State Sponsorship Visa
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Processing Time in South Africa: Between 6 months and 1 year
Processing Time if lodged abroad: Must be lodged in SA |
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Government Fee for Skills Assessment: Between AUD$310 to AUD$2150 (Depending on your assessing authority and if you also need to do a practical assessment).
Government Fee for State:AUD$0 to AUD$350 depending on the state. Some states are free.
Government Fee for Visa: AUD$3520 for the main applicant. AUD$1760 for dependents over 18 years and AUD$880 for dependents under 18 years.
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Applying for a State Sponsorship Visa for Australia
View the new published skills occupation list for Australia for 2015-2016!
This visa is for Australian Permanent Residency. Permanent Residents in Australia are allowed to remain in Australia indefinitely. This visa also allows you to travel to and enter Australia for five years from the date the visa is granted. This Permanent Residency visa allows for your family to join you. You would be required to live in the nominated state as per the State list that you are on, for the first 2 years that you are in Australia, there after the entire county would be open to you.
This is a permanent residence visa. As a permanent resident you are permitted to remain in Australia indefinitely. This visa also allows you to travel to and enter Australia for five years from the date the visa is granted.
This visa is for you if you:
- are under the age of 50 years.
- have the required competent English language skills
- have your skills and qualifications that meet the Australian standard, for an occupation on the Consolidated Skilled Occupation List (CSOL).
You and your family would be permitted to live and work anywhere in your State upon activation of your visa.
Once your occupation has been confirmed as a skill shortage on the CSOL list, we will then calculate your points. Australia requires applicants to score a minimum of 60 points. Your points are generally made up of, but not limited to the following criteria: Age, English Language ability, work experience and qualifications. You would now be eligible to apply for a Skills Assessment based on the assessing authorities’ criteria.
Your Skills Assessment
The SOL list will advise you on the assessing authority that will assess your application. Please note that for certain trade occupations for certain listed countries, TRA (Trades Recognition of Australia) will ask the assessing authority know as VETASSESS, to conduct the skills assessment on their behalf and also do a technical interview where required or a practical assessment in a workshop environment where required.
Do I need formal Qualifications?
Yes! Australia would require formal qualifications for this visa subclass. Most general/non trade occupations would require a minimum of 1 year of post qualification work experience and a general minimum of 3 years post qualification work experience for trade occupations.
Applying to a State
Once your Skills Assessment has been approved, your occupation would then need to be matched to a state/s on the individual state lists. Once your occupation appears on this list, you would then be able to apply to a state. Please note that certain states may have additional requirements, e.g.: 7.0 in IELTS or 3 years work experience in that occupation.
Processing Times and Visa Requirements
Most skills paper based assessments would take approximately 3 months. If practical assessments are also required, this would be subject to available practical dates as designated by the skills assessing authorities. Once available practical dates have been issued for trades, the practical assessment is usually conducted over 1 day.
State applications can take between 1 to 3 months, depending on the state. Even though this State Sponsorship 190 visa has 3 stages and the Skilled Independent Visa 189 only has 2 stages, this State Sponsorship 190 visa may be processed sooner as you receive an invitation from DIBP as soon as your state application is approved.
Once applying for the final stage to the Department of Immigration and Boarder Protection, processing times may vary, depending on your points count. It is safe to say that the process from Skills Assessment to Visa application can take between 6 months to 1 year depending on your individual case.
The Main Requirements are:
1 x Valid Passport
1 x Academic qualifications
1 x Evidence of work experience for each period of employment
1 x Birth Certificate
1 x Evidence of English Language ability
1 x A clear criminal record (Certain cases can be discussed on a case by case basis, should there be an issue).
1 x A clean bill of health (Certain cases can be discussed on a case by case basis, should there be an issue).