Interested to apply for a working visa in Australia?

Nowadays, with the Australian booming resource and mining industries continuing to drive the nation’s economy as billions of record mining investments and massive resource projects in the works and on the pipeline, Australia is now facing a real huge skills shortage.

So what jobs are in demand in Australia?

With a burgeoning demand for construction and trade workers squeezing Australia’s labor market even tighter as new mining and infrastructure projects start up in the first quarter of this year – according to the Australian Mines and Metals Association, the Australian employers along with the Australian government is set to attract overseas skilled people to get jobs in Australia.

Skilled construction and trade workers as well as engineering jobs are now in high demand in Australia as the country continues to service and prepare for the billions of mining, energy, and infrastructure projects boom over the next decade.

Moreover, with a huge spike in demand for skilled ICT staff in Western Australia driven by Western Australia’s rapid resources and mining expansion, the state now faces a massive capability and skills shortage.

What’s more? These skills shortage is spelling opportunity for job seekers as the shortage is forcing Australian employers to bring in skilled migrant workers on 457 work visas Australia to bridge the gaps.

To help address current skill shortages in Australia, the Australian government is now running regular Australian Expos, Skills Australia Needs events and promoting skilled migration options. These events are where you can speak to experts and potential employers about jobs or studying in Australia as Australian employers and state and territory governments participate in these events and intend to meet people with the required skills and experience needed to fill job vacancies in Australia which cannot be filled through their local labor market.

So how can I apply?

Generally, job seekers who want to work in Australia must have their occupation listed under Skills Occupations Lists (SOL). The SOL is a list of skilled occupations of high value to the Australian labor market.

Job-seekers must have also the relevant work experience and obtain the suitable Australian qualifications that meet the Australian standard for an occupation on the SOL. These qualifications could be obtained from an Australian university as they could give you a reasonable amount of credit for your overseas studies. They must also achieve a passmark score against the skilled migration points test in order to qualify as well as be under 50 years of age and have competent English language skills and meet the required health and character requirement. The points test pass mark depends on the visa subclass you are applying for.

If you meet these job Australia visa form requirements, you are eligible to apply for a working visa for Australia. This visa is one of the travel visas Australia that allow you to work in Australia either temporarily or permanently depending on the visa subclass.

So if you have the required skills and qualifications for a job in Australia, now is the opportune time to apply for work in Australia!

With Australia’s great sunny weather, glorious beaches, exciting Outback, diverse and beautiful countryside, as well as warm and friendly people, there are a few better places to live and work in the world.

While it may sound like Australia is just only sun, sand, and surf, the strong demand for skilled people from overseas in most Australian industry sectors make Australia become a haven of work opportunities nowadays.

With the country’s mining and construction industry according to the latest quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey reporting a current net employment outlook of 19%, with more than 32% of Australian employers in the mining and construction sector intending to increase their hiring in the first quarter of 2012, Australia offers professionally rewarding environment nowadays who are seeking to find work in Australia.

Job seekers in Australia’s mining and construction sector are likely to benefit from a favorable hiring climate in the first quarter of 2012.

With new engineering and mining-related construction driving the burst of investment, with big liquefied natural gas projects pushing up engineering construction 31% in the September quarter and 52% over the year, there is continued high demand for a range of specialist mining skills. This includes technical managers, mining engineers, maintenance superintendents, maintenance engineers and planners, environmental engineers, control systems engineers, study managers in port and rail operations and electrical trades, and electrical engineering.

Western Australia right now has currently reported the most optimistic hiring prospect, with a net employment outlook of 23%.
Moreover, there are excellent job opportunities in the health sector as the country’s ageing health workforce begins to retire. Australia is now facing a worsening shortage of health professionals over the next 15 years.

There is already a skills shortage that exists for GPs (especially in country areas), medical specialists including chemotherapy and oncology specialists, nursing staff, midwives, and pharmacists. Experienced nurses are in high demand for a variety of areas, particularly critical care, emergency, mental health, neonatal intensive care, pediatrics, and rural as well.

