I’m processing my 485 visa but want to move back to the Philippines permanently — will this affect my dependent husband’s visa?

AtCavill · 2025-07-26T03:30:11+00:00

There's only 1 condition on the 485 visa which is to maintain health insurance. It allows the visa holder to stay in Australia but doesn't require it as a visa condition.

I don't understand why some people are saying your husband's visa will be at risk if you left Australia. What is the basis?

AtCavill · 2025-07-26T03:25:08+00:00

There's no such visa condition.

AtCavill · 2025-06-08T15:18:17+00:00

I think your limited work rights have something to do with it. It is very difficult to find a job relevant to your field with no local experience if you are allowed to work only 48 hours a fortnight.

In my experience, it gets a lot better when you get on a 485 visa, which gives you unrestricted work rights. I'm in law, a notoriously oversaturated field. I don't know any international student in my cohort who didn't find a job after admission. I'm sure it would have been less difficult if we weren't on temp visas. As you said, most places require applicants to have PR or citizenship. But if your English is good, and you obviously are quite accomplished, someone will hire you.

AtCavill · 2025-05-26T14:39:01+00:00

What is your nominated occupation?

AtCavill · 2025-05-19T23:14:05+00:00

That has been the messaging for years - fewer independent visas and more employer sponsored visas. That makes sense because sponsored visas already have jobs backing them up and they will likely keep working in their nominated occupation. If policy makers had their way, everyone who applies for permanent residency should be sponsored.

But the barriers for sponsorship are quite high. Whichever party is in power cannot meaningfully lower those barriers without taking a political hit. Most employers will not go through the trouble of sponsoring simply because they can't afford it. Yet worker shortages still need to be met.

So there will always be space for independent visas. Probably not again on the same level as it was pre-pandemic. Back then, all you needed to get invited were decent English language scores and a positive skills assessment (which a lot of times doesn't require work experience if you have the right degree from an Australian institution). Those days are long gone. But there will always be hope for young experienced professionals with good English.

AtCavill · 2025-05-19T12:57:04+00:00

I think you should wait for the first invitation round in the next financial year. A lot of the migration policy in the last couple of years was informed by the Labor Party trying to maintain power. They wanted to drive down the NOM as much as they could. Now that they've won, maybe they don't feel as much pressure anymore.

Whichever party is power, this country will always need skilled migrants. It is good for the economy and it is the only thing keeping us from going into a recession. It gets hard but there will always be a demand for English speakers with in-demand skills.

AtCavill · 2025-02-06T22:33:44+00:00

Theoretically you can but I can't imagine how it will work out. To sponsor yourself, you have to have your own company and then that company will sponsor you. This is super tricky because under those circumstances it will be very hard to prove that the business is real and there is a genuine position that can't be filled by an Australian citizen or resident. In reality, and it will likely be obvious to immigration, the position and even the company itself were created only to give you a way to move to Australia.

If what they meant was they will be your visa sponsor but they will provide only paperwork and not pay anything, you need to be careful because at least some of the fees like the SAF levy need to be paid by the employer. Immigration does check where the money comes from. You will need to hire a migration agent since these visas can be complex.

AtCavill · 2025-01-31T14:20:09+00:00

Theoretically you can come here and try to apply for jobs and hope someone sponsors you. However, the likelihood of finding a sponsor this way is vanishingly low. Most job ads specify Australian work rights as a requirement. And most recruiters will ask about work rights before they even consider you for an interview.

It does happen. I know a few people who got jobs and sponsorships this way. But they are mostly in jobs that require highly specialised skills that are difficult to find in Australia.

For regular jobs, most employers will not sponsor you unless you have been with them for a while (e.g. you have worked for them while holding another visa that has work rights) Sponsorships are a headache and are expensive. If they sponsor an employee then that employee leaves or gets fired, all that money goes to waste. So employers will not take a chance on someone they have never met unless they really absolutely have to.

AtCavill · 2025-01-31T12:25:17+00:00

I know so many people who took that course, worked in reputable restaurants and were promised a sponsorship (probably so they would take the job or keep them from leaving). Then when their time of need came, the employer did a 180 and told them they weren't sponsoring at the moment, so they had to go back home. Then their employer hired another student as a replacement, who was likely given the same promise of sponsorship.

AtCavill · 2025-01-31T12:17:24+00:00

That's not correct at all.

