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.

Our client studied Commercial Cookery and Diploma in Hospitality Management in Australia. She changed locations few times — Gold Coast, Brisbane, Melbourne and finally settled on the Sunshine Coast. After she finished her studies, we were able to help her obtain a Graduate Visa which got her a visa with full-time work rights for 18 months.

During her graduate visa, she got enough hours to complete her Job Ready Program and to get a full Skills Assessment as a Chef.

We were hoping that we could get her a 190 Visa. However, by the time she had received the skills assessment, Queensland had already used up their invitations for the 190 visa for the financial year. And her 485 graduate visa was expiring before the new quota for the new financial year would start.

Whilst technically the 189 visa was an option, realistically, we knew that she didn’t have enough points to get that visa. Luckily, she had fallen in love with the regional area, Noosa. And her having worked in the regional area meant that she met the criteria for a 491 Visa.

The 491 visa allows her full-time work rights and access to Medicare for the next five (5) years. After she has lived and worked in the regional area in any occupation full-time earning at least TSMIT (currently $53,900 p.a.), then hopefully we will be helping her for her third visa application with us, this time,  for permanent residency.

It’s been an absolute pleasure to help her over the years. Whilst its not been without trials and tribulations, we’ve been glad to help her overcome every obstacle to help her reach her goals.  We would be glad to offer you a free visa assessment in the hopes that you can become our next success story.

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 😉

With the right guidance and lots of determination perhaps within 2.5 years you too could achieve Australian PR. For a free assessment of your options email us your resume and date of birth info@condormigaration.com

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 were contacted by a distraught family. Parents and husband were in Australia but wife was overseas and just had a visitor visa refused. Other agents told her another visitor visa application was the best option but immediately we disagreed.

If you have been unlawful in Australia for more than 28 days (like our client was), you need exceptional circumstances for a tourist visa to be granted. The client was pregnant with no support in her home country so the circumstances were exceptional but there were so many factors against the grant of a tourist visa such as: little incentive to return to her home country, previous visa non-compliance, the fact that she had been in Australia for more than 12 month which triggers concerns of DeFacto residency plus we couldn’t exactly say she just wanted to come for a holiday if we wanted to rely on her pregnancy.

Bianca Chisari, Director and Senior Migration Lawyer/Agent MARN1573911 of Condor Migration right away prepared to lodge a medical treatment visa for the client. We can never guarantee the outcome of any visa, but we were confident.

The visa was lodged 19 June and granted on 16 July without any no further stay condition (8503). A huge relief for our client who can give birth in Australia next to her husband and with the support of her parents. On her tourist visa she can also lodge a partner visa so she can become an Australian permanent resident.

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.

When applying for a student visa, it is necessary to show that your intentions for coming to or staying are genuinely to study. Often, the more Australian visas you’ve had before your student visa application, the harder it is to prove you’re looking to study as opposed to just extending your time in Australia. Just because you have an extensive visa history doesn’t mean it won’t be granted, it depends on how the visa is lodged and what evidence is provided.

Case Study: Successful VET Student Visa Granted After 7 (Seven) Previous Visas And 10 (Ten) Years In The Country Colombian Passport

When our client approached us in search of another visa, he had already previously been granted 7 visas in Australia. He had completed a number of VET courses as a student, received a graduate visa and been sponsored by 3 different employers. These consecutive visas had allowed him to remain in the country for more than 10 years, studying at 4 VET institutions. He had lost his job, and was unable to find a new sponsor, his visa was at risk of cancellation. Applying for another student visa was his only option – though his visa history would make it tough to demonstrate his genuine intention.

Our team was able to present a strong case to the Department – one which was never questioned for its genuineness, and his student visa was subsequently granted without any no further stay conditions.

To ensure the success of our applications, we do not use a template answer for your genuine position statement – we tailor everything to your specific circumstances to ensure we are able put forward the strong possible application. We can never guarantee the success of any application but with our track record of success we can give very accurate estimates.

The best part? We are now helping him with a permanent residency application, stay tuned for what should be another success story.

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.

In Australia, the only legitimate sponsorship visa for a ‘Minister of Religion’ is via a Labour Agreement. This agreement allows Australian religious organisations to sponsor the temporary and often eventually permanent entry of overseas skilled workers. There is also a temporary visa that has a specific Minister of Religion Stream which is a lot easier for religious organisations to access than the labour agreement.

In the eyes of the Department Ministers of Religion include Chaplains, Imams, Monks, Priests, Pastors and Rabbis just to name a few.

Unfortunately, not all migration agents/lawyers know this, and we met our client after they received some bad advice from another migration agent/lawyer.

Case Study

Our client already had a 457 granted however, it came to our attention that the grounds under which the visa was applied for and subsequently granted were inappropriate. Our client received advice from a different agent and our client’s duties were misrepresented in the 457 nomination and application. If DIBP investigated this, our client would be at risk of visa cancellation and subsequent exclusion periods due to this false information. Often when trying to apply for PR through the 186 this is where DIBP pick up on problems with the 457.

When this client came to us, our first aim was to quickly address the visa cancellation risk. Of course, an accurate representation of his occupation needed to be made. This was achieved by applying for the 408 Temporary Activity Visa, allowing for him to be correctly listed as a Minister for Religion – not a bogus title (again it seems the other agent was not even aware of this visa subclass existing). One of the other reasons we chose this visa is because it has a relatively quick processing time. Other things to note about the 408 visa is that is has no minimum salary requirement unlike the 457’s $73,150 minimum, thereby making it more accessible to religious organisations who cannot afford such a high salary for missionaries etc.

Unfortunately, the 408 visa does not provide a direct pathway for permanent residence (although it does provide the visa holder’s spouse with full time work rights). It was then our challenge to help our client achieve their goal of PR.

As this particular religious organisation was located in a regional area an application for a Regional visa 187 RSMS was then made. Not only is this a permanent residency application, but it has more occupations to choose from than the 457 visa allows. Simply put, our client’s spouse could have her duties in the religious organisation accurately listed as it aligned with an occupation on the RSMS list. If the religious organisation was not in a regional area, for a permanent visa, we would potentially have to negotiate a labour agreement for the church. The labour agreement is still an option for this church but the RSMS meant that this applicant in particular could apply for PR straight away. Fast forward many years later and they now hold not just PR by actually citizenship.