To be able to work in Australia, you will need to hold a passport from your home country and an Australian working visa permitting you to work. The good news is there is a wide variety of Australian work visa options for those who want to either permanently or temporarily work Down Under.

Job seekers can either apply for Australian skilled visa for people who are not sponsored by an employer but who have skills in particular occupations required in Australia; Australia working visa for people who are being sponsored by an Australian or overseas employer and who has the recognized skills; and Australian working holiday visa  for tertiary-educated people from arrangement countries between the ages of 18 and 30 who want to do any kind of temporary or casual employment to supplement their extended holiday.

As applying for a work visa Australia requires quite a lot of time in the acquiring of the working visa Australia requirements, as well as an Australia skilled visa could be confusing and stressful, one needs to maximize their chances of getting a successful visa approval.

In order to have a high chance of success with your Australia working holiday visa application, then avail of the services of National Visas, Australia’s top leading online Australian immigration expert.

National Visas has a team of Australia’s best MARA-registered Migration agents who are experts and have years of experience in the immigration industry. Some of them have even experienced firsthand how the Australian visa application works as they themselves have applied and been granted with an Australian visa. With their breadth of experience and know-how, National Visas MARA-registered Migration agents can surely make your Australia working visa application simpler and hassle-free!

Applying for working Australia visa?

With the number of jobs in Western Australia’s mining sector hitting a milestone, passing the 100,000 mark for the first time in history, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia has become a work haven for those seeking a decent job.

Ranking the world’s thirteenth largest economy as well as the world’s fifth-highest per capita income, Australia is a very prosperous highly developed country, with a stable and competitive economy.

With millions of citizens under any of the visas to Australia subclasses from some 200 countries calling Australia their home, Australia has the most multilingual workforce in the Asia–Pacific region with more than 4 million Australians speaking a second language.

Moreover, according to the latest quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, job seekers in Australia’s mining and construction sector were likely to benefit from a favorable hiring climate in the first quarter of 2012.

Data revealed that mining and construction industry employers reported a net employment outlook of 19%, with more than 32% mining and construction sector employers intending to increase their hiring in the first quarter of 2012.

Reporting the most optimistic hiring prospect was Western Australia, having a net employment outlook of 23%.

In addition, Australia continues to see a high demand for a range of specialist mining skills, including: technical managers, mining engineers, maintenance superintendents, maintenance engineers and planners, environmental engineers, control systems engineers, study managers in port and rail operations, electrical trades, and electrical engineering.

However, with the local Australian workforce failing to fill the huge skills gap in the Australian workforce, along with the looming retirement of the baby boomer generation, the nation’s employers are forced to recruit offshore, driving up reliance on 457 work visa for Australia holders.

Now, skill shortages are likely to worsen over the next decade as the working population progressively dwindles.

With these conditions in mind, finding employment opportunities in Australia has become much easier compared to other countries.

Though one must apply and qualify for either a work visa Australian or just Australian work holiday visa and comply with its visas Australian requirements in order to be able to allow work in Australia, Australia offers a lot of job opportunities today despite the global downturn.

Browsing for jobs online is the easiest way to find employment in Australia. This is because majority of Australian employment opportunities do have online job boards and they preferring to recruit online to save money and time.

There are also over 140,000 job opportunities being published weekly in major Australian dailies. This is where you can find Australian employment on local small businesses as well as lots of advertised temporary employment opportunities.

For those saving money and don’t have the budget to buy newspaper, one can look for work in job board of Australia.

There is Australian employment and job portal online that provides free services for job-seekers.

A good recruitment agency can also be means for you to find work Down Under. They can easily help you find a job in Australia that is perfect for you and meets your salary expectations.

You can also ask from those who are working in Australia as some Australian employers are firm believers of networking and they normally seek referrals from current employees. So don’t hesitate to ask contacts for available Australian employment opportunities from them as there are many Australian employment opportunities available now.

