Points system & family sponsorship

[DesertDaisy]

Some questions:

1. Can my cousin (the child of my paternal aunt), who has been in Australia for well over 10 years (I think she had PR, but may now have citizenship) act as a sponsor?

2. On the preliminary points calculator on workpermits.com, our situation was a bit iffy. How accurate are these things?

3. Are there other ways to gain extra points - for example, work experience etc etc.

We still haven't heard from my dh's prospective employer, so are trying to work out if we can get PR on our own.

[Mara]

I have just checked www.immi.gov.au and there it says that the people that you can sponsor is

A non-dependent child

A parent

A brother or sister

A nephew or niece

An uncle or aunt

So, sorry, but it definitely does not mention a cousin, however, check the website for yourself!

[Cindylou]

Hi DD

I claimed an additional 5 points for recent work experience. If your nominated occupation is 60 points you can claim 10 points for working in that (or a closely related) occupation for three of the last four years, if your nominated occupation is a 40, 50 or 60 point occupation you can claim 5 points for working in any skilled occupation for three of the last four years.

There is also the option of investing AUD100k with the gov for a year, which then gives you 5 more points.

You can also get additional points for spouse's skills, but the spouse needs to have recent work experience, as well as skills and English language (IELTS) assessment.

Hope this helps

Cindylou