Saturday 11 July 2015

Permanent Residency in Australia through General Skilled Migration Program

Australia is undeniably a beautiful country. People not only want to study, work, and travel there but also want to live there. Given that Australia is a huge country with lots of opportunities for foreign nationals, the government has a very welcoming immigration policy regarding obtaining permanent residency in Australia.

General Skilled Migration Program is the most popular scheme under which thousands of foreign skilled workers get permanent residency in Australia. A number of visas come under the General Skilled Migration Program. Under this program, foreign skilled workers who are already living in Australia or applicants of a skilled worker visa can get permanent residency.

As mentioned above that getting permanent residency in Australia is easier in comparison of other countries, however, it is applicable for those foreign nationals who are young, talented, and can make a contribution in country, economically and socially. Thus, candidates need to use their qualification, work experience, skills, and language proficiency to convince Australian immigration department that they are eligible to live in Australia as a permanent resident.
Visas that come under this program are as follow:
  • Skilled Independent visa (subclass 189)
  • Skilled – Nominated (subclass 190) visa
  • Skilled – Sponsored (Provisional) (subclass 489) visa

Additionally, following are the visas under General Skilled Migration program that are closed to new applications.
  • Skilled – Independent (Migrant) visa (subclass 175)
  • Skilled – Sponsored (Migrant) visa (subclass 176)
  • Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa (Subclass 457)
  • Skilled – Sponsored (Residence) visa (subclass 886)
  • Skilled – Independent (Residence) visa (subclass 885)
  • Skilled – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) visa (subclass 487)

Under General Skilled Migration Program, candidates have to apply through the SkillSelect, a skilled migrant selection program launched in 2012. Under SkillSelect, applicants have to submit their Expression of Interest (EOI), an online profile. In EOI, they need to mention their personal and professional details such as age, qualification, work experience, skills, job offer from an approved Australian employer (if applicable), and the reason to migrate to Australia.

All EOI profiles are then sent to EOI pool, where authorities analyse them along with employers in order to check whether the applicant is eligible enough to live and work in Australia. EOIs are ranked against each other and points are awarded based on the information provided. Thus, it is really important for applicants to prepare their EOI properly.

EOIs with the highest scores are selected fortnightly and are sent the invitation to apply for the permanent residency in Australia. Applicants are required to apply for the concerned permanent residency within a given period of time. Additionally, they also need to provide document proofs of all the information they have provided in their EOI. Failing to meet above-mentioned conditions means applicants have to go through the EOI process all over again.

Every permanent residency visa requires renewal every 5 years. On your permanent residency visa, you can also apply for Australian citizenship. And to save yourself from the hassles of the immigration process, you can also take assistance of an immigration consultant.