Applying for Australian residency
Are you looking at applying for Australian residency? Seeking to make Australia your new home?
Intergate Emigration is one of only a handful of companies here in South Africa that is owned and managed by a licensed Australian Migration Agent – we can help you with your ambition of applying for Australian residency.
Your first step in applying for Australian residency
Applying for Australian residency means you are competing with other likely emigrants from all over the planet. What you need to take away from this simple fact is that not everyone will qualify to make an application for Australian residency.
Australia has in place a robust emigration process and qualifying criteria. It is designed to ensure that only needed emigrants will qualify for residency. By needed, we mean for example, suitably skilled migrants that have experience and qualifications that are in short supply in Australia.
There are some obvious precluding factors that should be your first step in seeing whether you can proceed with applying for Australian residency. These include you age, English language ability, health and criminal history.
You can see if you meet this criteria by emailing us here or telephoning us on 021 202 8200 or 011 234 4275.
Your second step in applying for Australian residency
Once you have met the basic criteria you need to then look at your occupation. Beware – this sounds straight forward enough but it is an area that is very commonly got wrong.
Many people go online to do this and are pleased to see they appear on either the skilled occupation list or consolidated sponsored occupation list. In seeing this they believe they have the right occupation for making an application for Australian residency.
There is however far more to it then simply matching a job title. Can you prove, and do you meet the required qualifications, experience and skills for you to be accepted as this occupation in Australia.
As an example we can take a plumber with 5 years experience. In this case does the plumber have the required qualifications and experience to be able to pass the skills assessment which is needed when applying for Australian residency?
If this step is not done correctly it can result in you spending considerable sums of money on an application for residency that will not be successful.
Get more information by emailing us here or telephoning us on 021 202 8200 or 011 234 4275.
Your third step in applying for Australian residency
Australia operates a skilled migrant program which is points based. It requires you to score a certain amount of points in order to make an application for Australian residency.
- If your occupation is on the skilled occupation list this point score needs to be 65 points plus.
- If your occupation is on the consolidated skilled occupation list it needs to be a minimum of 65 points but higher may be needed depending on the individual states requirements.
Calculating your points score may again seem deceptively easy. You can read more here about online Australian emigration assessments, but let us sum it up by saying most people get it wrong.
Common errors include:
- Nomination of the wrong occupation.
- Awarding of too many points for experience.
- Awarding of points for qualifications that do not count.
- Doubling up on the points score for some areas where you can only score once.
The points score should be done in conjunction with a formal assessment, by a licensed migration agent. The formal assessment should look at all the qualifying criteria that you would need to meet when applying for Australian residency as well as your points score and occupation.
The formal assessment is the foundation of you applying for Australian residency and mistakes made at this stage are simply compounded up throughout the process of your application. Once again meaning you may waste money, time and worse still not qualify.
Find out more about being assessed for making an application for Australian residency by emailing us here or telephoning us on 021 202 8200 or 011 234 4275.
Your fourth step in applying for Australian residency
As we referred to above, nominating an occupation is not enough – you need to prove you can indeed carry out that occupation to Australian standards. This moves us on to the skills assessment part of applying for Australian residency.
In most cases a skills assessment needs to be carried out in order for you to be able to proceed with applying for Australian residency. Depending upon your occupation Australia has a number of skills assessment authorities and it is to one of these the application must be made.
A positive skills assessment is vital in proceeding to the next step of your application and without it you will not be able to apply for Australian residency.
It is also highly likely during this step of the migration process you will need to prove your English language ability by the taking of a suitable test such as IELTS.
Find out more about skills assessments and English language requirements by emailing us here or telephoning us on 021 202 8200 or 011 234 4275.
Your fifth step in applying for Australian residency
Now you have been formally assessed, received a positive skills assessment and met the English language criteria you can proceed with compiling and submitting an Expression of Interest application into what is known as SkillSelect.
The Expression of Interest is formally stating your interest in applying for Australian residency. It records the details from your formal assessment, English language test and skills assessment – amongst other information.
It is vital this information is correct. The information provided is taken at face value and you will be selected for an invitation to apply for residency based on what you have submitted.
The subsequent application, responding to the invitation to apply, needs to be an exact match or you risk your application for Australian residency being unsuccessful.
Your sixth step in applying for Australian residency
The Invitation to Apply, which derives from your Expression of Interest being selected by SkillSelect. Once you have received this you have 60 days in which to respond with your full application.
As above, and we cannot stress this enough, the application needs to be 100% correct and inline with your expression of interest. Government application fees are expensive and there are no refunds.
Summary
The devil as they say, is always in the detail. Our licensed migration agents are trained and qualified to guide you through each and every step of you applying for Australian residency.
Get started today by emailing us here or telephoning us on 021 202 8200 or 011 234 4275.
