Success Story – Some Journeys To PR Are Longer And More Complicated
This post reflects the legal landscape as of the date of publication. Laws may have changed since then. Please consult a legal professional for current information and personalised advice.
We first met our client, let’s call him Bob in April 2017.
He held a 457 visa, just lost his job and his occupation was announced as being taken off the skilled list effective immediately. The long term and short term lists had just been introduced for the first time and the 457 was being abolished.
His wife had given birth to their first child in Australia less than 12 months before this happened and Bob was desperate to do whatever he could to keep his family safe and in Australia.
He secured a job offer in a new city but we needed to work out the right ANZCO code now that his nominated occupation was no longer eligible for a nomination to be lodged. We were able to find a suitable ANZSCO code that suited his experience and the needs of the business, but it was a skill level 1 occupation whereas he was coming from a skill level 2 occupation. He didn’t have enough experience to meet ANZSCO requirements for the new application nor did he have the right qualifications.
Based on his work experience we were able to get him a graduate diploma issued. This being a higher level qualification than a bachelor degree!! This qualification satisfied the ANZSCO requirements and his nomination was approved for him to work with his new employer.
It wasn’t all good news though. His new occupation was on the short term list so it didn’t have a pathway to PR. We considered the 190 visa however his RPL was suitable only for the Department not for VETASSESS. Luckily, his wife, let’s call her Jane, was a hairdresser so we devised a plan with her as the main applicant for PR.
We spoke to Jane’s employer and he was happy to sponsor Jane but insisted on using a different migration agent that he had used previously. We parted ways wishing Bob and Jane all the best in the journey. A few months later Bob called us again. They had paid the new agent but no real work had happened on their application! We said we’d be happy to take it over if the employer agreed. Then, Bob called again and said that the other migration agent said they weren’t eligible for this visa. This is when we got angry! For us the eligibility was plain. Clearly these agents did not have enough experience with this type of application. They ceased their agreement with the other agents and appointed us to take things over. It was a stressful time because there were MORE law changes starting in just a few days that would make them ineligible. You see, her employer wanted to pay Award wages, but the new laws required TSMIT wages to be paid meaning she would need ~ a $10,000 raise which was not possible.
So, we quickly were able to lodge her 186 direct entry nomination before these laws came in. Normally we would lodge nomination and application together however we didn’t have Jane’s skills assessment yet so we couldn’t. Luckily we knew that we had 6 months from the date of the nomination approval to lodge the visa so we weren’t worried and quickly were able to lodge everything with Vetassess.
The Department were painfully slow with Jane’s nomination, we lodge Feb 2018 and we didn’t hear anything from the Department until it was approved July 2019. While we were waiting for the nomination to be processed we finalised paper Vetassess and technical interview Vetassess and skills assessment was granted.
Jan 2019 was a big month. After a few tries, Jane, a native english speaker got the 6 in each category she needed for us to be able to lodge, just a few days after, Jane and Bob found out that Jane was pregnant so we warned them that PR couldn’t be granted until it was safe for Jane to get an xray for the medical test for the visa.
After meeting in April 2017, we lodged PR in Feb 2019 which was great as it meant the family could get Medicare which saved them a lot of money during Jane’s pregnancy. Fast forward to November 2019, Jane and Bob’s family grew from 3 to 4 and their PR was granted, we gave them the good news in the middle of the night as they were up anyway with their newborn.
Next step, visas for their parents now that they meet the balance of family test 😉