475 Visa - 1 year extension??

[james185]

Hi James

Yes. You are exactly correct. Please see the link below and scroll down till you get to the RSMS stuff:
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener...ration/sir.htm

The employer does not necessarily have to be in SA because you don't necessarily have to be in SA either. However if you have decided to settle in SA then it is very unlikely that the prospective employer will be in some other State.

With a 475 visa, the only obligation is to live and work in Regional Oz. The only part of QLD that is not "regional" is the area immediately round Brisbane, whilst Perth Metro is the only non-regional part of WA. The whole of the ACT is regional, as are the whole of the NT and TAS. In short, Regional Australia is one heckuva big place!

It is not uncommon for a sc 475 visa holder to move to, say, SA. He then gets a job offer from an employer in, say, Cairns. In that situation, he must *notify* the State Immi people in SA and QLD respectively but the obligation is only to "notify" them both. Their permission is not required. The States just like to keep a few tabs on the situation because it enables each of them to work out how well their own plans for Regional Immigration in their respective States are actually working in practice.

In your own situation, it would please the Federal Govt if you or your wife accepted a job offer plus an offer of RSMS sponsorship from an employer in Regional Oz. Such an arrangement would be likely to keep you in Regional Oz indefinitely and the Fed Govt likes that idea.

Something like 85% of Australia's population is crammed into the main capital cities. Historically, this made sense because all of the State Capitals (apart from Canberra) are also Ports. However the total population of Oz is now about 22 million and 85% of them live in the main capitals. I think the stats are 7 million in Sydney, 4 million in each of Melbourne and Brisbane, 2 million in Perth and so forth. There is a very high concentration in each of the main State Capitals compared to the numbers of people in the rest of each State.

The result is that unemployment levels can be (and often are) distortedly high in the capitals and there is also pressure on the infrastructure of the main capitals - eg schools, public transport etc. Meanwhile the rest of Oz is almost uninhabited by comparison and you can't create local economies unless you can persuade people to move to the locality in the first place.

The present Government has long held a wish (even when they were in Opposition) to try to open up Regional Oz in order to exploit it. A long-standing Aussie whose family are all based in Melbourne, whose children are in school in Melbourne etc is not likely to take up a job offer which would mean moving his close family to Cairns or doing FIFO to Cairns on his own. A new immigrant is much more likely to be interested in helping the employer in Cairns because the new immigrant doesn't have the same sorts of pre-existing ties to some other place. After all, the distance from Melbourne to Cairns is about the same as between Paris and Budapest. The man from Melbourne might as well move to a different country because the climates in Melbourne and Cairns are completely different from each other and so forth. Cairns lies between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Equator, whereas Melbourne is about 44 S, I vaguely recall.

When they were in Opposition, the now-Government floated the possibility of some sort of visa arrangement which would virtually force new immigrants to move to the Regions and would prevent them from cluttering up say, Sydney, instead. This sort of idea is a luvverly political/ideological wish but it is impossible to do it for real. You can't force people to do certain things but what you can do is make it easier for new migrants to move to and around Regional Oz and the RSMS visa is obviously being tweaked so that it can play its full part in the process of encouraging new migrants to head for the Regions. Where, with a bit of luck, they will stay!

Cheers

Gill

Hi Gill, thanks for your informative post again..

I am educated to A Level standard, I see that for the RSMS visa it says that the applicant needs to be educated to diploma standard.. would this be enough?

I have asked Maryanne at True Blue and she seems to think that as long as I have enough experience it will be fine but I have now learnt to seek a second opinion!

Thanks
James

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill, thanks for your informative post again..

I am educated to A Level standard, I see that for the RSMS visa it says that the applicant needs to be educated to diploma standard.. would this be enough?

I have asked Maryanne at True Blue and she seems to think that as long as I have enough experience it will be fine but I have now learnt to seek a second opinion!

Thanks
James

Hi James

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener...ration/857.htm

http://www.acacia-au.com/regional_in...et_2011-12.php

You managed to collect a skills assessment OK or you would not have been able to obtain a sc 475 visa. Sure, the criteria have been tightened up since your sc 475 visa was sought but that is irrelevant. New law is very, very rarely applied in a way that works retrospectively because it would be grossly unfair to do that.

