Day: August 27, 2026

How to verify an immigration consultant: CICC and MARA registers

Cosmos Immigration
How to verify an immigration consultant on the CICC and MARA registers

If you are about to pay someone in the UAE for advice on a Canadian or Australian visa, the individual advising you must appear on a public register, and you can check that register yourself before any money changes hands. Canada and Australia both publish the names of the people who may be paid to act for you, and both regulators treat paid advice from anyone else as unlawful. The check matters now because registrations change: in July and August 2026 OMARA cancelled one agent’s registration and barred two former…

Express Entry Category-Based Draws: Who Gets Invited Now

Cosmos Immigration
Express Entry in 2026: how category-based draws changed who gets invited

As at August 2026, IRCC has not held a general Express Entry round this year. Every invitation issued between 1 January and 19 August went through a Provincial Nominee Program round, a Canadian Experience Class round or a category-based round. For a candidate in the UAE with no nomination and no Canadian work experience, that leaves the category rounds, and whether a round exists for your occupation or your French now matters as much as your CRS score. This guide sets out the ten categories for 2026, what each has…

Canada PNP Without a Job Offer: Which Provinces Still Nominate

Cosmos Immigration
Canada PNP without a job offer: which provinces still nominate

As at August 2026, most of the provincial nominee streams that UAE candidates relied on to be picked from the Express Entry pool without an employer have closed. Ontario removed all eight of its streams on 25 June 2026 and replaced them with one that requires a job offer, and British Columbia’s current programme guide lists job-offer streams only. Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba still nominate without an employer in some form, each on its own conditions. We set out below which provinces still invite without a job offer, what each…

New Zealand Green List: Straight to Residence occupations explained

Cosmos Immigration
New Zealand Green List: occupations with a straight-to-residence path

If your occupation is on Tier 1 of New Zealand’s Green List, you can apply for residence from the UAE with a job offer from an accredited employer. You do not need to work in New Zealand first; that requirement applies to Tier 2 roles, which lead to residence after 24 months of New Zealand work. The distinction matters now because the settings around the list have moved. The immigration median wage rose to NZD 35.00 an hour on 9 March 2026, which lifted every pay threshold on the list,…

Skills Assessment for Australia from the UAE: Who Assesses What

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Skills assessment from the UAE: ACS, Engineers Australia, VETASSESS, Ahpra, CPA

Home Affairs only accepts a skills assessment from the authority listed against your occupation, so the first decision in an Australian skilled visa application is which body assesses you, not which visa you apply for. For the points-tested visas the assessment must still be valid on the day you are invited, and each assessing authority sets its own procedures, timeframes and charges. This guide sets out who assesses what, as at August 2026, and which documents a UAE-based applicant needs to have ready before the application is lodged. At a…

New Zealand Work Visa from Dubai: the Accredited Employer Work Visa

Cosmos Immigration
New Zealand work visa from Dubai: the Accredited Employer Work Visa

The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is New Zealand’s work visa for people hired by an accredited employer, and it cannot be applied for without a job. The employer must be accredited and must hold an approved job check for your role before it can send you the link that opens your application. Several rules changed between March 2025 and August 2026, including the experience requirement, English testing for skill level 3 roles and the residence pathways that follow the visa, so anyone planning a move from the UAE should…

UK Skilled Worker Visa from the UAE: Sponsorship, Salary, Settlement

Cosmos Immigration
UK Skilled Worker visa from the UAE: sponsorship, salary, 2026 rules

If you are in the UAE with a UK job offer, or working towards one, the Skilled Worker rules you need to check are the ones in force since 22 July 2025 and 8 January 2026, not the ones most people still quote. The job now has to be at RQF level 6, the pay floor is £41,700 or the going rate for your occupation code, whichever is higher, and new applicants must prove English at B2. The figure that catches out most applicants is the going rate: for a…

Subclass 189 vs 190 vs 491: which Australian skilled visa fits you

Cosmos Immigration
Subclass 189 vs 190 vs 491: which Australian skilled visa fits you

Australia’s three general skilled migration visas, subclass 189, 190 and 491, share one points test and one set of age and English rules. They differ in who backs the application and in where you may live once it is granted; the 491 is also provisional rather than permanent. If you are in the UAE with a skills assessment in hand, or about to apply for one, this is the choice to settle before you lodge an expression of interest, because state nomination is a separate step that happens before Home…

Germany Opportunity Card from the UAE: Points, Funds and Job Search

Cosmos Immigration
Germany Opportunity Card from the UAE: points, funds, job search

Germany’s Opportunity Card (Chancenkarte) lets a UAE resident move to Germany for up to a year to look for qualified work without holding a job offer first. UAE residents apply through the German Consulate General in Dubai, and the 2026 blocked-account figure on the federal portal is higher than the figure still printed on the consulate’s own leaflet. This guide sets out the two routes in, the points table, the proof of funds and the Dubai application steps, as at August 2026. At a glance Two routes in: a qualification…