Converting from 175 to 176 - a guideline.

[Maggel]

Maggel

I thought I should keep checking at least once a week. I called today to hear that I have a casse oficer. I suggest call them as you may also have one.

Keep me posted.

Rene

Hi Rene,

Yea, phoned this morning, and have a case officer. But they still say 4 weeks for him/her to contact us.

Good luck to you too.

Maggel

[Bazza]

Hi All, I know what I am about to ask is one of the requirements, but does one have to physically reside in the State where you requested sponsorship from and how would they check? I believe that it is only a moral obligation to reside in the sponsoring state. We have already applied for a 176 Skilled Family Sponsored Visa since Oct 2008, but as you know they are not processing these applications at the moment, so considering the State Sponsorship option. The only problem is that my wife wants to live close to her brother in Perth, at least initially....

Cheers ...Barry

[billabong]

You have to work and live within the state for two years...you need to give them all your details and do regular check - ins with them....after two years you can do and go where you want to .....

[Bazza]

Thanks Billabong, that's what i thought but it helps having it drummed into your head by someone else...

[jennyp]

hi Rene

still nothing, so frustrating. contacted my agent and he seems to think we are subject to visa capping (really hope not) and that we may only be granted our visa in July. it really anoys me as i went the state sponsorship route to speed things up and now i might as well have waited for the 175.

Jenny

[rene321]

hi Rene

still nothing, so frustrating. contacted my agent and he seems to think we are subject to visa capping (really hope not) and that we may only be granted our visa in July. it really anoys me as i went the state sponsorship route to speed things up and now i might as well have waited for the 175.

Jenny

Jenny

I suggest that you call the department as they are very helpful. Has the department started processing the 175 applications yet?

Rene

[billabong]

JennyP, not sure if you were on the 175 CSL, but if you were not - they haven't even TOUCHED any other applications but ENS (or any employer related visas), SS and 175CSL - so I think SS will still be much quicker - even if we only get it in July. I understand your frustration. I think all 176 after maybe Feb/beginning March just had bad luck and bad timing.....We are just going to have to wait. I will however also still phone every week...Lots of us in the same boat. So when the "got it" posts start coming through - thie forum will be in fire!!! ha ha. Hang in there......

[rene321]

Hi Rene,

Yea, phoned this morning, and have a case officer. But they still say 4 weeks for him/her to contact us.

Good luck to you too.

Maggel

Hi Maggel

I also wish I would get some communication from my case officer to. Lets hope everything is going well and that one day we will get an email to say Granted.

I am learning lots of patience with this whole process.

Rene

Edited June 3, 2009 by rene321

[billabong]

I also phone again this morning - wanted to speak to my husband as he is the main applicant and not me...first time they asked to speak to him, but anyway - they said it appeared that they have everything and if anything was outstanding the case officer would ask for it. When my husband asked about timeframes, she said there isn't any....it is at the case officer's discretion when the visa will be approved. What a lot of bollocks, but anyway. Everytime we phone, there is a different story, so I will be waiting another month before I phone again. Hopefully something happens in between.....

[callie]

HI PINE AND RIANA

HOW LONG AFTER A CASE OFF. IS ASIGHNED UR VISA WILL BE GRANTED!!

I have had quite a bit of enquiries about the process for conversion from 175 to 176. I know a lot of us have recently followed this path. I will briefly show the process overall. This is not 100% and things like timeframes are not fixed. I also only went the through the ACT one.

I would like to invite others to amend, add and especially give detail of the other territories.

I will try briefly to lay out the process and provide you with some links:

• Here is the DIAC link to the 176 detail. Basically the same requirements and workings as the 175. Only thing is you need a valid sponsorship and you need to remain in that territory for the 2 year duration. You have PR and all that comes with that: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-ski...-migration/176/
  
• Each territory has a list of occupations (subset of SOL) that they need and are willing to sponsor. You will have to determine which territory has your occupation on their list.
  

  
  

• They can sponsor as many as they would like on that list. They also have an allowance of 500 not on their list. For this you will have to contact them directly and liaise with them to see if you can get them to agree to sponsor you even if you are not on their list.
  
  
• This link gives you access to the detail for each territory:
  http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-ski...-state-terr.htm

  
  

• You will then need to go through the process of getting your sponsorship from them.
  

  
  

• Their timeframes and process differ between territories. Most are electronic these days and seem to take roughly a month.
  
  
• It is however possible to get it sooner but you have to motivate and discuss it with them. In our case we got the sponsorship within 2 days after applying but I asked by email and subsequently phoned them twice with my best telephone smile. I was straight about the fact that my medicals were expiring, and that I wanted to convert to 176 from 175 and there was a deadline date.
  
  
• As part of the application process they all need you to do research and show you are committed to staying in the territory for 2 years. This research takes a considerable amount of time. They mostly also don’t just want copy and paste from the web. They want you to show you have contacted people, looked at schooling, work, etc.
  
  
• For ACT they first needed us to do a pre-assessment by looking at our CV’s, etc before indicating they were willing to consider sponsoring us. As part of the application they then required us to write a 2 page statement of commitment ) that showed that we have personally researched their lifestyle, work opportunities, etc.
  http://www.saaustralia.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=183979

  
  

• Once you get the sponsorship grant letter from (form 1100, I think) them they fill in a form and send it to DIAC confirming their willingness to sponsor you. If you are not on their list there is some other paperwork they need to also send. They mostly also send you a letter to confirm the sponsorship. I propose you just confirm with them that they have sent in the forms to DIAC before you contact DIAC in this regard.
  
