Australian government releases a skill list and updates it periodically through the immigration department’s website to attract talents from around the world to take up these job opportunities which are in demand in the country. This category of visa is meant for skilled or professional workers from overseas who is interested in seeking employment opportunity and take up residency in Australia . If you are only interested in the employment opportunity and not permanent residency in Australia, you should consider other visa class such as subclass 457 visa, which is a class of Employer Nomination Scheme.
There are three types of visa and are point based:
a) Skilled Independent Subclass 189 visa
a) Skilled Nominated Subclass 190 visa
b) Skilled Nominated or Sponsored (Provisional) Subclass 489 Visa
Firstly, the applicant must have at least an IELTS score of 6 for each and every 4 components of the test. Secondly, the applicant must look through the Skilled Occupation List (SOL or Schedule 1 List) to see if his or her occupation is listed there.
Do a Point Test and the applicant must get minimum of 60 points to be eligible to apply provided English and occupation requirements are met.
General Skilled Migration (GSM) test
If the applicant has his or her occupation listed on SOL but fails on English, please ask the applicant to sit for IELTS until minimum score of 6 for each band is achieved or the English requirement set by assessing authority is met
Get his or her skill and occupation assessed by the relevant assessing authority listed on the SOL, next to the occupation column. Wait for positive assessment results.
Submit Express of Interest (EOI) and wait for invitation from DIAC to apply. Depending on the scores of the applicant, it may take more than a year before the applicant receives an invitation. DIAC will invite applicant with the highest score to apply for visa. There is a cap / ceiling for each occupation listed on SOL. Once the quota is reached for the year, the applicant will be in the EOI queue for the following year’s quota, provided the occupation remains on the SOL.
If the applicant could not find an occupation in SOL, he or she could try another list called the Consolidated SOL (Schedule 1 & 2) for the application of Subclass 190 visa, which is a State or Territory Nominated visa.
Subclass 489 visa is a provisional visa, which lasts for 4 years. The applicant must score a minimum of 60 points and sponsored by a state or territory or a relative who lives in the regional area of Australia.
