Busting the myths about SkillSelect
SkillSelect will be a major change to how Australia manages its skilled migration program. There is much talk about the changes, and as with anything new, not everything you hear is always correct. This blog busts some of the myths we’ve heard about SkillSelect.
Myth 1 - SkillSelect only affects points tested visas—formally known as General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas.
A common myth is that SkillSelect will only affect the independent skilled migration program- this is not true.
If you are interested in applying for a skilled visa after 1 July 2012, you may have to use SkillSelect depending on your visa preference/s. Therefore, it is important you understand how SkillSelect will affect you and your visa options.
It will be compulsory to submit a complete expression of interest (EOI) and receive an invitation before you can lodge a visa application for the following visa programs:
• Subclass 189 Skilled – Independent (Permanent) (Class SI)
• Subclass 190 Skilled – Sponsored (Permanent) (Class SK)
• Subclass 489 – Regional Sponsored (Provisional) (Class SP)
• Business Skills visa program.
It is optional (although highly recommended) to submit an EOI to be found and contacted by an employer for the following visas programs:
• Subclass 186 – Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) (Class EN)
• Subclass 187 – Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) (Class RN)
• Subclass 457 – Temporary Business (Long Stay) (Class UC)
More information on visa options can be found on the SkillSelect website.
Myth 2 – I can’t submit an EOI for more than one visa.
You will be able to submit an EOI for one, a few or all skilled visas in the one EOI. You do not need to submit multiple EOIs.
SkillSelect is a free online service, and by expressing interest in more than one skilled visa, you could increase your chances of being found by a state or territory government or employer who needs your skills.
Myth 3 – It will still be expensive and time consuming for employers to find skilled workers.
SkillSelect will make finding overseas skilled workers easy for employers and help ease skill shortages through managed migration.
A key function of SkillSelect is to assist in easing skills shortages through providing Australian employers with access to a pool of intending skilled migrants who are seeking employer sponsorship on either a temporary or permanent basis.
SkillSelect is ideal for employers wanting to quickly identify options for resolving specific skill shortages. It will really help employers operating small to medium businesses who have found it difficult, expensive and time consuming to find workers in the past. SkillSelect is targeted, convenient, a free service, and is without any obligation to sponsor. Employers will be able to easily search across a number of key selection criteria such as experience, qualifications, language skills and willingness to work and live outside major metropolitan centres.
Once suitable skilled workers are identified, employers are able to send a message in SkillSelect to the skilled worker notifying them of their interest in discussing employment and sponsorship opportunities. When sponsorship arrangements have been established, the skilled worker’s EOI details are seamlessly transferred from SkillSelect to final assessment and processing systems, saving time for everyone.
Myth 4 – I can intentionally embellish my claims on my EOI to increase my points score and likelihood of getting an invitation.
There are some serious potential risks in providing false and misleading information in your EOI.
If you are invited to apply for a visa, the information in your EOI will be used as part of your visa application. You will then need to confirm your claims and submit evidence with your application.
If you provide false or misleading information on your EOI and receive an invitation based on this information, your application may be refused. If your visa application is refused you will lose your visa application charge and may also be subject to a bar which prevents the grant of a further visa.
Myth 5 -The introduction of SkillSelect will mean less skilled visas will be granted.
This is not true.
Each year the government announces the number of places in the migration program as part of the Budget. This announcement on the program size is what determines the number of skilled visas available each year.
In the 2012–13 Budget an additional 3400 places will be allocated to the skilled migration program—this is a total of 129 250 places.
SkillSelect will not increase or reduce the overall number of visas granted. It will only determine who is able to lodge a visa application for the independent, family sponsored, state/territory nominated and business skills visas. The target number of skilled visas granted will be the same as the number set by government in the Budget.
Have you heard any other myths about SkillSelect? Leave us a comment and we will be happy to answer any questions you may have about the new process.
For more information visit the SkillSelect website.
