Episode Summary: In this episode, we shall explore a crucial pathway for skilled workers that comes into effect on 24 Nov 2024 – the Skills in Demand Visa. The Skills in Demand (SID) visa is replacing the Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) (subclass 482) visa to provide more flexibility to skilled workers and employers. The new ‘Skills in Demand visa’ aims to address labour market needs and introduces several significant changes for temporary skilled migrant workers, including more time to find...

Episode Summary: In today’s episode we discuss how one can apply for a carer visa to care for someone in Australia who has no reasonable access to care options. The two visa subclasses that fall under the carer visa category are subclass 116 and subclass 836, both of which are permanent resident visas. Join Amitava and me to understand how one can become eligible to apply for this visa, sponsorship obligations, and carer obligations.. Keywords: Subclass 116, Subclass 836, Carer Visa,...

Episode Summary: In today’s episode we are talking to Jedidiah Macaraeg– who graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Telecom Network from Australian College of Information Technology (ACIT) in 2017. Jedd received his State Nominated Visa subclass 190 from Victoria on Aug 19, 2024 and is now a permanent resident. Jedd was visiting family in Brisbane when the idea of pursuing an advanced degree in Australia was brought up. He talks about his transition from the Philippines to Gold Coast as a...

Episode Summary: There are quite a few people who enter or lodge an application to enter Australia on a temporary visa as they are in a relationship with an Australian citizen or a permanent resident who sponsors the applicant’s visa. These visas could be Temporary Partner Visa (subclass 820), Provisional Partner Visa (subclass 309), Dependent Child Visa (subclass 445), Distinguished Talent Visa (subclass 858), or Prospective Marriage Visa (subclass 300). Sometimes, the applicant must...

Debika Migration Services is a MARA registered immigration assistance provider with over two decades of experience. We provide the highest quality migration services to our clients with a goal of providing total solution for a successful outcome. We employ innovative and pragmatic strategies to ensure our client’s migration needs are met. - Links - If you are seeking immigration advice, would like to have a discussion about your application, or any other matter related to your PR call us...

Episode Summary: There are many people who immigrate to Australia at a young age, leaving their family behind. At a later stage in their lives, they are now keen to bring their parents over to Australia, permanently. There is no easy pathway to permanent residence for parents. The process is quite complex, costly, lengthy and currently takes over 40 years for their PR to be approved. If one is not careful, bringing parents over on certain visa subclass will make them ineligible to apply for...

Episode Summary: Back in October 2023, we did a podcast on picking the right occupation for your skills assessment. We touched upon how relevant skills assessing authorities check that your skills meet the standards they set to work in a relevant occupation. We spoke at length about VETASSESS and how they go about assessing occupations that are NEC – not elsewhere classified. In April 2024, ACS – the Australian Computer Society – launched a new Migration Skills Assessment platform with the...

Episode Summary: Sumer Roy moved to Sydney, Australia in 2018 to pursue an MBA. About 2 months into University, he met with an accident and had to rush back home to Kolkata for his medical treatment. Upon returning he changed his program and enrolled in a master's program for a degree in professional accounting. In this podcast he talks about why he switched his program while at university, working as an intern at Telstra which eventually led to a full time role there, and securing his PR...

Episode Summary: The 2024-25 General Skilled Migration Program and State Nominated Migration Program allocations have been announced for: TAS, WA, SA, NT, VIC, QLD, ACT, NSW In this podcast we will look at what those numbers look like for each state and touch upon some key things that applicants need to know about the General skilled migration program and state nominated migration program. The total allocations for Subclass 190 are 16,500 places and for Subclass 491 are 9,760 places. From...

Episode Summary: This week on Moving to Australia podcast, we sit down with Kelly Zhu, who secured her PR in Dec 2023 after her skills assessment was rejected by VETASSESS. Kelly moved to Australia from China in 2016 as a student. She graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Arts from Western Sydney University in 2020. Initially, the biggest adjustment she faced as a student was the transition from living with her family to living independently. At Uni, since English is not her first...

Episode Summary: This week on Moving to Australia podcast, we are talking to one of our clients, Sagnik Datta, who graduated from University of Wollongong and secured his Permanent Residency in 2024. Sagnik has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and received his master's in Business from Sydney Business School - Univ of Wollongong in 2019. Since then he has worked at Ikea, Rashays and now works full time as an Azure specialist for an insurance group, Tokio Marine Management...

Episode Summary: Aadil graduated with an MBA from UNSW Business School in 2004. In this episode he harkens back to 20 years of his life in Oz, firstly as a student and then as a professional financial advisor. The conversation kicks off with him opening up about his desire to have an overseas qualification and independent living. There were challenges for a couple of years as a student at UNSW. With time, he had developed a strong connection to Australia while at Uni which led to his...