Looking for work? Look no further. Today’s job market in Australia is ripe for the picking, with thousands of job opportunities brought about by the country’s booming resource and mining industry.

With record mining investments totaling in hundred billions, Australia’s buoyant mining sector is in a position to grow jobs and enhance economic prosperity for the long-term.

As Australia’s growing skills shortage the “flip side” to the country’s mining boom is placing the nation’s industries in the firing line, now is the time to apply for work in Australia.

More than $200 billion worth of resource projects either under consideration or under development in Australia, along with the looming retirement of the baby boomer generation leaving huge skills gaps in the Australian workforce, has driven the Australian government and employers to look overseas to fulfill the gap.

Nowadays, the Australian government is fast-tracking and streamlining Australian visa application process and updating and extending the time of stay of certain Australian working visas. These changes were undergone in order to ensure that the Australia skilled visa program could provide a flexible avenue for employers to fill immediate and short-term skill vacancies, while maintaining opportunities for Australian workers.

So if you are applying for jobs or career and work opportunities Down Under, then apply for Australian work visa.

In order to ensure that your Australia working visa application is successful and with less hassle, then engage the services of Australia’s top leading Australian immigration advice and visa provider, the National Visas.

National Visas has a wide range of services that can be tailored to suit your visa needs and situation. Their services are also affordable and are completely suitable to fit your budget.

National Visas has years of experience in providing assistance to people seeking an Australian visa, with thousands of successful Australian visa approvals in their belt. They employ topnotch MARA-registered Migration agents who are experts in everything about Australian immigration and visa. These migration agents have unique immigration experience and skills set that enables them to provide clients with a simple, caring, cost effective and specialized expert advice, support and superior service, and ultimately a successful approach to gaining an Australian visa.

By availing the services of National Visas, you are guaranteed to receive the very best and topnotch Australia visa advice and support for your Australian visa application and have the superior and personalized services of Australia’s most experienced Australian visa and Australian immigration experts at your disposal.

So if you require a work visa for Australia, family sponsorship, or an Australian employer sponsored visa, National Visas services can help you determine if you are eligible for those visas and ultimately for immigration to Australia.

Interested but not yet sure? You can have a FREE 3-day access speaking with National Visas agents. Just tweet about National Visas, then you can have a FREE 3-day unlimited access that will allow you to communicate and ask questions from National Visas’ registered migration agents and ask your questions about Australian immigration and visa. In this way you can also assess how competent and friendly National Visas migration agents are.

So engage the services of National Visas and see how much simpler and hassle free your Australian visa application could be!

Want to earn extra money while studying or holidaying in Australia?

International students with student visa Australia are allowed to work part time for up to 20 hours per week while studying. This is one of the advantages of a student visa.

So if you are interested to earn some extra money and are not too fussy about the type of work you do, then definitely you can work Down Under.

Full-time international students who have been granted a Student visa on or after 26 April 2008 and have started a course of study in Australia are automatically permitted to work in Australia, as Permission to Work is automatically included with your visa. Students can work up to 20 hours per week while your course is in session.

Take note, you cannot undertake work until you have commenced your course in Australia. The Immigration Department monitors this closely and should you work extra hours, you may be forced to leave Australia. Work that is a formal registered part of your course is not included in the limit of 20 hours per week. Likewise, voluntary, unpaid work is not included in the limit of 20 hours per week if it is of benefit to the community, a non-profit organization, or a designated volunteer position.

As a working student, you must also comply with the State and Territory laws of Australia. Under all State and Territory laws, you cannot work during school hours if you are under the school leaving age, which in most states is 15 years of age. However, if you are a PhD or Masters student and you have submitted your thesis for marking, you can work unlimited hours.

There are many works available now in Australia. Ideally, it is better to find part-time work in your chosen profession. However, initially it is much better to find work in restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, convenience stores, or in aged-care facilities. In this way, you can improve your English and be introduced to new people.

