It’s AUD$220.00 for a Skype, face to face (in Melbourne) or telephone consultation (we call you). During your consultation, we’ll assess your situation and give you the best migration advice possible, tailored to your unique set of circumstances. We provide you with a plan to move to Australia. It’s probably the best $220.00 you’ll ever spend!

Make an enquiry here or call us on 1300 887 818.

If you don’t have a degree and are looking for a Skills assessment through the Australian Computer society, they will take away  up to eight years of your work experience to substitute for the requisite academic qualification. In your case they have taken 5 years off. Your example highlights the pitfalls of doing your own points assessment and is the reason we strongly recommend you use a Registered Migration agent or Immigration Lawyer to properly assess your points. Not only will consulting with a firm such as ours eliminate your risk of miscalculating your points, it will save you the waste of money, heartache and negative visa sequelae that a refusal such as yours brings.

Contact us now on 1300 887 818 to find out your true points score OR Click here to book a consultation. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are, we will take care of your Australian Visa issues.

Unfortunately in a word – no. Immigration must be satisfied that no dependent children will accompany you to Australia and that means that if they travel to Australia at any time during your Working Holiday Visa, you will be liable for visa cancellation as you will be “accompanied” by them. Satisfying Immigration will only happen if you could produce custody orders for the child or have evidence that you have had no contact with them. If you lie about having children and you subsequently reveal that you do in fact have children in a subsequent visa application, you will likely be caught by the migration fraud provisions which can result in a three year ban for all visa types.

Your best bet is to get some proper advice about the right course to take as it is likely there are other visas which are more appropriate for you. To find out more, contact AHWC Immigration Law 1300 887 818 or book a consultation with us here

We’re often approached by 457 visa holders who for one reason or another want to leave their current employer and work for someone else. They may be unhappy with their employer, want to change positions, or they have simply received a better offer.

The good news is that it is possible to change employers, but there are rules and regulations which must be followed. This is  because your current 457 visa has  a condition attached to it (8107), which means that you must work only for the employer who most recently  nominated you. If you start working for another employer while your current employer’s nomination is in place you will be breaching your visa conditions and risk having your visa cancelled and/or future visa applications  refused because you haven’t substantially complied with your visa conditions.

Additionally, the new employer risks fines and sanctions if it employs a visa holder in breach of his/her work conditions.

If and when you find a new employer willing to employ (and nominate) you, the business must be (or must become) an approved Business Sponsor and nominate you for the position they have for you. They must also be able to show that the business genuinely needs you and produce evidence of Labour Market Testing with respect to the position.

A request is made for the  new nomination to be linked to your current 457 visa and you may  move to the new employer once the new nomination has been approved but not before.

Are you in this situation? Or are you an employer wanting to employ a 457 visa holder from another business?

Talk to us – we are experts in this area and have assisted many 457 workers and their employers with quick, successful outcomes. Please contact us on 1300 887 818 or book a consultation with us and we’ll get the ball rolling for you.

Once all the appropriate documents are lodged, it can take as long as 8 weeks (especially where the company is a new company setup), but often the processing time is much shorter than this, at around 4 weeks.

Find out more about 457 visas and the sponsorship process here.

In a word – no. You may travel in and out of Australia freely during the life of the visa.

Find out more about partner visas here.

The permanent 801 partner visa is preceded by the 820 provisional partner visa.

Once you have been granted your 820 visa, the Department of  Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) will seek further evidence of your ongoing  relationship approximately 20 to 21 months after the date of your application for your Subclass 820  visa, unless it is satisfied that your relationship is long term, in which case they will grant the permanent visa earlier.

DIBP will require evidence that your relationship is a continuing and genuine partner relationship and that you and your partner continue to live together.

Once DIBP receives this evidence and is satisfied of the genuineness of  your  relationship is, it will  usually grant the permanent 801 visa shortly after two years  from the date of your initial application.

As with any visa application, the time the Dept takes to process the second stage of the partner visa will vary on a case by case basis.

