BIA Victoria - Want to work in Australia?

Want to work in Australia?

Want to work in Australia in the Boating Industry? Please read this …

If you are not an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident you must obtain a visa to live and work in Australia under the Australian Government Skilled Migration Program; such a visa may authorise a temporary stay or permanent residence in Australia. There are several ways to obtain a work visa:

1. You may wish to seek to have an Australian employer to sponsor you; this may be for a temporary work visa or permanent migrant visa.

2. You may wish to apply for a permanent migrant visa as an independent migrant under the General Skilled Migration scheme - without any sponsorship.

If you wish to pursue the employer-sponsored stream then please let us know the details of the job/s in which you are interested and we will make initial contact with the employer. Further involvement will then be between the prospective employer and yourself.

Under the employer sponsorship arrangements the applications including your visa application must be lodged with the Department of Immigration and Citizenship in Australia and we expect that advice on this will be given to you by your sponsor during the process. You should not lodge a visa application until you have an employer who has agreed to sponsor you and that employer has had their sponsorship approved by the Immigration authorities.

If you wish to apply as an Independent migrant you should fully inform yourself of the requirements, including qualifications assessment and the Points Test. Such visa applications are also lodged with Immigration in Australia.

Having given you this brief information we strongly recommend that you look up the website of the Australian Immigration Department - www.immi.gov.au, select "Visas & Immigration" and then "Workers" to obtain more detailed information on visa types and requirements.

The Working Holiday Visa

The Working Holiday visa is available to citizens of about 20 countries with whom Australia has a reciprocal agreement - in the public domain it is often referred to as the "backpackers" visa. It allows persons between the ages of 18 and 30 to visit Australia for 12 months and gives them permission to supplement their finances by working here. There is no requirement to be sponsored and they do not have to work here if they do not wish to do so.

They may work in Australia for no longer than 6 months with any one employer but are not restricted as to type of work or location. People working here on this visa are entitled to the same pay and work conditions as "Australians". Having spent some time here many Working Holiday Makers who hold skill qualifications subsequently apply for migration or are sponsored by employers.

In November 2005 an addition to the scheme enabled those visa holders who had work in a seasonal primary industry for 3 months to apply for a second 12 month visa.

Australia has reciprocal working holiday arrangements with 19 countries and locations. These are:

• the United Kingdom
• Canada
• The Netherlands
• Japan
• Republic of Ireland
• Republic of Korea
• Malta
• Germany
• Denmark
• Sweden
• Taiwan
• Norway
• The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the Peoples’ Republic of China, and British National (Overseas)
• Finland
• The Republic of Cyprus
• France
• Italy
• Belgium
• Estonia