Hi all

My boyfriend is currently sponsored (visa 457) by his employer to work in australia. He's been working for 3 different companies for the past 2 years and a half as a foreman/construction supervisor.

Anyways, with the current worsening economy, his company will probably let him go.


-My boyfriend is 25 yo (30 PTs)
-works as a construction supervisor for the past 2 1/2 yrs in Australia
(50 PTs + 10 PTs)
-employed as construction worker for 3 years out of 4 years (5 PTs)
- A native English speaker (he's from ireland) (15 PTs)

My question is.....

1) I've checked the immigration website, with his work experience, qualification etc...he only has 110 pts. However the General Skills Immigration visa 175 pass mark is 120. So i'm wondering, if he's a native english speaker, can he still sit the IELTS exam and attempt to score 7.0 mark in order to get an extra 10 PTs for english proficiency?

2) is Visa 175 the right visa option for him? is there anything else he can apply?


3) I know when worse comes to worse, i should be able to sponsor him on a defacto visa. My permanent residency visa came through 2 months ago.

We have been together for 2 years and half and have been living together for longer than a year. However at the same time, i've heard stories about how hard, frustrating, complicated the process can be... If his company is really letting him go and he can't find any companies to sponsor him, it means we'll probably have less than 2 months time to organise the application which is too litte time!!


I hope someone with this area of knowledge can help!

Thanks a million

First thing to be considered as with all skilled basis visas is whether for his supervisor or whatever occupation classification he has the right training/qualifications and he'll need to put in an application for assessment on that if it hasn't been done.
Assessing authority details are on the SOL [at end of all categories] and you find that under in the immi skilled section.

That being OK, yes he could sit the IELTS to look at getting the extra points or if the occupation is on MODL, he may be eligible for extra points.
When you look at the eligibility table for a 175, for each section where points are allocated, you can get points and so with MODL, there's a doubling up opportunity.
The other thing he could look at is getting a state nomination 176 visa and only 100 points are required, and there could be an advantage that way, ie.

The government is tightening up on visas because of the economic situation and have a read of the top sticky in the section for there's links there to the immi prioritisation on processing.
A state nomination 176 is ahead of 175 on the list.

There's a couple of catches you/he also need to consider and that's
1. some state nominations will be easier than others for some states may require you have a job offer.

2. More importantly, 175/176 visas are designed around applications from outside of Australia and whilst immi will allow you to apply from inside Australia, because they are still considered an external application, no bridging visa will be issued and you need to be outside of Australia at time of final consideration/approval - and if in Australia, they may not say hey!, you better take a flight, but in the relevant booklet there is reference yo one being in Australia could lead to a rejection of the application! - bad news!

The way things are looking, processing times could be lengthening as with unemployment on the way up, it is not surprising that application processing may be on an unofficial go slow program.

Have a look at the 885/886, the internal equivalents of the 175/176 but with different prerequisites - there being something there about trade visas, but not sure if he will be eligible.

Could well be that the defacto visa may be the quicker more certain route and a bridging visa could allow him to maintain same rights as his 457, ie. full working.

A poster Jadeybaby in similar situation got one through in about six months - her celebratory post not far down the page and her initial post some pages back may help you with detail etc.