What are the different pathways to PR after your student visa?

At Pathwaytoaus, we have assisted hundreds of students to gain Permanent Residency in Australia. Not every client has the same pathway, however, this video will give you a quick overview of some of the most common pathways to PR for our students.

I believe the most common pathway, is through General Skilled Migration.

• General Skilled Migration Visas include – the Skilled Independent 189, Skilled Regional nominated – subclass 491, or potentially the State Nominated – Subclass 190. For these visas, you are not sponsored by an employer. Instead, you are nominated by Federal Immigration or a State or Territory.
• In order to apply for these visas, you must have a full skill assessment in an occupation that is in demand on the Immigration MLTSSL or State Occupation Lists.

Employer-Sponsored Visas:

• It is also quite common for many of our previous students to go down the Employer Sponsored Visa (ENS 186) or Skilled Sponsored Regional – 494.
• Please note, in order to apply for these visas, you must have the skills and education suitable for the role, your occupation must be on the relevant occupation list and you must have a company that nominates you for the position.
• In my opinion, I would always recommend General Skilled Migration Visas compared to Employer Sponsorship as you are not tied to the company.

Partner Visas:

• At PTA we have assisted A LOT of our students to gain PR through partner visas. In order to apply for a partner visa, you must meet the defacto or spousal requirement with an Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident.
• When applying for a partner visa you are initially granted a temporary partner visa and then 2 years after you have applied, you can transition onto a permanent visa.

What is my relationship status for a visa?

When applying for a visa it is very important that you clearly indicate your relationship status. If you incorrectly notify immigration of the wrong relationship status, then it could negatively affect, both this visa and future visa applications.

Immigration lets you choose between:

• Never Married
• De facto
• Separated
• Divorced
• Married

I think Married and Divorced are pretty clear. If you are married, you are legally married. If you are divorced you are legally divorced. If you are separated you were married but have since separated from your partner.

Often the most confusion comes between Never Married and De Facto. If you choose De Facto you must be in a De Facto Relationship. We have a separate video on what specifically meets the de facto requirement, however, generally speaking, you must be living together, and immigration will assess your relationship as a whole considering factors such as financial co-dependence, household, social, and commitment. Only if you meet the de facto requirement, would you list your status as de facto. A good way to think about it is that if you are in a de facto relationship and you split up, your partner may be able to take you to court and request a fair and equitable split of your property (just like in a divorce).

If you are in a relationship, but do not live together or perhaps live together but don’t consider yourself to be in a de facto relationship, then your relationship status should be Never Married.

Please note, if the relationship does develop over the duration of the visa, you may be able to update your relationship status with immigration and add your partner to your visa (information on this is listed below).

Please note that the above information is general in nature and you should contact a migration agent to find out more about your specific circumstances.