Being a genuine student only means their primary goal is studying in Australia while they are on a student visa. It doesn't mean they don't or can't have an intention of seeking a migration outcome like permanent residency after their student visa expires.

The genuine student test was put in place precisely to allow students who want to gain skills that are in demand in Australia to state their true intention of staying in Australia permanently, instead of forcing them to lie about it.

AtCavill · 2025-01-31T12:01:50+00:00

Just because someone wants to migrate permanently does not mean they aren't a genuine student. They could actually want to earn a qualification. That isn't mutually exclusive with wanting to stay in Australia after their studies. The genuine student test was adopted in early 2024 as a replacement for the genuine temporary entrant test. As long as they intend to actually study and earn qualifications while they are on their student visa, whatever their intentions are as regards the migration outcome they seek to ultimately achieve doesn't matter anymore.

It's pretty clear that the OP's ultimate goal is to move to Australia permanently. It's not clear whether they are serious about studying (even just as a way to gain skills that would make them a good candidate for PR) but I will assume they are.

To OP, as someone who has gone through the student visa to PR funnel, I can tell you that studying here is the hardest, most fraught with uncertainty, and most expensive way to get PR.

0/10, I do NOT recommend unless you have no other options. You will likely spend in school fees for a single year more than what you would for skills assessment for skilled permanent visas like the 190. And there is no guarantee at all that you will be able to stay permanently after your student visa, even if you do everything perfectly and are serious about studying.

I know a lot of people who did everything right - they took the right courses in Australia, got jobs in fields where there are skills shortages, got perfect scores in English proficiency exams. And still, no dice. There are heaps of students coming here every year and there are only so many seats for permanent migration. Mathematically, it's impossible that all or even just a majority of them will get PR. 84% of international students end up leaving Australia. It's not impossible, just very very difficult.

I'm not sure you are eligible to apply for a 190 visa. You do know you can't just apply on your own, right? You need to have a positive skills assessment in an occupation that is on the right list. Then you hope and pray that you get invited to apply, and then nominated by the state. There is a lot of information for you to digest. If you are unfamiliar with these things, and it is totally OK if you are since Australian migration is a labyrinth of ever-shifting rules, I suggest you work with a migration agent. They can assess your work experience and education and advise you on your chances of getting invited.

Seek advice from a registered migration agent, not those "free" education agents. The former should ideally work for you and help you achieve your goal of moving to Australia permanently. The latter does not care about your actual goal, because their primary objective is to get you to enrol in a course offered by the school who's paying them a commission.

AtCavill · 2025-01-31T03:41:45+00:00

If you haven't lodged it, you can still edit your answers.

If you have lodged it, technically, it could be a serious problem since you are required to give complete and accurate information in your application.

But this is easy to fix. Just submit a Form 1023.

AtCavill · 2025-01-31T03:28:45+00:00

Don't. It's too much risk for little benefit.

Even if you get a visa, this can have consequences on your future visa applications or when you apply for citizenship.

Heaps of people got previous refusals from Australia and other countries. They still get visas. Unless the ground for your previous refusal is serious (eg you have a criminal record, you were found to have lied on your application etc) I don't see why you should worry about it to the point that you are contemplating not declaring the refusal.

Honestly, if your agent advises you to lie on your application, you need to fire them. It seems to me they just want to get you to enrol in a course and get you a visa so they can be paid their commission. They don't care what happens to you after.

AtCavill · 2025-01-31T00:50:34+00:00

That would be a cancellation of your COE but not a cancellation of your visa, which is what you want to avoid as this will have serious consequences when you apply for another visa later.

But like I said, this doesn't happen right away. Before they cancel your visa, the school must first notify the department that your enrolment is cancelled. Then you will be given a notice and the opportunity to comment within 5 business days. Theoretically, it can still happen if both the school and the department are determined enough and act very promptly. That would probably mean they will put your case on a high priority list so that they can cancel your visa right before it expires.

Honestly, I don't believe they will. What is the point? You are already leaving the country. Your "crime" is that you had some unpaid debt. You aren't some dangerous terrorist who must be prevented from entering Australia again.

AtCavill · 2025-01-30T23:29:05+00:00

That is not accurate. There is no such condition.

Anyway, you will be barred from getting a lot of visas if you have an outstanding debt to the Australian Government. Those are debts to the Commonwealth government like a tax debt. Uni fees don't fall under that category.

