495 visa, can anyone answer my queries please?

[Guest Deb17]

Next month we will finally be able to put our paperwork together for our permanent visa. We'll be going for the 887 visa but I've just been on the immi.gov.au website and am flabbergasted to note the fees they have posted for it. I don't mind paying the $190 first instalment but the second instalment is over 2 grand! On the PR forms I printed off, it says this is for migrants with less than vocational English - so can anyone tell me what the actual fee is as the site is very unhelpful? Has anyone been down this same road who can tell me how long it might take to process the PR visa as well?

Oh, there are times I wish we had used a migration agent - they might have been able to answer so many of our questions at the time, and not led us astray, like the S.A. government appeared to...especially in regard to NOT being able to buy a house. (I'm still raging about that!)

 

I was also reading some other posts - have they changed the regulations about having to stay for another two years in S.A. after we get our PR granted? We were told we couldn't move to another state originally but I would dearly love to be able to try and find a teaching post in another state - there always seem to be a gazillion jobs in NSW...typical! I would set up a classroom down a salt mine in Siberia if I was getting paid for it!

 

If anyone knows the facts and can help that would be terrific.

Thanks.

Deb x

[Guest Django]

Hi Deb,

 

Don't panic regarding the second payment. You will not be asked for it. Its for non english speakers.

 

Can't help with the other bit, No doubt someone will be able to tell you.

 

 

Pete

[Guest Deb17]

Phew! At least that's one less whopping great fee to worry about then.

Thanks Pete.

[Guest jill wright]

Hi Deb as far as I'm aware due to the changes made in sept 2007 once you get PR you can live anywhere in Australia I will try and look up where I read that but am positive its right

 

Jill

[Guest Deb17]

Hi Jill, thanks for that. I'm afraid I'm not a great lover of Adelaide, you see. I've been reading some of your other posts with interest - you seem to be all in a tizz about whether to trek out here or not. Well, if you read some of my doom and gloom posts you'd not bother to make the trip. I haven't much positive to say about the place. But I seem to be in a very small minority. Although I know I'm not the only one.

Good luck with the choices you make.

Deb x

[Guest soggy]

Hi Jill, thanks for that. I'm afraid I'm not a great lover of Adelaide, you see. I've been reading some of your other posts with interest - you seem to be all in a tizz about whether to trek out here or not. Well, if you read some of my doom and gloom posts you'd not bother to make the trip. I haven't much positive to say about the place. But I seem to be in a very small minority. Although I know I'm not the only one.

Good luck with the choices you make.

Deb x

Oh, there are times I wish we had used a migration agent - they might have been able to answer so many of our questions at the time, and not led us astray, like the S.A. government appeared to...especially in regard to NOT being able to buy a house. (I'm still raging about that!)

 

 

Hi,

just confirming what you have already been told the second instalment is for people who do not speak good enough English, I had to pay it for my wife. Good luck with the 887 visa it will be the one I go for.

Can you tell me what you mean about SA gov and buying a house, did they say you could or could not ????

 

Simon

[Guest Deb17]

We were given lots of paperwork when we arrived, all from S.A. government - loads of leaflets and info booklets, but none mentioned the FIRB and being able to buy an established house. We looked at all the rules and regs about being on a temp visa and none of them mentioned it either - the only info we were ever told was that if we wanted to buy it had to be brand new or built by us from scratch. We wanted an established house so thought we'd have to wait for PR. I am still mad that we never received any information that stated we could have bought a house with FIRB approval. I know the SA government didn't deliberately mislead us but in all fairness they never gave us the correct information either.

[Guest stufi1997]

Hi Deb, We were told BY the SA Immigration Department you can live and work anywhere in Australia as long as it's "regional" on a SIR 495 visa, doesn't have to be in South Australia they just encourage you to stay here, since they sponsored you in the first place....so presumably when you have your permanent residency you can go anywhere even if it's NOT regional. Hope this helps Fiona

[Guest Deb17]

Again, they told us we HAD to stay in South Australia when we went to the orientation seminar, and when it came to putting in for PR we would have to show them paperwork to PROVE we had stayed and worked in the state for 2 years. They even told us to keep all our old utility bills as proof we'd been living here because if we'd gone to live in another state we wouldn't get PR. It seems when we got our SIR the regulations were a bit stricter - perhaps having had no joy at building a decent life for ourselves in Adelaide the time has come for me to apply to jobs in other states and make yet another fresh start.

