I want to emigrate to Australia. What's the best way around it - I'm thinking of a student visa?

Question

I'm 35 years old and desperate to emigrate to Australia. I have an uncle who lives in Victoria but don't have the right skills set - I've always been a secretary/PA and am currently a legal secretary. As my current profession doesn't qualify on the skills category, I'm thinking of retraining as a hairdresser - I understand that hairdressers are in short supply out there. I'm proposing studying hairdressing in Australia for 2 years in the hope that they will grant me entry once I'm qualified. Has anyone done this and been successful? Does anyone know the likelihood of me being gained entry this way or am I just living a dream? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You didnt say where you are,but look on the website
www.immi.gov.au
that has all the info for immigration,good luck.

Answer 2

To qualify for migration as a hairdresser you need to have finished an indentured apprenticeship or have 6 years experience. Completing a 2 year college course won't be sufficient. You would need to finish your course then work for a company that is willing to sponsor a work permit.

Answer 3

Almost any trade should get you in but find out what trades they are in need of then find out through the employment agency witch is quickest to pass.even if it is a male dominated trade.

Answer 4

Why?
I thought the place was a dump!

Answer 5

I work in immigration to commonwealth countries and I tell you absolutely, if you know what you are doing you can legally migrate and live a good live in those countries as long as you meet the following rules.

•Over 18 years of age.
•Not too bad a criminal record (preferably no custodial sentence longer than 12 months imposed in the last 10 years). This is VERY subjective, and the decision should be made by a good agent. Don’t listen to immigration officers on this one. The immigration department make the decision on whether you get in or not.
•No serious diseases or VERY expensive operations need. So insulin diabetics can go, people needing a heart operation can’t, but if you have just had your heart operation then you can go. This is also VERY subjective. Don’t listen to immigration officers on this one. The immigration department make the decision on whether you get in or not.

I don’t like to contradict people but the four answers (so far) to your question are absolutely wrong. People – Please this person wants accurate advice. Don’t give people the wrong advice. Please note that Immigration department websites give you information on the visas that the department want to promote. They don’t give you information on the lawful visas they don’t want to promote. They especially don’t tell you how to use more than one visa in co-ordination so that you can get around restrictions they try to place upon you.

To migrate as a hairdresser you will need;

1) Without a qualification - A minimum of SEVEN years work experience as a qualified hairdresser PROVIDED you have been taught by a professional qualified hairdresser. If not, expect to show more experience.

2) With a suitable level of qualification gained outside Australia - A Qualification equal to an Australian qualification (i.e. not just any old qualification) AND a minimum of 4 years work experience after the qualification

3) A suitable qualification (only about 4 or 5 courses are suitable for migration – forget the rest) gained inside of Australia over either 16 or 24 months (depends on the course). At the moment no further work experience is required. There is a probability of a change to this later this year but it will still be possible to qualify over a 24 month period.

Please note that people who can migrate after a suitable course DO NOT APPLY FOR THE NORMAL SKILLS (136) VISA. They must apply for a completely different visa!

There is no logic to immigration. Immigration policies have evolved in response to pressures placed upon politicians wanting to be re-elected. They are then modified and interpreted and applied by bureaucrats. Over time they are further changed by pressures to apply ever more controls ad conditions, especially by the immigration department. They recently removed an entire visa over which they had no real control, as 13% of applicants failed to meet the conditions of the visa over a 4 year period. They felt this made them look bad.

I would have thought an 87% success rate was excellent! - but they didn’t and wiped out an excellent entry method for thousands of people.

There is no requirement as to capital, money in the bank etc and they are not worried about you being a drain on their welfare system as you are not eligible for welfare for 2 years.
It doesn’t matter what nationality or race you are. There is no special treatment for British nationals. In a practical sense it is helpful if you speak English but its not compulsory on many visa’s and on those where some level of English is compulsory (at a low vocational level only), you can study English after arrival, and its easier as you are using it every day.

It does get more difficult as you get older but there is no real age bar. I recently sent over a 78 year old lady and later an 82 year old gentleman (not a couple). There are a number of ways to migrate OTHER than just a points tested skilled visa.

