Will I make my subclass 176 Visa invalid if...

[Cruzader77]

Hi all.

I'll try to make my question brief. I am 24 year old US Citizen with a teritary degree in business/accounting. I have been working in my profession for the past 3 years. I am in the process of getting my skill assessment. From there, I will apply for migrant sponsorship through South Australia (since I want to live in Adelaide and accounting is listed on the MODL as well as a high priority for South Australia). After that, I will begin the lengthy DIAC process for a subclass 176 Sponsored Migrant visa (I've heard in excess of 7 months!! Ouch!) .

Here is my question:

After applying for the Sponsored Migrant visa with DIAC while in the USA, can I come to Australia on a Work and Holiday Visa (subclass 462) while the visa is being processed? I know I need to send in medical/police checks and I will front-load these shortly after applying for the subclass 176 visa. However, will coming to Australia on this Work and Holiday Visa somehow cancel my subclass 176 application? From my research on the DIAC site, I only need to be outside Australia at the time a decision is made on the subclass 176 visa, not while it is being processed. The site also states that DIAC will inform me to leave the country if I am there if a decision is going to be made soon.

Is my interpretation correct? If you are still reading this message, THANK YOU. And if you can provide a response, I will THANK YOU EVEN MORE! hehe

[Cruzader77]

I went ahead and called the Australian Embassy in the United States to see if they could answer my question. The woman at the embassy was EXTREMELY helpful and answered my question. I am posting the answer below so hopefully it will help out others in my situation.

Answer: Yes, you can apply for another visa while your skilled migration visa is being processed. I specifically asked about travelling to Australia on an ETA visa and Work and Holiday Visa (subclass 462). The embassy representative said that I need to be aware of the requests for medicals/police checks that will be requested by the case officer for the skilled migration visa. She also stated that I need to keep my case officer informed of any travel to Australia so that I can be notified to leave the country when a decision is imminent on the skilled migration visa. (She stated that I do not necessarily need to travel back to the USA for this, rather just anywhere outside of Australia).

This is great news for me because I want to do some extended travel around Australia before I (hopefully) get my skilled migration visa approved.


Hope this helps someone!!!

[kaz101]

Hi Cruzader77,

Welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing the answer to your question.

I love South Australia - I'm down the South East part and we've been here since July 2007. By the way 7 months is not a long time for the visa process - we came in on a skilled independent visa and it took us 2 years!

Regards,
Karen

[Dolly]

Hi Cruzader77,

Thanks very much for the info.....I'm sure it'll be very helpful to others.

Dolly