176 Family sponsored visa advice and help please

[robeaves]

Hi everyone, relatively new to this forum. I have been using it for a while and found alot of good advice but any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

 

I have applied for a 176 visa sponsored by my sister, i have applied as a general gardener through an agent. My job is not on the CSL or MODL i applied back in December 08. I have been reading alot of forums on the net and it has me a little worried that it could be some time before i get a look in at getting a visa. So im wondering what the best thing to do is? I'm going to ask my agent but thought id see if anyone here could give some opinions and it would be great to hear of anyone else in the same situation.

 

I'm thinking of going over on a working holiday visa while waiting for the 176, does anyone think this is viable option?

 

Any help would be great, thankyou in advance.

 

ROB

[Gollywobbler]

Hi Rob

 

I would say as follows:

 

At the moment General Gardener is on the SA State Sponsorship list for the provisional subclass 475 visa. This is not the same visa as the one you have already applied for:

 

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/475/

 

You could potentially apply for this visa as well but it would cost you another $2,105 in application fees for a second visa application to DIAC. You would not cancel your existing 176 application. You can apply for 2 different visas at the same time.

 

However SA have said they will be changing the Lists of occupations that they will sponsor people for at 5pm Adelaide time on Tuesday 31st March. If you are quick you could bung in a State Sponsorship application by yourself over the weekend:

 

http://www.migration.sa.gov.au/centric/migrate_from_overseas/visa_options/gen_skill3.jsp

 

It costs nothing to apply for State Sponsorshiip and hundreds of people have made their own applications, perfectly successfully, without involving migration agents.

 

With a bit of negotiatiing it is not impossible that SA might agree to sponsor you for a sc 176 visa instead. You or your sister would need to contact them first thing on Monday to chat with them and see what they think.

 

Alternatively you could use a WH visa, which would potentially give you up to 2 years in Oz.

 

I think it is too early to worry about what you might do after a WH visa expires if there is still no movement on the sc 176 visa by then.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[robeaves]

Hi Gill

 

Thanks for your response, i hadn't even considered ringing them up and asking, i shal email my sister this weekend and see if she can get in touch with them. Don't really want to pay another fee to go for the 457 especially when i could just take the WHV and like you say its to early to worrying whether or not the 176 will be granted within the 2 years.

 

Thanks again for your help i'm sure it will all work out in the end.

 

Rob