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In addition, a foreign student studying a full time Bachelor AND doing a full time Cert IV is a very heavy work load. It's hard enough for just a local growing up in Australia to manage 2 full time courses. So if the student's English result is a borderline pass, then that causes the case officer to have even greater concerns about whether the applicant has the skills or not, so I am not surprised that a skills assessment has been requested. And if the student actually didn't study the Bachelor even though they were enrolled to study in it, then the student shouldn't have held the student visa.
I am making assumptions on a situation that I don't have full knowledge of. Sorry that my comments sound harsh and not helpful to your situation, but it's also very important to understand how a case officer might look at things so that you can try and mitigate it.
So yes it does it look like integrity is a huge focus for the department.
Just to clarify this for the members, we have lodged 5 visas all in quick succession who were relying on Metro College RPL's. ALL were asked to complete Migration Skill Assessments. We argued with the first couple extensively but the department were unrelenting.
We asked for clarification from the Supervisor if this was a Metro issue but as expected received no reply. We have lodged other applications with RPL's from other colleges (reputable) and they have been fine.
We believe this is purely a Metro College issue and having spoken to some other RTO's they have confirmed that they believe Metro is under investigation.
We are now advising all of our clients to obtain an RPL from a reputable (ideally TAFE) RTO as most won't succceed in a Migration Skills Assessment.
I think if the applicants can provide evidence of three year full time employment as a cook or chef (or six year part time ), DIBP will still accept that the metro college certificate. They only concern of DIBP is that metro college issue certificates too arbitrary as is they are selling certificates. If any applicants can demonstrate sufficient working experience which are eligible for RPL of a certificate, I do not think DIBP will ask for further information.
In short, sufficient working experience of at least three year full time employment is very critical for any applicant with a RPL certificate fro metro college of technology.
Hi I have been working in a restaurant on 457 visa from last one and half year. I thought about to apply for rsms. For that I have obtained cert 4 from metro college on basis of my work experience and recent studies. I got rcb approval, nomination lodged and going to put visa application. I am bit worried after reading this article. can u plz advice me what to do in this situation.
Kind regards
Actually my sister is having issues .she applied for 457 visa and she had cert 4 from metro college.now immigaration is asking for further proof how did you get this certificate.now our agent advised us to provide immigration a proof that she stayed there for six months.even though she provided work experience and pics and videos to get this certificate.what s your say if you have gone through same kind of situation
I haven't yet gone through the situation. I have applied rsms with cert 4 in commercial cookery from metro college through RPL and it is mentioned on certificate.it is not mentioned anywhere on the your sister's certificate that it obtained through Rpl. If not, student has to physically present during course.
Even I don't know what will happen to me. What I would be asked.
I'm not saying that what they are doing is necessarily lawful. However if you look at this from DIBP's perspective:
- I'm guessing that Metro College of Technology may be under review/investigation by DIBP and/or other government departments, or has been in the past. Here is some unfavourable news about the school: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2009/s2655452.htm. I didn't see any more recent news than that. However if there have been complaints against the school in recent years, that might be a flag.
- a Cert IV in Commercial Cookery as DISTANCE EDUCATION????? Don't you need hands on learning to be a cook/chef? How does one pass the practical units? If I was a case officer and knew that someone obtained a trade only through distance learning, I would be asking for a skills assessment as well.
It sounds like there is a real drive to focus on integrity, and I'm not surprised that it's getting harder and harder to get visas given the news in the last couple of years.