On 11 November 2010, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) introduced a new points test aimed at applicants of certain General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas, including Skilled – Independent (subclass 885) and Skilled – Sponsored (subclass 886) visas. The new scheme is set to take place after 1 July 2011 and is expected to benefit candidates with proficient English language skills and significant work experience. You may read about the changes in detail on the fact sheet and FAQ provided in the immigration website.
If you are a current international student who is looking to apply for permanent residency after 1 July 2011, it is very important to familiarise yourself with the new points system. I will highlight some high-level changes and how they could impact your chances in the PR hunt:
Family sponsorship is no longer eligible for Skilled – Sponsored (subclass 886) visa
Under the current GSM regulations, candidates who are unable to meet to pass mark criteria of 120 in the Skilled – Independent (subclass 885) visa are eligible to apply for Skilled – Sponsored (subclass 886) visa with a lower pass mark of 100. Candidates may be sponsored by either family or state/territory government.
Under the new GSM regulations, however, family members are no longer eligible to sponsor candidates for Skilled – Sponsored (subclass 886) visa. If a candidate is still unable to meet the pass mark, s/he will have to look for state/territory government willing to sponsor him/her.
No points awarded for nominating skilled occupations in the Skilled Occupations List (SOL)
The current GSM regulations may award 40, 50 or 60 points depending on a candidate’s nominated occupation when applying for PR. This is no longer the case with the new points test in place, where points are no longer awarded for nominating an occupation in the SOL. Instead, a candidate is only required to nominate an eligible occupation in the SOL in order to apply for PR. To those uninformed, the number of eligible occupations on the SOL has been trimmed from over 400 to just 181.
Bachelor, Bachelor with Honours and Masters qualifications receive the same number of points
Are you thinking of taking further study to claim those valuable points? If you’re a Bachelor planning on studying Masters to gain competitive advantage for PR, forget about it. Having a Masters degree is not going to boost your chances over Bachelor graduates when it comes to PR application. If you have a PhD, though, it will, but only marginally (5 points).
The introduction of Superior English – IELTS 8 in each of the 4 bands: Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking
Under the current GSM regulations, the highest points that may be awarded out of English proficiency is 25 points. This is achieved by an IELTS result of 7.0 or higher in each of the 4 bands: Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking. This is classified as Proficient English.
The new GSM regulation introduces a higher classification of English language ability—Superior English—achievable by an IELTS score of 8.0 or higher in ALL FOUR bands. I estimated that a fresh Bachelor/Masters graduate with less than a year of Australian work experience in his/her nominated occupation and will be applying for PR independently after 1 July 2011 would require Superior English to meet the minimum pass mark.
I am an international student looking to apply for PR after 1 July 2011. Do I still stand a chance?
Yes, but the door is closing. The high standards imposed by the DIAC will require you to fight for a higher IELTS score or gain the necessary work experience before you can meet the minimum pass mark. There is a bit of good news in that transitional arrangements for existing international students are still in place, which means that they will still be able to apply for Skilled – Graduate (subclass 485) visa upon graduation to stay in Australia for 18 months to gain the necessary work experience.
If you expect to graduate in 2012 or later, you may hope that the points scheme will change again. The situation looks bleak at this stage, however, and I do not recommend waiting too long for things to change. It probably will, but not for the better.
General Skilled Migration — In-depth analysis of the new points test « arimbun
on Nov 30th, 2010
@ 9:55 pm:
[...] post is a continuation of my previous post regarding the new points test by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) [...]
manoj
on Dec 11th, 2010
@ 11:27 am:
This is nicely done analysis. I have some questions that I am not sure if the DIAC knows answers for but here it is.
I will be applying either 176 or 175
1) As far as I read about new points on the immi.gov they did not tell if i should have qualified within six months before applying, which is usually the case. I finished in feb 2010.
2)If I don’t have to have the qualification withing six months, usually, I need to have 12 months of experience in my nominated field., there is nothing concrete suggesting this criteria either.
This might be too good for someone who has their English in place. I like to know what you think.
Cheers
Manoj
arimbun
on Dec 11th, 2010
@ 12:03 pm:
Hi Manoj,
To answer your questions to the best of my abilities:
1) The 6-month rule applies only to applicants who have met the Australian study requirement. These are the candidates who obtained their qualification in Australia as a result of at least 2 years of study. If they apply within 6 months after the date of completion, they *may* be able to waive the required work experience imposed to other 175/176 candidates who do not meet the Australian study requirement.
