Watch out here for the November 2009 announcement.
23/9/009 Current Advice to Prospective Applicants
We suggest to all those who are thinking of applying for migration to Australia to consult a registered migration agent to find out in which of the seven processing priority queues, just announced, your application will fall. If your application is not likely to be in one of the top level queues (employer nomination and CSL queues) and not going to be processed within 12 months, we would strongly advise you not to apply. It is no good keeping your visa application charge, which is not an insignificant amount, tied up with the Australian Immigration Department for an unknown period. If you were considering applying through a migration agent, you will also be saving the immigration assistance fee that you would have to pay to your migration agent.
4/8/2009 Cause for Delay in Getting the final visa grant letter
Currently there seems to be a long delay, compared to pre- January 2009, in getting the final visa grant
letter even after all dcouments have been sent to DIAC and the online
status shows MET for all items.
To our knowledge this is due to the following reasons. There may be others, which we do not know about.
1. For High Risk Countries extra checks are being carried out both to
verify employment references and also to do charcater checks. Character checks, which is done as part of Security Check, is more extensive and thorough now than it used to be before.
2. After a Case Officer has completed working on an application, the
application is passed on to a Decision Maker. The Decision Maker goes through the file and
gives the final decision before the Case Officer can issue the final
letter, explaining the decision on an application. The adding of a
separate Decision Maker seems to be a new stage.
19/3/2009 Advice to prospective applicants for Skilled Migration
Our advice to prospective applicants for skilled migration is that before applying and commiting your hard earned money
you should first fird out in which processing queue (1,2,3, 4 or 5) your application will fall.
If I were you I would not apply if my application fell in procerssing queues 4 or 5. By falling in these queues you will not know
when your application will be processed. Therefore, instead of letting your application fee (A$2000 plus) get stuck you should wait and/or
prepare so that you can fall either in Queue no. 2 or 3. It can be done in the following way:
Advice for Accountants and External Auditors either
(a) seek sponsorship from a state to be in queue level 2 OR
(b) improve English and resit the IELTS exam to score 7 or more in each of the four components to fall in queue level 3
Advice for IT professionals (a) first of all get four years work experience in IT
(b) try to get one year's work experience in an IT specialisation which is currently mentioned in the MODL to fall in the queue level 3
(c) try to get a state sponsorship to fall in the queue level 2
Advice for Engineers & Health Professionals
(a) Currently most engineering and health occupations are in the Critical Shortate List (CSL). Thus you will be in queue level 3. For applicants who are in queue level 3, case officers are being assigned pretty quickly.
Advice for Other professionals
(a) check the state sponsorship lists. If your occupation is in the state sponsorship list then try to get a state sponsorship- queue level 2
(b) if your current occupation is not in the CSL, if you are still intgerested in applying for migraation to Australia then try to prepare for an occupation which is on the CSL and/or on the state sponship list.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY BY APPLYING WHEN YOU WILL NOT FALL in QUEUES 1, 2 or 3. If you are not in these three queues it may take a few years before your application will be assigned to a Case Officer for assessment.