After graduation of student visa holders in Australia, some opt for permanent residency in the country. Students’ choice of courses in Commercial Cookery and Culinary Arts may help in it.
A student has an advantage if he/ she already has the experience and qualifications working in the kitchen, be it as a cook or a chef. Applying for a skilled visa is very much recommended. However, it is on a case-to-case basis.
1. Acquire a Skilled Migration Visa
For a skilled migration visa, an assessment from the Offshore Skills Assessment Program (OSAP) of Trade Recognition Australia (TRA) is necessary.
Because of a temporary skills shortage in 2018, the government, since then, started to require cooks to have at least two years of work experience and have a skills assessment.
2. Research on occupations under the following: flagged, short-term, medium-term, long-term.
The first step before a visa application is perhaps to familiarize the list of flagged occupations, the short-term skilled occupation list (STSOL), and the medium to long-term strategic skills list (MLTSSL).
Flagged occupations are jobs which might be removed from the skilled occupations list or those which might demote from MLTSSL to STSOL.
To obtain a Temporary Graduate (subclass 485) Visa, students who want to take two-year courses recommend having medium to long-term skilled occupations. The Visa will allow them to work for 18 months after graduating.
The 485 Visa is not available to cooks anymore as the job has been demoted to the short-term list.
A chef, however, is considered a medium to the long-term occupation.
3. Become a chef instead of a cook
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Cooks cannot get a 485 visa anymore, because they are now on the list of short-term occupations.
What students usually do is the minimum requirement to be a chef:
- take Certificate III in Commercial Cookery
- take Certificate IV in Commercial Cookery
Then, they study a diploma course related to their job. One of these is Diploma in Hospitality.
Two years is the duration of taking up these three courses.
After that, an application for the Job Ready Program (JRP) of TRA can follow. Firstly, one should complete the program. He/she can, then, apply for the said Visa if he can garner 65 points or more under General Skilled Migration.
It is mainly because of Australia’s occupation lists that permanent residency is more accessible to obtain for a chef than a cook.
4. Work and study
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Working while studying in Australia improves a students’ chances for employment in the country after graduation. Aside from this, they can, in some instances, get better options to stay in Australia permanently.
Students should make the most out of the time they are allowed to work, precisely 20 hours per week. Aside from giving them a more robust network and broader experience in Australia, it will help them accrue the required number of working hours for certain visas.
There is a significant demand for cooks in both regional and metropolitan areas in Australia.
It is essential, though, that students know their rights, preferably before or when they start working.
The student should be aware that the employer is abusive, if there is an underpayment or an unfair treatment. Choosing to leave the situation will help lead him/her to have proper paperwork for an eventual visa.
Try to talk with an agent for your plans regarding Commercial Cookery and Skills Assessment. You can grasp a better idea of what to expect in the end.
