The Australian qualification based residence visa used to be the most popular choice of immigrants to Australia, but recently the Department of Immigration and Citizenship favoured the employer sponsorship.
Despite this, qualification based residence is still open for highly qualified professionals, and we would like to provide you with general information about this topic.
The evaluation of visa application is based on a score system, and besides this, the applicant must meet the basic requirements.
The list of eligible skills (CSOL) is quite long, but only those may apply independently whose qualifications are present on a much shorter list of skills (SOL).
There are two ways to obtain a qualification based residence visa: independently or with state sponsorship. If someone is not eligible for independent application for residence (does not score high enough or is not listed on the independent list), state sponsorship may be the solution.
The 6 states and 2 territories of Australia independently sponsor professionals willing to take up residence, but with the primary condition that the applicant would live and work in the sponsoring state or territory for a previously determined time interval. State sponsorship may mean extra points during score-based evaluation. States and territories are free to determine whom they sponsor and the conditions of the sponsorship, and each state or territory compiles their own list.
From the 1st of July 2012 on, the so-called SkillSelect is in effect, which is a selection system. This means that only those are eligible to send an application for visa to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship who were invited within this scheme.