Serrath posted:

Click the link; one of the tabs goes into what is worth what points. For example, if you have a job already lined up, you get X points added to your total (and you can apply for a special subclass of visa called a sponsored skills visa which has a lower threshold overall). If you have a doctoral degree, you get X points, if you have "just" a masters degree, you get Y points. If you have 5 years experience, you get a certain number of points, if you have 10 years experience, you get more points.

If your points exceed the required number of points, you're over the threshold and the way it works is if you're over, you'll be granted the visa, if you're under, you won't (there's no bonus for extra points or anything). This means that, for example, if you have no experience in your field but a super advanced degree, you can be offered a skilled visa. If you have just an entry level degree but decades of experience, same thing - it's mix and match until you're over the point number.

The one thing to keep in mind is how they asses skills/experience in your field because it's very field dependent. For example, I came independently on a skilled visa as a clinical psychologist. But having a degree wasn't enough, if you look on the skilled occupation list, every occupation has a "certifying agency" which acts on the government's behalf to check your qualifications and make sure they're equivalent to the Australian standard. For psychology, the Australian Psychological Society performed this duty; I had to send them my transcript, they reviewed it and certified that my degree and registration from Canada was equivalent to the same degree and registration in Australia and only when I had that certifying document could I be credited with the points associated with working in a field on the skilled occupations list (I got lucky; in the year I applied, clinical psychology was listed on the critical skills shortage list meaning it attracted even more points than an occupation on the skilled occupations list). My brother is a helicopter pilot so he had his Canadian pilot licence checked against the Australian standard. Unfortunately for him, the certification in Australia is slightly different to Canada and CASA (his certifying agency for piloting uhhh civil aviation society of australia, I think) told him he would need to complete an additional 10 hours of pilot school to be considered to fly in Australia.

For me, at least, having a critical skill certified + being under 30 + graduate degrees in my field meant I accrued enough points without considering my experience in the field or whether I spoke English or other considerations. So I just applied, was granted something called a Bridging Visa which is a temporary visa that grants all the work + entry rights that permanent residency grants while they assessed my case and then I was awarded residency. There wasn't any mystery or uncertainty about the process; because the points attributed to different qualities was easy to see, being granted my visa was just a matter of procedure.

It was expensive, though; the visa application was $2500, I had to take about $500 worth of medical exams to screen me for various diseases, the Australian Psychological Society charged me $1500 to assess my qualifications and there were a few other fees I'm forgetting that added up. I think they've raised the visa application fee in the time that I've been here as well