> As I have said already, its your call. If it doesn't work for you -
> that's fine. I'm not trying to compel you to apply for permanent
> residency. I'm simply making it known that there are pathways
> available for SIR visaholders to obtain p/r sooner than is more widely
> advertised - and some will certainly be interested.
>
> Note also that you will be incurring costs such as medicals and police
> certificates even if you take one of the "traditional" routes to p/r -
> and I'd take issue with how you get to your costings (not sure why you
> have even one week of hotel accommodation let alone a fortnight, when
> typically 3 to 4 days outside Australia is sufficient), but each to
> their own.
>
> Best regards.
It was successful in my case. I was recently granted a 134 Skill
Matching Visa.
I took one of the routes that Alan is mentioning. I am still in the UK
and I was already the holder of a SIR visa but when my occupation
(welfare worker) came onto the occupations in demand list for SA in July
2005, I applied for state sponsorship (thinking I could apply for an
STNI visa but this is not allowed) so instead I applied for the skill-
matching visa with my state nomination.
I applied in December 2005 and was granted my permanent visa in June
2006. When I got my passport back from the Aus High Commission in
London, the SIR visa had been invalidated and the new permanent 134 visa
attached instead.
As regards to costs, yes I had to pay another visa lodgement fee (around
£790) and pay for another set of medicals (around £220) and new police
checks (£10.) I already had my skills assessment from the AIWCW so I
didn't have to pay for that again.
The benefits for me are:
1. That I now have the leeway of 5 years to decide on what I want to do
and and get myself sorted out etc. before having to commit to moving
(whereas with the SIR visa I would have had to be in SA by last month,
July 2006 to make the time deadline.)
2. It's easier to get a job if you have a permanent visa. Especially if
you are looking for jobs with local government which I was intending to
do. (Now I'm thinking of retraining in the legal field.)
3. It will be a lot quicker to get citizenship. In total, just 2 years
(3?) as a PR if I have the 134 visa. With the SIR 495 visa, I'd need
to spend 2 years in SA on the SIR, then a further 2 years (3?) to
gain PR on an STNI visa after the SIR.
Also, if the rumours are correct, it may be the case that DIMA is
thinking about giving transitional protection to people who have a
permanent residence visa granted before January 2007 (when the new 3
year rules for PR are supposed to be being made law). ie. if you have
been granted PR before Jannuary 2007 then whenever you actually move to
Australia, you will only have to have 2 years PR to get citizenship. If
I had gone ahead to Oz with my SIR visa, I would not get my PR until
AFTER January 2007 and hence I'd likely be looking at 3 years PR before
citizenship.
All in all, I think it was money well spent in my case.
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