togort
Newbie
- Messages
- 2
- Points
- 1
Timeline missing
Hello,
I was hoping someone could provide some perspective. I am currently living in the USA with my Australian partner of two years. In about a year, we would like to move back to Victoria to be close to her elder parents. We have been planning to apply for the Partner Visa De Facto (subclass 309), but I decided to look into skilled migration to see if this would be cheaper, quicker, or easier. It appears that in some ways it is, but I had a few questions.
I am a Chemical Engineer (233111) with 4.5 years of direct experience and an with an accredited Bachelors of Science degree from a world-known institution. It appears that I would have no trouble getting my skills assessment by Engineers Australia. Based on my points calculator, I currently have 70 points, claiming superior english. I am currently working in job that is in manufacturing but is NOT a chemical engineering job. I am not sure if I can claim this although I suppose with the right reference letter I could (I am doing a lot of the same things a chemical engineer would be doing, my title is Manufacturing Manager and I do more scheduling, buying, planning, and problem solving and I do have direct reports). It's also an hourly and not salaried job. If I could claim this job, or if I switch jobs, I could potentially claim 75 points. I also believe I would have to take an english test to claim superior points (would a native and intelligent english speaker easily score 8 bands without studying)?
So it appears I need to spend money up front to get my skills assessment by Engineers Australia (Is there any benefit to doing this except for the visa application? Would potential employers ask for it?) and also take the English test - I don't really want to spend this money up front if my EOI will sit when I have another pathway to migration (partner visa). Since it isn't a guarantee I would get invited. The Partner visa costs a lot more but I would say I'm about 3-4 weeks away from being able to submit it, I am just gathering the documents and writing our statements.
I like the idea of the skilled migration visa because if you get invited,
1) it's a lot quicker than the 14-15 months partner visa
2) it's about 3500 cheaper than the partner visa (although you have to pay for skills assessment and english test up front)
3) you get a permanent residency instantly and do not have to wait 2 years to go from temporary to permanent
4) way less paperwork to file than the massive partner visa application
5) it seems more "certain" than a partner visa application. Even though my partner and I are 100% genuine, you still have a case officer have to subjectively decide that. We don't have the "strongest" application - i.e. we don't have too many joint assets, investments, etc... but we have been living together and splitting bills and such for two years and we do have a joint account. I just don't want to leave anything to chance, or to have delays because a case officer wants additional info.
I had a few questions that perhaps some of you could help with:
1) if you had a choice between partner visa path or skilled migration path, which would you choose? Am I missing something?
2) is 70 points enough for a chemical engineer to be invited ? It doesn't appear to be obvious on the statistics published by DIBP, i did not see 70 pointers on their bar charts.
3) Is it worth getting skills assessment for an engineering degree for any reason other than migration?
4) Is getting enough points to claim superior english easy to do for a native speaker, or do you actually have to study?
5) If 70 points is not enough, is 75? Because I could possibly claim my current job - I am doing a lot of the job functions an engineer would do. I am hesitant to ask them because I just started a few months ago and they would be pissed if I left soon. I am also considering looking for another more traditional chemical engineering job - in which case offer-letter plus paystubs should be enough proof?
Thanks for reading this and I apologize for some of my ignorance. I just found out about this visa last week and I was about to finalize the document gathering for the partner visa, but now I am wondering if this is a better way. I am going to keep reading the forums and see what I can find.
I was hoping someone could provide some perspective. I am currently living in the USA with my Australian partner of two years. In about a year, we would like to move back to Victoria to be close to her elder parents. We have been planning to apply for the Partner Visa De Facto (subclass 309), but I decided to look into skilled migration to see if this would be cheaper, quicker, or easier. It appears that in some ways it is, but I had a few questions.
I am a Chemical Engineer (233111) with 4.5 years of direct experience and an with an accredited Bachelors of Science degree from a world-known institution. It appears that I would have no trouble getting my skills assessment by Engineers Australia. Based on my points calculator, I currently have 70 points, claiming superior english. I am currently working in job that is in manufacturing but is NOT a chemical engineering job. I am not sure if I can claim this although I suppose with the right reference letter I could (I am doing a lot of the same things a chemical engineer would be doing, my title is Manufacturing Manager and I do more scheduling, buying, planning, and problem solving and I do have direct reports). It's also an hourly and not salaried job. If I could claim this job, or if I switch jobs, I could potentially claim 75 points. I also believe I would have to take an english test to claim superior points (would a native and intelligent english speaker easily score 8 bands without studying)?
So it appears I need to spend money up front to get my skills assessment by Engineers Australia (Is there any benefit to doing this except for the visa application? Would potential employers ask for it?) and also take the English test - I don't really want to spend this money up front if my EOI will sit when I have another pathway to migration (partner visa). Since it isn't a guarantee I would get invited. The Partner visa costs a lot more but I would say I'm about 3-4 weeks away from being able to submit it, I am just gathering the documents and writing our statements.
I like the idea of the skilled migration visa because if you get invited,
1) it's a lot quicker than the 14-15 months partner visa
2) it's about 3500 cheaper than the partner visa (although you have to pay for skills assessment and english test up front)
3) you get a permanent residency instantly and do not have to wait 2 years to go from temporary to permanent
4) way less paperwork to file than the massive partner visa application
5) it seems more "certain" than a partner visa application. Even though my partner and I are 100% genuine, you still have a case officer have to subjectively decide that. We don't have the "strongest" application - i.e. we don't have too many joint assets, investments, etc... but we have been living together and splitting bills and such for two years and we do have a joint account. I just don't want to leave anything to chance, or to have delays because a case officer wants additional info.
I had a few questions that perhaps some of you could help with:
1) if you had a choice between partner visa path or skilled migration path, which would you choose? Am I missing something?
2) is 70 points enough for a chemical engineer to be invited ? It doesn't appear to be obvious on the statistics published by DIBP, i did not see 70 pointers on their bar charts.
3) Is it worth getting skills assessment for an engineering degree for any reason other than migration?
4) Is getting enough points to claim superior english easy to do for a native speaker, or do you actually have to study?
5) If 70 points is not enough, is 75? Because I could possibly claim my current job - I am doing a lot of the job functions an engineer would do. I am hesitant to ask them because I just started a few months ago and they would be pissed if I left soon. I am also considering looking for another more traditional chemical engineering job - in which case offer-letter plus paystubs should be enough proof?
Thanks for reading this and I apologize for some of my ignorance. I just found out about this visa last week and I was about to finalize the document gathering for the partner visa, but now I am wondering if this is a better way. I am going to keep reading the forums and see what I can find.