Thanks for the reply Fiona,

Deb x

[Angela]

I'm confused !!?? Easily done mind..........we are on the SIR495, hubby is the main applicant. We brought easily an established house, got approval from FIRB no problem it all went through within 4 weeks.....have I missed something along the way about why you 'cannot' buy??

 

Angela

[Beanbear]

Hi,

I have also found the process of getting into teaching a frustrating one to say the least! We are on an SIR and spoke to Qld about transferring there (we would still have to live regionally, but that only really excludes Brisbane and a thin strip of the Goldcoast.) The SA government would not give us this info, not surprisingly really as they do not want to lose migrants, but with the high cost of stamp duty here, as well as other issues we are going to look at Qld to see if it is for us. Once you've made such a big move going interstate seems far less significant.

Adelaide has loads going for it, but we haven't fallen in love with it and whilst OH is in a job he's not fussed about and we haven't bought somewhere it makes sense to look at all options.

[Guest Deb17]

Thanks for that 'beanbear'. It's reassuring in a way to hear that other teachers are finding it frustrating too. I was looking at regional NSW, they always seem to have loads of teaching jobs advertised. What puts me off is all the rigmarole of getting registration again in a different state. Do you know if they have any mutual recognition of qualifications going on, so I wouldn't have to submit reams of documentation to them all over again? Other people have said to me, isn't it daft you can't teach anywhere in Australia once your qualifications are assessed as 'suitable'? Daft ain't the word!

[Beanbear]

I have only looked at Queensland's rules so far and it does seem that you have to pay more money and jump through a few more hoops (so what's new?!) but there is some interstate recognition so hopefully it's not the whole thing again. Having spoken to them on the phone today the lady said that the same rules about only being temporary to start with and then getting points by working in the outback apply there too. My plan is to apply to the private schools as I don't want to be 'put' somewhere, having worked in an area in the UK that I didn't like for eight years I wanted to come here and have some choice!

On a more positive note a few of the teachers I have met who have eventually found work have done so in the private sector so I live in hope!

Perhaps you'd like to get together sometime to compare experience. Libby also sounds like someone whose brains I'd like to pick!

[Guest Deb17]

Great yeah, it would be nice to meet a fellow educator. Is it Angela? Not sure if that's your real name, but it popped up in my inbox (could sound a bit rude that). I've already tried applying for positions in a few independent schools, with no luck there either. Maybe they were put off by the fact that my experience has all been in inner city schools. Not snooty enough for them perhaps! And I'm not really the heavily religious type so the church schools are out too. I reckon though that we Brits could run rings round the Aussie teachers, whatever state or territory we both end up in. My e-mail's on here somewhere if you want to send a message: peteanddeb@aandr.com.au

Deb. x

[antlet]

Haven't set foot in Oz yet, but as regard the 495 visa (the one we have) you have to stay in SA for 2 years and prove you have lived there for 2 yrs, worked for 1yr (the primary candidate), then once you have a permanent visa you can move to anywhere in Australia.

 

Can anyone tell me what an 887 visa is, and are there varying types of permanent visa? I'm a long way off going for that yet, but thouht I'd ask...

[Beanbear]

Haven't set foot in Oz yet, but as regard the 495 visa (the one we have) you have to stay in SA for 2 years and prove you have lived there for 2 yrs, worked for 1yr (the primary candidate), then once you have a permanent visa you can move to anywhere in Australia.

 

Can anyone tell me what an 887 visa is, and are there varying types of permanent visa? I'm a long way off going for that yet, but thouht I'd ask...

 

 

That's not quite true. You do have to live in a regional area, but you can transfer and live in another state ( such as Queensland) as long as you live in specified areas, then you continue to meet the other criteria such as the work requirement, and the time you have spent working in SA will count towards the year you have to do. After the two years you can live anywhere - after the year of working regionally you can work anywhere.

 

The 887 is the permanent visa that is awarded after two years if you have met the work aspect, but it is taking people a fair while to get, (I know of one friend who applied in December and has heard absolutely nothing so far and it has cost her a lot in missed financial help.)