Also, which occupation did you nominate for your sc 475 visa, using the ASRI list below, please?

http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/

What is the work experience alternative with your nominated occupation? It is usually either 3 years or 5 years, depending on the seniority of the position.

DIAC are being seen to growl a bit about the RSMS visa but it is mainly Policy that is doing the growling, as opposed to the legislation itself. Policy is not Law and it can be interpreted very fluidly when it suits everyone's purposes to do so!

If the applicant for an RSMS visa has enough work-experience, it is nearly always possible to do without a skills assessment, even when the applicant is outside Australia and so the sc 119 RSMS visa is the one sought.

The sc 857 RSMS visa is the onshore version. To be eligible for this, he has to be in Oz in the first place and he has to be the holder of a "qualifying visa." The sc 475 is a qualifying visa. It is called a "provisional" visa to distinguish it from the "temporary" sc 457 visa - which is very temporary in nature.

The Aussie Government believes that the holder of a sc 475 "provisional" visa is a Permanent Resident of Australia in all but visa status. They expect that he will obtain his PR status either via sc 887 or via sc 857. They are not really fussed about what type of work he does on the sc 475 visa because whatever it is, it will be tax-producing so it will be helping the Aussie economy in some way.

He is also eligible to be considered for ANY permanent job as well as temporary jobs. This is important when a State Govt department will be the employer. The Unions have agreed with the State Govts that they will not offer permanent jobs to people who do not have PR but the sc 475 visa is an exception to this general rule.

Somewhere on the Immigration SA website there is a letter that sc 475 visa holders can print off and show to prospective employers in case the employer thinks that "provisional" means "temporary" - which it does not.

I'm not sure whereabouts the letter is - I tend to find it by stumbling around the Immigration SA website until I come across it by chance whenever I need to mention it to anyone! I don't have time to fish around right now but here is the fast, reliable link that will get you into the Immigration SA website. There is LOADS of other very useful information for new migrants on that website as well.

http://www.migration.sa.gov.au/sa/home.jsp

State Govt and local authority employers in SA tend to be very good with sc 475 visa holders. There tends to be less confusion about this "provisional" and "temporary" issue than with the equivalent employers in WA, for example.

So in short, I don't think that your academic qualifications need be a worry.

http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/region...-bodies.htm#sa

Here is a link to the Regional Certifying Body in SA. The boss of that, about a year ago, was a lady called Robyn [Someone] but I can't remember her last name and I don't know whether she is still involved with the RCB. Basically, if the RCB confirms that the employer [in SA] cannot find a more suitable employee for the job [than you] then the RCB confirms this and DIAC then grant the visa without any further hassle. I think that if you phone the RCB people, they would be able to reassure you. The best time to phone tends to be about 20 minutes before the official opening time in the morning - the boss is usually in and will speak to callers from overseas at that time of day, beofre his/her own office starts to get busy. You will need to check the time-zones.

Cheers

Gill

[james185]

Hi James

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/gener...ration/857.htm

http://www.acacia-au.com/regional_in...et_2011-12.php

You managed to collect a skills assessment OK or you would not have been able to obtain a sc 475 visa. Sure, the criteria have been tightened up since your sc 475 visa was sought but that is irrelevant. New law is very, very rarely applied in a way that works retrospectively because it would be grossly unfair to do that.

Also, which occupation did you nominate for your sc 475 visa, using the ASRI list below, please?

http://www.immi.gov.au/asri/

What is the work experience alternative with your nominated occupation? It is usually either 3 years or 5 years, depending on the seniority of the position.

DIAC are being seen to growl a bit about the RSMS visa but it is mainly Policy that is doing the growling, as opposed to the legislation itself. Policy is not Law and it can be interpreted very fluidly when it suits everyone's purposes to do so!

If the applicant for an RSMS visa has enough work-experience, it is nearly always possible to do without a skills assessment, even when the applicant is outside Australia and so the sc 119 RSMS visa is the one sought.

