EOI: The Bane of Arrogant Singaporeans To-Be Migrants

Hi.

My name is asingaporeanson from asingaporeanson.blogspot.com. I live in Perth. You may probably not heard of me before but I assure you I am the most cynical, negative contributor of this blog you will ever encountered. If you are interested in finding out why, which I highly doubt so, you can always read the crap here.

Being who I am and for my first post in this blog, I should start off with bad news. If it had been already discussed, I apologise but I will repeat it since bad news is my kind of thing.

First, the fundamentals. It is a bit lengthy but I have kindly highlighted what you need to read.

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The Department of Immigration will introduce a new SkillSelect System on 1 July 2012. It will no longer be possible to apply directly for certain types of visas. Instead applicants will need to first lodge an Expression of Interest (EOI) and only the best candidates will receive invitation to lodge their applications.

The following types of application can only be lodged through SkillSelect after 1 July 2012:

• Skilled Points tested visas such as independent, sponsored and regional Sponsored; and
• Business Skills Migration

Some employer sponsored visas can applied for via SkillSelect, however this is optional and it is still possible to apply directly rather than through SkillSelect:

• Employer Nomination Scheme - ENS
• Regional Skilled Migration Scheme - RSMS
• 457 - Business Long Stay

How SkillSelect will apply to Skilled Points Tested Visas

For Skilled Points Tested visas, Expression of Interests will be lodged online.

To lodge an EOI, you must have completed your skills assessment and your English language test (usually IELTS).

You also may wish to obtain a nomination from a state or territory government prior to lodging an EOI as this will improve your chances of getting a nomination.

Processing of EOIs

Every few months, the Department of Immigration will review the EOIs which have been lodged, and issue the best candidates with an invitation to make an application for skilled points tested migration.

If you are nominated by a state or territory government and meet the current pass mark, you are very likely to be issued with an invitation.

Otherwise, there will be quotas for each occupation. The people with the best points score will be issued with an invitation. So people with more work experience, better English scores and higher qualifications will have the best chance of getting an invitation.

Time Limit to Apply after being Invited

Once you receive an invitation, you will need to make your visa application within 60 days.

If you are unable to apply within this time, your invitation lapses. If you are invited once, there is no guarantee that you will be re-invited later, and in any case you can only be issued with a maximum of 2 invitations before your application is removed from the EOI system.

In other words, you need to be prepared ahead of time to make sure you are in a position to take up the opportunity when it comes your way.

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Why is this happening? Well, unlike Singapore the famous leg spreader, Australia is clamping her legs as tight as possible, leaving only enough space for ventilation. Basically Australia is saying, *"Knn, you alibaba kias, I'm shutting the door, kiss my arse."

*Like a Sir Translation: 

The quality of migrants is not satisfactory. We need to improve our immigration screening measures.

So basically anyone who is more eligible than you will jump queue and get the visa approved first. And you, stay behind until god-knows-when. This is bad news for migration agents and worse news for the average Singaporean migrant wannabe.

Worse, when you are lucky enough to be invited, you need to apply it in 60 days. If you are rich enough to hire an agent, congratulations. If not, you'll find it a pretty stressful challenge to do it all and keeping the application error-free, especially so if you have family and dependents.

These days I still read cocky Singaporeans stating things like, "I think I am eligible but don't feel like migrating yet but probably will do so and apply in a few years time." Heh. I'll love to be there when they realised they haven't been updated of this new set of guidelines.

So wake up and smell the coffee. Australia does not love you anymore. Times have changed and the cheese have been moved. 

Keep your "So what, I don't want to be there anyway," comments in the pocket because we are generally not interested in people like you. The blog is designed to help people who genuinely wants to be here to contribute to their adopted country and countrymen. 

I wish all potential migrants the best of luck.