Australia PR Process | Pathway To Enter – Australia

Australia skilled migration points calculator

1. Assess your profile

Assess by authorized Australian Bodies such as EA (Engineers Australia) or ACS (Australian Computer Society).

2. Calculate your points

Click the link Australia PR Points Calculator to assess your points against the below factors.
Age
English Language
Australian work experience
Overseas work experience
Qualifications (Australian or Overseas)
STEM degree
Partner points and Additional points.

3. Submit the EOI

Submit Expression of Interest in Skill Select where you just need to submit the data. Here, documentation or evidence is not required for the points that you are claiming to process an Australia PR. However, it is highly advisable to arrange all the documents prior to applying the EOI.

4. Invitation to apply

Wait until you receive the ITA (Invitation to apply). As the Australia PR process is points based system, the higher points you have, the brighter the chances of receiving a quick invitation. You will be receiving a mail from Skill Select as below.

Subject: You have received an invitation to apply for a visa in SkillSelect
<Date>

Dear <Name>
Congratulations
You have received an invitation to lodge a Skilled – Regional (Subclass 189/190/489) (Provisional) – State & Territory Nominated visa application nominated/sponsored by DMITRE.
To view your invitation login to the SkillSelect login page.

Regards
SkillSelect System Administrator

In addition, there is another mail from the corresponding state if it is a state sponsorship.

5. Submit Visa application to process Australia PR

After receiving the ITA, you have 2 months to submit the visa application. You have to submit all the documents for the proof of points that you mentioned in the EOI. The preferred file format is PDF. It is better to upload all the below documents before paying the visa fee.

Documents Check list for 189/190/491 (Skilled visa – Australia PR Process)

For Main applicant

• University degree certificate
• University transcripts
• Higher secondary school certificate
• Secondary school certificate
• Assessment letter relevant authority (for instance, ACS)
• English Proof (IELTS/PTE scorecard)
• ID cards (from all countries where you stayed)
• Passport
• Experience letter in company letter head
• Reference letter (with details of roles and responsibilities)
• Payslips for all the companies (atleast few months payslip from each employer. Generally CO never asks for entire payslip from each company)
• Tax details wherever applicable (e.g. form 16 from India)
• Company offer letters
• Promotion letters
• Relieving letter
• Appointment/Offer letter
• Provident fund (pdf file downloaded from epfo.org) – this is easy to get online
• Bank statement for all years of Employment (highlight your salary for every month)
• PCC (Police Clearance Certificate for all countries where you have stayed for more than 6 months)
• Form80
• Form 1221

For Secondary applicant (spouse)

• Evidence of Spouse/relationship (for example, marriage certificate)
• College Transcripts
• Degree certificate
• Functional English proof (you can submit a letter from your college with medium of education is English or IELTS/PTE scorecard)
• Passport
• PCC
• ID cards (Driving license etc)
• Form 80
• Form 1221

For Kid

• Passport (both for Travel document and proof of family)
• Birth certificate

6. Functional English proof

For functional English proof provide either of the following,

• IELTS scorecard with minimum of 4.5 bands each in listening, writing, reading and speaking.
• PTE scorecard with 50 points each in speaking, writing, reading and listening.
• Letter from the college stating the medium of education is English during the course.

At last, letter from the college is more than enough. However, if you want, you can provide the letter from the university as well.

The below documents are required to get the letter from the University.

• Original degree certificate and provisional certificate (for proof).
• Original consolidated mark sheet (for proof).
• Xerox of degree certificate (front and back).
• Xerox of consolidated mark sheet (front and back).
• Letter from the college (should be mentioned as medium of course is English).
• 500 rupees DD (it may vary between the Universities).
• Get the form from the university and fill it.

Finally, call them a week later and collect it once it is ready.

Sample letter from the college in the college letterhead.

Sample letter from the University

7. Pay the visa fee to get an Australia PR

After uploading all the documents, pay the visa processing fee. Check on DIBP website for the estimated rates in concerned currency. It varies depends on the number of applicants. You can also attach the pending documents after paying the fee but it cannot be removed once you have uploaded.