Meanwhile, one of the Australian holiday visas can also be a work visa for Australia….
If you want to have fun and adventure Down Under while having the option to earn extra money while holidaying, then the best visa for you is the working tourist visa Australia.

This type of Australia visitor visa is designed for young people aged 18 to 30 from arrangement countries who are interested in a working holiday of up to 12 months in Australia. This visa will allow its holder to leave and re-enter Australia any number of times while the visa is valid  that is within 12 months of grant. The visa holder is also allowed to work in Australia for up to six months with each employer or to study for up to four months.

In order to be eligible for this holiday working visa for Australia, you must meet its Australian visa requirements such as health and character requirements and age requirement. And you must have access to sufficient funds to support yourself for the initial period of your holiday. Generally, the amount of AU$5000 is regarded as sufficient, though the amount may vary depending on your length of stay and the extent of your travel. You are also required to have a return or onward ticket or the funds for a fare to depart Australia.

Just recently, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced that it has expanded its Pacific Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme (PSWPS).
Last 8th of September, 2011, Prime Minister Gillard announced that Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu have been invited to join Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu as participants in the Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme.

So what is the Pacific Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme (PSWPS)?

Pacific Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme (PSWPS)

In August 2008, in the lead-up to the 2008 Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting in Niue, the Australian government had lunched what was called the Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme for the Pacific islands or better known as Pacific Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme (PSWPS).
PSWPS is designed for Australian employers to get a guaranteed labor force during peak harvest time, while workers have the chance to earn high wages to send home remittances to family and community.
Under the scheme, up to 2,500 visas — not a Australian work holiday visa nor any of the Australian holiday visas — were first made available for unskilled workers from Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Kiribati and Vanuatu to work for up to seven months in any 12-month period with horticultural enterprises or farms in Australia who cannot find enough local labor to meet their seasonal harvest needs.
This means that Pacific seasonal workers from Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga or Vanuatu are recruited to work in Australia’s horticulture industry for up to six months, picking fruit in orchards and vineyards.
In order to be considered eligible to participate in the scheme, workers of participating countries must comply with the scheme’s Australian visa requirements such as:
be aged between 21 and 45 at the time of visa application
Be of good character – where applicants will undergo a police record check
be healthy and fit for the work specified
be citizens of the participating country and in the participating country at the time of visa application
have a genuine intention to enter Australia for seasonal work and return to the participating country after their employment ceases
have not participated in the New Zealand Recognized Seasonal Employer (NZ RSE) scheme

Pacific Seasonal Workers Pilot Scheme Expanded

Now, PSWPS participants have been expanded and now include the Pacific countries of Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
Aimed to provide Australian producers more avenue to source workers, where seasonal demands outstrip the local supply of labor as well as offer an important economic boost to more communities in Australia’s Pacific neighborhoods, workers from Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu have been invited to join those from Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu to participate in the pilot scheme.
Under this pilot scheme, Australian farmers are now allowed to employ workers from certain Pacific Island countries, under special visa conditions different from the conditions set in the work holiday Australia visa.
So far with over 560 workers recruited, the pilot scheme is said to have been delivering benefits to both Australia’s horticulture industry and participating Pacific countries, as these pacific seasonal workers remit money back home, benefiting their families and broader communities and in Australia, the pilot scheme is said to be delivering productivity gains for the horticulture industry, predominantly in regional areas where access to a reliable labor supply has been a longstanding challenge.
As Australia’s horticulture industry recovers from the severe drought and floods as well as following the introduction of more flexible arrangements by the Australian Government in December 2010, the demand for Pacific seasonal workers by the horticulture industry is increasing.

Do you want to work in Australia? Do you possess one of the nominated occupations which are on Australia’s Skilled Occupation Lists (SOL)? If so, you are now on your way to quality to apply for an Australia Working Visa.

There are 2 routes of eligibility in order for you to work in Australia. One is through getting an Australian Working Holiday Visa — this visa will allow you as an Australia Working Holiday Visa holder to do any kind of short term work while in Australia, for up to six months with each employer in order to supplement your holiday funds. However, work must be secondary to your main purpose of your visit which is for holidaying.

