Terence Rabe

Dear All,

I'm a SA national on a skilled worker permit in the UK for the last 2 years.
My whole family (except me) is moving to Aus. in Feb. next year and I would
want to join them at some stage. I did an online survey from a legal firm's
website and it calculated that I should have around 140 points. (I'm a 28
year old IT Trainer with 4 years experience)

My questions to you are these:
* Am I better off applying from the UK or SA (considering things like police
and health checks)
* Would there be any benefit in waiting another couple of years for a UK
passport and then applying?
* Generally speaking... which should process more quickly, a skilled
migration or family migration?

Any ideas appreciated.
Thanks
Terence

Alan Collett

Hello Terence.

A quick reply to your questions:

1. Skilled visa applications are processed in Adelaide - it won't make any difference in terms of the processing time whether you apply from the UK or South Africa. Note also that you will need a police check from each country in which you have lived for more than 12 months in the last 10 years - ie both the UK and South Africa.

2. Maybe, but only in the context of your future plans for living/working in the EU - there are no notable benefits in the context of an application for an Australian visa.

3. As a rule, family migration is quicker (if applying through the UK for one of the Family visas) - but not in the case of the Parent visas where the number of visas granted is capped => a long queue.

Hope this helps.

ptlabs

Terence,

I would just add to Alan's comment on this point:

If you choose to apply now, and if you're lucky, get your Aussie PR visa before you are eligible for a UK passport and choose to leave the UK before you get a UK passport, you may find that your UK residence status may be affected; i.e. you may not be able to return to the UK easily once you have packed your bags and headed for Australia.

If you choose to delay applying for an Aussie PR visa now, and wait until your UK passport is in your hands, you may well find that the Aussie migration rules totally unrecognizable by the time you're prepared to apply for Oz.

The answer is that there's no "best time" to apply. And correspondingly, there's no "best time" to migrate either.


Peter

baloo

Regarding UK residency status etc. ....
If the person has ILR (Indefinite Leave to Remain = permanent residence) when they leave, they can only be out of the UK for no more than 2 years before their ILR 'lapses'. Otherwise, so long as you don't stay out of the UK for more than 2yrs, ILR is valid for life (but UK must be your main home).

However, after 1 year of living in the UK on ILR (via the work permit route as above) with various other conditions met then the person is eligible to apply for UK citizenship anyway. Once citizenship is granted, it does not matter if the person leaves the UK or not.

So it would be entirely possible for the original poster to apply for Aus PR before getting UK citizenship, validate Aus PR visa, and wait out the period for UK cit. before leaving for Aus permanently.

Jaj

    >On Sun, 24 Nov 2002 11:16:21 -0000, "Terence Rabe" wrote:
    >Dear All,
    >I'm a SA national on a skilled worker permit in the UK for the last 2 years.
    >My whole family (except me) is moving to Aus. in Feb. next year and I would
    >want to join them at some stage. I did an online survey from a legal firm's
    >website and it calculated that I should have around 140 points. (I'm a 28
    >year old IT Trainer with 4 years experience)


Have you checked whether you meet the latest (Oct 2002) guidelines for
getting a skills assessment from ACS?


    >My questions to you are these:
    >* Am I better off applying from the UK or SA (considering things like police
    >and health checks)

Makes no difference - for skilled you have to apply to Adelaide.
You'll almost certainly need a police check from both countries.

Health checks are the same no matter where you are.

    >* Would there be any benefit in waiting another couple of years for a UK
    >passport and then applying?

Not in terms of migrating to Australia. How much do you want a UK
passport?


There are some points to bear in mind:

1. If you lose your job before getting ILR in the UK, you lose your
right to stay there.

2. Australia's rules can change to your disadvantage if you wait a
few years.

3. Your own circumstances can change to your disadvantage.

What I suggest you do is decide which country you really want to live
in and go from there, assuming it's possible to qualify for Australia
straight away. Otherwise, if it's going to take a couple of years to
qualify, then you've nothing to lose by going for British citizenship
first.


    >* Generally speaking... which should process more quickly, a skilled
    >migration or family migration?

You've asked before about remaining relative. The answer is slowly.
First your family have got to be in a position to sponsor you -
normally that means being resident in Australia for 2 years. An
Assurance of Support normally requires 2 years tax returns also.

If you have 140 points then you'd likely qualify for skilled
independent - why not go this way?

There's also the compromise of skilled sponsored, where it's easier
for your family to sponsor you, but an Assurance of Support is still
needed. Someone else in Australia can do the AoS but is unlikely to
unless you are well known to them.

If family sponsorship is the only way for you to be eligible to
migrate, then you may well be able to get British citizenship in the
few years it's going to take to qualify.

Jeremy

This is not intended to be legal advice in any jurisdiction