The below are good sites to pay the visa fees. No additional charges are required.
LiveMint
GoNiyo – (No additional charges to obtain this card. Unused money can be sent back to bank for no extra charges too).

8. Medical proof

Once you have lodged the visa, you will get the HAPID (An electronic number). This is required to perform the medicals from the approved hospital. You will have a month time after lodging the visa to submit the medicals.

Steps to generate HAPID

• Log in to your IMMI account –> New Application –> Health –> My Health Declarations. Provide all of you and your accompanying member’s details –> Click on Submit.
• Go to my IIMI account summary page – you will find your my health declaration application is in submitted state. Click on it.
• On the left side you will find clickable “view health assessment” text. Click on it.
• It will take you to medical declaration – Declare all the particulars such as TB or other diseases if any –> Fill up that form –> Click on Submit.
• It will auto generate a referral letter containing your required medical exam list and the coveted HAPID.
• Call the approved hospital in your city, which you can find in DIBP website. Provide your self-generated HAPID.
• Schedule your medical test at any later date.
• After completion of your medicals, wait for 2 to 3 working days.
• Log onto eMedical client of DIBP using your HAPID. Check whether the hospital has already uploaded the result.
• If uploaded, your visa application (which you did not submit yet) indicate that you have already done your medical. The CO will pick up your application and understand that you have already completed your medicals and should not generate a new HAPID for you.

9. Case Officer contact

During the process if the case officer finds some issues in the documents, he will ask you to provide the missing proof/letter. You will be given 28 days to submit the missing documents and press the IP (Information provided) button to throw the case back to the officer. This may cause a delay of 2 to 3 months of your case, every time when you have a CO contact. Many applicants get direct grants but for some people it may even take 2 to 3 times CO contacts. Therefore, make sure that your documentation is streamlined and provide as much evidence as possible to avoid the CO contact.

10. Direct Grant to get an Australia PR

Waiting period starts again. If you are lucky and all the documents are perfect, you can expect to get the visa grant even in 2 to 4 months.

11. Immi Grant notification email

It’s your day when you finally get the golden grant mail. An IED (Initial Entry Date) and visa category will be mentioned in the letter. A 189 visa is considered to be the best visa, followed by the state sponsored 190 visa though there are other types of visas available. IED is the date before which its must to make an entry into the country, otherwise it can void the visa.

Migration Checklist to process an Australia PR

Before Moving to Australia

Once you get an Australia PR after processing, there are plenty of things available to do before and after moving to Australia. It takes a lot of time to plan and prepare for the move.  Below is the checklist of things that you should do before moving to Australia with a PR.

1. Overseas driving license

If you are traveling for the first time to Australia as a PR holder, carry your overseas driving license. You are allowed to drive in Australia with an overseas driver’s license if you are a temporary visa holder. But it is allowed only as long as the license is current and until you get your Australian learner’s permit. However, the rules are different in Northern Territory (allowed 3 months), Tasmania (allowed 3 months) and Victoria (allowed 6 months).

2. Book flight tickets

Book as early as possible (2 to 3 months earlier) to get some good deals. While booking the flight tickets, in addition to low airfare, find the airlines that have good baggage allowance. Usually, when you buy a one-way air ticket, you get more baggage allowance. Qantas Airways is the cheap and best for booking flight tickets with more baggage allowance. They also provide some offers based on points. As a result, it is better to create an account in India itself as they charge if you create it in Australia.

3. Get a temporary accommodation

Initially search for a shared accommodation for a week using Airbnb, Flatmates and Other rental accommodation. Once you are settled down, you can find the individual or unit houses using Realestate, Domain, Gumtree or Facebook Marketplace.

Typically rents range from $250-$600 per week for separate house and $120 to $180 per week for shared accommodation. Most of the jobs are in the main city and places near to the city. Suburbs close to the city center attract a higher rent and it decreases as you go further from the city center.

