I think you are referring to Significant Investor visa which includes having properties in Australia for PR application. It must have a minimum amount of investment interest recognized by the oz government.

The Significant Investor visa is a new stream of the Business Innovation and Investment (Provisional subclass 188) and the Business Innovation and Investment (Permanent subclass 888) visa.

Visa applicants must:

Be nominated by a state or territory government
make an investment of at least $5 million into complying investments.

You can check immigration website for more details such as http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/business/_p...nt-investor.pdf

http://www.business.nsw.gov.au/live-and-wo...t-investor-visa

I think the visa you're mentioning is more on subclass 888 (investment). This 1 you've to pump in big chunk of money.
Please note that this may be temporary visa only (not sure) which some not entitle for benefit, have to check DIAC website.
Buying property in Australia is easy, as long you've got money.
If you intend to DIY, just check thru DIAC website on skillselect. You've to submit EOI and your IELTS result. Please bear in mind it's getting harder to get visa to Australia now coz they're restricting immigrants coming in and it's an issue almost every year.
Try to check any other visa might suit you

Just curious why do you need two separate assesments? And I thought EOI was free?

Total agent fees = 2000+1000 = 3000. Looks about correct.

Do you have sufficient points? If not you can save AUD1250 by not going for state sponsorship

that was like 2x more than you do your own. IS that subclass 190?

Not sure why there are 2 assessment stage as I believe the body of skill assessment will only charge once and that's including qualification and experience(like I can submit the skill assessment to ACS to assess my education and experience in one cost)

There is no fee for EOI. It is a free assessment and only pay when you get invited to do the PR application

Which state you applying for? AFAIK, NSW only charged about $300-400 for state nomination

Subclass 190 is pretty straightforward. Do IELTS and skill assessment> Lodge EOI and wait for the invitation> Lodge the PR application(with the required documents) and wait for case officer> Case officer assigned and they will ask you to do medical and police check> PR granted

Normally it just take about 3 months to get PR(from PR application lodged to PR granted)

If his occupation only available in CSOL then yes, he has to go for state sponsorship

WHich state you going for? and yes, $5k sounds about right

12 months is the safe bet for them I guess. Or they only submit your application in few months later. Who knows.

Or you can pay me $1k and I help you do the rest

Just jk.

Let me see what is your option there. What's your age, IELTS point, Skilled experience and education(degree,phd?)? Your wife has an occupation that listed in CSOL?

Wow...going up so much! I paid mine including agent fees only AUD6600.
In that case, i suggest u DIY. Not hard to do. Just follow the instruction in DIAC websites. Some international calls required

Your wife could boost up another 5 points for you provided she getting positive in skill assessment for graphic designer but has to be in bachelor degree so just forget about it

32 years old this year? When is the month of your birthday?

1. IF all of the above is correct then you need to do skill assessment through vetassess http://www.vetassess.com.au/migrate_to_aus..._assessment.cfm
You can find the required documents for vetassess here http://www.vetassess.com.au/migrate_to_aus...d_documents.cfm
Take note the employment evidence as you have to gather evidence for your own business. More info here http://www.vetassess.com.au/migrate_to_aus...nt_evidence.cfm

2. While waiting for skill assessment(would take 8-12 weeks), go for the IELTS.

3. Once everything are good/positive, lodge the EOI. You no longer need to go through WA channel to lodge state nomination separately as they have now integrated together with EOI. Info here : http://www.migration.wa.gov.au/skilledmigr...ponsorship.aspx
Minimum points to lodge state nomination is 55 points and it will add another 5 points for state sponsorship

4. You have to wait for the invitation(invitation will send out fortnightly) and higher points will get the invitation first. 65 points should get the invitation in a month.

5. Once you have received the invitation, click the link from the invitation email to submit the PR application. Normally it will take about 1-2 months to have CO assigned to your case and they will contact you to provide more information like medical and police check. You can probably do the police check while waiting for CO but do the medical only when CO ask you.

Sorry, I am writing this on the tablet and in the hurry as well so please correct me if I missing something

then you have 1 year time to get 30 points for the age requirement

Just look at the link and read carefully. It might confuse you a bit but actually it is quite straight forward.

Why must melbourne? Why u need to take these risk? Melbourne housing price ain't cheap. Everyone is going there without knowing high competitiveness there.
If u wanna risk ur visa, u might not get renewed. Please bear in mind 2 years is pretty short. By the time u fulfill, moving there anytime.