The sc 857 RSMS visa is the onshore version. To be eligible for this, he has to be in Oz in the first place and he has to be the holder of a "qualifying visa." The sc 475 is a qualifying visa. It is called a "provisional" visa to distinguish it from the "temporary" sc 457 visa - which is very temporary in nature.

The Aussie Government believes that the holder of a sc 475 "provisional" visa is a Permanent Resident of Australia in all but visa status. They expect that he will obtain his PR status either via sc 887 or via sc 857. They are not really fussed about what type of work he does on the sc 475 visa because whatever it is, it will be tax-producing so it will be helping the Aussie economy in some way.

He is also eligible to be considered for ANY permanent job as well as temporary jobs. This is important when a State Govt department will be the employer. The Unions have agreed with the State Govts that they will not offer permanent jobs to people who do not have PR but the sc 475 visa is an exception to this general rule.

Somewhere on the Immigration SA website there is a letter that sc 475 visa holders can print off and show to prospective employers in case the employer thinks that "provisional" means "temporary" - which it does not.

I'm not sure whereabouts the letter is - I tend to find it by stumbling around the Immigration SA website until I come across it by chance whenever I need to mention it to anyone! I don't have time to fish around right now but here is the fast, reliable link that will get you into the Immigration SA website. There is LOADS of other very useful information for new migrants on that website as well.

http://www.migration.sa.gov.au/sa/home.jsp

State Govt and local authority employers in SA tend to be very good with sc 475 visa holders. There tends to be less confusion about this "provisional" and "temporary" issue than with the equivalent employers in WA, for example.

So in short, I don't think that your academic qualifications need be a worry.

http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/region...-bodies.htm#sa

Here is a link to the Regional Certifying Body in SA. The boss of that, about a year ago, was a lady called Robyn [Someone] but I can't remember her last name and I don't know whether she is still involved with the RCB. Basically, if the RCB confirms that the employer [in SA] cannot find a more suitable employee for the job [than you] then the RCB confirms this and DIAC then grant the visa without any further hassle. I think that if you phone the RCB people, they would be able to reassure you. The best time to phone tends to be about 20 minutes before the official opening time in the morning - the boss is usually in and will speak to callers from overseas at that time of day, beofre his/her own office starts to get busy. You will need to check the time-zones.

Cheers

Gill

Hi Gill

We actually got the 475 visa on my wifes nominated occupation as office manager, the plan is though that she would stay at home with the kids and I would be the main bread winner, at first at least!

I am a sales/office manager and have worked in the role for my present company for 8 years but as I say, I am only educated to A Level standard.

Reading through the SA website it looks quite encouraging in that it says that if you don't have the necessary qualifications your employer can write a letter to DIAC saying why they need to employ you and giving points that need to be covered in the letter, so hopefully it will be ok.

Thanks again for your replies, I really do appreciate the time you take to give me such detailed insights!

Thanks
James

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill

We actually got the 475 visa on my wifes nominated occupation as office manager, the plan is though that she would stay at home with the kids and I would be the main bread winner, at first at least!

I am a sales/office manager and have worked in the role for my present company for 8 years but as I say, I am only educated to A Level standard.

Reading through the SA website it looks quite encouraging in that it says that if you don't have the necessary qualifications your employer can write a letter to DIAC saying why they need to employ you and giving points that need to be covered in the letter, so hopefully it will be ok.

Thanks again for your replies, I really do appreciate the time you take to give me such detailed insights!

Thanks
James

Hi James

Once you are in Oz, either you, your wife or both can easily do suitable Diplomas for Office Management. You can do them on-line from home and they don't cost much. Under the new skills assessment arrangements, an Aussie Diploma gained on-line does not get one any Points towards a GSM visa, though it used to and British would-be GSM immigrants were routinely told to get an on-line Diploma in Business Management from Orion Training in Brisbane. Orion got the person's CV and arranged the Diploma so that the modules would be relevant to the prospective visa applicant's actual occupation. It was more than being just a spoodly Diploma. Tha lady in charge of Orion did arrange the course so that it would be of genuine value in the relevant work-place in Oz and/or the UK. There was genuine value for money in it, apart from the fact that an Orion Diploma also clinched the skills assessment 100% of the time!

