On 1 July 2010, The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) of Australia introduced a few changes to the regulations concerning applications for Permanent Residence visa (subclass 885 and 886 among others). If you are intending to apply for one of these visa subclasses before 1 July 2011, the following information might be useful.

As a guideline, candidates must pass the points test imposed with at least 120 points for 885 (independent) visa and at least 100 points for 886 (family sponsored) visa. Please note that although there are other paths to permanent residency (such as through employer sponsorship or state/territory government nomination), this article is specifically designed to help independent and family-sponsored applicants currently residing in Australia.

Skills Assessment

(Maximum attainable points: 60)

Applicants are now required to have their skills assessed before they can claim the 40, 50 or 60 points tied to their nominated occupations to apply for permanent residency. A new list of occupations that are eligible for PR is available on the DIAC website under Schedule 3.

You will need to go to the assessing authority’s website to view the requirements for getting your skills assessed. For example, information for IT graduates are available on the ACS website and Engineering graduates on Engineers Australia.

Age

(Maximum attainable points: 30)

The following additional points may be granted at the time of application for applicants that fall into one of the following age groups:

• 30 points: 18-29 years old
• 25 points: 30-34 years old
• 20 points: 35-39 years old
• 15 points: 40-44 years old

IELTS Test

(Maximum attainable points: 25)

Applicants are required to demonstrate that they possess an English skill assessable as “Competent”. This is equivalent to IELTS score of 6.0 in each of the 4 bands (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking). The points scheme is grouped as follows:

• 25 points: IELTS 7.0 in each band
• 15 points: IELTS 6.0 in each band
• 0 points: IELTS 6.0 overall

Booking for IELTS exam may be done at most tertiary institutions such as The University of Sydney or The University of Technology, Sydney.

Australian Qualifications

(Maximum attainable points: 25)

The following points may be claimed depending on your academic qualification:

• 25 points: Australian doctorate (> 2 years full-time study)
• 15 points: Australian Masters or Honours (at least upper Second class) and Australian bachelor degree (> 1 year full-time study) and total study period in Australia > 3 years
• 5 points: Australian bachelor degree, diploma or trade qualification (> 2 years full-time study)

Other points

You may be eligible for additional points if you either:

• meet the work experience criteria, or
• have NAATI-certified language skills (including Indonesian), or
• studied and lived in low population growth area, or
• have a partner that is included in the PR application, or
• is nominated by state/territory government or sponsored by an eligible relative living in a Designated Area.

For more information, consult Form 1119 on the immigration website.

Health Check & Police Certificate

Candidates are required to provide evidence that they have booked for a health examination and completed an Australian Federal Police (AFP) check prior to lodging their PR application. More information is provided below:

• Medibank Health Solutions (ring up and request for a booking reference number for PR purposes)
• Australian Federal Police clearance (The lowest-cost $43.00 check is sufficient)

Example of a candidate passing the points test

A graduate with Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering gained over 4 years of full-time study (60 points), aged 25 years old at the time of application (30 points), IELTS score of 7.0 in each band (25 points) studying at The University of New South Wales (5 points) will gain 120 points and may apply for 885 (independent) visa.

How to Apply

Applicants may lodge their application online, apply by mailing the required paperwork, or use a certified migration agent. The current cost of PR application is $2,575 per individual. Dependents (such as parents) with less-than-functional English who are planning to migrate together with the individual will incur additional costs (for more information, see Form 990i).

Required Documents

Online applications

For online applications, a list of documents that need to be provided will appear once the application is lodged. Documents may be scanned and attached on the eVisa browser provided after the application is lodged.

For your convenience, I have provided the list below. Certified copies of the following documents are required as a minimum for online 885 (independent) applicants:

• Copy of passport Personal Particulars/Photo (bio-data) page
• Birth certificate or other evidence of age
• IELTS test result
• Passport photo (3 x 4)
• Evidence of arrangements to undergo a medical examination (i.e. booking reference number)
• Receipt for AFP check
• Receipt of successful skills assessment
• Overseas police certificate

For 886 (family-sponsored) applicants, additional documents may be required such as details of the sponsoring family member and a family tree detailing the applicant’s relationship with the sponsor. For more details, consult the 886 visa checklist for paper applications below.

Paper applications

You may find the document checklist for 885 (independent) visa and 886 (family-sponsored) visa.

Processing Time

Processing time is currently at least 18 months for applicants nominating an occupation in Schedule 3. Processing times may be shortened to less than 6 months if a candidate is sponsored by employer, or less than 18 months if a candidate is nominated by a state/territory government.

Note: I am unable to provide further information as I have lost the link to the page displaying the estimated processing times for applicants.

Transitional arrangements & options for applicants not eligible for PR

There are several options for candidates who do not meet the above criteria. Candidates may apply for State Migration Plan (SMP) due to be finalised late this year or—for existing international students—apply for Skilled – Graduate (subclass 485) visa under the transitional arrangements in place until 31 December 2012. The transitional arrangements will allow graduates to obtain the necessary work experience to boost their chances or secure an employer or state/territory government to sponsor them in their application.

Please note that the points scheme is set to change again from 1 July 2011, hence this article will no longer be relevant from this date.