What is the application process for the 186 visa?

The  Employer Nomination Scheme visa (SC 186) visa is a PR visa for migrants who wish to permanently settle in Australia through employer sponsorship.With this visa you and your family can live, work, and study in Australia permanently, with a pathway to citizenship. This visa has 3 streams thorough which you can apply for PR. You have to select the most approriate stream according to your circumstances for a successful outcome for your visa application. The 3 main streams are:

1. Direct Entry Stream: If you are applying for the  186 visa directly, you can explore this stream whether you are onshore or offshore. If you currently hold any temporary visa other than the 482 visa and you are hoping to apply for PR directly then this stream is for you.
2. Temporary Residence Transition stream: You can apply for this stream if you are currently holding an 482 visa.
3. Labour Agreement Stream: This stream is for applicants whose employers have an agreement with the Australian government.

Step 1: Nomination Application

This applicatioin is where the sponsorinig employer nominates the employee to a genuine position in the business. 

Depending on the stream the requirements of the nomination application will differ

• Direct Entry Stream: Have 3 years of post qualification experience
• Transition Stream: Have worked under a 482 visa for at least 2 years, and be nominated by the same employer who nominated them for the last 482 visa.

The employer will be requested to give information on the business, like the ASIC extract, Audited financial statements, BAS, lease agreements,addresses, names etc

The occupation of the employee will also have to be given. This includes details such as the correct ANZSCO codes,skills assessment (If applicable), employee contract, the salary, a genuine position statement.

Step 2: Visa application

This is the application that is made so that the employee get rights to work and live in Australia legally. This application can be made after the submission of the nomination application or alongside the nomination application. 

This application usually requires, identity documents of the employee, registrations and licensing documents (if applicable),character certificates, English language tests, detatils of partners or children who will be accompanying the employee.

After applying for the visa application, then you wait for an outcome from the department.

So the application undergoes different process stages, and it will reflect in your application profile in the Immi Account.

It goes through status updates such as 

• Received- this stage is where your application has been recieved and a case officer has still not been assigned to your application
• Initial Assessment – this is the stage where a case officer has been allocated to assess your applicaition
• Further Assessment –this stage usually means that the application is under review or the case officer has requested  for more information and you would have gotten a request for more information
• Finalised – this stage means that the case officer has finished assessing your application and has made a decision on it. It can either be an approval or a refusal. Whatever the outcome maybe, the department will issue a notice.

The department usually assesses the nomination application first and then once the nomination is approved then assess the visa application.

Usually if your nomination application is refused, then the visa application also will be refused.

The processing times, can be categorised into two. 

1.The internal processing times- that is the time it takes the agents/ immigration lawyers to prepare the applications before submission to the department.

Department processing times: this is the time taken by the department to assess your application and give you an outcome. 

Processinig times for Direct Entry stream

• 50% processed: 12 months
• 90% processed: 18 months

Processing times for Temporary Transition Stream

• 50% processed: 14 months
• 90% processed: 18 months

Processing times for Labour Agreement Stream

• 50% processed: 5 months
• 90% processed: 9 months