EOI and option choices

[delboy2oz]

Hi All,

1st post here, some great information on hand, but have a question or 2 for all of you in the know out there.

I have an occupation(261313 - Software Engineer role), that is relevant etc on SOL, 17 years in total work experience with a National Diploma from Wits tech and numerous vendor certifications. I am about to do my IELTS on 25/08 and then right after that do my skills assesment with the ACS. As I require the results of both of these before submitting my EOI, I want to get some input on what I should target on the EOI.

Ideally I want to get a sponsored position, state of other.

In my EOI, is there preference on what I should choose to increase my chances? Is there specific states I should preference? I briefly seen 2 older posts of people with SS to Victoria, is there somewhere/resource where i can match up my skills to a state requirement?

Thanking you all kindly, any and all input will be greatly appreciated,

Cheers

[HadEnoughofJuju]

Hi there and welcome to the forum and good luck with the rest of the process.

The best advice I can give at this stage and it's something I have been doing myself, is to go through the specific states websites and research each ones specific SOL. They are all different, just because your occupation appears on the general SOL it does not mean that it is also on each INDIVIDUAL States SOL. The easiest way to find each states SOL is to google for "Skills Occupation List Victoria" etc. If your specific occupation then appears on their list, put that state in as one of your prefered states as well as state you are willing to accept sponsorship from. We personally said all under that option and only selected the 4 states where my wifes occupation (secondary school teacher) for the where we would prefer to be located once we get there.

I have read in several places that it's a bad idea just to select all the visa types and say you are prepared to live anywhere, not sure how true this is though.

If your occupation does appear on one of the states SOL's then it is a good idea to select the 190 visa in your EOI. I also found on the Victoria site that you can apply directly to them for state sponsorship and if the application is successful you will be given 4 months in which to send your EOI reference number to them and once you have done that you will automatically be sent an invitation by DIAC to apply for a 190 visa. I have not seen this though on any of the other state websites though.

Because my wife is a school teacher it is apperently benificial for us to select the 186 and 187 visa subclasses, I am not sure though if this would be the same for people in the IT industry.

Anyone please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. Hope this helps in some small way.

Edited August 1, 2012 by HadEnoughofJuju

[21yearsoutofrsa]

The EOI system is so new (there has only been one draw to date) that I think the answer for most 99% of people on this forum will be "we don't know". Certainly that will be the respose from anybody that got accepted under the old system.

The number of responses to your query will be low. That doesn't mean people are unhelpfull or don't care.

Some of the agents may know better, but I suspect even they will be thrashing around a bit at this stage.

On the plus side, you will be the site guru on these matters in about 3 months time.

[delboy2oz]

thanks for the info and replies, greatly appreciated, look forward to providing some info on the EOI process as I progress,

Cheers!

[Jordy]

I must agree with the post above in that EOI only started on 1st July 2012 and to make matters worse they changed all the visa numbers. So I now totally unhelpful for the time being. Guess I will have to learn the whole process all over again so as to help others.

[Cranzy]

Hi All,

1st post here, some great information on hand, but have a question or 2 for all of you in the know out there.

I have an occupation(261313 - Software Engineer role), that is relevant etc on SOL, 17 years in total work experience with a National Diploma from Wits tech and numerous vendor certifications. I am about to do my IELTS on 25/08 and then right after that do my skills assesment with the ACS. As I require the results of both of these before submitting my EOI, I want to get some input on what I should target on the EOI.

Ideally I want to get a sponsored position, state of other.

In my EOI, is there preference on what I should choose to increase my chances? Is there specific states I should preference? I briefly seen 2 older posts of people with SS to Victoria, is there somewhere/resource where i can match up my skills to a state requirement?

Thanking you all kindly, any and all input will be greatly appreciated,

Cheers

I did my visa before EOI came in - so i won't be able to give any good information regarding that ...

Is there any reasons you are waiting to first do your IELTS and then only start ACS ... why not start the ACS assessment now?

[delboy2oz]

Hi,

maybe I misunderstood this, I took this as I must have the results of my IETLS before I can do my skills assesment, and then use these during my online EOI

from http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect/index/faqs/

Can I submit an EOI if I have not completed an English language test, skills assessment or Job Ready program?

No, not if you need these in order to submit an EOI.

If you are submitting an EOI for a points based visa, you must have completed an English language test, skills assessment or job ready program (if applicable) before you submit a complete EOI.

You do not need to attach documents to your EOI. However, you must enter accurate information in your EOI that matches the information on the supporting documents.

Am I correct in that I must wait?

Thanks

[Cranzy]

you can't do your EOI without having IELTS and skills assessment ...

but you can do your skills assessment now .. you don't have to wait to complete your IELTS to start ACS .... but you need both IELTS and ACS to do the EOI ...

[delboy2oz]

Hi Cranzy

My bad, I have 2 IT exams(vendor related certifications) I am scheduled to write within the next 4 weeks, my IETLS is slap bang in the middle of the 2 dates, so I am waiting on getting the 2 exams under the belt and having the certifications included when I do the skills assesment with the ACS.

I should have explained my timings there.......

Thanks for the input

[Cranzy]

Ah, that would explain it.

If you want to include your new certifications - then yes .. you would need to wait.

[HadEnoughofJuju]

We started this process in Feb 2012 on the old system, and the plan was to apply for a 175 PR visa, the agents then changed their minds and said that they may apply for a 175 PR or a 176 SS PR visa so I did all the research I could on these visa's as well as other options. After the agents took their merry time and only lodged the skills assessment late in May, that combined with the fact that the AITSL takes 10 weeks (to the day I might add) to process the assessment, put us in the wonderful position of having to swap over and start doing things on the new system. All I had read and absorbed had to be re-read and re-absorbed. We are basically fudging our way through this and don't really have much info on the matter.

The following things I do know though.

1. The 175 visa has now changed to a 189, the only differences are that you now have to submit an EOI and wait for the invitation before you can apply and you now only need 60 points instead of 65.
   
2. The 176SS visa has changed to a 190 SS again the only differences are the same as for the 189.
   
3. You can apply to the individual states for sponsorship without an invitation and if your application is successful you are required to submit an EOI and send the EOI reference number to the state sponsoring you. Once they receive the reference number, they contact DIAC and arrange for you to get an invitation to apply.
   
4. If you can get an employer to sponsor you then there is no need to fill in an EOI you will automatically get an invitation to apply for a visa which apparently remains the same as the old system which is a 457 visa. (Not really sure about this one as we are not doing this our selves).
   Scratch that I see that the 457 is right at the bottom of the list of visa's ou are interested in. Not sure if it was there or recently been added.
   
5. As for those people (which includes us) that are planning on going on a skill migration visa (i.e. a 189 or 190) they are just going to have to wait it out and hope that they are somewhere near the top of the list in terms of ranking and points and that their occupations are on the list of occupations sponsored by states.
   
6. It appears that the visas have merely changed numbers and the total number of visa's in each sub-class have been reduced. From what I have read the requirements have largely remained the same.
   

Hopefully when we are done and we have our visa's we will be able to help others with the EOI process. I just hope something happens soon.

Edited August 2, 2012 by HadEnoughofJuju

[delboy2oz]

_{Thanks for your input again,}

[21yearsoutofrsa]

I seem to remember that Delboy was given the opportunity to move to Oz, but turned it down.

[delboy2oz]

Afraid not 16yrs, not the same Delboy

[21yearsoutofrsa]

Only Fools and Horses, Who wants to be a Millionaire

that's not you?

[delboy2oz]

by this time next year Rodders, we'll be millionaires......LOL not me, nice one