Book a consultation today to find out if you’re eligible for a partner visa!

The answer is yes, but which visa depends on which visa you meet the criteria for (if any). The most important thing to bear in mind is that you must apply for the new visa before your current partner visa is cancelled, if your visa is the provisional 820 or 309 (as the DIBP will take steps to cancel your visa if it is informed that your relationship no longer exists). The best thing you can do is seek proper advice from a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer as a matter of urgency. If you  have a permanent partner visa (801/100), it won’t be cancelled if the relationship breaks down as it is a permanent residence visa.

We can help. Call us on 1300 887 818 or book a consultation. 

Visas cannot be extended and you will have to apply for a new visa.

Visas expire after the validity date has been reached, and cannot be extended by any means, as there is no provision in the law to do so.

Once your current 457 visa has expired you will need to have a new visa in place or leave the country (you have 28 days to leave once the visa expires). It’s best to start considering applying for a new visa least 6 months prior to your current visa expiring. This will allow you adequate time if you require a skills assessment etc (ie if you want to apply for PR).

You must also apply for your new visa before your old one expires, as by doing this you will be granted a bridging visa with the same work conditions as your 457 visa, and which will allow you to stay whilst your new visa application is being processed.

If you want to stay in Australia you must  appeal this decision within 21 days. There are virtually no grounds for an extension of the 21 days. Given the intricacies of the appeal process it is best to contact a registered migration agent or immigration lawyer to assist you with the review.

Please contact us on 1300 887 818 for advice or book a consultation. 

For a 186 visa, the employer must offer you at least 2 years of employment and the nomination stage. However (unlike the 187 visa) once  the 186 visa is granted there is no condition requiring the visa holder to remain with the employer and there are no grounds for visa  cancellation if the visa holder leaves the employment.

There is also no requirement to inform the Dept. of Immigration.

Obviously, the terms of the employment contract signed by the 186 visa holder and the employer must be adhered to, and there are moral issues for the visa holder to consider if  he/she is considering resigning from an employer before the end of the two years, considering the employer has gone out on a limb to successfully nominate them for permanent residence.

If  you have evidence that domestic violence has occurred such as a court order, police reports,  photographs or other evidence, you may still be able to progress to permanent residence despite the fact that you have broken up with your violent/abusive partner or are no longer in a de facto relationship.

There are provisions in the partner visa regulations that may allow the partner victim of domestic violence to be granted the permanent residence partner visa in  these circumstances if all other criteria are met.

Please contact us for assistance on 1300 887 818. 

Provided you can prove a de facto relationship of a least 12 months your partner may be an eligible family member and become a secondary applicant on your student visa. Eligible family members (a partner and partner’s dependent children) may only be added to your student visa where their existence has been disclosed in your student visa application.

A partner may therefore be added to your student visa, but only if you disclosed your relationship  at the time of your application or the  relationship commenced after your student visa was granted.

If you were in a relationship at the time of your student visa application but you did not disclose this to the Dept of Immigration, you may not add a partner after the grant of the visa. In this case you would need to apply for a new student visa and include your partner in the new application, and  also meet the criteria below.

If you did disclose the existence of a partner at your initial application, then you may add your partner later if you also meet the criteria below.

The criteria  discussed above are as follows:

• The student visa applicant/holder must be in  assessment level 1 or 2  or eligible for streamlined visa processing OR
• In  assessment level 3 or 4 and the course is longer than 12 months. If the duration of the  course is less than 52 weeks, your family members are eligible to join you in Australia if  your  current course(s) has a total duration of the  courses a is 52 weeks or more, or you have been in Australia lawfully for 12 months or more.

Your assessment level is determined by your course of study and your nationality. For help determining whether you can add a partner to your student visa, book a consultation with AHWC or call 1300 887 818.

We’ve  seen this advert. It says “My visa has expired. I made a mistake. I’m really worried, I don’t know what to do. Get the right information, Contact the Community Status Resolution Service”

In a word – don’t do it. Contact an Immigration Lawyer instead (yes lawyer, because your information will be privileged – i.e. unable to be released without your consent). An Immigration Lawyer will provide you with accurate and proper advice and explore all legitimate visa options for you.

