Applying for PR after WHV breach

challengers

Hi everyone

I am hoping that some of you can help me out - I hope to get an invitation to apply for skilled independant 189 visa in Australia in the next invitation round however I have a problem!

When I was in Australia on a working holiday visa I worked more than 6 months with one company - I know I shouldn't have done this and in hindsight it was a very bad decision however at the time sponsorship had been promised and we believed that this would come through before the 6 months were up, the company let us down (which seems to happen to a lot of people on WHV) and we left Australia before the year WHV expired.

DIAC was not informed about this and I did not receive a ban - I am only talking about a few weeks over the 6 month limit but it is still a breach of WHV conditions.

I have completed my EOI and I have input correct details of employment dates for the time I overworked however I have not claimed any of this work as relevant work experience and therefore I have not claimed any points for this work experience (I believe any points claimed for work experience when working in breach of visa conditions is disallowed, which is fair enough).

I have read on several forums a breach of WHV would result in a ban (which I did not receive) however these bans do not effect an application for a permanent visa - or so I have read! I would appreciate if anybody with experience on this could let me know how things went for them.

Assuming the above is true my biggest concern is that I could fail the character assessment due to a breach in visa conditions, if anybody knows of a best approach to dealing with this I would be glad of your opinion.

I realise it may seem unwise to state on a public forum that I have breached WHV conditions but as I see it immigration are far from stupid and will clearly see this from the employment dates when they receive my application so there is no point pretending that it did not happen.

Thanks for reading & I appreciate any advise you can give!
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TrueDub

Please only reply with relevant and appropriate information - no speculation or guesswork is required.

Thanks.

mandrake04

Any bar, exclusion or breach does not effect PR applications only temporary visas applications. The only exception is cases where fraudulent information and paperwork were submitted in previous applications.

challengers

Hi mandrake04

Thanks for your reply, that is very reassuring. Do you know is there any requirement at any point during the application process to provide an explanation as to why the visa was breached or to provide character references, I know I made a bad choice when I overworked my WHV and I am worried that I could be declined on the basis of not being of good character - due to the breach.

I have never made an application for a visa other than the WHV & all information and paperwork provided was correct in the application and also in my current EOI.

Thanks

mandrake04

I doubt they would be bothered, as long as you meet the criteria and you have not had a PIC4020 ban (for providing false paper work) then you shouldn't have a problem. If they do mention it then you could ask for an idiots pardon.

If you want a real situation one of my friends overstayed WHV 7 years, left Australia and applied for PR back in Ireland and was back as PR about 5 months later. I think you are worrying about nothing.