How to arrive and

1. General Skilled Migrant (GSM) visas

The General Skilled Migration programme's flagship visa is the the “Skilled Independent – 189” visa. It is for people who are not sponsored by an employer and who have skills in particular occupations required in Australia. Applicants must be over 18 and under 50 years of age (depending on the visa), with good English language ability and with recent skilled work experience or a recently completed eligible Australian qualification. Applicants must also have skills and qualifications for an occupation listed on Australia's Skilled Occupation List (SOL).

There are no conditions placed on the 189 visa. If you are granted this visa you are able to live and work in any part of Australia and engage in any type of employment. You and any accompanying secondary applicants must however comply with Australian laws. Failure to do so may affect your ability to remain in Australia.
There is a range of visa options under the General Skilled Migration programme for skilled workers who want to live in Australia and who do not have an employer sponsoring them. These include options for skilled people applying as an independent migrant as well as those sponsored by a relative, or nominated by a State or Territory government.
Independent

Independent migrants have the least number of restrictions placed on them and this is the preferred option for eligible applicants who do not have an employer to sponsor them. Assess your eligibility for the independent visas before you continue.

Sponsored

If you are sponsored by an eligible relative, please note that there are a number of obligations that must be met by your sponsor.

Onshore and Offshore visas – the starting point of it all

Onshore – If you are already in Australia

The following two visas are unlikely to be of value to most readers of this guide as you already need to be in Australia to apply for them. Consequently they are not greatly elaborated upon in this text but might be worth investigating . They are largely only of value to people who have studied OR are planning on studying in Australia. They are thus a gateway to settlement if you are prepared to go via the studying route.

1 Skilled – Regional (Residence) visa – Subclass 887

This is a permanent visa for eligible provisional visa holders who have lived for at least two (2) years and worked for at least one (1) year in a Specified Regional Area in Australia.

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/887.aspx
2. Skilled – Temporary Graduate visa – Subclass 485

An 18 month temporary visa for overseas students who have obtained an Australian qualification in Australia as a result of at least two (2) years study. Allows applicants who are under 50 years old and unable to pass the points test to remain in Australia for 18 months to gain the skills and experience needed to apply for a permanent or provisional General Skilled Migration visa. No points test applies.

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/485.aspx
Offshore – If you are outside Australia

The following 2 visas are of interest to people wishing to settle in Australia. Below is a brief description of each, but is followed by a detailed explanation of each. After each brief description below is a link to the DIBP website where they provide details of the visa should you require clarification on anything.

3. Skilled – Recognised Graduate (Temporary) visa – Subclass 476

An 18 month temporary visa for graduates of recognised overseas educational institutions who have skills in demand in Australia. There is no points test for this visa. This visa is for you only if you have completed an Engineering degree at a recognised overseas institution in the last two years. You must also be under 31 years of age when you make your application. http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/476.aspx

4. Temporary Business (Long Stay) - Standard Business Sponsorship - Subclass 457

This visa is for employers who would like to employ overseas workers to fill nominated skilled positions in Australia. With this visa you can employ overseas workers for a period of between 3 months and 4 years. Employers can be either Australian or overseas businesses. People holding this visa can bring any eligible secondary applicants with them to Australia who in turn are allowed to work and study. There is also no limit on the number of times that they can travel in and out of Australia.

http://www.immi.gov.au/Visas/Pages/457.aspx

Temporary Work (Skilled) - Standard Business Sponsorship (Subclass 457)

In light of the fact that this visa has been one of the most commonly granted in the past few years, I thought it appropriate to expand on it a little more. This is the most commonly used program for employers to sponsor overseas workers to work in Australia on a temporary basis. There are also special arrangements for employers in regional areas across Australia. It used to be known as 'Business (Long Stay) Visa', but changed name in November 2012.

For this visa you will need to be approved as an eligible employer by the authorities. You will also need an eligible nominated position and an eligible employee.
The employer has to:

• 
  apply to be a sponsor to recruit overseas workers
  
• 
  nominate the positions you want to fill
  
• 
  recruit the overseas workers to fill your nominated positions
  
• 
  act as a sponsor for your employees applying for a visa
  
• 
  co-operate with department's monitoring requirements
  
• 
  meet costs and other obligations as part of the program, including paying market rates
  

The employee:

• 
  accepts the offer of employment from the employer
  
• 
  applies for a visa
  
• 
  meets all conditions on their visa
  
• 
  has English language skills with a minimum score of 5 across the 4 test components in an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test - or higher where required for licensing/registration/membership of their profession.
  

An employer in a regional area of Australia might be eligible for concessions in meeting the minimum salary and skill level requirements for the position in question.

The nomination is the application made by the employer to identify the: 1) positions to be filled and 2) skills and experience required for the position. The validity period of the nomination is 12 months.
The sponsorship is the application made by the employer to the authorities to sponsor overseas workers to Australia. The validity period of the sponsorship is 3 years.
If an employee wants to renew their visa or change employers, the employee must lodge a new visa application. The new employer must also lodge a new sponsorship and/or nomination if valid sponsorship or nomination does not already exist.
Employers can be an Australian or overseas business that is approved as a Standard Business Sponsor. Overseas Business Sponsors are businesses that have no formal operating base or representation in Australia but who want to bring employees to Australia to do one of the following:

1) establish a branch or other business activity such as joint ventures, agency distributorship or subsidiary branches in Australia, or

2) fulfil obligations for a contract or other business activity in Australia.
An eligible position must meet the following requirements:

• 
  be full-time
  
• 
  be a skilled occupation that is approved for this program
  
• 
  meet the minimum salary level
  
• 
  meet all relevant Australian laws and award requirements.
  

The minimum salary level, based on a 38 hour week, is currently set at: $57,300 for Information and Communication Technology occupations in Schedule B of the so-called “Legislative Instrument” and $51,400 for all other gazetted occupations in Schedule A of the “Legislative Instrument”.

The approved skilled occupations and minimum salary levels can be ascertained via this “Legislative Instrument” : http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/skilled-workers/sbs/occupations.pdf Please inspect this document to see if your occupation is listed – it is a very lengthy list.
The employee has to also meet the usual health and character requirements (see earlier in this chapter) as well as agree to the Australian Values Statement.
As an employee, any secondary applicants accompanying you are given full work and study rights. The following people may apply to accompany and stay with you in Australia:

• 
  your spouse
  
• 
  your interdependent partner
  
• 
  a dependent child of you, your spouse or your interdependent partner
  
• 
  other dependent relatives of you or your spouse.
  

The DIBP has produced the following publication which has all the minute detail in it:

http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/booklets/books9.htm