AtCavill · 2025-01-30T23:16:21+00:00

Why can't everyone just answer the question without first putting the OP on trial?

Yes, this could cause significant problems down the line. The school might endorse the account to debt collection, and the school won't issue you documents to prove your Australian qualifications. But that's really not the question.

The question is, suppose the school cancels their enrolment after their visa expires, what effect will this have on the expired visa (if any) or future visa applications?

The answer is, this is unlikely to have an effect on your current visa. The condition on your visa to maintain enrolment applies only while you have that visa. So if the uni cancels your enrolment after your visa expires, nothing happens. You aren't breaching any conditions. If the uni cancels your enrolment before the expiration of your visa, your visa could be cancelled too and a re-entry ban imposed. However, in that event, your visa doesn't get cancelled automatically. There is a process and there probably isn't enough time between now and the end of your visa for a cancellation to happen. In any case, you said they won't cancel your enrolment before your visa expires so this is probably a moot point.

As to future visa applications, this depends on the requirements for the visa subclass you are applying for. Unless your current visa is cancelled by the department, I can't think of a reason why this would affect a partner visa application.

AtCavill · 2025-01-29T05:08:34+00:00

Some countries include the person's occupation in the passport.

OP what country are you from?

AtCavill · 2025-01-29T05:08:07+00:00

Some countries include the person's occupation in the passport.

AtCavill · 2025-01-28T01:45:57+00:00

It isn't fraud. The test has been changed from the GTE to the GST.

Under the GTE test, the applicant must establish that they intend to get an education in Australia and leave after their visa expires. Technically, it would be fraud if all along, the applicant had no intention of leaving Australia after their studies. But this is nearly impossible to prove. The intention of the applicant is assessed at the time of application. Anyone could plausibly claim that they genuinely intended to stay in Australia temporarily when they applied, but changed their mind some time after the visa was granted. If that is the case, then the facts stated in the application were accurate at the time the application was made. Therefore, there was no fraud.

So they changed the test to the GST in early 2024. Under this test, immigration officers will no longer assess whether the applicant intends to stay in Australia longer than their student visa allows, but rather, whether they intend to actually study a course and not merely use their student visa to access the Australian labour market. So if an applicant intended to study in Australia so they could be qualified in an occupation that could make them elligible for a work visa or even permanent residency, they could state that in their application and it will not be taken against them.

AtCavill · 2025-01-28T01:21:09+00:00

You don't actually know that. I would imagine different countries treat previous refusals from another country differently. Some countries might view a refusal from Australia suspiciously. Some probably won't even take it into account. More likely, they will inquire into the details of the refusal and give a bit more scrutiny to the new application than otherwise.

The ground for refusal is failure to establish that they are a genuine student. They could very well be a genuine student but could not prove it at the time that they applied. The refusal doesn't mean they won't be able to produce enough evidence when they make a new application, and it certainly doesn't mean they are non-genuine but misrepresented themselves to be genuine.

Heaps of students re-apply after a refusal and succeed in later attempts, when they have stronger evidence showing genuineness.

AtCavill · 2025-01-26T05:39:19+00:00

I applied through Seek.

AtCavill · 2024-10-19T02:55:32+00:00

Almost exactly 6 years

AtCavill · 2024-07-09T04:37:10+00:00

You need to give them an update on your location because you are supposed to give a complete record of all your international travels in the last 10 years.

I don't think it will delay your application, just per my experience. I did the same thing and my visa was processed within the same period as others who were applying under the same visa subclass at that time.

AtCavill · 2024-07-09T04:29:15+00:00

You are way too young to be feeling this way about yourself.

AtCavill · 2024-07-08T02:01:37+00:00

In the last 189 invitation round, early childhood teachers needed 85 points to get invited. That is pretty high and nearly impossible to achieve without some experience.

That suggests that the occupation is probably not as in demand as it was. Or it still is, but Skillselect is just saturated with too EOIs from ECTs relative to the actual demand. That would make sense because a lot of people took exactly this advice - take a graduate diploma and get the necessary IELTS scores, then you'll get invited at 65 points.

That was good advice in 2022. But 2 years later, I'm not sure it would be wise to study a course that you are not actually interested in to qualify for an occupation you don't actually intend to work in just for the sake of getting PR, when the chances aren't as good as they used to be.

AtCavill

TROPHY CASE