The Government of the Australian Capital Territory (the ACT, based in Canberra) has published its updated list of wanted skilled occupations, which it will sponsor for visas under subclass 190.

The ACT Government advises in its guidance material that:

Applicants seeking nomination need to:

• Be either working in a skilled occupation in the ACT; or

• If currently overseas, demonstrate that there are sufficient employment opportunities in an occupation in demand in Canberra; and have:

o skills and experience relevant to the researched employment opportunities;
o skills and experience relevant to the ACT economy. Experience in heavy industry, manufacturing, production, international airlines, mining; shipping, oil, head office banking and railways are not generally considered relevant industries; and
o a genuine commitment to settling in Canberra for at least 2 years from arrival.

The ACT Government also advises that:

If you are living overseas, you can apply for nomination of a closed occupation if you have a:

• genuine offer of employment in the nominated occupation from an ACT employer; or

• close family member (can include a spouse / partner of the applicant; or parents, brother, sister, grandparents, step parents, step siblings of the main applicant or their spouse / partner) who is:
o currently residing in Canberra and has resided in Canberra for the last twelve months; and
o either an Australian Permanent Resident or an Australian Citizen; and
o over 18 years of age.

The ACT wanted occupations list and the guidance material detailing the requirements to be met are available here.

If you are interested in a State or Territory sponsored skilled visa pathway please feel able to complete the enquiry form on this webpage. Go Matilda Visas will be pleased to have a no obligation free initial discussion about your Australian visa options.

The question of paying school fees if children are attending a Government school in Australia is one that seems to be misunderstood by many intending migrants – and by some advisors.

In this blog we provide feedback from the various State and Territory Education Departments.

Having heard and read commentary on the question of subclass 489 visa holding parents paying school fees if their dependent children attend a Government school in Australia we thought we should make enquiry, in an effort to get to the bottom of the urban myth.

We think the confusion has arisen because certain types of temporary residency visas – most notably employer sponsored subclass 457 visas – do require the payment of school fees if children of the main visa applicant attend such a school.

The subclass 489 (Skilled Regional Sponsored) visa is a temporary residency visa – but it is a provisional visa, in that it is considered to be a precursor to a permanent residency visa, most commonly under subclass 887.

In this regard the 489 visa is closer to the provisional business skills visas – and as such school fees are usually not payable.

Here are the replies we received from the various State and Territory Governments.

Western Australia
As per the Department of Education Enrolment policy, the parents of dependent children holding subclass 489 Skilled Regional Sponsored visa have local enrolment entitlement and pay no tuition fees.

These students have the same enrolment entitlements as local students and are eligible for Student-centred Funding.

Victoria
Visa 489 dependents are classified as fee exempt and pay the fees set by the individual government school (not fees to the DET International Education Division).

Enrolment is made directly to the school.

Queensland
As you and your family are travelling to Australia on 489 visas, your dependent is eligible to enrol at a Queensland Government school as per the domestic enrolment process. Therefore, I recommend you contact a school that based on your place of residence in Queensland, as a number of Queensland Government schools have strict catchment area policies. This means that families must live within a certain radius of the school to be eligible for enrolment.

You are not required to pay the normal international student tuition fees that are processed through the central office of Education Queensland International.

The school you decide to enrol at will discuss any fees associated with the enrolment with you directly.

New South Wales
A holder of a 489 visa is not required to pay the administration or education fees.

They are required to have an Authority to enrol issued to the school before they are able to start school.

Northern Territory
Dependants of 489 visa holders do not incur International tuition fees at Northern Territory Government schools.

Go Matilda Visas has not yet received replies from the Governments of South Australia and Tasmania, but anticipate the situation there mirrors that described above.

It is now possible for engineers requiring a quick migration skills assessment to support their Australian visa application to use a fast track service at the point of submission of their application.

Engineers Australia is the designated authority to assess professional qualifications in engineering for the purposes of skilled migration to Australia, including the following occupations:

• Professional Engineers
• Engineering Technologists
• Engineering Associates
• Engineering Managers

Processing times for skills assessments are presently typically as follows:

• For “non-accredited” qualifications: about 9 weeks from the date of receipt.
• For accredited Australian and Accord qualifications: about 5 weeks.

More specifically, at the date of this article EA advises processing times are as follows:

• CDR applications received on the 14th of June 2015 are currently with an assessing case officer
• Washington, Sydney or Dublin ACCORD application, or accredited Australian Engineering Qualification (AEQ) received on the 15th of July 2015 are currently with an assessing case officer

From the 21st of August, 2015 it is possible to pay an additional A$250 to access EA’s Fast Track service at the point of submission of the skills assessment application.

The case should then be allocated to an assessor within 5 business days.

The next invitation round for skilled visas is only some 4 weeks away – on the 7th of September, 2015.

Those intending to migrate to Australia under visa subclass 189 (Skilled Independent) must receive an invitation to progress their visa application – and to receive an invitation you must lodge an Expression of Interest.

In other words, to receive an invitation to apply for a subclass 189 visa on the 7th of September 2015 you must have lodged an Expression of Interest before that date.

Invitation rounds have been held each month from July 2015, and the maximum number of invitations to be issued in September 2015 under 2,300.

The Department of Immigration has published the results of the July 2015 skilled migration invitation round.

Under the SkillSelect model individuals seeking an Australian visa under the skilled migration program lodge an Expression of Interest with the Department of Immigration.

In the case of subclass 189 Skilled Independent visas invitations to apply for a visa are then issued at each invitation round – this is now a monthly occurrence – subject to the points claimed and the date the EoI was lodged:

> The highest ranked applicants by points score are invited to apply for the visa noted in the EoI.

> For applicants who have equal points scores the date and time when they reached their points score for that subclass (referred to as the “date of effect”) determines their order of invitation.

> Expressions of Interest with earlier dates of effect are invited before later dates.

Applications for State and Territory sponsored subclass 190 visas are not subject to this process – invitations are issued by the Department of Immigration as soon as the State or Territory Government confirms they wish to sponsor the application.

The process of applying for sponsorship of a subclass 190 visa is discussed here.