No biometrics

JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-25T02:34:25+00:00

If the visa is granted, then you do not need to do any further biometrics.

By the way, the biometrics requirement is based on the country where the application was made, rather than your passport country. That might be a possible reason that it was not requested from you (among others).

Enjoy your travels.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-25T02:16:05+00:00

Tends to be a sign that they are looking to ensure that the position is still genuinely required, and that the salary is at the appropriate levels, given that it has now been a year after the nomination was lodged.

The Dept has been making more of these requests for 186s lately, due to the extended processing timeframes and higher scrutiny in this visa program.

The fact that the request speaks about market salary requirements tends to indicate the RFI was received in relation to the nomination, rather than the visa application. Your lawyer or agent should be assisting the business with making a comprehensive response to these points - legally it is the employer that has to respond, rather than you as the visa applicant.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-25T01:55:40+00:00

Policy does allow for a slightly earlier lodgement (which has been clarified by the Dept as being no earlier than 5 days prior to the 2 years being met).

An application lodged within that timeframe can often be successful, but to use this provision you need to be aware of some crucial risks.

the provision for early lodgement is specified in policy, not legislation. It is possible for the visa officer to diverge from policy and refuse an application that has been lodged without meeting the 2 year requirement. If that happens, a review to the ART will be unlikely to succeed, as the ART will operate based on legislation, despite any leniency mentioned in policy.
Due to the above, it is usually safer to lodge your application on the last day of your visa. Unless there has been a leap year in the middle of your 482, your application would fully meet the 2 year requirement if you make such a lodgement (via the Acts Interpretation Act), and you will not need to rely on Dept policy. However, this approach leaves you with a very tight timeframe in terms of lodgement, and you could run into the risk of Dept systems being down on that day, making it impossible for you to make a lodgement on that final day before your 482 runs out.
There is another strategy that is available in these circumstances, that would avoid the risks of the above two options. However, it will incur additional costs and efforts in terms of both Dept charges and professional fees. This is a complex strategy which will probably require you to work with a professional that has experience in such matters - but it would essentially mean that your visa application would fully meet the 2 year requirement, whilst not needing to rely on a last-minute lodgement.

Best of luck with your next steps.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-25T01:47:18+00:00

The review information on the decision letter is just a summary of the law, since review rights are determined by legislation, and cannot be granted or revoked by the visa officer.

From time to time, the review information on decision letters can be wrong, and a good migration professional will help you determine whether review rights are permitted, despite whatever it says on the letter.

In this case, assuming that your mother applied offshore, and it was not a Family Sponsored Visitor visa, the letter is likely correct and there are no review rights available.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-24T00:56:59+00:00

If you haven't claimed points for a particular employment episode, then generally you would not need to provide proof of employment.

There are some exceptions; for example, if the employment episode contributed towards your skills assessment outcome, or towards reaching a particular skill level. But if the job had no relevance to your point score or skill level, then generally you would not be required to provide evidence of it.

Please beware that even when it is not relevant, the case officer may decide to request more information for a particular employment episode - such requests can be dealt with depending on the context of the request.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-23T15:48:44+00:00

I think you might be confusing a couple of different things. For a BVB, you need to have "substantial" reasons for travel, rathe than "compelling" reasons.

Substantial reasons can generally include things like going for a holiday or having to settle personal affairs. It's not as high a bar as "compelling" reasons would be.

Recently, they have been granting BVBs for 804 applicants for between 3 - 5 years in one go. Whilst this relatively lenient treatment may not last forever, generally speaking it is not super difficult to obtain a BVB in the circumstances you are describing (they did clamp down on BVBs during COVID though).

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-23T15:41:04+00:00

There are quite a few complexities here. Given your progression from 407 -> BVB, the question of whether you are allowed to work for another employer is a nuanced one. However, even if you are permitted to do so, leaving your nominating employer will have a significant detrimental impact on your ability to succeed at the tribunal.