4. Ship your belongings

Make a list of things you want to ship to Australia. Most flights have baggage allowance of about 30 to 40kg. But this is not enough if you travel for the first time as you have to take your clothes, utensils, shoes and many other items. You can ship through many shipping companies but the cheapest among all is General Post Office, DHL Courier and  Garudavega.

5. Sell your things

Sell your things such as furniture, vehicles, electronic items whichever is not required and you don’t want ship to Australia.

6. Update your CV and LinkedIn profile

10 steps to tailor your CV to the Australian job market.

1. Don’t submit a one-page CV and don’t even exceed three pages.
2. Use Australian English.
3. Don’t include your photograph.
4. Add a relevant headline (say no to ‘Coding Ninja’, ‘Full Stack Magician’ and ‘Data Guru’).
5. Work on your professional summary. Think of your brand and how you want to portray it.
6. Your employment history only needs to go back 10 years. And bring to attention achievements over responsibilities.
7. Highlight your tertiary education and any additional training undertaken/certifications. High school is irrelevant.
8. Compare job description and your resume in cv scan and make sure that it is matched more than 80%.
9. Provide references only when asked to.
10. Create a stunning cover letter expressing your interest with the achievements using STAR approach (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Bonus: LinkedIn is important. If a recruiter or company receives your CV, they will look for you on LinkedIn. Make sure you have a great (and complete) online profile. Finally register in job portals.

7. Do medical treatments

Though we can get medicare card in Australia, dental examination is too expensive. Hence, better to do dental work such as root canal or white filling, eye checkup or full health checkup if required. In addition, if you must do any minor surgeries, do it in your country itself.

8. Child’s documents

Get all the required documents from your kid’s school as well as vaccination report from the hospital.

9. Convert your bank account

Convert all your bank accounts to NRE/NRO account. Because it is not advisable to get OTP number in your overseas mobile number for the transactions or purchase done in Australia. In addition, if possible close all your loans before going to Australia. You can also open a safe box account and keep all your jewels in the bank safely.

10. Cancel subscriptions for utilities

Cancel all the subscriptions such as electricity, gas connection, broadband, cable TV, newspaper, water can, etc.

11. Open Australian bank account

You can open bank account in Australia as well as in overseas itself. Once you reach Australia activate your bank account by verifying your identity using passport and visa documents and get the debit card.

12. International roaming for overseas mobile

This will keep your overseas number active and can still receive the OTP number for various transactions such as credit card payment or online purchase. You may need to keep a minimum deposit or just convert your plan to prepaid one, depending on the provider.

13. Scan the documents

Scan all the important documents: passport, visa, degree certificates, academic transcripts, birth certificate, employment related documents, tax records etc. and upload it in google drive. Take the hard copies of all the important documents if required.

14. Medical prescriptions

Get prescriptions for any medicines as it will not be allowed in the airport without prescription. Similarly, carry the prescription for your glasses when travelling.

15. Learners test preparation

Take practice tests as much as possible before you travel as it is easy to get the learners in the first week itself. Take the tests based on state specific.

SA Driving license practice tests
Part1
Give way videos, Give way questions from SA, Give way questions from RAA

Part2
SA Practice Tests
Multiple choice questions from RAA

Hazard Perception Test
Hazard Perception Test from SA
Install the app from Play Store to practice all 34 questions.

16. Start your purchase

Start your purchase one month before the travel and make sure to buy clothes, utensils, medicines, bags and other accessories. Most importantly, ensure that you will be able to carry everything as it depends upon the baggage allowance. You can find the entire list in here.

After reaching Australia as a PR holder

Here are few information for all newly arrived migrants with a PR to settle down in Australia for the first few weeks. It is irrespective of what visa you have. Some of these steps may not apply to you, but most of them do.

1. Buy a sim card

You can buy a sim at airport itself where many mobile operators such as Optus, Telstra, Vodafone have shops. Compare the difference from the below links before reaching Australia and buy the best, which is suitable for you.

Whistleout
Whatphone
Comparemobileplans
Finder
Comparatively, Lebara, Belong, Lyca Mobile and Amaysim have the best mobile and data plans. You can also choose the number you want in Amaysim and can buy online from overseas and activate it once you reach Australia.