If you present yourself to the DIBP – they will give you a very Short Bridging Visa E, and instruct you to leave the country. In rare occasions you may be detained.

Let us help. Call 1300 887 818 or book a consultation.

The answer is you can achieve this in a few different ways.

Applying for the following visas is the most common pathway for 457 visa holders (DIBP figures) to reach PR:

Subclass 186 (Employer Nominated Scheme (ENS)) (58.3% of 186  grants)
Subclass 187 (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS)) (15.4% of 187 grants)
Subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) (16.2% of 190 grants)
Subclass 190 (Skilled Nominated) (6.0% of grants)

Subclass 186 and 187 visas can be accessed via Direct Entry or via a Temporary Residence Transition stream (TRT) where the 457 visa holder has been on the 457 visa and has worked for the same employer for at least two years. A Direct Entry application may be lodged anytime before your  two years is up but you will require a skills assessment for the 186 option and  may require one for the 187 option depending on your occupation and qualifications. There is no skills assessment requirement for the TRT. You’ll find further information on the 186 and 187 visa options here.

Subclass 189 and 190 visas require skills assessments, EOI’s and an invitation to apply.  A couple of advantages of these visas though is that no evidence of licensing is required if you work in a licensed trade such as electrician, plumber etc, and you’re also not reliant on an employer nomination as you are with  the 186 and 187 options.  Find out more information about this possibility here.

There is also a tiny proportion (3%) of  457 visa holders that go onto lodging successful Partner Visa applications where they can prove  they have been in a de facto relationship with an Australian citizen or Permanent Resident of at least 12 months. Find out more about this option here.

Any questions? Call us on 1300 887 818 and we’ll go through your options with you.

There are many variables which affect the length that visas of the same class will take to be processed by the DIBP. As you can imagine applications will be allocated to different case officers, some of whom may have light case loads and some of whom may be “snowed under”.

It goes without saying that the DIBP caseload is constantly huge. Each case officer  assesses the application in their own way, using the discretion  they have under the Migration Act to weigh up the criteria contained within the regulations, and  to decide whether the application meets the criteria for grant of the visa.

Some case officers may work part time, some may take longer than others, your documents will be  different etc etc.  Your evidence may need to be verified by overseas agencies as well – and this always seems to take ages. There are no standard processing times (although there are processing time guidelines), and in a nutshell, your friend was just lucky that his application made it through the queue before yours.

Bombarding the DIBP with requests to “speed up” an application are counterproductive too unless the application time has exceeded the processing guidelines. Hassling the DIBP or an individual cases officer generates no result other than to annoy and frustrate all concerned.

Click here to read our article called

WANT TO STAY ON AFTER YOUR WORKING HOLIDAY VISA? – 10 TIPS FOR SUCCESS for the best advice and strategy.

If you are transiting – that is, arriving in and staying in the international transit area of an Australian Airport, before boarding a connecting international flight to another country, you do not need a visa provided you do not intend to exit through immigration and out of the airport.

By way of example if you’re arriving at Sydney International Airport on you way to Auckland, New Zealand, you will not need an Australian visa if you remain in the transit area before boarding your New Zealand connecting flight.

Many Registered Training Organisations RTO’s) in Australia offer Australian qualifications via recognition of prior learning. These qualifications provide visa applicants a fantastic opportunity to meet the “skilled level” required for a 457 visa, which is a temporary sponsored work Australian Visa.

Call us on 1300 887 818 or book a consultation if you’d like one of AHWC’s Migration Agents to provide you with an appraisal of your situation and examine whether your qualifications and/or experience “make the grade” (Fees apply).

At the moment it’s taking between 4-5 months from visa lodgment to visa grant.

Find further information about Subclass 186 Visas here and Subclass 187 Visas here.

Want to significantly improve your chances of visa success? Contact us now. You’ll be so pleased you did.