Visa Application Charge for Australia - VAC

The supporting finance is one of the main factors that ought to be considered at the same time as an immigration application is being considered for any country. The similar rule applies although immigrating to Australia.

So as to migrate to Australia, one must meet the terms of the essential requirements that have been laid down by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Australia. These comprise application fee which is a significant component whilst an application is being evaluated. This is called the VAC or Visa Application Charge. This charge has to be paid in Australian dollars only and is not refundable, even if the application is discarded.

This application fee is reconsidered on the 1st July of every year. So, it is recommended to make a decision and apply before this particular date. This would save you in case the fee per application is increased.

If you are applying from somewhere outside Australia, this charge along with the application has to be paid at the Australian High Commission or the Consulate / Embassy of your country. In this case, an exception is made with a comparable being paid in the local currency. The exchange rates are changed every year on the 1st January and on the 1st July. It has to be kept in mind that the foreign currency rates are fixed only for six months after which it is assess again. A substitute to keep away from such a confusion is to ask one of your friends in Australia (if any) to put the money at the local office.

Changes in VAC – The Consequences
As declared above, the cost of the VAC is totally based on the date of the application submission and when it is received by the department. You may finish up paying more in the following cases:
1. If you put forward your application after 1st January or 1st July.
2. If your submission is received after the above mentioned dates regardless of you submitting well in advance.

You pay for the VAC in an abroad office before the due dates but put forward the application in a local Australian office only after the exact days.

Though, in all the cases it has to be kept in mind that an application would only be considered if the correct sum has been paid. In some cases, it may even be returned back with a demand to put forward again with the right processing fee.

Australian Immigration Overview : Emigrating To Australia

About a quarter of Australia's population of 21 million was born in a foreign country and more than 120,000 people immigrate to the country every year. It's a popular destination for those wishing to move to a new country as of the lifestyle and chances on offer.

Those emigrating to Australia find that they can have a improved quality of life and have more throwaway income. It has some of the inexpensive cities in the first world, despite also being ranked as one of the top countries on the globe for quality of life. Particularly, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne, rate highly when outflow and quality of life are cross-indexed.

Australia is a hub of financial activities for the whole of the pacific region and work can be found across all industries. While with other English speaking countries, Australia is committed to equivalent employment opportunities for all. Your qualifications and work experience will determine your career, not your nationality.

A universal visa system is operational in Australia, which means that anyone who isn't an Australian citizen have to possess a visa to live there. Your ethnic origin, race, nationality, religion and gender play no part in determining eligibility, but causes like medical history, age, previous visa history, character, criminal records, and overstay risk, carry out.

There are a variety of different visas on offer to those immigrating to Australia: skilled independent visa; working holiday visa; retirement visa; study visa; partner visa; family visa. The right one for you is reliant on what you'll be doing there and how long you plan to stay there.
To obtain a visa for emigrating to Australia, you have to lodge an application with the DIAC (Department of Immigration and Culture) under one of their visa programs, and pay the required fee which varies from program to program.

The time taken to process your immigration application varies, although you ought to agree to a minimum of 12 months. You'll be notified of whether your visa application was victorious or not by letter. If you're refused a visa, you're informed why and, if applicable, where you can apply for a review of the result and the time limit for doing so.

Using a immigration agent isn't essential when emigrating to Australia, but many potential immigrants recruit the help of one. Their information and experience of the visa regulations and the application process can cut down the time it'll take to get your visa, and almost eliminate the probability of a wrong application being lodged.

Immigration policies of Australia

Everybody needs a better life - this need has direct people to go away to other countries, which they believe offer them the chance to achieve their dreams. A classic country of choice is Australia since it is one of the flourishing countries in the world. In view of this, Australia immigration policies have been implemented so as to improve and facilitate the process of moving into Australia.

The new immigration policy of Australia has two components, that is, Migration and humanitarian, these two aspects frame the spine of the Immigration Policies of Australia.
Explained minimally, the Humanitarian aspect concerns those people who came to Australia to look for refuge. These include refugees, people who lawfully entered the country and required its protection, in addition to illegal immigrants. Even when the country is supple concerning Humanitarian immigration, it still reserves the power to refuse applications that are deemed weak.

