Mary Heath - a Registered
Migration Agent for all visas, including Skilled Migration, Partner
Visas, Temporary Employment (Subclass 457), Business Visas.
Offices in Perth, Western Australia and online services.
Mary Heath
Registered Migration Agent 0005790
Viacorp Hello Australia (and Viacorp Migration)
Visa Selection and Assessment
We will assess you for your chances of successful skilled migration,
according to the visa regulations. I ask you to send me your details on
our online forms, and sometimes I also ask more questions, particularly
about work skills and education. We also assess Partner Visas, Parent
Visas and the Employer Sponsored categories. Checking your situation
against the immigration regulations is essential for a successful
application.
To pay for one of our services, there is a secure
credit card facility on this site, or we can supply bank details
for electronic transfer. Costs for the initial assessment are from
A$350 - $450, depending on the visa. For this fee you receive a formal
assessment of your situation, sent by email attachment. If it looks
like you may be low on points, or there is another problem, I make
alternative suggestions for gaining more points, or other visa options.
If your case looks good, we send out a Service Agreement with
prices and government fees, followed by the forms and documents for
visa application. We provide an Agreement for all visa application
services.
Application package for a Skilled Migration Visa 
We mail all these documents at one time by post, unless a
client is
very short of time.
- Skills Assessment application forms for the Skilled
Migration Program visas. This application goes in first to the relevant
assessing authority.
- State or family sponsorship forms, if you need them.
- Your visa application forms to the Australian Government.
- Health forms, and a list of 'panel' doctors who are
authorised for Australian migration medical examinations in your local
area.
- Character forms for your Police Clearances, or
country-specific instructions.
- A list of all documents and certificates we need from you
as supporting evidence for the visa application.
- Invoices and Receipts for the application and our charges.
See Costs and Payments and Invoices.
Skills Assessment application
On receipt of your forms and supporting documents for Skills
Assessment, we prepare the application to the assessing authority. The
disbursement to the authority is A$300 - A$600 (and much more for some
medical professionals), depending which authority we submit to.
VETASSESS competency demonstration assessments are costing over A$1000.
The current prices are given in the Service Agreement.
We regularly help applicants with the process of applying for
an Engineers Australia Competency Demonstration Report (CDR). More
details
on
this.
Visa Application
Family Migration Visas do not require skills assessment. But they have
sponsorship and forms for family in Australia and Assurance of Support
arrangements to make with Centrelink.
I advise people their document preparation and skills
assessment will take one to two months and State nomination another few
weeks before everything is ready to send off to the Department of
Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC).
When we have a positive Skills Assessment, and other documents
and forms are in order, we apply for your visa. Preparation of visa
applications will normally take us several weeks, depending on family
numbers, which visa you are applying for, and if you have sent in
correctly prepared documentation.
Costs
Most permanent visas cost either A$1705 or A$2525, payable to DIAC.
Business Migration Visas are considerably more expensive, both in
government costs and in fees for our preparation. We quote individually
on Business Migration Visas.
Family Migration visas cost less than other permanent visas
because there is no skills assessment. Health checks cost approximately
A$300 for each person. These are ball-park figures to give you an
estimate because the prices vary in overseas countries.
Our charges for skills assessment and visa application vary
with the type of visa, whether you have family or employer sponsorship,
whether the visa requires an Assurance of Support, and other factors.
As a guide only, Skilled Migration Visas cost more than A$4000 and
Family Visas cost less than that. The States of Australia can sponsor a
particular skill in demand in their area. The State does not charge for
this benefit at the moment.
Payment and Invoices
We ask for application payments to the government authorities and our
service fees before applications are submitted. This means that the
costs will come to you over a period of several months. Payments can be
made online by credit card from most countries, or electronically by
bank transfer from any country.
For a migration visa we will estimate in advance and provide a
contract, but consultation on minor matters is usually charged by the
hour.