However in your situation you would already be in Oz, already working for the employer who wanted to sponsor you for an RSMS visa. GSM migration would not be involved so I doubt whether DIAC would fuss too much about a skills assessment - they'd be more interested in your work experience, both in Oz and elsewhere, I reckon. I agree with Maryanne about this.

As long as the work you are doing can roughly be described as "office management" and you can produce evidence of your work-history in the UK to prove it, I doubt whether they would even want a skills assessment if you were the main applicant for the RSMS visa and even if they did want a skills assessment from you, I reckon that the on-line Diploma would probably suffice because we would not be considering GSM migration.

The reason why DIAC are being seen to be a bit growly about the RSMS visa is because there are rumours that this visa has been abused. They are only rumours - nobody has been prosecuted as far as I know.

In the years from about 2004 onwards, thousands of people moved to Oz as International Students and thousands of them studied Cookery. Cookery was on the MODL, it is easy to learn and easy to teach and the tuition is relatively cheap. The intention of the Students was that they would apply for GSM migration as soon as they graduated.

DIAC warned the Government from about 2006 onwards that granting Student visas to all & sundry would create a situation where there were substantially more applicants for GSM visas than the annual quotas enabled DIAC to grant visas to. But at its zenith in 2008/2009, the business of educating International Students was an industry that was worth $17 billion AUD per year. It was Australia's third-largest source of foreign earnings. Coal is worth a bit more and I think iron ore is probably the leader.

From about 2009, the Minister for Immi started growling that he intended to clamp down on granting GSM visas to people who had only just graduated and didn't have any real work-experience in Cookery.

Because the occupation was on the MODL, the graduate Cookery students were able to obtain skills exemptions from the RSMS visa because the occupation was in enormous demand in Oz - otherwise it wouldn't have been on the MODL.

DIAC became suspicious that middlemen were arranging "introductions" between the graduate Students and willing RSMS employers in the Backofbeyondup. The suspicion was that sums of up to $100,000 AUD were alleged to have been changing hands.

I'm not sure whether that suspicion really had/has much foundation. I had a chat with a very experienced Frenchman about 18 months ago. He was a Chef and was on a 457 temporary visa, working for an employer fairly close to Brisbane. He was worried about whether he and his employer would be able to get an ENS visa because the criteria for those are stricter than for an RSMS but the employer was not based in "regional Oz."

I asked the Frenchman why it was allegedly impossible to get Aussie Cooks and Chefs when the place was so close to Brisbane? He explained that there were plenty of suitably trained and experienced Aussies but that all of them refuse to be full time employees. Apparently it becomes searingly hot in the kitchens in summer so the relevant Aussies just do a few shifts, get enough money to go surfing and have a few tinnies and they don't care whether the customers in the restaurant get fed or not. Somebody who can't be relied on to turn up for work is not an ideal employee. The employer liked the Frenchman because he always went to work, no matter what.

My sister lives in Perth. For the 30 years that she has lived in Oz, one of her dearest friends has been an Aussie called Bruce, who is a Chef. I've met Bruce and he came to help me one Christmas when Elaine and I were expecting about 14 people for lunch but neither of us had cooked for that many people before etc. Bruce was brilliant - a real pro and he showed me lots of shortcuts etc. He's the same as the Aussies in Brisbane, though. He won't cook for catering events in mid-summer because he says its too hot, the only thing that secured his help that Christmas was personal friendship etc and Elaine's house is air-conditioned anyway. It was not unduly hot in her own kitchen. However Bruce also mends computers and he does that most of the time.