[Guest Deb17]

No Angela, it's just we were never given any info or told we could buy an established house, so naturally we didn't even bother looking into it as we thought it wasn't possible. It was a case of blind ignorance. We'd never heard of FIRB. I had a buying or renting a house brochure given to me by the Meet and Greet people - says nothing about FIRB and I've been through it cover to cover.

Now we can't afford it and I'm absolutely gutted - two years rent money down the plughole!

Did you all know about being able to buy a house before you came out here or did you find out from info you were given on arrival?

I could cry. Or strangle someone in Immigration SA with my bare hands!

Deb.

[Guest Deb17]

Sorry, that rant was directed at Angela's post on the previous page - I must be losing my mind!

[Guest Deb17]

It's not encouraging to hear that your friend's 887 visa has taken so long to get either Beanbear. I thought it would be a formality, seeing as we already ticked all the boxes just to get to Oz. You'd think it would take weeks, not a matter of months! I was hanging on all this time, hoping to finally buy a house when we got PR so we could apply for the First Home Buyers Grant. HA HA HA. First we find out we could have purchased a house before this, and saved ourselves only about another $100,000 in inflated house prices! Wasn't worth it, was it? Imagine me cackling with insane, hysterical laughter at a wasted two years of my life and never being able to get back on the property ladder. Even AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH just doesn't quite say how frustrated I am.

[antlet]

Thanks Beabbear, so just as I'm clear myself, if we lived say 6 months in Adelaide but couldn't find work there, we could transfer to Queensland or NSW for instance if a work opportunity was available?, what clasifies as regional?.....I'm alittle confused really as I thought a condition to stay in the area we had chosen, we wre given Adelaide or Tasmania as options

[Guest Deb17]

Haven't set foot in Oz yet, but as regard the 495 visa (the one we have) you have to stay in SA for 2 years and prove you have lived there for 2 yrs, worked for 1yr (the primary candidate), then once you have a permanent visa you can move to anywhere in Australia.

 

Can anyone tell me what an 887 visa is, and are there varying types of permanent visa? I'm a long way off going for that yet, but thouht I'd ask...

 

Just in case anyone else reads this and has anything to add...I hope it isn't just the primary candidate's work experience that counts towards the permanent visa. Although my husband wasn't originally the primary candidate he has now retrained into a 'skilled' job and we are going for PR based on his work experience, not mine.

Perhaps anyone else who might read this can confirm whether this is the case...as if not, I'm packing up and going home right now!

[antlet]

Deb, I think I was wrong in stating the primary candidate has to be the one with the years work under the belt. I thought this to be the case, but I think from searchig myself that anyone named on the application can be the working one. The work has to be 35hrs plus per week to qualify - made up of one full time, or part time positions equalling the 35hrs. Thats the way I understand it now anyway.

[Guest Deb17]

Thanks Letti...I was wondering. It was bad enough to arrive in Adelaide and be told you had to be in a 'skilled' job for the experience to count towards the PR. The documentation we had said 'it is expected that the work experience will be in a skilled profession' --- said nothing about it being MANDATORY.

[Guest stufi1997]

Thanks Beabbear, so just as I'm clear myself, if we lived say 6 months in Adelaide but couldn't find work there, we could transfer to Queensland or NSW for instance if a work opportunity was available?, what clasifies as regional?.....I'm alittle confused really as I thought a condition to stay in the area we had chosen, we wre given Adelaide or Tasmania as options

Hi Antlet,

Have a look at this bit of the immigration website it shows you exactly where you can work in a particular state for the work to qualify as regional. Hope this clarifies for you. Fionahttp://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/regional-growth.htm

[Guest Nick11]

Just in case anyone else reads this and has anything to add...I hope it isn't just the primary candidate's work experience that counts towards the permanent visa. Although my husband wasn't originally the primary candidate he has now retrained into a 'skilled' job and we are going for PR based on his work experience, not mine.

Perhaps anyone else who might read this can confirm whether this is the case...as if not, I'm packing up and going home right now!

 

 

Don't worry Deb - we're in exactly the same position. I am the primary applicant but hubby is the one working full time for 12 months.

The job doesn't even need to be skilled now - just over 35 hours a week for 1 year.