If your main purpose of going to Australia is to seek and engage in employment, you should apply for an Australia Working Visa.

AUSTRALIA WORKING VISAS

The Skill Stream of Australia’s Migration Program is specifically designed to target skilled migrants whose skills or outstanding abilities can bring valuable economic benefits to the Australian economy.

Under the General Skilled Migration (GSM), professionals and other skilled migrants who have skills in particular occupations required in Australia and who are not sponsored by an employer, however may be sponsored by an eligible family member or nominated by a state or territory government, can apply for any one of the Australia Working Visa namely:

Permanent Visas

• Skilled–Independent (Migrant) (subclass 175) visa

This visa is for people with skills in demand in the Australian labor market and do not require family sponsorship or state or territory nomination. However, applicants must pass a points test.

• Skilled–Sponsored (Migrant) (subclass 176) visa

This visa is for people who are sponsored by an eligible relative living in Australia or nominated by a participating state or territory government. Moreover, visa applicants must pass a points test.

Provisional (Temporary) Visas

• Skilled–Regional Sponsored (subclass 475) visa

This visa a three year provisional visa for skilled workers who are either sponsored by an eligible relative living in a designated area of Australia or nominated by a participating state/territory government and must have pass a points test.

• Skilled–Recognised Graduate (subclass 476)

This visa is an 18-month temporary visa for recent graduates in specified disciplines from recognized overseas educational institutions who have skills in demand in Australia. This visa does not require a point tests.

Basic Requirements

These are the basic requirements that all applicants for an Australia Working Visa must meet:

• must be at least 18 years old and younger than 50 at the time of application

• must have competent English language skills

• must have the skills and qualifications that are assessed as meeting the Australian standard for an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL), which is a list of skilled occupations that are in need in Australia or the State and Territory SOL

• must have recent skilled employment experience in their nominated occupation for a period totaling at least 12 months in the last 24 months before applying

• must meet the Health and Character  requirement

Australia Working Visa Application

If you want to make sure that your visa application is processed as quickly as possible, you should fill up all the necessary fields in your visa application form and include all of the required documents needed to make a complete application.

You can apply online, by post or by courier or through an Australian migration and visa services provider like National Visas, which can apply for your Australia Working Visa on your behalf.

Tourism Australia’s ‘30 Days in Oz’ tourism advocacy campaign goes viral on Facebook!

Travel Visa Australia

Tourism Australia, the Australian Government’s agency responsible for the international and domestic marketing of Australia as a destination for leisure and business travel, which has quite recently launched its newest tourism advocacy campaign to attract more of the British pre- university grads students to have a holiday in the country, has tapped Facebook as one of its internet marketing tool to promote its newest advocacy campaign.
Tagged as ‘30 Days in Oz’, Tourism Australia’s newest online tourism campaign launched last 1st day of August is a series of 30 one-minute online videos with each video that features trailing someone in different places all across Australia. Each video shows a personality demonstrating in 60 seconds the reasons why there is nowhere else like Australia to visit for young travelers.
As part of Tourism Australia’s move to be at the forefront of digital marketing to promote Australia as a tourist destination, the statutory authority of the Government of Australia responsible for tourism marketing within Australia and internationally is going to launch on the day the A-level results; a competition on its official Facebook Fan Page. The competition will give young Brits the opportunity to win their own gap year adventure in Australia.
With over a million of fans who are sharing their love of Australia with the world through Facebook, and with more than 36,000 of these fans from the United Kingdom (UK), Tourism Australia has since recognized word-of-mouth as an extremely powerful advertising tool in promoting Australia as a holiday destination to the world that is why social networking platforms and the online environment have become an integral part of Tourism Australia’s marketing efforts.
The Facebook competition is aimed to encourage British gap year students to travel to Australia on a working holiday Australia visa.
This working tourist visa Australia will allow these British gap year students to travel across the country while having the option to supplement their holiday costs with short term or part time employment. This means that British gap year students will be able to supplement their travels with casual or part time work and earn some cash as they travel across Australia and have an adventurous extended holiday.
According to Tourism Australia’s Rodney Harrex, General Manager for the UK & Northern Europe, with their Facebook campaign the government agency is trying to persuade young people in the UK and other popular backpacking markets around the world, particularly those leaving school or on a Gap Year, to catch up with other backpackers as they share their stories, and then to use the information on their Facebook page to start planning their own gap year adventure in Australia.
As thousands of young people are left disappointed at not securing a university place this year, through Tourism Australia’s innovative use of its Facebook Fan Page in showing its ‘30 Days in Oz’ series, they will be able to discover the adventures that can be had in Australia and while undergoing the adventure, they will also have a chance to work in Australia with the temporary holiday working visa for Australia.
Tourism Australia noted that there were 2.8 million visitor arrivals to Australia during the six months to June 2011, with 298,800 visitors coming from the United Kingdom alone and 25,300 of these visitors are from the UK who has visited the country in June 2011.

