WHY MIGRATE TO AUSTRALIA?

Here are a few visa options to immigrate to Australia under the family stream.

Subclass 100 – Partner (Migrant) visa

It’s an Australia PR visa that allows the spouse/de facto partner of an Australian PR/citizen or a New Zealand citizen deemed eligible to live permanently in Australia. It’s generally granted to those who hold a Subclass 309 visa.

Subclass 309 – Partner (Provisional) visa

The spouse/de facto partner of an Australia PR/citizen or an eligible New Zealand citizen lives in Australia temporarily until Subclass 100 visa is not approved or withdrawn. This must be applied for from outside Australia.

Subclass 300 – Prospective Marriage visa

With this visa, you can arrive in Australia and marry your prospective spouse. You can stay from 9 to 15 months from the date of granting the visa.

Subclass 801 – Partner visa

It’s an Australia PR visa that allows the spouse/de facto partner of an Australian PR/citizen or a New Zealand citizen deemed eligible to live permanently in Australia. It’s generally granted to those who hold a Subclass 820 visa (Partner (Provisional) Visa).

Subclass 820 – Partner (Temporary) visa

The spouse/de facto partner of an Australia PR/citizen or an eligible New Zealand citizen lives in Australia temporarily until Subclass 801 visa isn’t approved or withdrawn.

Subclass 600 (Visitor visa) – Sponsored family stream

If you are sponsored by a family member in Australia who’s either a PR or a citizen of Australia, you can use this visa to visit your family members in Australia. You may also go cruising, have a holiday, or train/study for up to 3 months. The visa is valid for up to 12 months.

Subclass 114 – Aged Dependent Relative visa

It’s an Australia PR visa that allows a single older person, financially dependent on the support of a relative in Australia, to immigrate to Australia. It must be applied for from outside Australia.

Subclass 116 – Carer visa

It’s an Australia PR visa that allows you to move to Australia to care for a relative with a long-term medical condition. They are not supposed to have reasonable access to options for caring in Australia.

Subclass 103 – Parent visa

It’s an Australian PR visa that allows the parent of a settled Australian PR/citizen or an eligible New Zealand citizen immigrates to Australia.

Subclass 101 – Child visa

This visa enables a child outside Australia to immigrate to Australia to live with the child’s parents.

Yes, it’s possible to migrate to Australia without a job. Here are the major visa options:

Subclass 189 – Skilled Independent Visa

Subclass 189 is among the most popular pathways that skilled foreign nationals use to immigrate to Australia. This visa allows you to immigrate to Australia without having a job offer from an Australian employer.

Subclass 190 – Skilled Nominated Visa

Even this visa doesn’t require you to have a job offer from an Australian employer. You only have to be nominated a state/territory in Australia for immigration. The nomination is offered due to your skills and current occupation that matches one of the occupations listed in the CSOL (Consolidated Sponsored Occupation List).

Subclass 491 – Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) Visa  

This visa is for those skilled foreign workers who are ready to live and work in Australia. It’s similar to Subclass 190 with the extra possibility of immigrating via sponsorship by a relative in Australia. 

Even though it’s possible to move to Australia using the pathways mentioned above, having a job offer can add bonus points to your profile’s score in Australia’s point-based immigration system. This increases your chances of obtaining Australia PR.

Skill assessment is a mandatory step for your Australia immigration which can be done through the relevant skill assessment body.

The PMSOL (Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List) is an occupation list that has skilled occupations the Australian government has done an assessment of to fill critical skills required to support the economic recovery of Australia.

As of now, 44 occupations are listed in the PMSOL. This list is created based on expert advice from Australia’s National Skills Commission and consultation. Select the related occupation based on your expertise and work experience as it is the best option for the Australia work visa.

The requirement for health insurance depends on the type of visa application. Certain visa applications require you to have health insurance at the time of applying. When other visa applications are submitted, it’s allowed that you obtain health insurance later. Once you get the visa it may also be needed that you maintain the health insurance through the whole period of your stay in Australia.

In fact, when you arrive in Australia, it’s your financial responsibility to meet any health care expenses you incur there. Australia provides Medicare health insurance facilities to Australia PR.

