct.

Your first post made it sound as if you were under the impression that your 475 application was for a permanent visa which is why I asked if you were aware that it was not. Nobody shot anyone down in flames and certainly the only one who can make you feel stupid is yourself. I am a stranger on the internet; I hardly think I have the power to make you feel anything.

No our agent is british, and all agents are perfect and faultless, not the impression I get on forums, penty postings here on how they quite regularly misguide and cock up!
I dont in the slightest feel stupid, I was just generalising, there is too much nasty remarks made on heer, when confused people ask questions. Love to stay on arguing the toss on how rude you were or in your mind werent, but im actually enjoying it over here, and am quite busy you obviously arent are you? or you wouldnt be online 24/7 with as many postings as you have. Let s leave it at that,"Happy New Year" Im off ,<snip>

There are very few posts on here about agents misguiding people, to be honest. That is one reason though that we recommend use of MARA registered agents, wherever they are based (you may not realise, but they need not be in Aus in order to be registered) - if a MARA agent is giving out wrong info, then MARA do please need to be made aware of it.

woah - obviously someone who doesnt acknowledge the wealth of information Dorothy has to dispense!

*Sigh* Was there any need to be that rude? With that attitude good luck getting any help on the forum. It's quite disappointing the number of people that have started being unnecessarily rude because they don't get an answer they'd like. It seems to be happening more & more & it's quite frustrating. I just can't be bothered reading & attempting to help people when you never know if you're going to get someone like this who jumps down your throat.