• You then go to the DIAC site to accept the sponsorship. This is done through the post lodgment enquiry form and you can also send them an email
  

  
  

• http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/forms/gsm/post.htm
  
  
• adelaide.gsm.documents@immi.gov.au
  
  
• On the mail we just indicated that we accept the nomination, give the reference number that the territory provided and attach the letter if you have it
  
  
• On the post lodgment form, just indicate what it is about in the free text part they provide. This takes about 5 days before they process it and put it on your application status – they seem to stick to their service standard times

  
  

• I phoned them the next day to confirm if the form has been lodged by the territory and followed up after 5 days to make sure the conversion has indeed been done. They confirmed telephonically and indicated that it will now be processed as priority.
  
• From here their service standard indicates (as contained in the response to blank email you send to this address: aspc.processing@immi.gov.au) you they will allocate a case officer to sponsored application as they are received within 10 days after receipt. You should then allow a further 10 days for the CO to contact you.
  

  
  

• In other words from the moment they confirm they are treating your application as a 176 you should allow 20 working days before you get worried.
  
  
• In our case it was 7 days before we got the visa and we did not even know we had a CO (despite telephonic follow up). It has been similar for a few other on the forum.

  
  

• Here are a few links to postings on our specific process for info: Sponsorship process
  

  
  

• http://www.saaustralia.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=21581&view=findpost&p=188428
  
  
• http://www.saaustralia.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=21581&view=findpost&p=188989
  
  
• http://www.saaustralia.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=21581&view=findpost&p=191917
  
  

  
  

• This is the general contact page for DIAC and also contains the post lodgment form link, telephone numbers and email address: http://www.immi.gov.au/contacts/visa-enqui...ofessionals.htm
  

[billabong]

There is no timeframe for that...it is up to the case officer...

[callie]

There is no timeframe for that...it is up to the case officer...

HI THEAR

THIS IS WEEK 8 STILL NOTHING FROM QUEENSLAND SS HOPEFULLY THIS WEEK!!!

[mac 4]

HI THEAR

THIS IS WEEK 8 STILL NOTHING FROM QUEENSLAND SS HOPEFULLY THIS WEEK!!!

Sorry to tell you but we are in week 18 for a Queensland SS. When I called last week they said they were doing March applications recieved. They received ours on the 6 April. Queensland seem to be taking the longest to approve, up to 5 months. Hang in there.

[mom of 3]

Ours was submitted 1st May 2009!!! Got a response letter stating it would be 6 - 8 weeks, but mmmnnnnn!

Still waiting too!!!

Joanne

[Liezl]

Ours was submitted 1st May 2009!!! Got a response letter stating it would be 6 - 8 weeks, but mmmnnnnn!

Still waiting too!!!

Joanne

Please explain in short human understandable terms what is ACT and how can one get it, cause it seems to work MUCH faster than the normal 175 application.We've been waiting since September 2008, nothing has been done ....except our money have been taken!ARGHHHH, my hubby is a primary school teacher - we've done this whole thing on our own and really don't care we're we going to; as long as it's in Australia and not the OUTBACK!

PLEASe please help!

Liezl

[Kyto (Key-toe)]

According to my agent, they said that the time frame for Queensland of 6-8 weeks from the time a state receives your sponsorship application has been extended to a further +/- three months (a total time of five months approximately), due to the high numbers of applications that have changed from a 175 to 176.

Qld received our application on the 14 April 2009 so we are expecting to hear from them by the middle of September.

Kyto

[Pine and Riana Pienaar]

Please explain in short human understandable terms what is ACT and how can one get it, cause it seems to work MUCH faster than the normal 175 application.We've been waiting since September 2008, nothing has been done ....except our money have been taken!ARGHHHH, my hubby is a primary school teacher - we've done this whole thing on our own and really don't care we're we going to; as long as it's in Australia and not the OUTBACK!

PLEASe please help!

Liezl

Liezl,

It really is a pain to wait like that. Must say we got the front part of the wave and ours really did go fast. I know a couple of others like Billabong took a bit longer on ACT. I have also recently had feedback from the people handling the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) sponsorship and they are really flooded with applications. They have had to appoint a few extra people to handle it and the turnaround times are still quite a bit longer than it used to be.

It is well worth it though. We just love the place.

[silvertubes]

Just to confirm, generally you'd be applying for Skilled Sponsored Visa (SSV) and not Skilled Regional Sponsored Visa (SRSV).

This is to convert from a skilled independant 175 to a 176 in order to speed up the process.

[SurferMan]

Just so people know, I spoke with DIAC yesterday, this is no longer permitted, the transfer from 175 to 176.

[AAAZR]

Just so people know, I spoke with DIAC yesterday, this is no longer permitted, the transfer from 175 to 176.

You are correct,BUT people that applied for 175 before 01 July 2010 can still convert. All applications after that,new application and all the fees again!

A lot of the people bumped to category 5 applied before July 2010 and are now converting to 176 without having to lodge new application.

A

Edited November 23, 2011 by AAAZR