Information on changes to points based skilled migration: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/new-skilled.htm
Information on the permanent employer sponsored visa reforms : http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/permanent-employer-sponsored-visa-whats-new.htm
Migration Program planning levels and priority processing arrangements
Every year the Australian Government sets the number of places, otherwise known as planning levels, in the permanent migration program. The number of places allocated takes into account the current economic climate and feedback from consultations with the Australian community.
Within the skill stream of the permanent migration program, there are a number of different visa categories targeted to meet the diverse needs of Australia’s labour market. The government also allocates annually a set number of visa places to each of the following categories:
- skilled independent
- skilled Australian sponsored
- employer sponsored, and
- state and territory sponsored
The planning levels can be varied by the government in response to economic and other factors. Delivering the migration program requires careful management. This is where it’s important to understand the relationship between the planning levels and priority processing arrangements for skilled migration visa applications.
Priority processing is a tool, available to government, to assist managing the order in which applications are granted. We have blogged previously about the government’s priority processing direction, where visa applications are placed in one of five priority processing groups.
Applications in priority group 1 are allocated before applications in priority group 2, and so on, until the set planning level for each specific skilled visa category is met.
In the situation where set annual planning levels are met in a particular skilled migration category within a 12 month period, the department is obliged to temporarily suspend allocating applications in this category until the next program year, irrespective of where applicants are placed in the priority processing direction.
For example, in this (2011-2012) program year there has been a lower number of applications lodged under a state migration plan (priority group 3) than anticipated when government originally set the planning levels. To meet the set levels for this part of the program we have allocated some of the priority group 5 applications in greater numbers.
These are the priority group 5 applications that were lodged by onshore and offshore applicants who were nominated by a state or territory government before state migration plans were introduced. These applications are placed in priority group 5 as they do not have a nominated occupation on the skilled occupation list.
It may also be necessary to limit the allocation of visa applications in the skilled Australian sponsored categories this program year, because there are only a few places remaining in this visa category. We will continue to update the allocation dates for skilled visa applications on the department’s website and encourage applicants to regularly check the page, which is updated fortnightly. We have also updated information on our website about the processing of priority group 5 applications.
If you have any questions or comments please post below.
SkillSelect – Rankings and Invitations explained
In our previous blogs, we discussed SkillSelect and changes to our Skilled Migration Programs. You can view our previous blogs here.
We will now look at what happens after you submit an EOI using SkillSelect.
The below diagram displays the SkillSelect process:
How will you be ranked on your EOI?
Your ranking will be calculated based on the information you provide in your EOI. EOIs are ranked using points achieved on the skilled migration points test. A prescribed pass mark will be set as the minimum points score required for each visa category.
Ranking will be conducted electronically by SkillSelect with no intervention by the department. Equally scoring EOIs will be separated by time of submission with earlier submission dates ranking more highly.
After submitting your EOI, you can view your point score; however you will not see your ranking because it will be continually changing. After each invitation round we will publish on our website the lowest score of a successful EOI for each occupation group. This will provide an indication of the score required to receive an invitation.
You can update your EOI at any time until you receive an invitation or your EOI expires. If you provide new information that changes your points score, SkillSelect will update your ranking automatically including your date of submission.
You should understand that if you provide false or misleading information on your EOI this will subject you to the Fraud Public Interest Criterion – PIC 4020. If it is established that you have provided false or misleading information including to third parties such as approved English language testing providers, assessing authorities, State/Territory governments etc, and your visa application may be refused. You may also be subject to a three year bar which may prevent the grant of a further visa that is subject to assessment under the Fraud PIC.
How do you receive an invitation?
Selected EOIs will be invited periodically to lodge an application. Depending on your visa preference/s, you could receive an invitation from the department for independent migration, family sponsored or from a State or Territory government for State/Territory sponsored or Business Skills migration. SkillSelect won’t issue invitations for any other migration programs.
Independent Migration and Family Sponsored Migration
It is proposed that SkillSelect will automatically issue invitations once per month, with the first round of invitations sent on 1 August 2012. Invitations will be issued to the highest ranking EOIs in descending order, subject to occupation ceilings. The date and time of submission may be used to separate those who score equally to ensure that the number of invitations issued at any one time matches both the number of visa places and the processing resources available. Those who don’t meet the pass mark or don’t score highly enough in a particular invitation round will not be issued an invitation. Departmental officers are not involved in the selection process.
