The skill select is an online service provided by the Department of Immigration for skilled and business people to record their Expression of Interest before applying for a visa.
Once the Australian government has a demand for a person of your skills they will then invite you to apply for a visa.
The Australian employers and the state and territory governments have access to this service so they can look through the expressions made by applicants and then sponsor and invite them to apply for a certain visa.
You will need to use this online service through the SkillSelect if you would like to apply for one of these visas:
- Skilled Independent – Subclass 189
- Skilled Nominated – Subclass 190
- Skilled Regional Nominated or Sponsored – Subclass 489
- Business Talent – Subclass 132
- Business Innovation and Investment – Subclass 188
If you would like to be sponsored by an employer you may submit your EoI for the following visas:
- Employer Nomination – Subclass 186
- Regional Sponsored – Subclass 187
- Temporary Work – Subclass 457
The SkillSelect page web page is on www.immi.gov.au
What is then Expression of Interest?
The Expression of Interest is the first part of the SkillSelect and your process to applying for your visa.
To fill out your Expression of Interest you will need to provide some information and they are:
- Your personal details
- Your skill assessment for your nominated occupation
- Information about your work experience
- Your completed education
- Your knowledge of English language with an IELTS test
- Information about your family and more…
The good thing about this part of the visa application process, that it’s totally free.
Depending on your situation, the questions will vary and will be different in every case.
In some cases we have seen that applicants lie on their Expression of Interest and then when they are invited to apply they are just refused.
This is not good.
Sometimes applicants put a higher IELTS test score or a code for the skill assessment even though they have not done one.
As I mentioned, this is not good because the application will just be refused after the whole wait.
The very large application fee will also be lost.
Your information is stored for two years in the Expression of Interest or the SkillSelect system.
Once this period is over and you have not been invited you can then make a fresh application in the SkillSelect.
Once you have made your application in the Expression of Interest you have to wait.
If there is a change in your circumstance, like you have undergone your IELTS test again and have a higher score, then we recommend that you update your Expression of Interest.
OK, now you have received an invitation to apply, so what do you do?
First of all you must be very quick because you only have 60 days to make your valid application and honestly that is not much time
Depending on which visa you are eligible for, the documents will vary slightly but in any case you must submit the documents in the format that the Department of Immigration requires. You will have some of your documents like your skill assessment documents and English-language test.
You will just need to collect the documents that do not relate to your work and English skills.
It is best to go through the immigration checklist for your type of visa, one by one, to make sure that you have all the documents before you make a valid application.
Hopefully now you have a better understanding of the SkillSelect!
