FAQs & Resources

Yes you can apply for jobs in Australia as long as your Visa has no working restrictions.

There are a number of visas that allow you to work, but most have restrictions about the kind of work you can do. For example:

• If you have a tourist visa, you CAN’T WORK at all.
• If you have a student visa and work permit, you can only work up to 20 hours per week while you are studying.
• If you have a working holiday visa, you are not allowed to work for any one employer for more than 6 months.

Each type of visa has special conditions.

Visa holders can access their visa status on VEVO – Visa Entitlement Verification Online.
VEVO means that there is no need to have a visa label in your passport. You can also send your entitlement details to any email address you like.

You can view the following details regarding your current visa.

• visa class and subclass
• visa description (student, temporary or permanent)
• visa holder role type (primary or secondary applicant)
• visa status
• visa grant and expiry dates
• visa grant number (this is removed when you create the PDF version of your results)
• must enter Australia before date
• entries allowed
• period of stay
• current location (inside or outside Australia)
• all conditions applicable to your visa in plain English.

Before you search your visa details and entitlements you need to make sure you have the required information to begin a search.

You need to do two things to access VEVO to check your current visa details.

Provide one of the following:

1.Transaction Reference Number (TRN)

• visa grant number
• visa evidence number
• password.

2. Enter your:

• date of birth
• passport or ImmiCard number
• country of issue.

You can ask us – Migration Downunder’s registered migration agents have over 20 years combined experience in providing immigration advice. The type of visa you apply for depends on a number of factors including why you want to travel to Australia, how long you want to remain in Australia and your personal circumstances.

In most cases, visa applications require you to complete forms (either on-line or paper forms) and provide supporting documentation. The forms and documents you need to provide depend on the type of visa you are applying for and your personal circumstances.

If your documents are not in English, they will need to be translated. A NAATI accredited translator is the most appropriate person to translate documents (see www.naati.com.au).

If you are in Australia, your document can be certified by :

• Justice of the Peace;
• medical practitioner;
• legal practitioner;
• civil marriage celebrant or registered minister of religion;
• dentist;
• nurse;
• optometrist;
• pharmacist;
• physiotherapist;
• full-time teacher;
• bank manager or bank officer with 5 or more continuous
• years of service;
• postal manager or permanent employee of the Australian
• Postal Commission with 5 or more continuous years of service;
• police officer; or
• public servant with 5 or more continuous years of service.

If the visa you are applying for has an English requirement, the IELTS score you need to obtain depends on a number of factors including the type of visa you are applying for, your occupation and other eligibility requirements. All of these factors need to be assessed in order to work out what IELTS score is needed.

For some visa applications a medical examination is required. Medical examinations are usually required from countries that are deemed to be high health risk countries by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP). Other circumstances that may necessitate medical examinations are your personal health status, the length of time of your stay in Australia, your occupation and if you will be working in schools or in health care facilities in Australia.

It depends on the visa application. Some visa applications want you to have health insurance when you apply, with other visa applications the health insurance can be obtained later. Once you have the visa, you may also need to maintain the health insurance during your stay in Australia.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has service standards for processing applications that it tries to adhere to and these can be found at www.border.gov.au However, the times that actual processing of visa applications can take will vary depending on things such as the number of applicants, staffing levels within the DIBP, public holidays, changes to the legislation and the completeness and accuracy of your application. A Registered Migration Agent can help make a difference to your processing time by ensuring that your application is as complete and accurate as possible and clearly shows that you meet eligibility requirements for the visa.

This will depend on the visa application and your personal circumstances. A Registered Migration Agent can assist you with a document checklist for your visa application.

No. You can apply for an Australian visa on your own. However, there are frequent changes to immigration legislation throughout the year and a Registered Migration Agent is required to maintain their knowledge to give you up to date immigration advice. A Registered Migration Agent can guide you through all the eligibility requirements so that your visa application has the best possible chance of success.

If you meet the requirements for a student visa, yes

For most visas, your dependents can move with you provided that they can meet certain requirements. Whether a dependent can work or not is dictated by the conditions of the visa.

There are many application pathways to Australian permanent residence. How long it takes will depend on your personal circumstances, the preparation for the visa application pathway that is right for you and the processing times of the DIBP. A Registered Migration Agent can advise you on the best and fastest way to obtain Australian permanent residence for your particular circumstance

Fees for Registered Migration Agents can vary due to differences in:

• Expertise – specialists with expertise in difficult cases and applications will often charge more than a non-specialist.
• Seniority – work carried out by a senior, highly skilled partner of a firm will cost more than work done by a junior migration agent
• Location – services in metropolitan areas are often higher than in rural or regional areas
• Urgency – special fees sometimes apply for urgent work.

When Comparing the legal fees from a number of different Registered Migration Agents it is vital as with any other service, to ensure they can deliver the result you want. The lowest cost may not necessarily be the best value or get you a visa in a timely manner.

Moreover this is not the type of service you can shop around and compare as similar products’, always look at what their real customers say about their professionalism .

Expertise and Knowledge are intangible and hard to be compared, but the results and their client references will always speak for themselves. Therefore they won’t have similar prices.

Yes, the Department has the rights to cancel permanent visas under certain circumstances.
For example, after a permanent visa is granted, when the Department finds out that fraudulent documents/information or misleading information has been provided in obtaining the permanent residence, the visa may subsequently be cancelled.

You must obtain a minimum of 60 points to lodge an Expression of Interest. The higher the points the more likely it is that you will receive an invitation to lodge a visa application for permanent residency.

Invitations are issued on a monthly basis. The results of the invitation rounds are published on the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s (DIBP) webpage after every round.

Your invitation will be based only on the information presented in your EOI. If you lodge a visa application and your points score is less than claimed in your EOI and invitation letter, your visa will be refused even if you are able to pass the points test or meet other threshold criteria. Any visa application charges you have paid will not be refunded.

If you receive an invitation and your points have decreased or your personal information is not accurate, you do not have to proceed to make an application. You should correct the information in your EOI and wait to receive another invitation.

In most cases, visa applications require you to complete forms (either on-line or paper forms) and provide supporting documentation. The forms and documents you need to provide depend on the type of visa you are applying for and your personal circumstances.

The Innovation Points Test gives points for various human capital and business innovation, the current pass mark is 65.

Investor Stream applicants have to have a minimum net personal and business assets of AUD2.25 million.

IELTS is not mandatory if you could get points from other categories and pass 65 points on the points test.

Yes, you can include assets under both the primary applicant and the spouse.

A worker can move to a new work sponsor, provided that the new work sponsor submits a valid nomination and the worker meets the skill and qualification requirements of the new nomination.