So I'm not convinced that DIAC's suspicions were/are really justified. What I know about Bruce and what the Frenchman was saying are exactly the same problem - on opposite sides of the continent - and all the trade magazine job-adverts reveal that everywhere in Oz is desperately short of Cooks who are willing to work full time. The Aussie Cooks will not make the commitment that the employers need them to make. An immigrant Cook on an RSMS visa will make the commitment and he'll turn up for work because his RSMS visa will be at risk if he doesn't. That risk will overcome his dislike of the kitchen temperature, so in many ways the immigrant Cook is a better bet than the Aussie. Also, the recently graduated immigrant Cook might not have as much experience as the Aussie but at least the diners can rely on getting a meal!

Ergo I don't know whether the Aussie Government has been seeing gremlins where none really exist, but what I've just explained is the reason why they are growling about the RSMS. There is quite a lot of un-uttered xenophobia in the whole thing as well - the Govt won't admit it, but I'm certain that xenophobia does sway them quite a bit.

However, when you consider the background to the growling about the RSMS visa, it is pretty obvious that DIAC would be unlikely to growl at you, my friend!

Cheers

Gill

[james185]

Hi James

Once you are in Oz, either you, your wife or both can easily do suitable Diplomas for Office Management. You can do them on-line from home and they don't cost much. Under the new skills assessment arrangements, an Aussie Diploma gained on-line does not get one any Points.

However in your situation you would already be in Oz, already working for the employer who wanted to sponsor you for an RSMS visa. As long as the work you are doing can roughly be described as "office management" and you can produce evidence of your work-history in the UK to prove it, I doubt whether they would even want a skills assessment if you were the main applicant for the RSMS visa and even if they did want a skills assessment from you, I reckon that the on-line Diploma would probably suffice because we would not be considering GSM migration.

The reason why DIAC are being seen to be a bit growly about the RSMS visa is because there are rumours that this visa has been abused. They are only rumours - nobody has been prosecuted as far as I know.

In the years from about 2004 onwards, thousands of people moved to Oz as International Students and thousands of them studied Cookery. Cookery was on the MODL, it is easy to learn and easy to teach and the tuition is relatively cheap. The intention of the Students was that they would apply for GSM migration as soon as they graduated.

DIAC warned the Government from about 2006 onwards that granting Student visas to all & sundry would create a situation where there were substantially more applicants for GSM visas than the annual quotas enabled DIAC to grant visas to. But at its zenith in 2008/2009, the business of educating International Students was an industry that was worth $17 billion AUD per year. It was Australia's third-largest source of foreign earnings. Coal is worth a bit more and I think iron ore is probably the leader.

From about 2009, the Minister for Immi started growling that he intended to clamp down on granting GSM visas to people who had only just graduated and didn't have any real work-experience in Cookery.

Because the occupation was on the MODL, the graduate Cookery students were able to obtain skills exemptions from the RSMS visa because the occupation was in enormous demand in Oz - otherwise it wouldn't have been on the MODL.

DIAC became suspicious that middlemen were arranging "introductions" between the graduate Students and willing RSMS employers in the Backofbeyondup. The suspicion was that sums of up to $100,000 AUD were alleged to have been changing hands.

I'm not sure whether that suspicion really had much foundation. I had a chat with a very experience Frenchman about 18 months ago. He was a Chef and was on a 457 temporary visa, working for an employer fairly close to Brisbane. He was worried about whether he and his employer would be able to get an ENS visa because the criteria for those are stricter than for an RSMS but the employer was not based in "regional Oz."

I asked the Frenchman why it was allegedly impossible to get Aussie Cooks and Chefs when the place was so close to Brisbane? He explained that there were plenty of suitably trained and experienced Aussies but that all of them refuse to be full time employees. Apparently it becomes searingly hot in the kitchens in summer so the relevant Aussies just do a few shifts, get enough money to go surfing and have a few tinnies and they don't care whether the customers in the restaurant get fed or not. Somebody who can't be relied on to turn up for work is not an ideal employee. The employer liked the Frenchman because he always went to work, no matter what.

