Emigrating to Australia - The Skilled Visa Route

Detailed exploration of the skilled visa route to emigrate to Australia for would-be expats wanting to live and work in Australia

The introduction of a rigid and structured points system has made emigrating to Australia far more difficult than back in the days of the “ten pound pom” when a desperate government would allow any reasonably healthy, criminally unhindered European to enter Oz with a view to starting a new life in Australia.

Now, anyone between the ages of 18-45 can live and work in Australia providing they can accumulate enough points to get a visa.  Points are allocated according to occupation, age and proficiency in English for example.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics census of 2006, 24% of the Australian population were born outside of Australia; the largest group of 1,153,264 having been born in the British Isles, but if you don’t get the required points you won’t be emigrating to Australia!

Migration programming for 2008-2009 has increased by 19.8% over 2007-2008 planning levels, and 190,300 places have been allocated for people wishing to work in Australia.  There are a number of visa options for emigrating to Australia, the most popular being the Australian Skilled Visa Migration Program.

There are a number of different classes within the Skilled Visa Migration Program and all have a minimum number of assessment points required to gain entry into Australia: -

The Skilled Independent Visa:

This visa gives the applicant the right to live and work in Australia as a permanent resident, without any restrictions.  This visa doesn’t require any family or government sponsorship or employment offer.  Applicants who wish to emigrate to Australia using this visa must have an occupation which features on the Skilled Occupation List and reach 120 points on the visa assessment.  It’s currently the most popular form of entry into Australia.

The Skilled Sponsored Visa:

This visa can be used by applicants wishing to emigrate to Australia who have occupations that appear on the Skilled Occupation List but don’t have the required 120 points on the visa assessment to apply for a Skilled Independent Visa.  100 points are required as well as sponsorship from either a family member living in Australia or nomination from a participating Australian State or Territory.

The Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa:

This visa is similar to the skilled sponsored visa in that the minimum assessment mark is 100 points, and sponsorship is required from either a family member or a participating Australian State or Territory.  The main difference however is that this visa is a provisional visa and applicants must be prepared to live for 2 years and work for one year in a Specified Regional Area of Australia.  The visa is valid for three years and applicants wishing to emigrate to Australia will need to sign an undertaking to live in a regional or low population metropolitan area of Australia.  Alice Springs here we come!  After 3 years there is a pathway for applying for permanent residency with this class of visa.

Providing you can get through that lot it’s just a case of throwing a couple of shrimps on the Barbie, cracking the suds and watching men in tight shorts tear chunks out of each other at an Aussie Rules football match for you to be living in Australia!