# Recommendations: When to apply?



## scarson75 (Feb 4, 2013)

So, here's the situation:

My partner and I plus our two year old daughter have made the decision that we would like to go to Aus to live.

We are both UK citizens and he is an IT Specialist who has already had some good feed back from Melbourne IT recruitment agencies, so we know there is work out there for him.

Questions is: 

Do we apply now for a Skilled migrant visa or wait to see if we can get sponsorship?

This whole visa thing is confusing at best, so any advice would be great! We are not in a hurry, still have finances to sort out, but real life experiences or advice is really what I am looking for here.

Thanks in advance!


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## Circe (Mar 25, 2013)

From looking and what I've read, it can be a couple of years before visas are granted for skilled migration. I'm not sure if it would be any faster if a business sponsored you.


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## flaviosantini (Apr 4, 2013)

Hello scarson75,

Me and my family (wife and 3 kids) are in the same situation. We are from Brazil, I'm an IT specialist and we decided to move to Australia a few weeks ago.
Ar first we started looking for information at the Australian Government website but as you have precisely put, it is confusing at best. 
My wife found a brazilian Specialized agent (with MARA registration) and after some skype consulting with this agent things are getting clear.
We have two options, find a company that is willing to hire a foreign worker and sponsor his visa (they have to pay for everything, travel costs included). As you can imagine, options become a little narrow when you need a company to pay for everything. He told us that less than 30% of the companies are willing to do that. 
The second option is to fill for a Skilled Immigration visa, but in this case we will have to pay for the taxes and costs.
Anyway, we decided last Monday to give it a huge "GO" on this.
Certainly there are some other members of this forum with more info on this subject than me, and please jump in to contribute on this subject.
I heard that the process can take from 8 to 12 months. Any comments?

Cheers!
Flavio


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