My sister lives in Perth. For the 30 years that she has lived in Oz, one of her dearest friends has been an Aussie called Bruce, who is a Chef. I've met Bruce and he came to help me one Christmas when Elaine and I were expecting about 14 people for lunch but neither of us had cooked for that many people before etc. Bruce was brilliant - a real pro and he showed me lots of shortcuts etc. He's the same as the Aussies in Brisbane, though. He won't cook for catering events in mid-summer because he says its too hot, the only thing that secured his help that Christmas was personal friendship etc and Elaine's house is air-conditioned anyway. It was not unduly hot in her own kitchen. However Bruce also mends computers and he does that most of the time.

So I'm not convinced that DIAC's suspicions were/are really justified. What I know about Bruce and what the Frenchman was saying are exactly the same problem - on opposite sides of the continent - and all the trade magazine job-adverts reveal that everywhere in Oz is desperately short of Cooks who are willing to work full time. The Aussie Cooks will not make the commitment that the employers need them to make. An immigrant Cook on an RSMS visa will make the commitment and he'll turn up for work because his RSMS visa will be at risk if he doesn't. That risk will overcome his dislike of the kitchen temperature, so in many ways the immigrant Cook is a better bet than the Aussie. Also, the recently graduated immigrant Cook might not have as much experience as the Aussie but at least the diners can rely on getting a meal!

Ergo I don't know whether the Aussie Government has been seeing gremlins where none really exist, but what I've just explained is the reason why they are growling about the RSMS. There is quite a lot of un-uttered xenophobia in the whole thing as well - the Govt won't admit it, but I'm certain that xenophobia does sway them quite a bit.

However, when you consider the background to the growling about the RSMS visa, it is pretty obvious that DIAC would be unlikely to growl at you, my friend!

Cheers

Gill

Thanks Gill, that is reassuring and Maryanne seems confident that we wouldn't have a problem.

Just a thought, now that our plan is to try and gain PR through RSMS or ENS as we can't fulfil the 2 year SA living requirement for the 475 pathway is there anything stopping us moving to say Sydney where there is a large employment market and working there in view to finding an employer to sponsor me for an ENS visa? Does the 475 restrict us to only working in regional Australia

Is the ENS more difficult to get than the RSMS?

Does the 475 restrict us to working only in 'regional' Australia or is that just for qualifying for PR??

Thanks
James

[Gollywobbler]

Thanks Gill, that is reassuring and Maryanne seems confident that we wouldn't have a problem.

Just a thought, now that our plan is to try and gain PR through RSMS or ENS as we can't fulfil the 2 year SA living requirement for the 475 pathway is there anything stopping us moving to say Sydney where there is a large employment market and working there in view to finding an employer to sponsor me for an ENS visa? Does the 475 restrict us to only working in regional Australia

Is the ENS more difficult to get than the RSMS?

Does the 475 restrict us to working only in 'regional' Australia or is that just for qualifying for PR??

Thanks
James

Hi James

You CANNOT work in Sydney whilst you are on a sc 475 visa and you have not completed 12 months' work in a Regional area plus lived in the Regional area for 24 months.

Also, the sc 475 and the RSMS 857 visas are designed to work together, so the criteria for the RSMS visa are more relaxed than normal when the applicant for the RSMS visa is the holder of an sc 475. He would not get any similar indulgence with an ENS visa, especially when he had not done his time in the sticks!

Additionally, Sydney is over-populated. Like all Westernised capital cities nowadays, it is full of Aussie youngsters who have first degrees plus PhDs and the whole bit but they are essentially unemployable because they have no relevant work experience to speak of. However, from an Immigration point of view - they are Aussies. You aren't. The Govt insists that it will ONLY favour foreign immigrants where a "suitably qualified" Aussie cannot be found for the work. The test is suitably "qualified" - not suitably experienced. The Aussie has a reason to be in Sydney but jobless. He grew up in Sydney and his family all live there. He's got more of a moral right to that job than you have, my friend and he won't vote for the present Govt again if they favour you over him! The Aussie voters are already bellyaching that immigrants are pinching all the work which should be reserved for Aussies only.

Just don't buy yourself a headache, perrrleeeease!!!