2. Get a pass for public transport

Buy a public transport pass and load some cash when you land Australia. It works in bus, tram and train.

Initially you wouldn’t have a car when you reach Australia. Therefore, you have to rely on bus or tram or train. These transport systems are punctual and all information about them can be found either in Google Maps or TripView Lite App. The cost of journey ranges from $3 to $6 (depends upon the city). The price is capped to $2.6 on Sundays for unlimited public travel.

On the other hand, cost of petrol is nearly as same as India and cost of cars is slightly cheaper than India. Toyota, Mazda and Honda seem big car brands in Australia. Used cars can be found in Gumtree or Carsales websites. As a result, depending on your location, you need to buy the appropriate pass and recharge it with enough amount. For students, 50% discount is available.

The following capital cities offer reusable smart cards for their public transport systems:

Cities	Pass	Used on
Brisbane	Go Card	Trains, trams, buses and ferries
Melbourne	Myki Card	Trains, trams and buses
Sydney	Opal Card	Trains, trams, buses and ferries
Adelaide	Metro Card	Trains, trams and buses
Perth	Smart Rider	Trains, buses and ferries
Hobart	Green Card	Buses
Canberra	My Way	Buses
Darwin	Tap&Ride Card	Buses

3. Shopping in Australia

You can find Indian stores and almost all basic Indian stuff in Australia. The cost of Indian stuffs such as fruits and vegetables is nearly 2-3 times of what you would find in India. But the quality seems a lot better. Most shopping is done from big shops such as Woolsworth, Aldi, Coles for groceries. And for other household stuffs Kmart, Target and BigW are the best. It is better to get basic utensils from India itself.

4. Open a bank account

Open a bank account with a bank of your choice. If you have already opened an account from overseas, you can visit the branch along with your passport and visa copy. Once your identity is verified, your account will be activated, and a debit card will be issued to you. Common Wealth and NAB banks are good comparatively.

Requirements: Passport and visa document for identification.

5. Apply for Australian Tax File Number (TFN)

A TFN is similar to the PAN number in India. It is an unique number required when you start doing a job. Give the bank your tax file number to avoid higher rates of taxation on the interest earned.

You can apply for a TFN by either of the below options.

Australian Taxation Office	Contact details
ATO Website	www.ato.gov.au
Telephone	132 861
Visit an office	www.ato.gov.au/visitus

Requirements: Passport and visa document of Australia PR holders are required to process and fill the online TFN application form.

6. Enroll with Medicare

Medicare is Australia’s national health care system. It provides free or subsidised health care services to Australian citizens and PR holders (permanent residents). However, it’s not eligible for students and 489 visa holders. If you are eligible for Medicare you have immediate access to health care services and programs. Healthcare, except dental and subsidised medicines can be availed for free from public hospitals, but only if you have a Medicare card.

Fill the online application form for you and your dependents from the Medicare website. You need to provide the bank details in the application form. Medicare card will be received by post in a month to your mailing address. In the meantime, you can visit the doctor using the temporary Medicare number till the permanent card is received.  You must let Medicare know if you change your home or postal address. Emergency medical treatment is available 24 hours a day at Emergency departments of public hospitals.

Medicare	Contact details
Medicare Website	Medicare
Telephone	132 011
Visit a service centre	Medicare Address

Requirements: Bank account, passport and visa document are required to fill the online application form.

Create an account in myGov and link all the government services such as Medicare, Centrelink, TFN etc. to it. This will give you a central place to manage all your services. With a single update you can change your personal details or address to all the services. Thus simplifying your life.

Medical emergencies

Emergency medical treatment is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the public hospitals. For medical emegencies, call 000 immediately and ask for an “Ambulance”. When you go to the hospital, bring any medicines, Medicare card, private health insurance membership, Health Care or Pension Concession cards. All states and territories have phone health services that operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They provide free guidance and can direct you to local health services. First you should contact your local doctor if you have health issues. However, if they are unavailable, call the below services. These services have qualified nurses who can give you necessary advice.