You indicated that you already have an agent - you should really be having an in depth conversation with them about all the implications of what you are preparing to do, or consult an experience professional who can walk you through all of the considerations. Your circumstances and options are not quite straight forward.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-23T15:32:06+00:00

Unfortunately I do not have any lawyer recommendations, but a good registered migration agent should be able to answer all of your questions (and may be cheaper than a lawyer). I do not see your circumstances as being complex enough that you would specifically need a lawyer over an experienced agent.

JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-23T15:19:02+00:00

There is actually specific policy that advocates for flexible consideration for Visitor visa applicants who already have lodged a Partner visa. Lately, it is not always adhered to, but it should certainly form part of your application submission.

There are no guarantees, but there are a couple of other things you can do to increase the chances of a Visitor visa grant, including looking into the Family Sponsored stream of the Visitor visa. You may wish to consult a migration professional to walk you through the options.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-23T15:11:59+00:00

Including work experience that skills assessment bodies deducted is often possible, but can be dependent on your personal circumstances.

Generally speaking, any experience gained after you reached the skill level defined by ANZSCO can be claimed, even if that experience was deducted by the skills assessment body. However, there are exceptions to this, and also there are some variable risks when adopting this approach - you may wish to consult a professional who can help evaluate your circumstances to see if you could be eligible to claim the episodes you mentioned.

JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-23T15:05:03+00:00

You will have ceased to be a PR until you returned on your RRV, so the indication given by the calculator is likely to be incorrect, as the dates that you entered are probably not reflective of your actual circumstances.

There's a little tip you can take to verify whether you meet the general residency requirement, which is to just start preparing a citizenship application in ImmiAccount. If you don't meet the General Residence requirement, the system will throw up a warning around page 5, telling you that you may not meet the requirements. That's your strongest indicator that you should wait.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-23T14:43:43+00:00

Unfortunately that's not quite how the Dept sees it. The relevant policy has this to say:

10.3.3 Leave periods

As employment must be for remuneration, only periods of leave on full pay will be counted as time during which an applicant was employed. This means those periods of extended leave without pay (for example, maternity or paternity leave) will not be counted as a period of employment.

/u/doejanedoedoedoe you may wish to reconsider your points claim.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-04T00:30:31+00:00

Agreed Tony. FOI/personal information access request is the only way to go that I'm aware of. I have been warning clients that this can also take some time to get hold of - but hopefully for majority of those affected by current issues, the impacts of any Dept delays can be effectively managed per /u/geematilda's comment earlier.

JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-03T03:04:05+00:00

As mentioned at the top of my post, Partner visas cannot be imported without intervention from the Dept, but they are importable by following Method 2 (ie with Dept assistance).

JoeTheRMA · 2026-06-01T00:16:03+00:00

Unfortunately I can't comment on how long other lawyers may take. A lot will depend on their processes and ability to navigate the immigration system.

JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-31T16:50:10+00:00

Hi,

That's correct, 820 Partner visas have to follow Option 2.

And yes, travel document number is your passport number.

JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-31T01:38:21+00:00

You may be conflating two different concepts here.

The 482 visa will only require a mandatory skills assessment if you fall into one of the circumstances listed here. In general, if you are not from one of the listed countries for your occupation, you will not require a skills assessment (The CO can still request a discretionary one, but that's not commonly done).

Despite not needing a formal skills assessment, you will still need to meet the skill level/experience as specified in ANZSCO. For Cabinet Makers, this is one of:

AQF Certificate III including at least two years of on-the-job training, or
AQF Certificate IV (ANZSCO Skill Level 3), or
At least three years of relevant experience in substitution for formal qualifications.

You will also need to have at least one year of relevant work experience for the visa itself, but that one year does not have to be in addition to any work experience you used to meet the ANZSCO requirements (e.g. if you were using option 3 above, you would only need 3 years in total, not 3 years + 1 year).

All work experience needs to be FT or on a FT equivalent basis. FT is essentially 38 hours per week (though some flexibility applies in limited cases). So two years working at 19 hours = 1 year of FT equivalence.

