Tips for Australia skilled visa applications

Tips for Australia skilled visa applications

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship has compiled a new list of tips to help people applying for a visa for Australia under the SkillSelect scheme. It says that first and foremost people need to make sure that they submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) in the right visa for your circumstances and the skilled visa options are available on the SkillSelect website.

There is also an online Visa Wizard to help applicants find out which visa is best suited to their circumstances and a list of the occupations eligible for skilled migration can be found on the Skilled Occupation List.

‘We advice applicants to get to know the specific requirements for the visa they are interested in. Only certain skilled visa options are available through SkillSelect. The visa information booklets on our website will help people to understand who qualifies to migrate to Australia,’ said a (DIAC) spokesman. In particular, Booklet 11, SkillSelect includes information about how the system and process works.

‘Ensure all your documents are in order before you start your online EOI. Until you provide evidence of all required documents, such as an IELTS test and skills assessment, you will have an incomplete EOI in SkillSelect,’ the spokesman added. There is also a Getting Started user guide on the SkillSelect support site that has step by step instructions about entering EOI details.

Quote from AustraliaForum.com : “After we have lodged the expression of interest, how long it will take to get a response from DIAC? And what is the success rate on skill select?”

When an applicant creates an EOI profile they are given a unique EOI identification number that becomes their username when they log in to SkillSelect. They also need to make sure they remember their security question answers as if they forget their password this will be the only way to reset it.

‘When you fill out the EOI questions you should take your time and ensure you understand the questions. If you get stuck or don’t understand a question use the question mark icons. They provide information to help you answer. Also update your details in your EOI as soon as your circumstances change. This will ensure your updated details are considered in the next automatic invitation round. You also won’t be caught out if you receive an invitation before updating your details as SkillSelect automatically suspends access to an EOI when it sends an invitation,’ the spokesman explained.

An invitation to make a visa application may be issued within a short timeframe after the EOI is submitted. ‘Remember, you must be able to support the claims you make in your EOI with documentation and have this ready to provide when making your application,’ the spokesman added. There are also monthly reports on the SkillSelect web page which indicate the number of invitations issued for the previous automatic invitation round. It also gives a breakdown of the number of invitation issued against each of the occupations on the Skilled Occupation List.

The DIAC pointed out that if an occupation has reached its ‘ceiling’, or the maximum limit of invitations that can be issued for that particular occupation, then it is unlikely that any more automatic invitations will be issued for that occupation during that programme year.