2) Since you have effectively passed the 6-month time frame, it looks like you’ll need to obtain the necessary 12-month work experience in order to apply. Page 8 of Form 1119 explains a great deal.
Of course, I don’t specialise in offshore GSM visas, so it’s always best to double check by calling up the immigration office. Make sure to call them at least 3 times to verify the information with different people (some officers often give inaccurate information, so you’ll need to ascertain).
Regards,
Arthur
Collin Nunis
on Dec 25th, 2010
@ 6:43 pm:
Hi Arthur,
thanks for the information provided. Will it be possible to get the 15 points if I have a Bachelor’s degree + Graduate Diploma? Thanks.
arimbun
on Dec 25th, 2010
@ 6:52 pm:
Hi Collin,
If your Bachelor degree (together with your nominated occupation) is assessed as suitable for migration, then you’ll receive the 15 points.
Regards,
Arthur
Collin Nunis
on Dec 27th, 2010
@ 9:27 pm:
Hi Arthur,
I did a BCompSc in Software Engineering and my current GradDipSc is also in Software Engineering.
arimbun
on Dec 29th, 2010
@ 9:30 am:
As you are doing Software Engineering I’m sure you have a good chance of passing the skills assessment as long as you provide the required details.
Anne
on Jan 29th, 2011
@ 12:00 am:
Hello,
I’ll be having 5 years exp. (June/2011)as a software engineer in a well established company here in UK.
Also I have passed a Graduate Diploma in IT offer by BCS – The Charted Institute for IT (UK) and this qualification is recognised by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) as Level 6 and academic equal to a B.Sc. (Hons) degree.
With new points system starting from next July, will they accept UK Graduate Diploma as a Graduate Level qualification?
thanks,
Anne
arimbun
on Feb 12th, 2011
@ 9:34 am:
Anne,
Please refer to my other post which details the new points test starting July 1st: http://www.arimbun.com/2010/11/30/general-skilled-migration-in-depth-analysis-of-the-new-points-test/
Both your 5 years IT experience and UK Graduate Diploma will definitely net you some valuable points, however, you are still required to attain a minimum of 65 points in order to be eligible for migration.
Kind Regards,
Arthur
Pramod
on Feb 27th, 2011
@ 8:29 am:
Hi Arthur,
I have a masters degree in accounting (2 years) and and I’m on 485 visa (applied before 8th Feb ’10), now if I study and finish Bachelors of Accounting in one year period, within my 485 visa period (although pretty strange to do the bachelors after the masters). I am just wondering if I would be able to claim 15 points for my Australian study when I apply for my 885 visa?
regards,
Pramod
Martin
on Mar 29th, 2011
@ 7:46 pm:
Hi Anggiarto,
I am an international student doing a master in civil engineering in Australia. Since my bachelors degree from Europe comprised three years of study, I have to undertake one year of undergraduate studies followed by one year of postgraduate studies for my master. In total I will undertake only two years of study in Australia. Do you think it is likely that I will score 15 points based on the above mentioned performance?
Regards,
Martin
arimbun
on Mar 29th, 2011
@ 8:20 pm:
@Pramod: Yes, you will be eligible to claim for the 15 points at the end of your studies, as your qualification (whichever you choose to present, Bachelor or Masters) falls within the 15 point group.
@Martin: I believe 2 years of study equate to about 92 weeks of registered study. You will need to check with CRICOS that your 2 years of study are worth this much. Please check http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/885/eligibility-study.htm. Otherwise I’m fairly certain that most degrees with a registered CRICOS code would automatically be worth 92 weeks after 2 years.
Hugo Ng
on Apr 5th, 2011
@ 1:02 am:
Hi I just wonder if the temporary visa expires in 18 months then will we be able to extend the visa or what visa should we apply to keep to stay in Australia
And under the new legislation rules, how many points are awarded for 1 year work experience gained under temporary visa? and if i did then do i still need to achieve IELST score of 8 after that?
Thanks for your responce.
arimbun
on Apr 7th, 2011
@ 1:52 pm:
Hugo,
I believe the temporary visa Skilled – Graduate subclass 485 is only granted once. If you wish to extend your stay after the initial 18 month period, you will have to look at other visa options (which I have no knowledge of, unfortunately).
A year of strictly full-time work experience in your nominated occupation will add 5 points (see my other post). Whether you still need to achieve IELTS 8 will depend on the current points you have.