If you have no Medicare eligibility, it’s strongly recommended that you arrange for private health insurance. You can do this even if it’s not mandatory while applying for an Australian visa. This ensures that you have full coverage in case you meet with an unplanned instance involving the need for hospitalization or medical care in Australia.

If the Australian visa you are applying for requires you to fulfill a certain level of English proficiency. The IELTS score you need to obtain depends on many factors. These include the visa type, your occupation, and other requirements for eligibility. An assessment of these factors is done to reach a certain IELTS score.

The minimum IELTS score required for Australia PR is 6 in all four language skill areas namely reading, writing, listening, and speaking. The type of visa you apply for determines the score you need to earn for eligibility. Here’s a table that shows the various levels of proficiency you can achieve in IELTS for Australia.

The IELTS score has a validity of 2 years counted from the date of the test you attended. The IELTS score is the no.1 choice of Australian Educational institutions, employers, and professional organizations to determine the level of English language proficiency of applicants.

Not all Australian visa applications require applicants to get a medical examination. Applicants from countries that are considered to have a high health risk by the DIBP (Department of Immigration and Border Protection) are the ones that usually are required to go through the medical examination criteria.

Among other circumstances that may raise the need for medical examinations to include the applicant’s personal health status, your occupation, the period you stayed in Australia, and if you are going to work in schools or in healthcare facilities in Australia.

Here’s a list of people for whom it’s mandatory that they meet health requirements:

• All applicants for Australia PR visas must undergo a full medical examination and chest x-ray with a “panel doctor”.
• Some applicants for temporary stay visas may also need to undergo medical examinations or submit a letter proving “fitness to travel”. This must be issued by a doctor before granting an Australian visa.
• All children/dependents added in your visa application with a minimum age of 11 years have to have full medicals and X-ray examination.

All individuals added to your application and all of your dependents (even those not included in the visa application) have to undertake a medical examination. They must “pass” the medical test. If one of these applicants fails, the visa won’t be granted.

In fact, the success of your Australia PR visa application depends on the number of total points you earn in the Australia immigration system. The minimum point required is 65. This point is calculated based on several factors. The better you can perform in these factors the higher will be your points and the possibility of success in obtaining Australia PR.

Here are the points criteria under Australia immigration system:

Age

English Language Skills

Skilled employment experience

Overseas skilled employment – (outside Australia)

Australian skilled employment – (in Australia)

Educational qualifications

Specialist education qualification

Australian study requirement

Professional Year in Australia

Credentialed community language

Study in regional Australia

It isn’t always necessary to have a sponsor to work in Australia. Nevertheless, at times, having a sponsor can enhance your chances of obtaining a visa.

You can get sponsorship in one of the 2 ways:

• find a sponsor yourself
• put in an EOI (expression of interest) using SkillSelect

Completing an EOI (expression of interest) on SkillSelect isn’t the same as completing a visa application. The former just means that you can be found and granted nominations by employers for an Australian visa. There isn’t a fee for creating/submitting an EOI in SkillSelect.

It could take you a long time to find the right job, it can take a long time and is by no means guaranteed. In many cases, eligible job seekers have to look for employment for many months.

So, it’s best to find a job before you immigrate to Australia.

In case your EOI is amended while the application process is in progress, and it results in a dip in your ranking and/or points score, you must present evidence to substantiate and establish the points you claimed in your EOI.

If you are either in a married or de-facto relationship with an Australia PR/Australian citizen, you may have the eligibility to obtain a partner visa. In case you are living offshore, you would have to apply for the offshore category under Subclass 100/309. Your visa application will be assessed at the processing center that’s nearest to you.

If you are currently residing in Australia with your Australian partner, then you would apply for the onshore category under the subclass 801/820. For the Partner Visa, processing times vary significantly. You may also have the eligibility for a Prospective Marriage Visa in case you are residing offshore and engaged to be married to an Australia PR/Australian citizen as well.

First, complete your degree successfully. Then you will possess the knowledge and skills to find a competitive job in Australia.

International students like you can apply for Australia PR via Australia’s SkillSelect Migration Program. This program gives an online service where willing migrants can lodge an online EOI. Post that, your Australian employer will have to get approval to sponsor your application for a skilled visa.

For international students, Australia provides a special health insurance coverage known as OSCH (Overseas Student Health Cover).