State or Territory	Telephone Health Advice Service	Telephone	Service Link
ACT, NSW, NT, TAD, SA, WA	Health Direct	1800 022 222	Health Direct
QLD	13 Health	13 43 25 84	QLD Health
VIC	Nurse on Call	1300 606 024	Nurse-on-Call

In Tasmania and Queensland, ambulance services are generally provided free for residents. In the other states and territories, they may charge some fees. Fees may vary depend on the distance of travel, the nature of illness and the eligibility of concession. Get the insurance for ambulance, otherwise it will be expensive even for a short distance. Besides, you have to purchase the insurance, if you live outside Queensland or Tasmania. You can purchase through membership schemes of ambulance service or a private health insurance fund.

7. Visit Centrelink

If you move with family with Australia PR, visit the nearest Centrelink office and follow the process to register yourself. Apparently, this will help you get the child care benefits and child care rebate if your child attends a daycare. On top of that, PR holders (permanent residents) who newly arrived to Australia can find job with their overseas skills, courses or training through Centrelink. Moreover, Human Services Department provides social security payments and services through Centrelink. However, there may be a waiting period to receive the payments and it depends upon your visa.

Contact Centrelink on the day you arrive. Lodge a claim within 14 days if you are eligible for a social security payment and get paid from the day you contact Centrelink. Humanitarian applicants may be eligible for a Crisis Payment in addition to other social security payments. But you must claim within 7 days of arriving in Australia, if you arrive under the Humanitarian Program. On the other hand, you can contact Centrelink with the intent to claim within 7 days of arrival. Then lodge a claim within 14 days of that contact.

Read Expat’s Guide To Centrelink Benefits, if you don’t know what your benefits are as an expat in Australia.

You may be eligible for Government-funded payments,
For the cost of raising children (see Family Tax Benefit) or
For child care fees (see Child Care), if you have children.

Centrelink	Contact details
Centrelink website	Centre Link
Phone self service	136 240
Job seekers	132 850
People with disability and cares	132 717
Older Australians	132 300
Students and trainees	132 490
Online account support	132 307
Complaints and feedback	1800 132 468
Australian apprenticeships	133 633
Families	136 150
For information in other languages	131 202
Visit a service centre	Centre Link Address

8. Get a Driving license

Although driving in India and Australia is on right side, the rules of driving are significantly different. In Australia, the overseas driving license will be valid for 3 months (in some states it is valid if the license is current). After that, we need to apply for an Australian driving license. Furthermore, it is mandatory to register our vehicles every 3 or 6 months. Also, if you are traveling with your child, it is mandatory to fit a child seat inside the car. You need to pass a written test, road test, and an eyesight test in order to get the driving license. Moreover, there are some traffic rules, which you should obey.

Firstly, getting a driver’s license is not that easy. You should have an instructor and go for 3 to 5 classes even if you drive well in overseas. However, the cost for instruction class per hour varies from $60 to $80 and it depends upon the instructor. But if you have valid overseas driver’s license you can directly get the full license if you pass the road test. Otherwise, you have to undergo P1 and P2 before getting full license.

If you hold a driver’s license from the following countries, you can directly get the full license by showing the original overseas license. It is valid even if it is expired upto 5 years.
Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, USA.
The list of countries may vary between states.

You can also get an age proof card using your passport. You can use it as an Australian id proof until you get a driver’s license permit.

License Registration

State or Territory	Licensing and motor vehicle registration agency	Telephone
ACT	Road Transport Authority	02 6207 7000
NSW	Roads and Maritime Services	13 2213
NT	Department of Transport	1300 654 628
QLD	Department of Transport and Main Roads	13 2380
SA	Transport	13 1084
TAS	Transport Tasmania	1300 851 225
VIC	VicRoads	13 1171
WA	Department of Transport	13 1156

9. Jobs and recruitment agencies

Update LinkedIn profile and resume with your Australian address and contact number. Also, mention in the summary that you are in Australia and actively looking for a job. For job search, Seek is the biggest portal in Australia. Similarly, LinkedIn is another big portal to get job updates. Besides, you can also find top 20 Australian job sites here.

