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The recent Australian immigration changes mean that fewer people qualify for Australian immigration under the skilled independent visa. The Migration Occupations in Demand List no longer exists. Changes to the Skilled Occupation List in June 2010 may make Australian immigration more difficult still.
Sponsorship by an Australian State or Territory under the State Sponsorship permanent 176 visa (relatives may sponsor as well) or the provisional 475 visa may be an alternative to the Australian Skilled independent visa. If you meet the requirements for a State Sponsorship visa it may be worth applying now instead of waiting until later in the year when you may no longer meet the requirements:
STATE SPONSORSHIP – PERMANENT VISA (176)
Under the State Sponsorship permanent visa you will need to meet the following requirements:
- You must be under 45 years of age.
- You must have an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) as well as the individual State Skills in Demand list (or be sponsored by a relative).
- You must have recent experience in your occupation.
- You must have good English language skills.
- You need to be sponsored by a State or Territory or a relative.
- You need to reach a pass mark of 100 points – This points requirement is lower than for the skilled independent visa.
- You must live in the sponsoring State for the first two years after which you can live elsewhere in Australia.
If you come under this visa category you benefit from Medicare cover and are also able to sponsor your relatives for permanent resident visas.
STATE SPONSORSHIP – PROVISIONAL VISA (475)
If your occupation is not on the state Skills in Demand list you may consider the provisional 475 visa instead:
- You must be under 45 years of age.
- You must have an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) as well as on the State regional skilled occupations list. There is no option to be sponsored by a relative for the provisional visa.
- You must have recent experience in your occupation.
- You must have good English language skills.
- You need to be sponsored by the regional area.
- You need to reach a pass mark of 100 points – Again lower than the points requirement for the independent visa.
- You must live in the regional area for the first two years. You can apply for permanent residence if you have lived for two years and worked for at least 12 months in the sponsoring regional area.
As this is not a permanent visa you do not come under Medicare and so would need to take out private health cover. Until you have permanent residence, you will also not be able to sponsor relatives for entry to Australia.
If you are interested in these visas you may wish to look in particular at the States of S Australia, Western Australia and Tazmania as these have the greatest choice of occupations for the State Sponsorship visa categories.
