Guys, here is the story of mine.
I've applied my GSM 175 offshore visa on July 2008 and i did not heard anything from DIAC since then. On April 09, after so many changes on the migration program, i decided to take the State sponsorship route to buy myself a security. my occupation is still remains in the CSL stream which means my CSL GSM 175 still going on when i applied my WA State sponsorship.
then i got email from my CO from my CSL GSM 175 application on May 09 and submitted all requested documents end of May. so far i have yet to heard anything from my CO and its almost 3 months back. latest PLE reply was stating "Your application remains under active consideration. Your application is being processed further" back in 28th July 2009.

Today i received WA SS confirmation letter together with the Form 1100. now i am in total dilemma. should i agree WA State sponsorship or should i wait for my CO to grant my CSL GSM 175 visa? i will still start my life in WA as i have closed friend there which will ease the things up, only if i got my visa first of course.

i have filtered out all the possibility and i would like to share with you all, any inputs are welcome

Scenario 1
Forget about the WA state sponsorship, just hold tight and wait for the visa grant on CSL GSM 175? it may be granted tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year? no body can guarantee the answer here.

Scenario 2
Sign the agreement for WA State Sponsorship and let the DIAC to decide? if DIAC approved my CSL GSM 175 application before they got chance to received my Form 1100, will the Form 1100 affect my already approved 175 visa?

Scenario 3
Sign the agreement for WA State Sponsorship and get priority processing and hopefully can get the 176 visa in no time as my file has already assigned with a CO?


what do you guys think?

As your case is already with a CO, I don't see how the state sponsorship would speed the process up. They would still need to do whatever checks they are doing anyway, they don't perform less checks on a 176 as far as I know.

I think I would be tempted to sit tight and just wait, sending in new forms might only confuse matters.

CHB,

If you 100% sure of going to WA then you can sign the agreement so that you can get a SS visa. But if you have plans of going some where else then you dont have to sign them.

But I have seen some people getting 175 as their visa even if they had applied for 176 as well in the same time. I dont know on what basis the CO gives 175 or 176 if they had applied for both. So if you are lucky enough you can also get 175 eventhough u had apllied 176 as well.

comments in Blue... Good luck for your visa..

at first i plan to live in WA and look for jobs from there. i can get any domestic flight to any city in Australia for job interviews. Perth may be the place to stay or at least, it is a starting point. if i been granted a 176 visa this definitely won't happen.

so you guys meaning that accepting WA SS won't make my case any better than what i have now?

Yes, But I sense one risk!!
If CSL changes in the mean time, If your skil set is not under the NEW CSL.. then there might be chances of your file not getting fast processing...
So, if you plan to live in the WA, then may be u can go ahead with it..
If you have SS, CSL changes will not anyways affect your visa pocessing...

yes that definitely a risk. how long does WA SS offer last? may be i should hold it for a period of time waiting the CO to grant my 175, if that period runs out and i yet to received my 175, may be i should take the WA SS?

CHB

Following is the sponsorship validity for WA

3-6 months - If SS applied from onsite
2 years - If applied from offshore

Not sure though, It is valid for 6 months!!
Yes, You can wait for a month or so.
One more point I wanna mention, many applicants who have accepted SS they have been awarded with 175 instead of 176.. Its true.. check some of the threads on BE...

Does that seem to be a good news for you??

divsman,
how fast did you got ur CO/visa since the date you submitted Form 1100 to WA SS?

WA accepted on 20 may 09
CO on 27 may
Visa in July 09... It was pretty fast... seems like my CO was in a hurry to finish off the pile of files..

Good luck for your visa..

well it seems like i have waiting longer than you, you got CO on 27th May and visa in July, that is 2months time only... mine already more than 3 months back though....

divsman,

I was just wondering, did you lodge 175 first and converted to 176SS? If so I have been seeing people that converted to 176SS (with 120 points) getting 175 instead of 176, so I was wondering whether you got 175 or 176 approved.

Now you need to anlyse about, the fact that , If you accept WA SS at this stage of your application now( when you have CO , all u r docs are uploaded and your file is in process).. does that really fasten your file?? Thats a million dollor question...

We too got 175... Thats the bottom line...
does this make you accept WA SS???

But anyhow we are planning to visit Perth as my OH has good opps there...