09/05/2007

Effective September 1, 2007, the Australian Government has introduced a new visa category, the Recognised-Graduate visa (Subclass 476), to address "niche" shortages in the Australian labor market. At this stage, the visa is specifically aimed at attracting recent engineering graduates from designated educational institutions worldwide (see list below).

To qualify for visa 476, applicants must:

· Be under the age of 31 at the time of application;
· Have completed an engineering degree program (i.e., met the academic requirements for award of the degree) from a designated educational institution in the 24 months immediately preceding the filing of the visa application; and
· Satisfy "Competent" English Criteria either by scoring 6 on each of the four International English Language Testing System (IELTS) components, or holding a passport from the USA, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Canada, or New Zealand.

The visa will allow for a stay of 18 months and will have no work or study restrictions attached. It will not be possible to renew the visa beyond the 18-month period. However, 476 visa holders may apply for other visas granting longer-term or permanent stays (e.g., the 457 temporary resident visa, or permanent stay visas under the Employer Nomination Scheme or General Skilled Migration Scheme) at any time during the 18-month period, provided they satisfy the relevant visa requirements.

Applicants may include their partners (spouses, domestic partners, or same-sex partners) and dependent children in the 476 visa application. Partners and dependent children will have no work or study restrictions attached to their dependent visas. Partners may remain in Australia for the duration of the principal's visa, provided they continue in the relationship with the principal applicant. Children must remain financially dependent to continue to qualify for dependent visa status.

All visa applicants must satisfy standard health and character requirements.

Applicants may be in Australia at the time of application filing, but must travel outside of Australia to have the visa issued.

Designated Educational Institutions for Visa 476

Europe

Imperial College London (UK)
University of Leeds (UK)
University of Nottingham (UK)
University of Birmingham (UK)
University of Portsmouth (UK)
University of Southampton (UK)
University of Manchester (UK)
Camborne School of Mines (UK)
Moscow State University (Russia)
St Petersburg State University (Russia)
Lulea University of Technology (Sweden)
Technology University Aachen (Germany)
University of Hannover (Germany)
Technical University of Clausthal (Germany)
Technical University of Berlin (Germany)

North America

University of Toronto (Canada)
McGill University (Canada)
University of Alberta (Canada)
Queen's University (Canada)
University of Laval (Canada)
University of Waterloo (Canada)
Laurentian University (Canada)
Arizona State University – Tempe (USA)
Pennsylvania State University - University Park (USA)
University of California – Berkeley (USA)
University of Nevada – Reno (USA)
Michigan Technological University (USA)
West Virginia University (USA)
Colorado School of Mines (USA)
University of Missouri – Rolla (USA)
University of Idaho – Moscow (USA)
Montana College of Minerals Science & Technology (USA)
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (USA)
University of Alaska (USA)
Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (USA)
University of San Luis Potosi (Mexico)

South America

University of Chile (Chile)
Universidad Catolica del Norte – Antofagasta (Chile)
University of Concepcion (Chile)
Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil)

Middle East / Asia

American University of Beirut (Lebanon)
American University of Sharjah (UAE)
Middle East Technical University (Turkey)
Istanbul Technical University (Turkey)
Haceteppe University (Turkey)
Dokuz Eylul University (Turkey)
Amir Kabir University of Technology (Iran)
University of Tehran (Iran)
Tohoku University (Japan)
China University of Mining & Technology – Beijing (China)
Chongqing University (China)
Tongji University (China)
Tsinghua University (China)
Shanghai University of Engineering Science (China)
Shanghai Jiaotong University (China)
Guangzhou University (China)
Beijing Normal University (China)
Beijing Petroleum University (China)
Beijing University of Chemical Technology (China)
University of Science and Technology – Beijing (China)
Beijing University of Technology (formerly Beijing Polytechnic University) (China)
Bandung Institute of Technology (Indonesia)
University of Indonesia (Indonesia)
National University of Singapore (Singapore)
University of Malaya (Malaysia)
Universiti Teknologi MARA (Malaysia)
University of the Philippines (the Philippines)
Indian Institute of Science - Bangalore (India)

Africa

University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa)
University of Cape Town (South Africa)
University of Pretoria (South Africa)
Technikon South Africa (South Africa)
University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)

The content herein is provided for informational purposes only.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen Global Immigration Services or send an email to the appropriate regional mailbox: canada@fragomen.com, lar@fragomen.com (for Latin America), asiapac@fragomen.com, or emea@fragomen.com (for Europe, Middle East and Africa).

Source: http://pubweb.fdbl.com/news1.nsf/c8abb103352ef95a86256e3100809438/bb00c594369646a48525734d007c7f0e?OpenDocument