Occupation ceilings are a limit on how many people are selected for points tested migration from an occupation group. This will ensure that these visa categories are not dominated by a narrow range of occupations. Once the limit is reached for a particular occupation group, no further invitations for that group will be issued in that program year with remaining program places allocated to other occupation groups even if they are lower scoring. In the event that the ceiling is reached remaining EOIs from people with skills in that occupation group won’t be affected.
Occupation Ceilings and Invitations
2. State or territory government and employer sponsored visas
State and Territory government representatives will search SkillSelect for prospective people to sponsor. State or Territory governments will be able to nominate prospective applicants at any time using SkillSelect (in accordance with their agreed State Migration Plans and subject to occupation ceilings not being reached). Those nominated will receive an invitation through SkillSelect to apply for a visa.
What happens next?
Invited applicants will have 60 days to lodge a visa application using the department’s electronic lodgement system. The visa application process will occur outside of SkillSelect.
If you receive two invitations in SkillSelect but do not lodge a valid visa application as a result of these invitations, your EOI will be removed from the SkillSelect database and will have to be formally resubmitted to be considered for future invitation rounds.
If you do not receive an invitation, it is proposed that your EOI will remain active in SkillSelect for 2 years. You will have the option to renew your EOI if it expires.
In future blogs we will provide further updates on SkillSelect as our long-awaited implementation date of 1 July 2012 approaches!
For more information on SkillSelect please go to www.skillselect.gov.au
Professional Year program—tell us what you think
The department is evaluating the Professional Year (PY) program. The PY program is a structured development program, available to former overseas students who have graduated as Engineers, Accountants and IT Professionals, and has been in place since 2008.
The PY program is offered by providers approved by professional bodies. It includes workshops, skills training and a professional placement. The program may help graduates find employment and on completing the PY, graduates can be awarded five points towards meeting the points test pass mark.
As part of our evaluation, we want stakeholders, including current and former students, to tell us how useful the program is and what sort of improvements can be made. The first part of the evaluation will be a short online survey. The survey will collect general demographic information, and asks questions to capture each individual’s experience of the PY program. The results will contribute to a discussion paper, which we expect to be completed in early 2012.
All survey responses will remain anonymous, and will have no bearing on the outcomes of any current or future visa applications, or other dealings with the department. This also means we can’t follow up your comments directly with you.
It would be great if all current Professional Year students and graduates complete this survey, because it is a good way for those who have experienced the program to pass on their views and feedback. For those who are reading this who have completed or are completing a PY, please check your email for details of this survey. For those who have already responded – thank you very much for your input.
Some of you may have questions about Subclass 485 processing times, please check out the allocations page on our website.
Points Tested Visas – understanding the minimum requirements
When you work in a policy area it is important to talk to the people who have a personal interest in the work you are doing. Recently we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak to a group of international students at the Australian National University in Canberra. For one of us it brought back memories of hours spent in that very lecture theatre, though this time, with a different view from up the front. 
Before explaining the visa options available within the skilled migration program, the first point we wanted to make to students was to explain the difference between the student visa program and the skilled migration program. The differences might seem obvious but it is important to distinguish the purpose of each program because students shouldn’t make their decisions about choice of study for the wrong reasons.
We are often asked by students what they should study in terms of meeting skilled migration requirements. The skilled migration program’s aim is to meet the needs of the Australian economy.
As the economy changes the program has to be flexible so it can respond quickly to these changes. Because requirements can and do change, there can be no guarantee of a migration outcome for students, so students should choose to study courses which they are interested in, rather than studying a course that they think will help them reach a migration outcome.
After delivering the presentation we answered a number of questions, and it struck us that there is often a misunderstanding about the minimum requirements needed to apply for a visa and points awarded through the points test.
Minimum requirements need to be met before a person even considers self-assessment of the number of points they may be eligible for under the points test. Minimum requirements for a points tested visa are:
• is under 50 years of age;
• demonstrates competent English;
• nominates an occupation that is on the SOL; and
• provides a positive skills assessment in their nominated occupation by the relevant assessing authority.