Kind Regards,
Arthur
Bhrat
on Apr 12th, 2011
@ 2:02 pm:
I have done B.E. Food Technology from Panjab University, India.. Now I am doing Master of Business in Hospitality Management (Professional Practice) in Australia from Victoria University. I t will finish in August 2012. Will I be able to get 15 points for Australian qualification? Also, will I get 5 points for professional year ?
arimbun
on Apr 12th, 2011
@ 2:28 pm:
@Bhrat: Yes, you can claim 15 points for Australian qualification. However, whether you can claim the 5 points depends on whether your Professional Practice is recognised as a professional year program by your skills assessment body.
bhrat
on Apr 12th, 2011
@ 3:27 pm:
Thanks for such a quick reply to my earlier post.
I have one another question. I am working in a restaurant as a chef and will continue to work there for almost an year, so will I get points for working in my field.
arimbun
on Apr 12th, 2011
@ 3:46 pm:
@bhrat: The occupation “Chef” seems relevant to your FoodTech bachelor degree, but you need to double check with the occupation assessment body for this. I’d say as long as your one-year employment is full time, you’ll be eligible to claim 5 points.
achal malhotra
on Apr 16th, 2011
@ 11:05 pm:
hi i am a dentist with 12 yrs exp and has dental hygienist as my nominated/closely related occupation.will i b getting 15 points for exp and also 15 point for overseas bachelors in dentistry kindly reply
achal malhotra
on Apr 23rd, 2011
@ 3:06 am:
i am a dentist with 12 yrs experience and is nominating my occupation as dental therapist . will my 12 yrs experience will b counted fully or the experience for my nominated occupation with exp of 5 yrs will counted both r closely related occupations kindly reply
arimbun
on Apr 29th, 2011
@ 11:28 pm:
@achai The counting starts after you attain your degree. Depending on whether your work experience is accumulated overseas or within Australia, you may be eligible to claim points for Australian work experience and/or overseas work experience.
Lucy Porter
on May 24th, 2011
@ 1:06 pm:
I’m in the middle of processing my Migration Visa and under the points system for July 2011 onwards, you have to take a IETLS course for English Language Ability. Do i have to do this even though I am English?
Cheers
arimbun
on May 24th, 2011
@ 1:11 pm:
Hi Lucy,
If you’re a native of a recognised English-speaking country (including the UK), you are automatically classified as having Competent English, which is 5 points in the bag. To get 10 (or 20) points, however, you do have to sit the IELTS test and score 7 (or 8) in each band.
Kind Regards,
Arthur
Subi
on Jul 2nd, 2011
@ 6:32 pm:
Hi, I am 33+ but unfortunately the age bracket makes it really unfair by reducing 5 points. What is the rationale for selecting the age bracket 25 to 32 as contributing more benefits to the Economy than a 33 year old. All other age groups have been broke down up to the mid age limit. Isn’t it age discrimination. Is there any appeal for this matter?
Thanks & Regards
Subi
arimbun
on Jul 4th, 2011
@ 11:36 am:
Hi Subi,
There was an FAQ released by the DIAC that explained their decision on the age groups. It was stated the average person aged 25-32 contributes more into the Australian economy than any other age group, at least statistically. Unfortunately as of 1 July, the new rules have come into effect and, based on my experience, it will not be possible to reverse them.
Kind Regards,
Arthur
ahmad
on Aug 20th, 2011
@ 7:47 pm:
Hi,
I applied for PR sub class 886 in dec 2009 and was given a case officer on dec 2010. but my case is not yet being finalised. Can u plz advise me how long it will take for my case to finalise.
Thanks
Ahmad
Toruna
on Feb 27th, 2012
@ 5:28 pm:
Hi
In 2011, I started studying the Masters of Social Work program at RMIT University. It is a two year program. I will finish the program in December 2012.
In 2010, I completed a Graduate Certificate in International Development at RMIT.
I have received 2 exemption units from the International Development course towards the Masters of Social Work.
I unit for semester 1, 2012 and the other for semester 2, 2012.
Is this going to affect my 2 year study rule if I was to apply for PR?
Subash
on Apr 6th, 2012
@ 2:55 pm:
HI,
I have done master degree in account from Australia(Sydney) and I have applied 885 visa but my case officer saying that i can get only 10 point from my Australian degree, Is this true? Plz calculate my score and let me know Plz.
Age; 32 ,IELTS: 7 score each band, PY: completed,Education: master degree(Account 2 years full time)