Immigration for Medical practitioners: Doctors and Nurses

This post is for those doctors and nurses who are interested in obtaining visa 457.

Australia is suffering from a drought of doctors and nurses. The demand for qualified medical practitioners has sky rocketed during the last few years.

Overseas doctors trained doctors and nurses who are interested in working in Australia can either apply for permanent migration by applying for 175 visa(Please see my post for overseas immigration) or obtain a sponsorship from an employer who is willing to sponsor and get a temporary 457 visa which is a three years work permit.

The following websites of each the health departments of each state territory of Australia lists jobs which are open for medical practitioners.


NSW: http://www7.health.nsw.gov.au/healthjobs/Default.cfm?ID=1233

VIC: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/jobs/index.htm

SA: http://www.health.sa.gov.au/Default.aspx?tabid=93

WA: http://www.osrecruitment.health.wa.gov.au/

QLD: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/jobs/default.asp

TAS: http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/careers

NT: http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Careers/index.aspx

The process of obtaining a 457 visa is long, specially for doctors and nurses as it requires obtaining approval from state territory boards as well.

The first step is to get an employer interested in you. Get a letter of offer and kick start the process.

Apart from the above mentioned websites, DoctorConnect is also a very good website to start with.


DoctorConnect http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/

Immigration departments of states and territories

Here is a list of websites of the immigration departments of Australia's various states and territories.

Victoria: http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/ViewPage.action

South Australia: http://www.immigration.sa.gov.au/

Western Australia: http://www.migration.wa.gov.au/

Queensland: http://www.workliveplay.qld.gov.au/dsdweb/v4/apps/web/content.cfm?id=4044

NSW: http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/migration/state_independent_migration.asp

Northern Territory: http://www.migration.nt.gov.au/

Tasmania: http://www.development.tas.gov.au/migration/skilledmigration.html

ACT: http://www.act.gov.au/CAP/accesspoint?action=menuHome

The skills in demand in each of the state can be found by visiting the immigration departments websites of the respective states.

Kind Regards

Difference between 176 and 475

This article is for those who are interested in applying for 176, 886, 475 or 487 visas. Normally people who cannot achieve the pass mark for 885 or 175 visas apply for the above mentioned visas.

Those applying for offshore immigration (applying from outside Australia) often ask the question

"What is the difference between visa 176 and 475?"

A similar question is asked by those who apply for onshore immigration (applying while inside Australia) 

"What is the difference between 886 and 487?"

Searching for the answer, I stumbled upon this link by the Victorian government.

http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=1441&languageId=1&contentId=-1

As obvious from the link, every state maintains two types of occupational lists. One list is for 176 visas and one is for 475 visas. 475 visas are mostly regional visas away from Metropolitan centres of the state.

So if your occupation is present on the 475 list of a state, then you can only apply for 475 visa. If your occupation is listed on the 176 list of a state then you can only apply for 176 visa.

Please note that 475 is a temporary 3 years work visa where as 176 is a permanent visa. Both of them require 100 points to qualify.

Here is a list of state/territories offshore 176 and 475 visas. The same applies for onshore 886 and 487 visas.

Victoria 176 list
http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/digitalAssets/1377_Skilled%20Sponsored%20176%20Eligibility%20List.pdf

Victoria 475 list
http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/digitalAssets/1365_Skilled%20Regional%20Sponsored%20Eligibility%20list%20.pdf

WA 176 visa list
http://www.migration.wa.gov.au/media/documents/priority-skills-list.pdf

WA 475 visa list
http://www.migration.wa.gov.au/media/documents/skills-in-demand-list.pdf

QLD 176 visa list
http://www.workliveplay.qld.gov.au/dsdweb/v4/apps/web/content.cfm?id=3709

QLD 475 visa list
http://www.workliveplay.qld.gov.au/dsdweb/v4/apps/web/content.cfm?id=3710

NSW 176 visa list
http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/migration/state_independent_migration.asp

NSW 475 visa list
http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/migration/pdfdocuments/Skills_In_Demand.pdf

NT 176 visa list
http://www.migration.nt.gov.au/documents/STNI_Shortage_List.pdf

NT 475 visa list
http://www.deet.nt.gov.au/employment/workforce_nt/docs/nt_occupation_shortage_list.pdf

TAS 176 visa list
http://www.development.tas.gov.au/migration/Skilled%20Sponsored%20visa%20list%2022-7-08.pdf

