News & Blog

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has unveiled his cabinet after his Labor Party claimed the 77th seat to form a majority government. Andrew Giles will be Australia’s new immigration minister. Anthony Albanese has put the Immigration portfolio into the outer ministry, handing it over to Andrew Giles, who represents the electorate of Scullin in Melbourne’s north. During the previous Scott Morrison government, Mr Giles was the Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs. He said he was committed to ‘bringing all Australians together to benefit from Australia’s multicultural diversity, working towards a country in which no one is held back, and no one is left behind.’ Immigration and social policy are his interest areas, including cities, work’s future, and climate change. He has “contributed to public debate, as well as policy formulation on these issues and on improving the health of our democracy.”

Many of our clients enjoy working with us as we lay down the procedures in an easy-to-understand manner. In this article, we thought of covering General Skilled Migration in relation to sub-classes 190 and 491.

1. Check for eligibility

The first step requires a little bit of research.  In this process, you need to check for your eligibility on each state’s skilled occupation list, minimum points requirement,  and also age requirement. The requirements vary in each Australian state and territory. Sometimes this can be a daunting task for some of our clients as they have to match all these requirements. Our migration agents are trained to provide an in-detail assessment and do the research for you. They would know how best to match your CV against the available occupations under sub-classes 190 and 491.

2. Get your skills assessment and English test results

The occupation in the list generally requires a skills assessment to be completed especially if you have overseas qualifications and experience. In this process you will be informed as to whether the skills and qualifications are acceptable in Australia and to what extent they are considered for skilled migration. There number of different assessing bodies. At the same time, it is best to do your English test and obtain the marks required to gain valuable points under the points test.

3. Submit EOI

Submit your formal Expression of Interest via the Skill Select system when you receive the results of the skills assessment and English test. After the EOI is submitted, you would need to wait for an invitation. In order to have a higher probability of getting an invitation, you should have high points.

4. Once invited prepare documents

Once you receive the invitation you must prepare all the documents and lodge for the visa. It is important to note although the above steps are prelude to the step of applying for a visa, they are all very important and need to be done after studying the requirements very closely.

5. Apply for the visa

When you have your invitation, you can apply online. You can be in or outside Australia. You must apply for the visa within 60 days of receiving the invitation.  

All General Skilled Migration visas require at least Competent English however this is only for eligibility criteria. If you want to earn points for your language skills and maximize your chances of obtaining state nomination, you will have to make sure that you get an excellent score. Whilst you may need simply a ‘competent’ English requirement for your skills assessment, by getting a pass mark of ‘proficient’ or ‘superior’ mark you can add points helping you to stand a better chance against the competition. You could score 10 or 20 points in the points test for skilled migration if you achieve a score of: 10 points: Proficient English:

• IELTS: at least 7 in each component; or
• OET: at least ‘B’ in each component; or
• TOEFL iBT: 24 in Listening, 24 Reading, 27 Writing, 23 Speaking; or
• PTE Academic: At least 65 in each component; or
• Cambridge (CAE): At least 185 in each component

20 points: Superior English:

• IELTS: at least 8 in each component; or
• OET: at least ‘A’ in each component; or
• TOEFL iBT: 28 in Listening, 29 Reading, 30 Writing, 26 Speaking; or
• PTE Academic: At least 79 in each component; or
• Cambridge (CAE): At least 200 in each component

We would encourage you to prepare and practice for any of the exams and make sure you a very comfortable with the exam format. Even if you are very fluent in English, the exam tests a particular skill set and has its own format. There are very helpful youtube video and material online and if you need further assistance it would be worth going for tuition. If you need any assistance or advice, please feel free to reach out to our migration consultants.