How To Emigrate To Australia

Six broad streams lead to Australia, and the seven steps below run the same way on each. What changes is the evidence, the filing route and who we deal with on your behalf.

• Skilled workers. Points tested visas, invited through an expression of interest: subclass 189 independent, 190 state nominated and 491 regional.
• Employer sponsored professionals. An Australian business nominates the role: subclass 482 Skills in Demand, 494 regional and 186 permanent.
• Investors and people of exceptional talent. The National Innovation visa, subclass 858, reached by invitation with an Australian nominator behind you.
• Partners and spouses. Subclass 820 and 801 onshore, 309 and 100 offshore, and the prospective marriage visa where you plan to marry in Australia.
• Parents. Subclass 143 and 173 contributory, 103 and 804 non contributory, and the temporary sponsored parent visa.
• Retirees. Australia keeps no dedicated retirement visa open, so a retiring couple reaches residency through a parent, partner or investment route. That choice is worth taking advice on early.

Everything starts with an honest read of where you stand. We take your age, occupation, qualifications, work history, English, family in Australia and available capital, and we measure them against every stream you could realistically use.

• Skilled applicants receive an indicative points score against the threshold of 65 and a view on whether an invitation is realistic at that score.
• Employer sponsored applicants learn whether the occupation carries a nomination and what a sponsor has to prove.
• Investor applicants get a candid view of whether the achievement record meets the standard the National Innovation visa sets.
• Partner and parent applicants learn which sponsor qualifies and what the relationship or family evidence has to show.

Where a route stays closed to you, we say so at this stage rather than later.

Most families qualify for more than one route, and the routes differ enormously in cost, speed and certainty. Choosing well is the single decision that shapes everything after it.

• We weigh each open route on likelihood of success, total cost, processing position and the conditions you would live under.
• Where a provisional visa converts to permanent residency, we map that conversion from the outset so the years in between count towards it.
• Where a state or territory nomination lifts your score or opens a stream, we identify which jurisdictions suit your occupation and circumstances.
• You receive a recommendation with the reasoning set out, and the alternatives, so the choice remains yours.

Applications fail on evidence far more often than on eligibility. This is the step where we do the heavy lifting.

• We issue a document schedule built for your route, not a generic checklist, and we chase every item to completion.
• Skilled applicants need a skills assessment from the correct assessing authority, and we manage that submission.
• Employer sponsored applicants need the business case and the nomination evidence assembled alongside the personal file.
• Investor applicants need the achievement record documented to the standard the department expects, with the nominator engaged.
• Partner applicants need relationship evidence across finances, household, social recognition and commitment.
• Parent applicants need proof of the sponsoring child settled in Australia and the family balance evidenced.

Everything is checked, certified and translated where required before anything is lodged.

How an application is filed depends entirely on the stream, and getting the sequence wrong costs months.

• Points tested. An expression of interest goes into SkillSelect first. An invitation follows, and the visa application must be lodged inside the window the invitation sets.
• State nominated. The nomination application runs alongside the expression of interest, on each jurisdiction’s own timetable and criteria.
• Employer sponsored. Sponsorship, nomination and visa can run together, and we sequence them so the employer carries the least disruption.
• National Innovation visa. An expression of interest is submitted, and an invitation gives 60 days to lodge.
• Partner and parent. The sponsorship and the visa application are lodged together, with no invitation stage.

Lodging is the beginning of our work, not the end of it. From this point we are the department’s point of contact and you are free to get on with your life.

• We answer every request for further information, in full and inside the deadline, which is where unrepresented applications most often come apart.
• We respond to natural justice letters and adverse findings with submissions and supporting evidence rather than a bare denial.
• Where a case officer misreads a qualification, an employment reference or a relationship, we correct it with argument and authority.
• Where a refusal is unjust, we advise on review and represent you through it.
• You are told what is happening and what it means, in plain terms, throughout.

The grant arrives, and with it a set of dates and conditions that need reading carefully.

• We confirm the grant, the visa conditions attached to it and the date by which you must first enter Australia.
• Provisional visa holders receive a written note of what the permanent stage will ask for, so the evidence is being built from the first day rather than assembled in a panic later.
• Family members included in the grant are confirmed, and anyone added late is dealt with before travel.
• Where a second stage follows, such as the permanent partner visa or the regional permanent visa, we diarise it and come back to you.

A granted visa is not the same as a life in place. The last step is the practical one.

• We advise on the timing of your first entry and on validating the visa.
• We point you to the tax, pension and property questions that need answering before you leave Britain rather than after, and to the specialists who answer them.
• We set out what to arrange in the first weeks: tax file number, Medicare enrolment, banking, schooling and superannuation.
• Where you are still choosing a state or a city, we set out what each offers against how you intend to live.
• Our file stays open. Clients come back to us for citizenship, for sponsoring a parent, and for the children who follow later.