Also, you have been planning to move to SA. SA is under-populated. During WWII, the Aussies coined the phrase, "Populate or Perish." The Japanese were threatening to invade the northern coast of QLD and the NT via Papua New Guinea. The shortest crossing is only 60nm. The Aussies roped in the Aborigines and almost every other male they could get hold of to go up north to try to defend Oz against a possible land invasion from the north. It is generally agreed that it would not have been possible to resist an invasion - Australia was merely lucky that no attempt was made. A whole generation of Aussies then lived in fear of what might have happened and the phrase 'Populate or Perish' was born.

Populate or Perish was the philosophy that drove the Aussie Government to push for mass immigration immediately after WWII - the Ten Pound Poms etc. The Aussie Govt paid almost all of the costs of getting a Ten Pound Pom out to Oz and this expression actually included migrants from all over Europe.

The pattern of settlement, though, left SA, the NT, TAS and the ACT as the "poor relations." The immigrants went everywhere else and did not choose those 4 States.

So what we now have is a situation where the population of SA is not large enough to enable SA to be a major competitor in the economic stakes. Immigration SA are notorious in Canberra because if there is a way to tweak a visa rule, Immigration SA will find it and tweak it! The Fed Govt are trying to aim for a "one size fits all" set of rules for immigration. SA needs the rules to be as relaxed as possible but Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane all need the rules to be as tight as possible because they are over populated whereas SA remains under-populated.

Consequently, the RCB in SA are pretty helpful towards employers in SA who want to import a migrant on an RSMS visa. The support of the local RCB is crucial to getting an RSMS visa and the RCB people are local to the area they serve. There are 9 RCBs in WA but there is only one in SA - there aren't enough wannabe migrants to SA to justify several RCBs and so the whole of SA is "regional Oz." Some of the RCBs just say "no" to practically every prospective immigrant who is not in the medical profession but the RCB in SA is known for being very understanding, sympathetic etc. It suits their State Government that they should be so. The State Government is making every effort to make SA into Australia's HQ for those occupations that have not already been grabbed by other places in Oz.

In many ways, you would be coming at this from the back foot because your only options would be between an RSMS visa and going home back to Blighty. Therefore I think that you should not make it more difficult to secure the cooperation of the local and federal immigration authorities than it needs to be.

Get PR via the RSMS route. Be seen to do your 2 years in "regional Oz" on an RSMS. Once you've done that, you can then move to Sydney if you wish. I think that for as long as you are visa-dependent, you need to consider all the angles and make things as easy for yourself as you can. Once visas are no longer an issue, go where you like and do what you like!

Cheers

Gill

[james185]

Hi James

You CANNOT work in Sydney whilst you are on a sc 475 visa and you have not completed 12 months' work in a Regional area plus lived in the Regional area for 24 months.

Also, the sc 475 and the RSMS 857 visas are designed to work together, so the criteria for the RSMS visa are more relaxed than normal when the applicant for the RSMS visa is the holder of an sc 475. He would not get any similar indulgence with an ENS visa, especially when he had not done his time in the sticks!

Additionally, Sydney is over-populated. Like all Westernised capital cities nowadays, it is full of Aussie youngsters who have first degrees plus PhDs and the whole bit but they are essentially unemployable because they have no relevant work experience to speak of. However, from an Immigration point of view - they are Aussies. You aren't. The Govt insists that it will ONLY favour foreign immigrants where a "suitably qualified" Aussie cannot be found for the work. The test is suitably "qualified" - not suitably experienced. The Aussie has a reason to be in Sydney but jobless. He grew up in Sydney and his family all live there. He's got more of a moral right to that job than you have, my friend and he won't vote for the present Govt again if they favour you over him! The Aussie voters are already bellyaching that immigrants are pinching all the work which should be reserved for Aussies only.

Just don't buy yourself a headache, perrrleeeease!!!

Also, you have been planning to move to SA. SA is under-populated. During WWII, the Aussies coined the phrase, "Populate or Perish." The Japanese were threatening to invade the northern coast of QLD and the NT via Papua New Guinea. The shortest crossing is only 60nm. The Aussies roped in the Aborigines and almost every other male they could get hold of to go up north to try to defend Oz against a possible land invasion from the north. It is generally agreed that it would not have been possible to resist an invasion - Australia was merely lucky that no attempt was made. A whole generation of Aussies then lived in fear of what might have happened and the phrase 'Populate or Perish' was born.

