Can Iranians apply for Canadian Student Visa?

Student Visa or Working Visa? Any advice?

• Maybe somebody could help me with some advice on what I could do with my situation. Here is my history. I have lived in Sydney, Australia for 9 years. From years 9 to 12 (HSC), i did General Studies, then 3 years Bachelor of Nursing. I also had the chance of doing the one year New Graduate Program for Nurses. So for 8 years I was on student visa. After finishing Nursing I then applied for skilled graduate visa 485, on the 8th of March 2010, so I could work and do my new grad. While waiting I was given a bridging visa with the conditions that I could still work and do new grad. April 2011 I already finished my new grad program but there was still no result for my visa application. What made things complicated for me was that after my new grad I had to go home here to the Philippines to prepare things for my wedding on June (last year). So I applied for a travel visa so I could travel home. I was granted travel visa and I left Sydney mid April. While already here in the Philippines I received an email from the immigration regarding my application requesting me to provide again police clearance and to undergo another medical exam; because they were only valid for 12 months, and it's been already 18 months waiting time so what I have provided have already expired. At that time it was very stressful for me as things didn't turn out good with our wedding planner. It was very difficult for me to go back to Sydney to process for medical exam and police check. Therefor I wasn't able to provide immigration what they've asked for and as a result they refused my visa application for skilled graduate. It was a very big mistake that I wasn't able to follow it up. Now I couldn't enter back to Australia. I really had to start back from scratch to move on. Now my nursing registration has also expired which made it even more unfortunate. I thought processing time would take a while if I go back as a nurse, because I would have to renew my registration first and then apply for a job. If I would apply for work visa I know it will take 18 months or more waiting time, unless I get sponsored. I've only had 1 year experience as an RN, small chance that I'd be offered sponsorship. While trying to figure out other ways that I could go back to Sydney, I thought this would be my chance to study horticulture/landscape design. It has always been my dream since I was still a child. My parents wanted me to take up nursing because of it's job opportunity. It's not that am a bad nurse, it's just that it's not really my dream job. I really put myself in line when trying to help people. But in 7-10 years from now I imagined myself starting my own landscaping business or integrated farm, designing garden parks/resorts and so on. With this in mind, I applied for student visa through IDP, and I also applied for my wife as dependent. IDP helped me find a school and assisted with the visa processing. Last week I received the result of my student visa application. Unfortunately it has been refused. The decision was subjective, my documents were fine, except that they were concerned that I will only use my student visa for entry to Australia. Maybe they worry that once I get to Sydney I will just ditch horticulture/my student visa and that I will apply for work visa and shift back to nursing. So now I have 2 visa applications refused under my name. I'm still very keen to study horticulture. I have paid for my fist semester fees and was already looking forward to studying. What if I would apply again for student visa and I would attached a letter to my application saying that in 2 years I won't renew my nursing registration, I will only finish my 2 years study; do you think immigration will consider? And they can even check with the Australian nursing board or APHRA. They can deport me if they find out that I have renewed my nursing registration. What do you reckon? Or is it greater chance if I would continue with my nursing and just put aside horticulture for now? Maybe they will think there is something fishy about me if I'd apply for work visa again as a nurse. Thanks.

• Answer:

  If you are granted a General Skilled Migration (GSM) visa as a Registered Nurse, there is no need for you to ever actually work as a nurse. To get the visa, you would of course have to apply for skills assessment as a nurse and would have to pass the points test, but that should be fairly easy given that you can claim points for Australian studies and perhaps for Australian work experience if you worked as an RN in Australia for at least a year. Once you have a permanent GSM visa, there is nothing to prevent you studying horticulture/landscape design and then working in that occupation - and you would be eligible to study at domestic rates. http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/visa-options-outside.htm Offshore GSM visas. you are no longer eligible to apply for an onshore visa. The visa waiting times are not as bad as most people think and are shorter than the published processing standards. See the following Allocation dates. For an independent visa application, you would be in Priority Group 4. PG 3 is for subclass 176 visa applicants who have state sponsorship which is not being offered to RNs in metropolitan NSW (i.e. Sydney) though it is available in several other states. http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/estimated-allocation-times.htm The fact that you have had 2 visas refused won't help but the first refusal was only for not submitting documentation in time and the second was because under the new Genuine temporary entrant requirement, you were believed to be applying for a temporary visa with the intention of later applying for a permanent visa. An application for a permanent visa MAY be seen as not being affected by the previous refusals. I don't often recommend this, but you should take advice from a reputable, highly experienced, Australian based MARA registered Registered Migration Agent (RMA). I strongly suggest you use an Australian RMA because, while not every Australia agent is worth consulting, the percentage of incompetent and/or dishonest agents in the Philippines appears to be high. Ask for agent recommendations on the Pomsinoz immigration forum.