The Migration aspect of Australia is divided into three categories:
1. Skilled Migration
2. Special Eligibility
3. Family Stream

Australia gives much weight to Skilled Migration since through it; they can find answer to some of their employment deficiencies. This feature is divided further into three categories:
a. General Skilled Migration
b. Employer Nomination
c. Business Skill

Australia believes in the significance of a unified family, that is why their immigration policy has a Family Migration category. Immigrants and residents comparable can nominate their child, partners, parents, and/or dependent relatives for migration. In this aspect, the country reserves the right to ask for DNA testing, when it is deemed essential.

Special Eligibility Migration concerns persons who have had previous connections with Australia such as its previous residents and those individuals who were born in Australia but become adult in another country.

The 2009 – 2010 skilled migration program

The planning for the 2009–10 skilled migration program publicized in the 2009–10 Budget build upon the current changes introduced by the Government to make certain the program is strongly targeted on the skills wanted in the Australian labor market.

Previous changes to the skilled migration program:
These changes recognize that the skilled migration program comprises three different elements:

•The employer-sponsored path, where skilled migrants are sponsored into employment that cannot be filled in the vicinity. Many of individuals granted employer-sponsored visas are previously in Australia working on a temporary visa.

•The government-sponsored path, where applicants are sponsored by state or region governments to address skill shortages particular to the jurisdiction.

•The independent skilled path, where applicants are not sponsored and do not essentially have a job to come to.

In the rouse of the global economic crisis and the following slowdown in the Australian economy, on 1 January 2009, the Government introduced the following measures:

•The dealing out of employer-sponsored skilled visa applications will be fast-tracked, as these visas mirror the skills currently wanted by employers.

•State and territory governments have been given bigger scope to back the skills needed in their jurisdiction.

•Where people search for to migrate to Australia without a sponsor, they will only be given precedence if they have an profession on the Critical Skills List (CSL), which is focused on medical, IT professionals and engineers.

Go after those changes, on 16 March 2009, the Government proclaim the 2008–09 skilled migration program would be reduced to 115 000. The decrease affects the self-governing skilled (non-sponsored) portion of the program.

2009–10 Budget announcements:
The priority arrangements implement on 1 January 2009 will stay in place for the 2009–10 skilled migration program, which has been put at 108 100 places. This will make sure that employer-sponsored and government-sponsored visas go on to be fast-tracked.
It remains open for the Government to formulate more adjustments to the skilled migration program in line with Australia’s economic and labor market needs.
The CSL will continue in place for individuals seeking to migrate to Australia not including a sponsor.

These arrangements make sure that only those with a job offer or skills in serious need will be given right of way in the present economic climate.
Besides those priority arrangements, the Government has also declared a reduction of the non-sponsored independent skilled path for trades occupations.

•The English language threshold will be greater than before from IELTS 5 to IELTS 6 in every one of the four IELTS components, which means visa applicants with a chosen trade profession will need to show a competent level of English.

•For temporary GSM visa subclasses with a confessional competent English component, the threshold English language standard will be greater than before from an average score of IELTS 5.5 to a standard of IELTS 6.0. .

•These changes will be valid from 1 July 2009 for people applying offshore and from 1 January 2010 for public applying onshore.

•A Job Ready test will be set up to complement the testing arrangements previously in place for offshore applicants in a number of trades. This will make sure that applicants have the skills claimed. This modification will apply from 1 January 2010.

These measures distinguish that a skilled migrant coming in the course of the non-sponsored pathway must struggle in the local labor market when they land (hence the need for top language skills) and have confirmed that they have the skills claimed.

All of these modifications are aligned with the Government’s longer-term goal to transfer the balance of the skilled migration program. In the past, the employer-sponsored and government-sponsored streams of the skilled migration program have jointly represented just 20 to 25 per cent of the skilled migration program whereas the majority entered through the non-sponsored sovereign skilled stream.

The Government has required to shift that balance. In the 2008–09 skilled migration programs, the employer-sponsored and government-sponsored streams will stand for 43 per cent of the visa grants. In the 2009–10 skilled migration programs, it is probable that the two sponsored streams will stand for close to 50 per cent of visa grants, with an equivalent turn down in the proportion of non-sponsored visa grants.

Source: www.immi.gov.au