Populate or Perish was the philosophy that drove the Aussie Government to push for mass immigration immediately after WWII - the Ten Pound Poms etc. The Aussie Govt paid almost all of the costs of getting a Ten Pound Pom out to Oz and this expression actually included migrants from all over Europe.

The pattern of settlement, though, left SA, the NT, TAS and the ACT as the "poor relations." The immigrants went everywhere else and did not choose those 4 States.

So what we now have is a situation where the population of SA is not large enough to enable SA to be a major competitor in the economic stakes. Immigration SA are notorious in Canberra because if there is a way to tweak a visa rule, Immigration SA will find it and tweak it! The Fed Govt are trying to aim for a "one size fits all" set of rules for immigration. SA needs the rules to be as relaxed as possible but Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane all need the rules to be as tight as possible because they are over populated whereas SA remains under-populated.

Consequently, the RCB in SA are pretty helpful towards employers in SA who want to import a migrant on an RSMS visa. The support of the local RCB is crucial to getting an RSMS visa and the RCB people are local to the area they serve. There are 9 RCBs in WA but there is only one in SA - there aren't enough wannabe migrants to SA to justify several RCBs and so the whole of SA is "regional Oz." Some of the RCBs just say "no" to practically every prospective immigrant who is not in the medical profession but the RCB in SA is known for being very understanding, sympathetic etc. It suits their State Government that they should be so. The State Government is making every effort to make SA into Australia's HQ for those occupations that have not already been grabbed by other places in Oz.

In many ways, you would be coming at this from the back foot because your only options would be between an RSMS visa and going home back to Blighty. Therefore I think that you should not make it more difficult to secure the cooperation of the local and federal immigration authorities than it needs to be.

Get PR via the RSMS route. Be seen to do your 2 years in "regional Oz" on an RSMS. Once you've done that, you can then move to Sydney if you wish. I think that for as long as you are visa-dependent, you need to consider all the angles and make things as easy for yourself as you can. Once visas are no longer an issue, go where you like and do what you like!

Cheers

Gill

Haha, thanks Gill it was just a thought.. my wife and I although both Brits met in Sydney 10 years ago so are very fond of the place but we also loved Adelaide on our reccie last year.. it was just and idea and we will stick to the plan of RSMS and Adelaide!

Thanks again
James

[RPontes]

Hi James!

I am from Brazil and I have the same problem as you: I was granted my 475 SA State Sponsored Visa on July 29th 2009, I then activated it on 28th Mar 2010 on a 2 week trip to South Australia, I then returned to Brazil.

My plan after activating this visa was to move to Australia in March 2012 when I had 1 year left on my visa, I would then apply for the 1 year extension available on the 487 visa that would enable me to meet the 2 year living in SA requirement of the visa.

I was hoping you could help me or give me some advice in how do you solve your 475 Visa - 1 year extension problem. Did you go to Australia? Or you still remain in the UK?

Sorry about my poor English! I’m still studying…

Best regards,
Rodolfo Pontes

[rhodieboy]

Hi Rodolfo

Did you get this sorted as I am in the same boat I have arrive in Australia and am getting very conflicting information?

Regards
Simon

Hi James!

I am from Brazil and I have the same problem as you: I was granted my 475 SA State Sponsored Visa on July 29th 2009, I then activated it on 28th Mar 2010 on a 2 week trip to South Australia, I then returned to Brazil.

My plan after activating this visa was to move to Australia in March 2012 when I had 1 year left on my visa, I would then apply for the 1 year extension available on the 487 visa that would enable me to meet the 2 year living in SA requirement of the visa.

I was hoping you could help me or give me some advice in how do you solve your 475 Visa - 1 year extension problem. Did you go to Australia? Or you still remain in the UK?

Sorry about my poor English! I’m still studying…

Best regards,
Rodolfo Pontes