Running out of funds in the middle of one’s vacation is quite a stressful situation. Rather than enjoying your dream vacation, running low or out of funds could really be quite a fun killer.

So rather than experiencing the mere possibility of destroying your dream vacation mood, with a chance of running out of funds, why not spend your holiday in Australia while having the opportunity to supplement your vacation funds with short-term or part-time employment.

Yes, with an Australian Working Holiday Visa, one can spend their holiday in Australia while having the option to supplement their vacation funds with short-term or part-time work.

How to Get an Australia Working Holiday Visa?

To avail of this Australia Working Holiday Visa, you must meet the following requirements:

• be a passport holder from one of the following countries:

USA
Belgium
Canada
Chile
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Indonesia
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Malaysia
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Sweden
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
United Kingdom (UK)
Republic of Korea (South Korea)

• be aged between 18 and 30 years (inclusive) at the time of applying — this means that you can apply for this Australian holiday visa until you are 30 years of age. Take note that your age will be determined as the age you are in Australia at the time your application is lodged (Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) or the Australian Eastern Daylight Savings time (AEDT)).

• be applying no more than 12 months before you intend to travel to Australia

• not be accompanied by dependent children at any time during your stay in Australia

• must have access to sufficient funds to support yourself for the initial stage of your holiday. Generally, it is deem to be at least AU$5,000. You might be asked to provide evidence that may include a certified copy of a bank statement and an air ticket out of Australia.

• must meet character and health requirements

• Extra requirements for the following passport holders:

USA

• must have graduated from high school

Chile

• must either be a holder of tertiary qualifications or have completed/been approved to undertake a third year of undergraduate university study

• must provide documentary evidence of their English level upon lodgment of their Australia holiday visa working application

• must obtain a letter of approval from the Chile Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Indonesia, Malaysia

• must either be a holder of tertiary qualifications or have successfully completed at least two (2) years of undergraduate university study

• must provide documentary evidence of their English level upon lodgment of their Australia holiday visa application

• must obtain a letter of approval from the Indonesian Directorate General of Immigration or the Malaysia Ministry of Foreign Affairs, respectively

Thailand

• must be a degree or post high school diploma holder from an accredited institution;

• must provide documentary evidence of their English level upon lodgment of their Australia working holiday visa application

• must obtain a letter of approval from the Office of Welfare Promotion, Protection and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups in Bangkok

Turkey

• must either be a holder of tertiary qualifications or have successfully completed at least two (2) years of undergraduate university study;

• must provide documentary evidence of their English level upon lodgment of their Australia holiday working visa application

• must obtain a letter of approval/support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The selection process will be administered by your University in conjunction with the Turkish Higher Education Council (YÖK)

How to apply?

Upon meeting these eligibility requirements, you can now lodge your Australia working holiday visa application; however you must be outside Australia when you lodge your first Working Holiday visa application and for the visa to be granted.

