Everyone’s move to Australia

[Totality]

Did any of you go to New Zealand on a skilled migrant visa? If so, how long did it take to get?

I came over on a working holiday visa in August 2010. Filled in the online application for skilled migrant residency in November 2010 online and received my residency in august 2011! Took 9 months sending stuff to and from the UK, forms, UK bureaucracy making getting police checks harder than it had to be, etc. Don't forget that when NZ immigration ask you to get something from the UK you are looking at least a month before you get it back!

Worth it in the end though. A standard visa should be easier I would have thought but I went straight for residency as I always wanted to move here and after 3 months knew I liked it as much as I thought I would!

Feels strange knowing I never have to commute down the M27 again and still doesn't feel real! 5 years left till citizenship though haha.

 

[Prophet]

From what I can tell I've missed the boat so to speak. Although I have nearly 20 years IT experience in a number of roles a lack of degree means I don't score high enough on the test. Plus being 35 means I can't do the work visa either.

I'm looking into a holiday next year so I can visit my cousin who lives in Adelaide. In a way I hope I don't like it as I don't think I'll every qualify to move there.

 

[megakid]

I lived in Sydney for 2.5 years and loved it. Came back to London about 3 months ago on my way to Chicago but am having US visa issues.

It is a better lifestyle, more relaxed, better weather etc and I'm convinced it's a much better place to raise your kids than the UK but it is very isolated. I was on a good salary and had plenty of holiday and I still struggled to see places. The nearest foreign country (with quite a similar culture/feel) was NZL and that was 4hrs flight away. Anywhere further is 5+ hrs and you're pushing it to get that in for a long weekend. If I didn't have my car in Australia I would have gone mad!
In Europe, in the 3 months I've been back, I've driven through Spain & France and visited Spain, Poland, Latvia and Belgium. The cultures you can see in Europe are amazing and I don't think I'll ever visit everywhere here - that I missed the most, along with old friends/family. So overall I'm pretty glad to be back though I only left to go to Chicago.

 

[MG42Maniac]

My girlfriend (now technically an ex) of one year is going to Perth on the 29th August with a one year working holiday visa. She decided she was going at the end of July and will be away for up to a year. She has only really started to seriously look into it since telling me and has quit her job and going out with about £1200-£1600.
Her first month’s accommodation is free as she staying with a friend. I said to her "If you don't get a job in Perth, how long can you survive out there?" "Not very long" was the response. She reckons she will be able to find a job with two weeks; she’s got Admin/Office experience. She has said she will take literally any job and doesn't think it will be a problem. I thought it was quite hard to get a job in Australia in recent times?

I've told her it's over for good the moment she gets on the plane as the guy she is going out there to stay with is someone she has always quite liked but circumstances have stopped anything happening and he’s keen on her.
Part of me wants her to fail so I can say told you so, the other part wants her to do well as she has left everything to do this. She's 30 in November so wanted to do the working holiday visa while she still could! I'm now taking bets how long she will last out there!

 

[iamtheoneneo]

^^ shes your ex! leave that gravy train mate, seriously.

on topic: i think shes living in a bit of a fantasy land, she wont get a job that quickly, took my mate months to get a basic admin job and he is stacked full of quals.

also how has she got a visa with only £1500 in the bank? they require at least $A5000 don't they?

 

[MG42Maniac]

^^ shes your ex! leave that gravy train mate, seriously.

on topic: i think shes living in a bit of a fantasy land, she wont get a job that quickly, took my mate months to get a basic admin job and he is stacked full of quals.

also how has she got a visa with only £1500 in the bank? they require at least $A5000 don't they?

I am technically not with her though we still act like we are together - very odd!

This was the impression I was also under, I thought Perth was notorious for being full of immigrants and jobs were hard to find. One of best lines she came out with was "I think something like fruit picking will be so much fun, picking fruit in the hot sun while chatting away then sinking some drinks at a BBQ on the beach".

I have not looked into the visa requirements but she has said they check your bank balance on arrival at the airport in Australia. This does sound slightly odd but I've not looked into it at all so not questioned it. As far as I am aware she has been granted a visa and she does not save $5k in the bank. What ever money she needs in her account the bank of Mummy and Daddy will give her then take back. Also if she gets into dire straights they will pay for her return ticket home.

 

[bhavv]

I couldnt ever live in Australia due to all the scary huge spiders

 

[Skully]

I couldn't pick a nicer American if I tried. Tall (5'11), blonde, good looking, a nurse and likes sports!

I just got to convince Katrina to dump her bf lol

That's not tall.

 

[[TW]Fox]

A Kindle 3 purchased from Amazon USA costs me $133 before postage. A Kindle 3 purchased from Amazon UK costs me $173 before postage. I wouldn't call that "comparatively cheap." I'd call it "comparatively expensive." The most I can say is that it's a little cheaper than it used to be, but that's still not saying much.

