SIR Sponsorship through South Australia?

[Pippa]

Dear All,

I’ve only realized over the weekend that we might qualify for a SIR visa through South Australia. As previously mentioned, my husband is busy with his exams to be admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales and that we won’t be able to apply for skilled migration before he is admitted as a solicitor.

We only get 110 points when I am the principal applicant, as my occupation is only worth 50 points, which accumulates 110 points instead of 120 points.

Did anyone applied for a SIR visa through South Australia? If so, what was the process like? Do we first need sponsorship from the state (South Australia) and do you think that they will sponsor a marketing specialist (ASCO code 2221-13)?

I can recall that someone on the forum mentioned that the SIR visa might fall away. Is this correct? If so, do you have any idea of when it may fall away?

Any advise or comments would be appreciated!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Pippa

[shane]

Hi Pippa

I hope we can be of assistance.

We started with our visa (SIR 495) in January 2005.

The first thing we did was the skills assesment, and received it in october.Be patient .

Thereafter we applied for Southern Australian sponcership, we got the go ahead in February this year.

In Feb we applied for the SIR visa, then in the beginning of May was requested to do medicals and police clearence.

I know that the visa has been ammended recently, but know nothing about it falling away.

My points added up to 115.

For more info you can go to the following website: www.immigration.sa.gov.au. If you have any questions PLEASE don't hesitate to ask.

Shane

[Pippa]

Dear Shane,

Thank you so much for the information. I will pm you for more information. Thank you once again!

Pippa

[Annette]

hi Pippa!

We are here in Adelaide on an SIR visa. We applied for the visa from the UK, so our processing time was quite a bit shorter than Shane's . It took about 6 months all in all from start of skills assessment to visa grant. You have to get sponsorship from SA (South Australia) and you will get it if you have any occupation on the SOL list. We just faxed the sponsorship form through, but now I know you can do it online. I have heard though that they are getting tough on the sponsorship process. We just filled in a form and sent it through and got our sponsorship after 10 days... now apparently you have to show proof of funds, prove that you have researched the job opportunities, schools etc. (you can provide websites to prove this).

I have not heard anything about this visa falling away, only that it might be made easier for people to get PR on this. The only thing that has changed is that now you automatically get 15 bonus points for applying for this visa. I would investigate all other options first though, because I think it's always better if you can get in on a visa that gives you immediate permanent residency.