TAS 475 visa list
http://www.development.tas.gov.au/migration/Skilled%20Regional%20Sponsored%20Visa%20List%2022-7-08.pdf

  SA 176 Visa

  http://www.immigration.sa.gov.au/pdfs/gsm/OccupationList_Permanent.pdf

  SA 475 Visa

  http://www.immigration.sa.gov.au/pdfs/gsm/OccupationList_Provisional.pdf

Making a complaint to the Immigration department

If you have lodged an application for a visa and have not received any response, then the first point of contact would be to send them a notice through the following weblink.

http://feedback.immi.gov.au/prod/feedback.htm

Financial requirements for Student Visas

If you are applying for a student visa; the following people can be in the list provides sources of funds and people who are acceptable as financial guarantors.

Acceptable sources of income

The money to support you and your family members must come from one or more acceptable sources, which may include:

• a money deposit with a financial institution that has been held for at least six consecutive months immediately before the date of your visa application by
  • you
  • your spouse
  • your brother or sister
  • your parents
  • your grandparents
  • your aunt or uncle (only if they usually live in Australia and are either a citizen/permanent resident of Australia or an eligible New Zealand citizen)
• a loan from a financial institution made to (and in the name of)
  • you
  • your spouse
  • your brother or sister
  • your parents
  • your grandparents
  • your aunt or uncle (only if they usually live in Australia and are either a citizen/permanent resident of Australia or an eligible New Zealand citizen)
• a loan from the government of your home country
• your proposed education provider
• the Australian Government or an Australian State or Territory government
• the government of a foreign country
• a provincial or state government of a foreign country that has the written support of the national government of the foreign country
• an organisation gazetted by the Minister
• an acceptable non-profit organisation
• a multilateral agency.
  Examples: United Nations, World Bank or Asian Development Bank

Note: Non-cash assets such as property and shares are not acceptable sources of income. However, non-cash assets may be liquidated or used as collateral on a loan, if they are provided by an acceptable source.

Providing evidence of money deposits or loans

You need to show evidence of how the money to fund your studies was accumulated.

If your source of income is a money deposit held in a bank account, you must provide the following evidence:

• pay slips
• bank loan documents
• interest from investments.

If your source of income is a loan, you must provide the following evidence:

• a bank statement showing the amount of available credit
• a statement from the holder of the loan that its purpose is to support your studies.

Note: If your source of income is a home loan with a redraw facility from an Australian financial institution, the funds from the redraw facility may be considered a loan. A home loan with a redraw facility from a non-Australian financial institution may be acceptable, but must be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Financial support from a non-profit organisation

A non-profit organisation providing you with financial support must be lawfully established and operating in Australia or overseas.

You must show evidence of the organisation's non-profit status, including:

• statement from the Australian Taxation Office showing organisation's status
• documents of incorporation as a non-profit organisation.

You must also show evidence that the organisation has sufficient funds or income to support you financially. Evidence may include:

• bank statements
• financial statements.

Supporting family members when studying for less than 12 months

If you are applying to study in Australia for less than 12 months, your family members are not eligible to come with you to Australia. However, you must show that you have enough funds to support your family members in your home country, taking into consideration the standard cost of living in that country.

List of eligible sponsors for 886 and 176

If you are applying for visa subclass 176 or 886 and you want to be sponsored by a relative.

You need to know the list of eligible relatives who can sponsor you.

Who can be a sponsor?

To sponsor a skilled worker you must be at least 18 years of age and usually resident in Australia as one of the following:

an Australian citizen

an Australian permanent resident

an Eligible New Zealand citizen.

You, your spouse or your interdependent partner must be related to your sponsor as one of the following:

a non-dependent child – including an adoptive or step-child

a parent – including adoptive or step–parent

a brother or sister – including adoptive or step-siblings

a niece or nephew – including adoptive or step–niece or nephew

an aunt or uncle – including adoptive or step–aunt or uncle

Where can a sponsor be living?

Your sponsor can live anywhere in Australia.

Formula for calculating two year study

After a lot of searching, I have finally found out the formula, the immigration department case officers use, to calculate whether a student has studied for two years or not.

Here is the formula.

T=L X C/U , where:

T= Duration for which the student studied the course
L= length of course on CRICOS
C = number of units completed by student, excluding exemptions
U = number of units which would be necessary to complete the studies


Hope this helps all those who are not clear about the two year study rule.

Kind Regards

Junaid