Planning to apply for work in Australia?
To be able to work in Australia, you will need to hold a passport from your home country and an Australian visa permitting you to work.
Australia has a General Skilled Migration (GSM) Program that is specifically designed to target individuals with specific skills and capabilities that will help address Australia’s skill shortages as well as enhance the size and skill level of the Australian workforce to.
Under GSM, the Point based skilled migration and Permanent Employer Sponsored programs are the two largest and most used of the four main skilled migration categories. These are available for skilled workers who do not have an employer sponsoring them, who are applying as independent migrant, as well as those sponsored by an eligible Australian relative or nominated by a state or territory government.
In the Skill Stream, applicants who are migrating to a regional area, sponsored by employers or nominated by a state or territory government under a State Migration Plan, are given priority processing.
Effective 1 July 2012, there were significant changes that were introduced to Australia’s Skilled Migrant Category. Now, to be eligible to apply for any of the working visa subclasses, you must first register your intentions for skilled migration by submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI) in SkillSelect and receiving an invitation to make a visa application before you can apply for a visa.
Before lodging a complete EOI, you are required to have gained the minimum 60 points in the Points Test; have completed a skills assessment and/or a job ready program and have taken and passed the required English language test to prove you meet the English language requirement. You must also meet all the other threshold criteria for the relevant visa subclass you express interest in.
Generally, you must be under 50 years old at the time of applying; be nominated and hold a skilled assessment for an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) at the time of lodging the application and have ready evidence of recent skilled employment in a skilled occupation or have recently competed the Australian Study requirement.
Take note, while you don’t need to submit documents supporting your claims when you submit your EOI, you must, however, have documents supporting the claims you make in your EOI prepared and ready.
Once you have prepared the information required, you are ready to submit an EOI. Be aware that all EOIs must be completed online using SkillSelect. Then, once you complete your EOI, the system will give you a points score and results based on your claims. Your completed EOI is stored in SkillSelect and is valid for two years.
Also, you must make sure to complete your EOI to be eligible to receive an invitation. An incomplete EOI, though also stored for two years in SkillSelect, will not make you eligible to receive an invitation.
So once you submit your completed EOI online, you will then go into an online skills “pool”.
Bear in mind also once in the pool, there is no guarantee that though you have received a pass mark, you will be invited to apply for a visa. It is the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) who will assess the applications and invite candidates with the highest point tallies from the pool to apply for a skilled migration visa.
Take note also that at any time during the validity of your EOI, you may update your details to reflect any additional qualifications or experience you may have obtained. Updating your EOI may increase your likelihood of being invited or an employer contacting you.
Once you have received an invitation from SkillSelect, take note that you will only have 60 days to lodge a complete visa application before the invitation expires. If you have not received an invitation within 2 years, your EOI will lapse and expire, but you will hаνе the option tο renew your EOI аftеr 2 years.
This invitation will contain instructions on how you can lodge your visa application.
When applying for your Australia working visa, you are required to provide evidence of your claims with your visa application.
To be eligible to apply under Australia’s Skilled Migration Program, you must be at least 18 years old and younger than 50 at the time of application; have at least a competent level of English language ability; have nominated an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) or an occupation on the Consolidated Skilled Occupation List (CSOL) that is sponsored by an Australian State/ Territory Government; must provide a positive skills assessment completed by a government appointed Australian Skills Assessing Authority for your nominated occupation; and must have either university or trade qualifications. You must also meet the health and character requirements.
You can submit your Australia working visa application either online, via post or courier, or with the help of a migration agent or visa providers. The processing of applications under the new SkillSelect program is generally 3 to 6 months.