If you have skills that are in demand in Australia then you might be eligible to apply for a General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa.
Before applying for this visa you must first see if you’re eligible to apply.
The main requirements that you must fulfill are as follows:
- Be between 18 and 50 years of age
- You must have a good knowledge of the English language
- You must have an occupation that is in demand in Australia
- You must meet the pass mark of 65 point (if applicable)
Once you’re sure that you can apply for one of these visas, you must go through the SkillSelect process.
We have divided this process into four periods.
1. The first period is before the expression of interest is submitted
2. The second is after the expression of interest is submitted and you have been invited to apply
3. The third is the period between you have been invited to apply and you submit your visa application
4. And last, the period ones the visa application is submitted
So that you may submit the expression of interest you must have your positive Skill Assessment and the IELTS test with a score of over 6 on all four modules.
Your skill assessment will have to be done through a skill assessment authority that is authorized by the government.
The skill assessment authority will depend on your nominated profession.
The most common are Engineers Australia, Vetassess, Trades Recognition Australia, Australian Computer Society…
Once you have these two documents and your passport you can go to the next step… that is applying for your expression of interest.
To register your Expression of Interest you must go through the SkillSelect website and it is free of charge.
There you will need to create a username and password and then log in.
When you log in you will receive a whole series of question to which you must answer truthfully.
Some of the questions will relate to the following:
- Personal identification information
- Work experience
- Your choice of state or city that you wish to migrate to
- Information about your immediate family
- Information about your health and any criminal history
In your Expression of Interest you may express your interest to be sponsored by an employer and/or nominated by a state/territory government.
This will help you receive more points on your application.
Your details can stay in the system for up to 2 years.
Based on these answers and the demand for a person with your skills and knowledge, you will be invited to apply for a specific visa class.
Once invited to apply by the Department of Immigration, you will have 60 days to make your application.
It is at this point that you will formally apply to the Department of immigration for your visa and need to pay the application fee.
Make sure that you collect all the documents and submit them to the Department of immigration in the format that they require.
This is very crucial because if you don’t, you will loose a lot of money, time and your nerves.
The application is made online through the SkillSelect website.
Ones you have completed all your answers on your visa application you will be asked for your credit card to make payment of your visa application.
Your application is not regarded as accepted if the Department of Immigration has not received full payment.
Ones the payment has gone through you will be guided to a page where you will need to upload all you documents that go with your application.
The most common documents formats accepted are .JPG and .PDF but you also must be aware for your documents not to be very large.
We recommend they are under 500KB.
You will then receive an email from the Department of Immigration with a Transaction Reference Number (TRN).
This is a unique number that is assigned to every online application.
It will come in handy when you need to contact the Department and check the status of you visa application.
Ones your visa application is reviewed by a case officer, normally the last requirement is to undergo the medical exams.
At this time you should receive the decision on your Visa application
