Author – Vishal Shah
Come November 19 and one of the major changes that will come is abolition of 489 visas and introduction of 491 visas. This change was much awaited and we presume that Australian Immigration system was thinking about the same since long time.
The change can be seen in light of Sydney and Melbourne getting more and more populated day by day. You visit CBD of these places and you will find it is extremely crowded. The median house price in these two places have almost doubled compared to the one 5 years back. This is very rare considering the Australian Real Estate History.
This is attributed to more immigrants giving preference to Sydney and Melbourne to settle. To overcome this problem, you need to understand the current immigration invitation.
If you look at the number of invitation being issued for Sub Class 189 visas(Skilled Independent)from May, 2019 to August, 2019, they have drastically being reduced to from 1500 per month to 100 per month. This has rocketed the Invitation score from 75 to 85. Now, for overseas skilled workers, this score is only achievable in following conditions :
a) Age is between 25 to 32
b) Experience of 8 years or more
c) At least a Bachelors Degree
e) IELTS or PTE score of 8 bands or 79 in each of the four modules
f) Spouse gets the positive assessment and also get a competent score(6 bands in IELTS/score of 50 )in each module.
This is coupled with the fact that it is NAATI exams are no more conducted in India.
Now, this is a daunting task. Technically speaking, it is almost impossible. This shows that Australian Government is interested in calling more people to regional areas than metropolitan areas.
The WAY OUT :
The way out is to prepare for the future. Without doubt, getting a score of 79 each in PTE is always welcome. I advise students not to give up. We have had number of students with Non English Background getting 79 each in the second or third trial if not in the first trial. PTE is more advisable than IELTS as it is easier to score.
The second option is the skill assessment of the spouse. Now there is a catch here. The points for skill assessment is only added if the spouse’s occupation is in the same list as that of the main applicant. For instance, if the main applicant’s occupation is on MLTSSL then the spouse’s occupation should also be on the same list. Furthermore, the spouse is also required to get a competent score(6 bands each or equivalent) in the IELTS/PTE. This will add 10 points to the tally.
If the spouse’s occupation is not the same list as the main applicant, we suggest your spouse should still appear for the IELTS/PTE exams and get 6 bands or equivalent score. This will add 5 points.
It is still unclear whether there will be additional 10 points for STEM qualifications(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). We are also not sure that the degree should be from an Australian University or Overseas qualifications are acceptable. Things will get clearer by the end of October.
Till then, we advocate clients to work on the above suggestions. We will keep you updated through our new blogs. Till then.. Good Bye…