To apply, you may lodge your visa applications online, by post or by courier from anywhere outside Australia.

For online applications, upon starting your online application, you will be required to answer a series of questions to determine whether or not you are eligible to continue. If the eVisa system indicates you are not eligible to apply online, you will need to apply by post or in person.

So what are you waiting for?
Australia’s breathing array of widely diverse scenic environment is just waiting for you to explore and enjoy!

Do you want to work in Australia?

As the economy of Australia struggles to bounce back after being affected by the global financial crisis, the country finds itself is in need of skilled migrant workers.

As the country’s emerging resources boom and the unprecedented mining investment looks set to continue its dramatic growth, with Western Australia experiencing record economic growth, along with a record levels of investment to match particularly within the mining industry, Australia is now facing skill shortages that is needed to be filled from offshore in order to meet the country’s skilled labor needs and ensure its strong and well performing industries remain so.

With Australia struggling to fill up the skills shortages, many Australian employers are now looking to hire overseas skilled migrant workers.

So if you are a skilled worker who wants to work in Australia, this is the time for you to apply for work in Australia.

In order to work in Australia, you need to obtain an Australian working visa or likewise known as Australia skilled visa.

Under the General Skilled Migration (GSM) Program, working visa Australia applicants must meet the Basic Skilled Visa Requirements and pass the Australian immigration Points Test to qualify for a visa and therefore be able to migrate to Australia.

Basic Requirements:

There is a range of visa options under the General Skilled Migration program for skilled workers who want to migrate in Australia and who are not sponsored by an Australian employer.

These include visa options for skilled worker applying as an independent migrant as well as those sponsored by a relative, or nominated by a State or Territory government, with each visa categories having different requirements and obligations.
A skilled worker may be eligible for a number of different visa categories. However, he/she must choose the visa most beneficial to them and their circumstances.

Though the various Australian working visa categories have own requirements; nevertheless, all applicants for a working visa must be able to demonstrate to meet the basic working visa requirements which are as follows:

Australia Skilled Visa or working Visa applicants must:

• AGE: be at least 18 years old and not more than 50 years of age at the time of application

• ENGLISH LANGUAGE ABILITY: demonstrate that they have met the English language threshold which is a minimum score of at least six in each of the four components of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test or other language test and score specified by the Minister.

Take note that a higher level of English is required for certain occupations where it forms part of the skills assessment. To find out if your occupation requires a higher level of English, you can contact the assessing authority for your nominated occupation.

• NOMINATED SKILLED OCCUPATION: nominate an occupation that is found on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL) that is relevant to your skills and qualifications

However, those occupations that are not on the lists are not eligible to apply

• SKILLS ASSESSMENT: obtain a positive skills assessment for your nominated occupation by a government approved Australian Skills Assessing Authority before you lodge your application for this visa.

• QUALIFICATIONS: obtain documentary evidence of having completed one of the education qualifications namely:

Doctorate degree, at least Bachelor degree (including a Bachelor degree with Honours or Masters), Australian Diploma or trade qualification recognized by a relevant Assessing Authority and award or qualification recognized by the assessing authority in the assessment of the skilled occupation

• RECENT WORK EXPERIENCE: have recent work experience in their nominated occupation or in a closely related occupation at the time the visa is lodged.

• RECENT WORK EXPERIENCE EXEMPTION: If applicants have completed in no less than 16 calendar months either a single qualification requiring at least two academic years study or more than one qualification resulting in a total period of at least two academic years study in Australia can have the work experience requirement waived if they lodge their skilled visa application within six months of completing their studies.

• HEALTH REQUIREMENTS: undergo a health examination and meet certain health requirements

• CHARACTER REQUIREMENT: be of ‘good character’

If you have met all these basic requirements, you are qualified to apply for the Australian working visa. However, if you are not sure, you can take a free online assessment from any of the online Australian visa provider such as National Visas.