Australia immigration… how the system works…?

The Australian Immigration system is similar to the Human Resources (HR) department of any company.

For instance, when an individual applies for a job in a company, they will most likely only qualify if they meet the skills criteria by having the appropriate qualifications and/or experience mentioned in their Curriculum Vitae (CV). The HR department would then check if the individual is eligible and suitable for the job profile, and only then would call them for an interview and perhaps provide a job offer.

Likewise, Immigration has identified all the occupations that they would like an individual to apply under an Australian work visa. Under these occupations, the Australian government has specifically created job descriptions (different for each occupation), which includes all the skills and experience expected from the applicant, in order to grant them the position and visa.

The applicant has to upload their CV, specifying their skills and experience required for the role. Immigration would then carefully assess the applicant’s CV and check if it matches as anticipated with the job description provided by the company sponsoring them. If all matches up, the visa should be granted.

For instance, if you are applying is a Marketing Specialist, the role should be similar to a Marketing Officer/Marketing Co-ordinator, provided you meet the caveats, which are another set of conditions for the occupation that must be fulfilled. The caveats for Marketing Specialist at the moment are:

  • a minimum base salary of $65,000 plus compulsory 9.5% superannuation guarantee ($71,175 in total) to the employee for this profession; and
  • the company employing you must have a minimum of AUD$1 million turnovers in a year.
  • Excludes low-task skills such as any position that is based in a front-line retail store, which predominantly involves direct client transactional interaction on a regular basis.

Note: There may or may not be caveats under all the occupations. Each occupation may have a different approach to qualify for a visa.

To conclude, it’s your skills and experience plus the job description and the remuneration offered, that plays a major role in applying for an Australian visa under any profession that is listed in the Skilled Occupation List! If they are all matched up, the visa should be granted.

For more information about caveats and the skilled occupation list, we would suggest you visit the Department of Home Affairs website, alternatively feel free to talk to us and we can assist you in evaluating your situation and all visa-related advice.