The Australian government draws, drafts and enhances the General Skilled Migration visa system as per needs of the industries and the demand / supply of trained human capita. However, apart from these general criterions, the other norms of the Australian immigration are governed by normal Australian immigration laws and statutes. The Australian skilled migration policy is based on a transparent point system. The Australian general skilled migration program overrode all worker immigration visa regimes during 2012 – 2013.

Skilled migration visas provide one of the best opportunities for skilled workers to live and work in Australia permanently.

Under the General Skilled Migration (GSM) program, skilled migrants can use their qualifications, work experience and English language ability towards a points-based system to meet the Australian immigration requirements for an Australian permanent residency visa.

The current Australia skilled immigration system has 3 distinctive visa subclasses. Each subclass has its own eligibility criteria. The general benefits accompanying the General Skilled Migration Visa types are as follow:

Stay in Australia permanently
Under the General Skilled Migration scheme, the applicant is granted permanent stay in Australia. This is different in case of a visit visa or a provisional visa. However, before conferring a PR visa to an applicant, there is usually a provisional visa awarded that enables the applicant to apply for an Australian PR Visa once they enter the country.

Work and study in Australia
Under the skilled migration visa regime, the holder of this visa can settle, work and study in Australia. This means that the Australia PR visa holders can enrol in higher education course and apply for the jobs that are available and suitable for them.

Enrol in Australia’s public health care scheme, Medicare
Australia offers a comprehensive nation-wide medical insurance program called Medicare. Once enrolled in Medicare, an individual is entitled to medical treatment at low or no cost. The Australian Medicare program is now available for migrants on a general skilled migration visa. This means that the new migrants won’t have fears of high medical cost in case of illness.

Travel to and from Australia
After entering Australia on a General Skilled Migration visa, the migrants can travel in and out of Australia freely.

Apply for Australian citizenship
The PR granted under the GSM is also considered a pathway to Australian Citizenship. Most of the GSM PR holders apply for conferral of the Australian Citizenship. The citizenship entitles the migrants a naturalized Australian status and after becoming a citizen they are entitled to an Australian passport, voting rights in elections etc.

The General Skilled Migration visa regime has specific criterion set for different visa subclasses. However, some of the general eligibility criteria is as under:

• The points test pass mark = 65
• Have an occupation on the STSOL or MLTSSL (and if on the STSOL have options for a state to sponsor you)
• Have the right qualifications and work experience for the occupation you nominate. The tasks and duties performed should be relating to the occupation you nominate.
• Meet the skills assessment criteria for the occupation you nominate
• Meet the age, and English criteria (e.g. IELTS / PTE)
• Meet health and character criteria

BMS is an Australian owned and operated company that provides business consultation to migrations agents, consultants and lawyers regarding setting up a business, running it and scaling it. The team at BMS has more than 17 years of experience with a portfolio of successful businesses that were given consultation and built from scratch.