Beware of going on a student visa. It’s a great visa IF you really, really know what you are doing. The rules for courses are deceptively simple even to most professionals, but the devil is in the detail. You can’t just attend any two year long course! There are probably over 250,000 trade courses available, but I know of only 21 in all of that are guaranteed to get you permanent residency. The good news for you is that there are 8 in Melbourne!

Going on the correct trade course WILL allow you to apply for permanent residency in 16 to 24 months as (currently) the work experience test is applied to people graduating on a suitable trade course or a combination of “complimentary” trade courses.


Many University degrees simply won’t work. Be VERY VERY CAREFUL that you don’t spend 2 or 3 years and a lot of money only to find out you got it wrong.
In addition, the rules are evolving and changing all of the time. So even if you start a course, that appears to be eligible at the start IT WON’T BE 2 YEARS LATER when you graduate. Get a really good professional firm who will help you from day one and stay with you throughout the whole 2 to 3 years process until you get permanent residency. They will monitor changes and advise you and your college of any necessary changes to the process. Education agents dealing with Australian student courses ARE NOT FULL MIGRATION PROFESSIONALS and should not give advice on permanent residency. They cannot take a “whole of family” approach (regards relatives, dependents etc) and normally won’t deal with money, pensions and goods transferees where you can lose tens of thousands of pounds. Please note the potential impending work experience requirement that will change student visas.

Some skills visas require skills assessment which is a paper war exercise. You can be approved without qualifications in a number of occupations, but not in others. In many occupations your work experience is taken into account and you don’t need a qualification. In many other occupations experience isn’t taken into account a suitable qualification is the only way in. If you are under 45 years of age you may need a skills assessment but after 45 you don’t, so sometimes its better to wait until you turn 45. Please note the new interpretations on TRA skills assessments for people without qualifications. Even professionals are failing in many cases. DIY immigration lawyers will most often fail to be assessed and this WILL end their ability to enter on a skills visa.

There are a number of skills visas that don’t have a point count. The point test really only applies to one skills visa (the 136) and even then, not all the time. There are a lot of people, including less knowledgeable migration agents and people working at the Department of Immigration and Multicultural affairs (DIMA) (about to have the departs name changed to DIAC) would will tell you there are conditions, restrictions etc. Unfortunately they only know about the visas they personally handle and few handle all visas. They only tell you about the bits they deal with. So if someone tells you that skilled visas stop at 45, they aren’t dealing with visas like the RSMS which is a specialised skilled visa for people up to AGE 60.

There are a lot of visas open to most people. But the question of which is best will depend upon your intentions when you get there. If someone tells you, you aren’t eligible talk to someone else!

Use a really good agent! They can show you how to get up to 10% better deal on your exchange rate (yes, it’s possible!) - that is worth £1,000 in every £10,000 (or £10,000 in every £100,000) you are moving to Australia! If you are likely to obtain a UK based private pension in future years when you finally retire, absolutely talk to a good agent now! You really better know about this stuff or the Aust Tax Office will skin you alive on the pension when it starts. This alone could save you $100,000 in tax over your lifetime! There are a lot of other things a good agent can save you money and pain over.

If you aren’t making progress, then try [e-mail] They are registered Aussie lawyers and accountants AND registered migration agents and so really know more than the others. They deal with ALL visas and are one of the biggest in the business.

Talk to people but remember a lot of people really don't know much about the latest system for moving to Australia.

Imagine if someone from Australia asked you about migrating to the UK. How much would you know to tell them about how to do it? Could you tell them how to get the best exchange rate, what removalist in Australia to use, what to do about their private and state pensions, could you even tell them there is no reciprocal health care available in their new country? So don’t listen to unqualified people in the Immigration department and especially not friends and acquaintances.
But most importantly, the system is gradually getting harder to get it. Also, it is normally better economically to move earlier than later. If you do have to go later, you can still get your visa now while the rules are easier than later and then make your final move to Australia up to 10 to 13 years after visa grant. So why wait? Get it now whilst you can. What if your health deteriorates or you have a serious crippling accident. If you have the visa before the accident you can still migrate - but not if you haven’t got it!

Hope this is helpful... Good luck with your move