Case Studies

I recently posted a video where I go through the importance of updating your Training Plan for the 407 Visa before a Case Officer is assigned to it. In this video, I go through what areas of the Training Plan to update, updating the duration and schedule, and how often to revise.

Full video found here.

This is useful for anyone applying for a Employer Sponsorship nomination application across the 407 Training Visa, 482 TSS Visa, 186 ENS Visa, and 494 Regional Visa.

After years of blogs, seminars, and video content, it feels great to get something more central and detailed released. Seeing businesses succeed in their nomination applications is what drives me, so the more I can help the better.

Avoid overlooking the simple things that can result in application refusal!

Free download here.

In the overall view of prioritising the visa system since COVID-19 was declared a Global Pandemic in March 2020, it has been made apparent (unofficially) that the 407 Training Visa is of low priority processing, with an extremely large majority sitting unassigned to Case Officers for more than 12 months.

That is, until now.

Despite all odd, my most recent 407 Training nomination and visa were both approved in just 15 days! Yes correct, days, not months.

The secret? It appears that healthcare occupations are now getting prioritised for the 407 Training Visa also (in this case, Physiotherapist, with an Anaesthetist also approved swiftly). These occupations have the same sector in common.

Looking to find out more about Training Plans? Videos and an example can be found on our Training Plan section.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to reach out to contact me (whether you are a migrant, an employer, or a fellow migration agent or lawyer) to get get further insights into processing times on the 407 Visa (my core service) since this post.

Today, I proudly got a 482 nomination transfer for a Cafe Manager approved within 3 weeks, a great win for the business who can now transfer their valued employee from the previous ownership to under their own payroll, and proceed knowing that they can retain him despite COVID-19 uncertainty in the hospitality sector.

Given everything the hospitality sector has gone through in recent months, I cooked up additional aspects to this case to dish up the best chance of success (puns intended).

Some suggested efforts that I recommend you can add into your employer sponsored applications if you are within the hospitality or even in the retail sector:

• Proof of trading during COVID-19 – in addition to BAS, P/L extracts, payroll exports etc, think outside of the financials and also include aspects like receipts of stock and produce purchasing, updated menu’s, etc.
• Details as to how the business has adhered to the changing social-distancing restrictions – photos of the cafe/restaurant/shop, signage in place, additional measures such as hand sanitation, etc.
• Emphasis on the importance of the role specific to COVID-19 and the profitability of the business and it’s success despite COVID-19 (remember, decrease in turnover might be evident but compare it to potential decrease in expenditure also).

I made a short video dedicated to this topic, you can view it here.

Anyone and everyone is welcome to reach out to contact me to get more specifics and guidance, or if you are seeking expert representation on your file.

I’m finding a lot of applicants pending AAT hearings are unhappy with their agent due to lack of attention until the hearing arrives. Recently I had a client who lodged his subclass 457 in 2015, his hearing date arriving a few months ago, and upon my recommendation we were able to submit to the Member why the role is still genuine, what the current salary is in today’s conditions, the updated organisation chart, etc. The paperwork was so successful, the tribunal remitted the case without the need for hearing and his visa was granted last week (possibly one of the final ever 457 grants).

Similar this week, I have a new client for a subclass 186TRT nomination refusal (lodged in 2016) with the hearing date arriving any day now, and I am glad she is accepting my advice of updating the tribunal with the continual need for the role, the salary in today’s conditions, updated financials, organisation structure, etc.

However, you shouldn’t wait to the last moment to have everything prepared. The longest outstanding immigration application I have is from November 2016 (2 years now), a Direct Entry 187 RSMS nomination and visa and I am ensuring that every 6 months I update the file with the latest organisation chart, latest financials (X2 most recent BAS), short support letter from accountant, short support letter from the business, and if there have been any changes in the salary. Perhaps a salary of base $58,000 was suitable 2 years ago, but may have increased to $60,000 now, 24 months on. Case Officers don’t have to ask for updated information, they can just refuse, so be proactive and request the information before it’s asked.

When processing times on your application are lengthy, don’t wait for the case officer to refuse your case and then you have to spend more time and money on a tribunal hearing. Provide your agent periodically with updated documents so that they can upload them to your file. It is minimum time to update the application file, but maximum time (and potentially heartache in the end) to fight a refusal, let alone the added avoidable costs.