About Registered Migration Agents
What we do
An Australian Migration Agent advises people who want to come
to Australia, or who want to remain here. If you are not a citizen of
this country, then you are required to have a special permit to stay
here: this is called a visa. Visas fall into roughly three categories.
Firstly there are the Holiday, Visitors and Electronic Travel Authority
(ETA) Visas. These are all short term and do not allow the holder to
work
here. Secondly, there are the working holiday and temporary long stay
visas that do allow work. The best known
of these is the Temporary Business Visa, Subclass 457, that allows an
overseas worker to work and live in Australia for up to four years. The
457
visa is sponsored by an employing sponsor, either in
Australia or overseas, to guarantee you an income while you are here.
Other temporary visas are the Investor Retirement Visas, Student Visas
and the
less common Entertainment Visas (for a singer on tour, for example) and
Religious Worker Visa.
Lastly there are migration visas for permanent residence.
Family and
Partner Visas form one section, where an Australian or permanent
resident can sponsor their foreign partner to live here permanently.
Parent Visas and child visas fit into this category too. In our office
we see many girls
(and men, and also same-sex partners) applying for a visa who have met
their partner
on the internet. Visa law requires everyone to at least meet their
partner before they can apply.
Skilled Migration Visas are the largest grant category in the
permanent sector. This is at the heart of Australian migration policy.
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) carefully screens
applications to make sure people arriving here from other countries can
speak English, are young enough, have a qualified skill and some work
experience. The Skilled Migration Visas are points tested to allow some
flexibility. But a permanent migration visa on skills is a large
application.
Migrants can also apply if they have an employer to sponsor
them - these visas are called the Employer Sponsored Migration visas.
For this sector, the employer applies
in Australia for government permission to bring an overseas worker over
here. There is a temporary (Subclass 457) and a permanent employer
sponsored visa, and the temporary can lead into the permanent.
Business Skills Migration visas are in the skilled migration
section, as applicants have to prove they not only have the finance to
start a new business to benefit Australia, but they also have the
expertise and a good track record of past business success. Business
Skills applicants must have researched location and feasibility, and
formed a Business Plan, before they can apply for this visa.
Can you help with a refused or cancelled visa?
We advise on appeal cases of visa refusal if there are good
grounds for appeal. Many students come to us with cancelled visas. It
is worth being very careful of the regulations when you hold a Student
Visa.
Do Migration Agents help with the refugees?
Some Agents are employed by the Catholic Migrant Centre or
other community groups to assist refugees gain a Protection Visa to
remain in Australia, or to come here from war zones where civil law has
broken down, such as Afghanistan and the Middle East. However, this is
a specialist area, and not all Agents take on refugee clients unless
their office is set up to handle these cases. We do not handle refugee
cases.
Are you a registered profession?
Migration Agents are registered with the Office of the
Migration
Agents Registration Authority (OMARA) to be qualified in Australian
Migration Law. In Australia it is illegal, with fines and prison
sentencing, to practice as a Migration Agent without registration. In
the past too many 'agents' have given foreigners false information, or
simply been ignorant of the law themselves. Quite a few queries come
through from Bangladesh or China, where a local 'Migration Agent' gave
them bad 'advice'.
There is a complaints procedure in place, should a client have
cause to complain of an Agent's conduct. This is through the
Office of the Migration
Agents Registration Authority (OMARA), as stated in the Code of
Conduct.
Where does your business do business?
We have a city office in Perth and run an active internet
service too.
Contact
us.
Changes at Viacorp Migration
Due to changes in the company Directorship at Hello Australia
Immigration Services (our other
company) we are now in a position to join the two concerns into one
migration service - VIACORP HELLO
AUSTRALIA. Much easier for our office staff
and everyone concerned.
Mary Heath will remain as Director and the Registered
Migration Agent
in charge of files, and our clients will not be
in any way inconvenienced. New clients will start with
Viacorp Hello Australia under our new name.
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