List of other Recruitment Agencies

Recruiters	Contact Details
Hays	Abhinav M: 0410 993 739 Cameron Agnew T: 08 7221 4110 cameron.agnew@hays.com.au Holly Dennis T: 08 7221 4164 holly.dennis@hays.com.au
Greythorn	Peter Cross peter.cross@greythorn.com.au
Michael Page
Recon Solutions
Robert Half
Robert Walters	John-paul Joubeir T: 08 8216 3500 M: 08 8216 3511 john-paul.joubeir@robertwalters.com.au Dione Chrisakis dione.chrisakis@robertwalters.com.au
Modis	Grace Cultura T: 08 8306 8290 grace.cultura@modis.com Jan Rugar M: 0408 876 829 Erin Clarke T: 08 8306 8282 erin.clarke@modis.com Zeenath T: 08 8306 8282
Titan Recruitment
Adecco
Recruit Shop

People Bank	Roni Thomas T: 08 8112 7415 M: 08 8112 7400 Roni.Thomas@peoplebank.com.au Karen Detablan T: 08 8112 7407 M: 08 8112 7400 karen.detablan@peoplebank.com.au Pramod Jaiswal pramod.jaiswal@peoplebank.com.au
Sustainability
Finite	Akshay T: 08 8210 9120 akshayv@finite.com.au Jeddalene Gito T: 08 8224 3840 jeddaleneg@finite.com.au Sarah Thomas T: 08 8224 3840 saraht@finite.com.au
Michael Bailey
Readify
Ajilon
Paxus	Jennifer James T: 08 82146241 M: 0449 713 763 jjames@paxus.com.au
Needus
Marshall McAdam
Kinetic Recruitment
HiTech Personnel
Teksystems
Northbridge IT Recruitment

Pra
GMT People
Interpro
Hudson	Steve Solomon steve.solomon@hudson.com
Candle
Paul ingle
Tenth House
Sirius People
10Collective
ecareer
Vantage Recruitment
Hydrogen
Attribute Group
Whizdom Recruitment
Optimum Recruitment
Talent	Kapil Arora T: 08 8228 1566 kapil.arora@talentinternational.com Vimal Venugopal M: 0450 043 378 vimal.venugopal@talentinternational.com Calvin Ebenezer calvin.ebenezer@talentinternational.com
M & T Resources
Randstad	Prashant Sharma prashant.sharma@randstad.com.au Margie Falanga Connect with Margie in LinkedIn
Genesis recruitment solutions
Citi Recruitment
Premium IT
PBI Search
Total Resource Solutions
S2M Recruitment
Talentpool
Clicks IT Recruitment
Chandler Macleod
Chamonix	Taylah Lees taylah.lees@chamonix.com.au
DWS Group	Sharon McMurray sharon.mcmurray@dws.com.au

Some of the casual jobs in Australia

Uber Eats
Uber Drive
DiDi Global
MenuLog
Inghams

10. School admission for the children

Public schools are free in Australia for citizens and PR holders but daycare and preschools are not free. However, cost of daycare is about $100 a day. However, you can get a 55% (not for students and 489 visa holders) subsidy provided your family income is below a certain level. To get the school admission, you need to show your visa document and your child’s vaccination records. In addition, keep the documents and certificates of your child’s previous school.

In Australia, the minimum age limit for children to attend school is five years and they have to attend until age 10. Children who have completed school upto age 10 must join in full-time education, training or employment, (at least 25 hours per week). Otherwise, a combination of these activities until they reach 17 years of age. When you enroll your kid in a daycare school, they will ask you for his/her immunisation statement. Above all, it is absolutely important to update Overseas Immunisation Records in Australia.

11. Bonus Tip

Register on Meetup website where people can join groups of their interests and attend related events nearby them. It is a great way to expand your network and improve your communication skills. Moreover, you can get free food and drinks as well.

Hope these information helps to process an Australia PR. All the best for your English exam and the PR process.