Those applying directly from a student visa will also need to have recently completed recognised study in Australia.
There are other visa options within the program for those applicants who do not meet the minimum requirement of recent study in Australia. Those applicants who have evidence of recent skilled employment in any skilled occupation on the SOL can also meet the minimum requirement for points tested visa, those visas are granted outside of Australia.
Some of the skills and attributes needed to satisfy the minimum requirements can also separately earn points through the points test, and this is where the confusion lies. For example, while competent English is one of the minimum requirements to make an application, a person can also be awarded points for higher English language skills through the points test. Another example is age. While applicants need to be under 50 years of age to submit an application, the points test also awards points for age depending on how old (or how young) a person is.
This post highlights the minimum requirements. There is more detailed information about the points test and visa options on the department’s website. Where people are interested in applying for a points tested visa, we suggest they first go through all the minimum requirements, and if they meet those – then check to see if they reach the pass mark of 65 points.
We hope this information makes the application process clearer but it is important to remember a student visa is a temporary visa and there can never be a guarantee of a permanent migration outcome.
Thanks to all those students who came to our presentation and we wish you all the best with the rest of your studies, and hope you enjoy your time and experience in Australia.
Skilled visa options for Australia
Australia’s skilled migration program aims to meet the needs of the Australian labour market and strengthen our economy. Skilled workers in occupations in demand can help fill job vacancies which cannot be filled by an Australian resident worker. This video provides a brief overview of Australia’s skilled migration program.
For more information, visit the department’s website.
New points test for general skilled migration visas
Millions of people around the world want to migrate to Australia to live and work. Skilled migration is a selective process. An important public policy issue therefore is how to allocate the limited number of places in the skilled migration program to make sure they are given to people who will best contribute to Australia.
History
Since 1979, Australia has used a points test to determine which applicants can qualify for skilled migration. The first of these points test systems was called the ‘Numerical Multifactor Assessment System (NUMAS)’ (catchy name!). The original model accounted for factors such as family ties, occupational and language skills. The idea was that these factors would indicate if someone would settle well in Australia.
While the points test has changed throughout the years, the basic foundations are the same – a points test creates a fair and transparent mechanism for the selection of suitable permanent migrants. Because the requirements are made clear by the points test, aspiring migrants can work out if they achieve the pass mark before they apply. This transparency might be why more and more migrant-receiving countries have incorporated some form of points test in their selection processes.
Changes
A recent review of the system found that the current points test has been skewing permanent migration towards a small number of occupations, such as hairdressers and cooks, which partly led to an imbalance in the overall skilled migration program. Following the review, a new points test was developed. This new points test will commence on 1 July 2011 will apply to permanent skilled migration visas where the applicant does not have an employer sponsor.
Importantly, the changes to the points test make skilled migration to Australia more responsive to the needs of the economy. The new test does not give undue weight to any one factor and recognises a broader range of skills and attributes. The changes focus on:
- better English levels
- more extensive skilled work experience
- higher level qualifications obtained in Australia and overseas
- changes to age ranges.
Points are no longer awarded for occupations. All people must nominate for an occupation that is on the Skilled Occupation List. These occupations are carefully selected, based on the advice of Skills Australia, to help meet Australia’s medium to long term economic and labour market needs. For instance, in the resources sector there are long term supply issues relating to engineers. Therefore, different types of engineering occupations (19!) feature prominently on the Skilled Occupation List.
There can be confusion when points and occupation lists change because of misunderstanding about different visa streams. Therefore, it’s important to be aware that the new points test only affects one component of the skilled migration program – points tested skilled migration. These changes won’t apply to business skilled or employer sponsored skilled migration visa categories. These changes also have no impact to temporary skilled migration, such as the 457 visa.
The new points test is designed to select the skilled migrants who will make the optimum economic contribution to Australia. The intended structure of the new points test is available on the Department’s website. As we move forward, I’ll get back to you with more details.
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/points-test.pdf
