We’re your trusted work visa lawyers
Want to relocate to Australia for work? Our expert work visa lawyers specialise in Australian work visas – you can rely on us to provide you with personalised advice and be by your side throughout the entire work visa process.
What is an Australian work visa?
There are two main types of visas for those looking to migrate to Australia for work:
1. General Skilled Migration (GSM) visas
These visas are an option for skilled workers looking to qualify for a skilled visa independently, without needing an employer-sponsor. Within GSM visas, there are three subclasses you can apply for:
- Subclass 189 Skilled (Independent) visa
- Subclass 190 Skilled (Nominated) visa
- Subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa
2. Employer-sponsored visas
The employer sponsored migration program enables Australian employers to sponsor overseas workers to fill positions in their business where they are unable to source skilled labour from the local employment market. Read more about employer-sponsored visas here.
Why work with an expert work visa lawyer?
- Doing your work visa application yourself puts you at risk of making potentially irreversible errors.
- Your work visa lawyer will have experience in all visa subclasses and visa refusals.
- Your lawyer will be fully informed of the law, regulations, policy, Review Tribunal and case law decisions. Applying the law is critical; just knowing it isn’t sufficient.
- Each visa application is different and your PAX lawyer will treat it as such.
- Your dedicated PAX lawyer will manage your case from start to finish, and will give you regular updates and be available anytime for questions.
Our promise to you
- We get things right the first time, helping you avoid mistakes on work visa applications that lead to costly and stressful refusals or delays.
- We’ll provide you with professional support and immigration assistance to lighten the burden of your legal matters, so you can focus on what matters.
- We’re considerate of your financial circumstances. Our work visa lawyers provide you with accurate and fair visa costs throughout the legal process.
- Ethics and integrity underpin everything we do at our law firm, from the corporate clients we service to the quality of work we deliver.
The Australian work visa application process
For Subclass 189 Skilled (Independent) and 190 Skilled (Nominated) Visa, the visa application process is:
Your PAX work visa lawyer will review your visa conditions and assess your eligibility for your chosen visa to establish whether or not you are likely to meet the requirements.
After a positive initial eligibility assessment, we will prepare your skills assessment application. You will need to have your skills assessed by an authority specified by DOHA. We provide you with a full list of the information and documents required to support your application, and will lodge your application with the applicable skills assessing authority.
Once you’ve received a positive skills assessment, it’s time to lodge your expression of interest (EOI). At this stage, you need to choose a state or territory to nominate your visa application, or you can choose to be available for any state or territory. You must be prepared to settle in that state or territory for a minimum of two years.
While you don’t need to provide supporting documents at this stage, you must be able to provide evidence that the information you’ve provided is correct when you’re invited to apply for the visa.
Once your EOI is lodged, the government agency of your chosen state or territory will review your EOI to determine whether or not you meet their particular criteria for nomination. We supply the state or territory government agency with the evidence required to show that you meet their criteria. If your EOI and supporting evidence are deemed acceptable, the state or territory government agency will then nominate you for the subclass 190 visa.
After you’ve received a state or territory nomination and the DOHA has invited you to apply for the visa, we will prepare and lodge your visa application, together with all the documents required (including your skills assessment, English language test results, qualifications, work references and all other necessary documents). Should your visa be approved, you will be granted a permanent visa. You can be either in Australia or overseas both when you apply for and are granted your visa.
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For the 491 Skilled Work Regional (provisional) Visa, the visa application process is:
Your PAX lawyer will review your visa conditions and assess your eligibility for your chosen visa to establish whether or not you are likely to meet the requirements.
We will prepare your visa application and lodge it with the Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) for assessment.
FAQs
Non-sponsored work visas run on a points-tested scheme – this means that once you’ve been invited to apply for a visa, you must meet a certain points requirement. Generally, you’ll need to score at least 65 points but this can vary depending on the demand of your skills and the area of Australia you’re seeking to move to.
Mario Amor, Principal Lawyer at PAX Law and a solicitor member of the Law Society of New South Wales
If you’re applying for a Subclass 189 or 190 visa, to get the minimum requirements of the points-test stream you must:
- Be under 45 years of age at the time of visa applications
- Nominate an occupation included on the medium and long-term strategic skills list (MLTSSL)
- Undertake a skills assessment for your nominated occupation
- Have competent English language skills
- Score at least 65 on your points test.
- Be nominated by an Australian State or Territory government agency (this only applies to subclass 190)
If you’re applying for a Subclass 491 visa, you must:
- Have held a Subclass 491 Skilled Work Regional (Provisional) visa OR subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa for at least 3 years
- Have complied with the conditions of your qualifying visa
- Provide Notices of Assessment issued by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) for three of the completed income years during which you held your qualifying visa
- Satisfy the relevant health and character criteria
The minimum baseline points score that you need to be eligible to lodge an EOI for a general skilled migration visa is 65 points. However, the minimum points score required may also depend on the skilled occupation, which visa subclass you are seeking to apply for, and which state or territory you are moving to. Visa applicants with skills in high demand for workers also may have their points be pro-rated.
The Department of Home Affairs (DOHA) retains an EOI for two years from the date that it is lodged. During this time you can update it if any of your circumstances change (like gaining a new qualification or skills assessment).
No, you will not be granted a Bridging Visa when you submit an EOI, as an EOI is not the same as a visa application. Only once you receive an invitation from the Department of Home Affairs can you then apply for the relevant visa, in which case you will be granted a Bridging Visa if you make your application onshore in Australia.
This means that you need to ensure that you hold a valid visa while you await an invitation, or you need to depart Australia during this period.
For more information on employer-sponsored visas, like the subclass 482 Skills In Demand (SID) visa (formerly called the TSS visa); subclass 186 Employer Nominations Scheme (ENS) visa; and subclass 494 Skilled Employer Sponsored Regional (Provisional) visa, head over to our employer-sponsored visas page.
Meet the PAX Law Team
PAX Law founders Mario and Constantine are respected thought leaders in Australian immigration law, and lead our team with the highest standards of ethics and integrity. We recognise the level of trust you place in us and provide emotional support throughout the entire application process.
Mario Amor
Principal Solicitor
Constantine Paxinos
Director
Christina Paxinos
Practice Manager
Natalia Zambrano
Assistant
Hear from our clients
Next steps
Fill in the below form to book a personalised, one-on-one consultation with one of our expert immigration lawyers for work visas. We can meet online or in person at our Sydney or Adelaide offices.
The personalised consultation costs $330 (this includes GST) and we’ll credit this fee against the overall price for the visa process. During the hour-long consultation, you’ll receive a genuine analysis of your case and personalised advice to help you understand your strategy, risks, timelines, costs, and pros and cons of different options.
Together, we’ll work to achieve your immigration goals and secure your future in Australia.
Book a consultation