Working visa to Australia, where to apply?

Question

how long before the travel I should apply? I'm polish, is it likely for me to get it?

Answer 1

Hi, the best way to find out for sure if you can gain a Working holiday visa is to complete the on-line assessment. There is no fee for an assessment. The first working holiday visa is for one year however you can gain a second year by doing three months of seasonal work. The assessment page is http://www.visabureau.com/australia/working-holiday-visa.aspx

Answer 2

you can either apply directly to Australia House in central London, as you don't need an employer to sponsor you, or you can use the many agencies, BUNAC, CCUSA etc which for a fee will do all the form filling on you behalf. Visa applications can take up to 5 months.

Answer 3

From what I have seen in Australia, and I live there is that most people get a student visa so they can study and work part time. I think student visas are easier to get

Answer 4

Try Australia house

Answer 5

aus embassy - australia house london

Answer 6

Being Polish WILL make it more difficult, even if you have not lived in Poland within the last 10 years. Applications from residents and citizens of former Eastern Block, most Asian (including China and India), all African and all South American countries are subject to much more scrutiny (and this takes longer) due to the prevalence of “purchased” fraudulent documentation and sub standard educational systems. Basically its best to be from a Western country
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)
•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.
There are a lot of people, including migration agents, and less knowledgeable people working at the Department of Immigration (DIMA _ soon to be called DIAC) will tell you there are conditions, restrictions etc and whilst this is so, you can get around a lot of these by going in on one visa and then switching to the one you want after arrival. They won’t tell you about this. Some visas are processed differently if you applying whilst already in Australia than if you are applying from outside. 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.
Immigration department websites give you information on the visas that the department wants 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 (which the staff often do not know about) so that you can get around the restrictions you are facing. By and large the most knowledge immigration officers are soon promoted to supervisory roles and cannot be accessed by members of the public. You will be getting poor counsel from junior staff. Is that what you really want? The advice you get will often by misleading and they certainly will not tell you how to use a combination of visas to sidestep restrictions that may be placed upon you.
There are a lot of visas open to most people. You will not know about them as you are not a full time professional. The question of which is best will depend upon your intentions when you get there. If someone tells you that you aren’t eligible talk to someone else!
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 and conditions, especially by the immigration department. Australian Immigration 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 immigration people didn’t and wiped out an excellent entry method for thousands of small business people to come, set up business and employ people.……So, go figure?
There is no requirement as to capital, money in the bank etc for most visas. They are not worried about you being a drain on their welfare system as you are not eligible for welfare for 2 years.
Legally, it doesn’t matter what nationality or race you are, or what passports you hold. There is no special treatment for British nationals. In a practical sense it is helpful if you speak English but it is 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 (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 Australia that are guaranteed to get you permanent residency. 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 not 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 trade 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.
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!
You can be approved even without qualifications for skilled visas but you really need to lodge a well presented case. Business applications do not need a qualification and always need an exceptionally well presented case. So, get a really good agent! Often DIY immigration applicants will often fail to receive a visa.
Some skills visas require skills assessment which is a paper war exercise. You can be approved on work experience (even without qualifications) in a large number of occupations, but not in others. In many other 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) (they are about to change the name 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!
Moving isn't just about a visa.
What about that couple in last November that paid the furniture removalist and the furniture didn’t arrive! They couldn't get hold of the removalists, and so rang the sea freight agent in Southampton. He said the removalist hadn't paid him and nothing was going until he was paid by someone. The removalist had scarpered agent said he had 21 sea containers full of people furniture on the docks. The couple had to pay over £3600 TWICE! Ask the agent for this and lots of other really good info...
Get smart and use a really good agent! If you are moving money over, because the saving on the money alone will more than pay for the agent AND they make sure you, your furniture AND your pensions actually get there the right way (and lots of other practical stuff).
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 New Zealand. So if you have a £100k, asking NZIS officers, or Aunty Flo for advice could cost you £10,000 in lost capital. That’s awfully expensive “FREE” advice.
If you are likely to obtain a private pension in future years when you finally retire, absolutely talk to a good agent! You really better know about this stuff now, BEFORE you move! You really better know about this stuff or the Australian Tax Office will skin you alive on the pension when it starts. This alone could save you $100,000 in tax over your lifetime! That’s a lot more money down the drain.
What out for employers offering to “sponsor” you. Often sponsoring employers will pay you a much lower wage to start with as this cover the cost of their sponsorship. So effectively you are actually paying the cost by working for less money. If you are in country before applying for the job, then you will be able to negotiate a higher salary as they will now need you more than you need them! There is lot of extra money to be had in each of the early years of your arrival. It is much cheaper to pay your own way than accept years of lower wages. Remember that in this world not many things are free!
If you aren’t making progress, then try [e-mail] They are New Zealand and Australian 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. They also help with jobs, accommodation Car hire, bank accounts and credit cards and lots more – all before you arrive!
Do talk to people. Ask about living in Australia. Ask about immigration but remember a lot of people really don't know much about the latest systems for moving there.
Imagine if someone from Australia or New Zealand asked you about migrating (legally) to the UK. How much would you really 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 Britain for Australian or New Zealanders newly arrived? Could you tell them how to get around the fact that there are no free medical services for newly arrived migrants from any non EU country? So don’t listen to unqualified people, whether they are in the Immigration departments, or friends and acquaintances, or even Aunty Flo’s mothers’ cats’ brother!
Most importantly, the system is gradually making it harder to get in. 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 New Zealand later on. So why wait? Get it now whilst you can. What if your health deteriorates or you have a serious crippling accident. If you had the visa before the accident you can still migrate - but you can’t if you still need to apply!
I would like to be able to be more specific but truly migration is so different for different people you just can’t advise people unless you know an awful lot about their family situation. It is very personal and there is so much you don’t know. It is actually worse than you think because you don’t know what you don’t know. Actually not many people are really are good at this. Even professionals just accept what the Immigration Departments promote, but there are better, perfectly legal options.
Hope this is helpful... Good luck with your move. Oh yes one last thing - get a really good agent! LOL