Episode Summary: This week on our podcast, we have our first guest - Maksym Vasylkov - one of DMS's clients. Maksym moved to Australia on a Subclass 491 visa. He is a software engineer from Ukraine with 15 years of experience in the IT Industry. Maksym talks about his journey to Australia and why he fell in love with it. Since Feb 2024, he's been living in Darwin, which is the capital city of Northern Territory, with his family. Amitava and Arun have a chat with him about life in a...

Episode Summary: This week on the podcast, we shall be talking about the Subclass 407 Training visa, a temporary visa that allows individuals to take part in occupational training or professional development activities in Australia. The training program would allow someone to improve their skills for their job, area of tertiary study, or field or expertise. This can be an excellent alternative for individuals affected by the upcoming changes to student visa applications, particularly those...

Episode Summary: This week on Moving to Australia podcast, we talk about how a business in Australia that has a genuine need to fill a skilled position can become eligible to sponsor skilled workers from overseas. We begin the conversation by touching upon the need for businesses in Australia to source skilled workers from overseas in various industries: construction, hospitality, health, IT, trade skills. There are times when businesses are unable to meet local demands due to skill...

Episode Summary: This week on Moving to Australia podcast, Amitava shares his insights on the key immigration highlights from the federal budget delivered by Jim Chalmers on 14 May 2024. We start the discussion with what the planning levels look like for the 24-25 program and its basic composition. We draw a contrast between each of skills stream category for the 24-25 program and the 23-24 program. From 22-23, the family stream has moved over to a demand driven model. We explore the...

Episode Summary: In today’s episode, we discuss the recent changes to the student visa program. As part of the new measures being introduced to the Australian Migration System one of the changes recommended was to bring in reforms that would directly impact International Students and Temporary Graduate Visa holders. For all applications lodged on and after the 23 March 2024, the government is now raising the English language requirements for Student and Temporary Graduate visas. The...

Episode Summary: The Temporary Skill Shortage visa lets an employer sponsor a suitably skilled worker to fill a position they can’t find a suitably skilled Australian to fill. There are many pathways available to someone on a 482 visa for permanent residency. Amitava begins the conversation by discussing how an employer in Australia can nominate an overseas worker for a TSS visa when they are unable to fill the position locally. He touches upon the eligibility requirements of an applicant...

Episode Summary: In this episode, we have a conversation about the great Kiwi exodus. Amitava reveals why so many New Zealanders are flocking to Oz. Many young professionals in the critical sector and health care industry from Wellington, Christchurch, or Auckland are keen to make the move from NZ. They find that wages in Australia are higher, the cost of living is lower than in NZ and the real estate market is more suitable to many who are first home buyers. Amitava explains why his...

Episode Summary: Every visa, except a PR, comes with certain conditions when granted. Some conditions always apply, and some may apply depending on a range of criteria. These visa conditions apply not only to the primary applicant, but also to all the secondary applicants as well. A breach of any of the conditions that are imposed on an applicant's visa may result in the visa being revoked. One must be cognizant of what these conditions are and where one can find more information about the...

Episode Summary: There are many ways for skilled migrants to work and live in Australia and make it their permanent home. Regional Migration is one such way to make this move a possibility. The regional migration program consists of: • 2 skilled regional provisional visas that provide a pathway to permanent residence. • a skilled regional permanent resident visa (from November 2022) – subclass 191. • additional points under the Skilled Migration Points Test for skilled migrants nominated...

Episode Summary: When you lodge an EOI within a nominated occupation, your skills must meet the standards set by the DHA to work in that occupation. To prove your eligibility, an applicant must get their skills assessed by a skills assessing authority. If you don't get a positive assessment result you cannot apply for a skilled migration visa. Obtaining a suitable skills assessment is mandatory for some visa subclasses (and streams) and may be requested for others. A skill assessment is...

Episode Summary: The Office of the Migration Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) is a section within the Department of Home Affairs. Under the Migration Act, this body is granted certain powers and responsibilities for registering and overseeing over 4500 migration agents who provide immigration assistance. In this episode Amitava talks in detail about their role in registering & overseeing migration agents who provide migration assistance, CPD of migration agents, managing providers...

Episode Summary: One of the objectives of the Migration Strategy is to streamline the temporary skilled migration.  It makes up 9% of Australia’s total temporary migration system. For the system to work more efficiently for both employers and overseas workers, the back-to-front system needs to be overhauled so that Australia can attract highly skilled workers from a rapidly growing pool of young skilled talent. In this podcast Amitava touches upon why action is needed, what are the existing...