[The Ultimate Guide] Key Tips for Accountants to Submit EOI Fastest

In the months ahead, you may well find yourself in this kind of situation: your classmate A — same major, same IELTS score, similar profile across the board — submits an EOI three days before you and gets invited; you submit yours three days later and don’t. Just as A is excitedly planning a celebration with you, the news lands: you didn’t get an invitation. As the saying goes, the greatest distance in the world isn’t between life and death — it’s sitting next to your classmate, watching them get invited while you’re still waiting.

For those still unfamiliar with the Subclass 189 visa, here’s a quick summary: it can be applied for either onshore or offshore in Australia. It’s the visa type formed by merging the former Subclass 175 and Subclass 885 visas. Once granted, it gives you permanent residency in a single step. If your occupation is on SOL1 and you reach 60 points under the points test, you may be eligible to apply for the Subclass 189 / Skilled Independent visa. The Subclass 189 doesn’t require state nomination or family sponsorship — once your visa is granted, you can live, work, and study anywhere in Australia. Subclass 189 application requirements include: receiving an EOI invitation (be invited to apply); under 50 years of age; an SOL1 occupation with a positive skills assessment; minimum IELTS of 6 in each band; reaching 60 points; and meeting health and character requirements.

EOI invitation rules: ranked from highest to lowest points, with equal points decided on a first-come, first-served basis. The vast majority of accounting students sit at 60 points — including those with all four bands of 7 (IELTS) or PY + NAATI — so the earlier you submit, the faster you’ll receive your invitation. So how do you meet the requirements AND submit at top speed?

Many students who don’t have all four bands of 7 (IELTS) and rely on PY + NAATI to make up to 60 points often ask: as soon as I receive my PY graduation certificate, can I submit my EOI? The answer is no! When submitting an EOI, two items are mandatory: an IELTS score with at least 6 in every band (you must enter the corresponding TRF/reference number) and a full skills assessment in accounting (you must enter the date issued, the assessing authority, and the reference number). If you’ve only received your PY graduation certificate and submit an EOI fabricating skills assessment details — and then receive an invitation before your full skills assessment is actually issued — you’re at serious risk of refusal! The Department of Home Affairs requires every detail in your EOI to accurately reflect your true circumstances at the moment of invitation.

Then comes another question: if you’ve graduated from a NAATI-endorsed program and passed the test but haven’t yet received the formal NAATI accreditation document, can you still not submit an EOI? The answer is no — you can! The EOI form doesn’t require you to enter specific NAATI accreditation details — only whether or not you’ve obtained NAATI.

So how do you submit an EOI as fast as possible under the current rules? The key lies in the skills assessment — whoever obtains a full skills assessment fastest takes the lead. There are currently three main assessing authorities for accounting: CPA Australia, CA ANZ, and IPA. CPA Australia does not offer expedited assessments (unless your visa is expiring within 28 days). A new skills assessment takes around 15 working days; a review (many students have already had a CPA assessment done for their Subclass 485 / Graduate Work visa) takes around 10 working days. CA ANZ offers expedited processing — around 2 weeks for a new individual application, or about 1 week through a registered migration agent, and around 1 week for a review.

And then there’s IPA, the real game-changer: its expedited processing for new applications takes just 30 hours. So, for example, if you submit your application at 11 am on Monday, you can receive your full skills assessment by 5 pm on Tuesday — provided your qualifications are Australian. This service does come at a higher fee of AUD 785.

https://www.publicaccountants.org.au/about us/immigration/fast-track-process

For step-by-step EOI submission guidance, reply to our official account with the keyword “EOI”. To check information on PY or NAATI, reply with “PY” or “NAATI”. You can also call us directly on 02 9264 5388 (see the image at the bottom). Newstarsec’s dedicated consultants personally complete same-day skills assessments for our students, ensuring your EOI is submitted at the earliest opportunity.