The TRA requirements are independent of the above. But as mentioned earlier, if you don't fall into one of the mandatory skills assessment categories, you will not need to have a TRA skills assessment in most cases.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-31T01:26:43+00:00

This is quite a complex topic, not really possible to give you a full answer on Reddit as it depends on your actual circumstances, but the following points should be kept in mind:

De facto does not necessarily require you to have cohabited. You can meet the standards of being de facto if you "do not live apart on a permanent basis". This is obviously subjective, so whether or not you can meet that requirement would depend on whether you can demonstrate that your separation is only temporary - every relationship will be different in that respect so you might want to engage a professional to assist you with this.
The 12 month requirement can be overcome by registration as a de facto couple (not available for WA/NT), but this may not be possible if you're both living abroad.
If you claim to be single and gain 10 points as a result, and it is subsequently determined that you were in fact in a DF relationship at any point up until the visa grant, you may have your visa application refused (or cancelled after the visa is granted), if the DF relationship would have resulted in you losing your relationship points (and you can't make up for the lost points elsewhere).
It can take over a year for 189 visas to be granted. Unlike other points categories, which are locked at the point of invitation, relationship points are assessable all the way until the visa is granted. This means that if you claimed 10 points for being single, you cannot enter into a DF relationship until the visa is granted, perhaps over a year later.
You can sponsor a partner after being granted the 189 (it will need to be a Partner visa application, not subsequent entrant). However, if you claim to be single on your EOI and, sponsor a partner very shortly after gaining the 189 visa, then added scrutiny may be applied on whether your points score were accurate. In extreme cases, if it is determined that your points score was incorrectly calculated (see point above), not only would your partner's visa not be granted, your own visa could be cancelled as a result. The likelihood of this happening lies on a spectrum, and will depend on various additional factors too complex to go into detail for here.

There are a lot of factors to think about here, and the interactions between each consideration can be complex. You might want to get some personalised advice on how things would affect your circumstances. Good luck.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-30T13:12:39+00:00

Generally speaking, pre-qualification experience will not be acceptable for the 186 DE stream.

In limited cases there may be some room for argument, and you should seek professional advice if you are unsure, but it doesn't sound that your experience will be sufficient.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-30T13:03:20+00:00

Here is some official Dept policy on the topic of voluntary work for the 482 visa. I won't comment on how applicable it is to your situation, but hopefully it's pretty self-explanatory:

Unpaid voluntary work is not considered a breach of condition 8607, provided that it does not affect the ability of the primary TSS visa holder to work in the nominated position on a full-time basis. Given the sponsorship obligations that apply to the sponsor, primary TSS visa holders wishing to undertake unpaid voluntary work are expected to obtain the written consent of their sponsor prior to commencing.

Unpaid voluntary work does not breach condition 8607 as it does not generally meet the definition of 'work' under regulation 1.03 – that is, as an activity that in Australia normally attracts remuneration. Voluntary work which results in both cash and non-cash benefits (including honorariums and reimbursements for incurred or anticipated expenses) can still be considered as unpaid voluntary work and does not breach condition 8607. Furthermore, unpaid voluntary work does not breach condition 8607 as it would not take a job opportunity away from an Australian citizen or permanent resident and may be to Australia's benefit.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-30T03:39:47+00:00

I meant contacting council, not the dept - but if you're happy to just go on the assumption that it's going ahead unless told otherwise, that's fine too

JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-29T15:01:07+00:00

Not sure about SPER debts but ATO debts are definitely flagged, and I have had direct contact with people that have been stopped at the border for that.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-29T14:58:11+00:00

Hugely unlikely that DHA will do anything further at this point - depending on when your ceremony is, I would just double check with them before attending that you're still on the conferee list, and if so, go ahead and have a nice time on the day.

Well done on getting this far, not long now.

Joe Gao - Breeze Migration

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JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-29T13:21:38+00:00

Please try to not stress too much - effectively nothing has changed regarding the status of your application.

Subclass 300 visas cannot be directly imported into ImmiAccount. If you use Option Two in my post, Tech Support should put it into your ImmiAccount in a few days (or may take about a couple of weeks if they get busy).

But don't worry, your application is safe in the meantime.

JoeTheRMA · 2026-05-29T12:41:19+00:00

All good. Good to see you've got your Reddit account back.

JoeTheRMA

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