Australia 189 Visa
Australia 189 Visa
The Australia 189 visa is formally known an the independent skilled visa (subclass 189). This visa is one of the most sought after visas in the World as it allows the 189 visa holder to:
- Live in Australia
- Work in Australia
- Access Medicare
- Study in Australia
- Enter and leave as Australia without restriction
- Sponsor other family members after two years
- Convert to full Australian Citizenship
189 Visa
The Australia 189 Visa allows you to remain permanently in Australia. And it doesn’t require the sponsorship by a state or a relative. It’s points based application and it’s dependent also on your occupation. Your occupation must be on the skilled occupation list to apply for this independent pathway to permanent residency. There’s a variety of occupations on the list for medical professions through the I.T. professionals, engineers and a lot of trades, including plumbers, chef, electrician.
There’s a variety of occupations and you get points for so many for various different factors, such as age, English language, perhaps you’ve studied in Australia, work experience, the qualification, etc.. So the first step of the process is to have your skills assessed to make sure that they are comparable to an Australian qualified person in that same occupation.
Some skill assessment authorities require English language levels such as Engineers Australia and others don’t. However, it is always advisable to take an English language test at some point in your application suitcase because its a relatively straightforward way of increasing the Australia 189 Visa points score by up to 20. Additionally, if you have a partner and they too take the English test they can unlock a further 5 Australian Immigration points.
Australia 189 Visa Points
189 Visa points are awarded for
- Age
- Experience
- Qualification
- Language Skills
- Partner Skills
- Australia Study
Why are Australia 189 Visa points important?
The reason Australia 189 Visa points are so important is because to actually apply for the 189 visa, you first have to put an expression of interest in and the expression of interest requires a minimum points of sixty five. It doesn’t cost anything to lodge an expression of interest.
It can be lodged online, then it’s about two years that you’ll be able to remain in the pool. If for some reason you don’t get an invitation after two years, your invitation will will cease and you’ll need to reapply.
How long does it take to get an Australia 189 Visa invitation
How long it takes to get an invitation once you’ve lodged would be dependent on your occupation and dependent on the number of points you’ve got. So at the moment, the requirement is that you have to have a minimum of sixty five points to lodge an expression of interest.
There is a computer generated invitation round once a month on the 11th of each month and the volume is dictated by by the government. However, whether you’re going to get an invitation will be determined on the volume of applicants and the competitiveness of that invitation round.
Do I have enough points for the Australia 189 Visa?
Because there are so many people really vying to get all the same spots in the 189 pool they’re pushing up the points. So whilst you may have sixty five to put an expression of interest in the last couple of rounds, required a minimum of seventy or seventy five in some cases such as accountant required eighty points or higher.
So, be aware that just because you’ve got sixty five, an expression of interest is not going to get you an invitation to lodge a 189.
If you’ve got seventy five then you can feel a lot more confident how long it’s going to take for that invitation will be. However, if you’ve got 75 and others are coming in and 80 and 85, they’re going to bump you off and they’re going to get the invitation before you, even though you may have been waiting longer.
What happens after an Australia 189 visa invitation
Once you do get an invitation you’ve got 60 days to lodge the visa application and pay the Australia 189 Visa Government fees. The processing, once you do get an invitation, is once again dependent on on the volume. But usually you can expect about a four to six month wait. Sometimes it may be a little bit longer because you’ve got to do medicals. You’ve got to get police clearances from countries that tend to take a little bit of time to to provide those.
Australia 189 Visa processing time
Currently the processing time for a 189 Visa is 6 months
Australia 189 Visa Fee
Current fees and costs associated with an Australia 189 visa application are:
Jacqueline Chow is an international immigration and visa expert with over 15 years of experience in the field. With a background in law and a passion for helping people, Jacqueline has built a reputation as a trusted and reliable source of information and advice on all aspects of immigration and visas. She has worked with clients from all over the world, including high-net-worth individuals, professionals, skilled workers and families. As a sought-after speaker and commentator Jacqueline has been featured in various media outlets and has given talks on immigration and visas at conferences and events around the world.