Abbey

Could you please advise if it's possible to apply for visa 136 or 138 while you are in australia on a student visa ? it's a subclass 573 (full fee) and have recently arrived in oz to start masters degree in 2 weeks time (all enrolled and paid for). or do we have to wait and finish 2 years of study before applying for PR? have skills and experience and can accumulate 120 points, just wondering if we are allowed to apply for a GSM visa while on this 573 visa. current visa does not have "no further stay condition". will appreciate any suggestions.

thanks

WS

If you can get the points (120 or 110 for 138) and meet the other requirements you can apply now.

But if you meet the requirements already why did you apply for a student visa?!

As these are both offshore visas you will have to leave Australia for the visa to be granted (just for a few days).

Abbey

previously thought could not qualify for 136/138 due to the way we interpreted the required work experience. the way i understand it now is that, i can nominate for example welfare worker as occupation, which is 60 points and can have records manager as the recent experience (5 years with different employers). i used to think that if i nominate welfare worker as occupation, then i must have been employed as welfare worker in 12 out of the 18months before my application. am i right to think that my experience as records manager, although not very relevant to welfare worker (nominated occupation), as it is, can satisfy the recent work experiece requirement for gsm? the other thing is that, i have been working as records manager from 2002-february 2007, then changed jobs and became a bank teller from february 2007-june 2007 (just before coming to oz), will i still meet the 12 out of the 18 months recent work experience ? this experience doesnt have to be with one single employer and 1 kind of job right? i have based my assumption that i will achieve 120 points based on these scenarios. please advise if i am mistaken.

Abbey

also, could you please advise if (provided i meet all 136 requirements), i can still lodge the 136 visa application after 1st september 2007? (while in aus on 573 visa). is there anything on the new changes that will prevent me from logding a 136 visa ?