I think you are missing the point.

A Kindle from Amazon US will cost me £85 before postage.

A Kindle from Amazon UK will cost me £111 before postage.


All you've done is highlighted that stuff costs less in America, not that the high value of the AUD gives an Australian less purchasing power. This is basic forex - high value of your domestic currency makes imports cheap and exports expensive. Thats just.. how it works.

This is why there is plenty of press about how the Australian tourist industry is suffering - not only are foreigners not coming because of how much more expensive everything is made by a strong AUD, but Australians are tempted to go to the States on Holiday instead of locally because of the reverse - how much more they get for the money.

When I went to Australia I spent about £3000 in 6 weeks. If I did the same trip now, due to the far stronger AUD, the same trip would cost closer to £4000 purely as a result of currency fluctuations. It makes a huge difference.

It's true that the £ doesn't go as far in Australia as it used to, so British tourists are feeling Australia's higher prices more acutely these days. Nevertheless, the £ is still at $1.56 so they're still effectively paying less than the locals.

They are not paying less than the locals at all, because you can't assume some sort of bizarre $1=£1 relationship for purchasing power parity.

 

[Prophet]

That's not tall.

Since when has a nearly 6' women not been classed as tall?

 

[Amp34]

^^ shes your ex! leave that gravy train mate, seriously.

on topic: i think shes living in a bit of a fantasy land, she wont get a job that quickly, took my mate months to get a basic admin job and he is stacked full of quals.

also how has she got a visa with only £1500 in the bank? they require at least $A5000 don't they?

And it took a couple of my mates less than a month to find proper jobs when they went over there, and neither of them were actually looking that hard for them (yes Perth).

 

[Bear]

They're called dashmats, they stop the vinyl from splitting/fading due to the heat.

I know, it was hillarious when I saw it for the first time until my sister in law told me what they were for.

 

[Bear]

I think you are missing the point.

A Kindle from Amazon US will cost me £85 before postage.

A Kindle from Amazon UK will cost me £111 before postage.


All you've done is highlighted that stuff costs less in America, not that the high value of the AUD gives an Australian more purchasing power. This is basic forex - high value of your domestic currency makes imports cheap and exports expensive. Thats just.. how it works.

This is why there is plenty of press about how the Australian tourist industry is suffering - not only are foreigners not coming because of how much more expensive everything is made by a strong AUD, but Australians are tempted to go to the States on Holiday instead of locally because of the reverse - how much more they get for the money.

When I went to Australia I spent about £3000 in 6 weeks. If I did the same trip now, due to the far stronger AUD, the same trip would cost closer to £4000 purely as a result of currency fluctuations. It makes a huge difference.

Thats what was wierd when I was over there last Christmas. The Aussie news was going on about how the Aussie $ was equal to the US $ as if it was a good thing and in the same breath they were going on about bringing in an import tax as people were buying stuff outside of the country.

 

[Sankari]

I think you are missing the point.

A Kindle from Amazon US will cost me £85 before postage.

A Kindle from Amazon UK will cost me £111 before postage.

All you've done is highlighted that stuff costs less in America, not that the high value of the AUD gives an Australian less purchasing power. This is basic forex - high value of your domestic currency makes imports cheap and exports expensive. Thats just.. how it works.

That is my point! I wasn't claiming that the high value of the AUD gives an Australian less purchasing power. I was demonstrating that it gives us more purchasing power.

This is why there is plenty of press about how the Australian tourist industry is suffering - not only are foreigners not coming because of how much more expensive everything is made by a strong AUD, but Australians are tempted to go to the States on Holiday instead of locally because of the reverse - how much more they get for the money.

Yes, I agree.

When I went to Australia I spent about £3000 in 6 weeks. If I did the same trip now, due to the far stronger AUD, the same trip would cost closer to £4000 purely as a result of currency fluctuations. It makes a huge difference.

True. You're getting less value out of your £, as I said earlier.

They are not paying less than the locals at all, because you can't assume some sort of bizarre $1=£1 relationship for purchasing power parity.

Effectively, they are paying less than the locals because they need fewer £ to buy items priced in $.

 

[Sankari]

Thats what was wierd when I was over there last Christmas. The Aussie news was going on about how the Aussie $ was equal to the US $ as if it was a good thing

That's because it is a good thing.

and in the same breath they were going on about bringing in an import tax as people were buying stuff outside of the country.

Er... not quite. This is what actually happened.

The Australian government currently imposes 10% GST on any overseas purchase of $1,000 or more.

When the Australian dollar went up, a lot more people started buying from overseas retailers because local prices are ludicrous while foreign prices are very reasonable.

Australian retailers were very annoyed by this, and lobbied the government to lower the GST threshold in a vain attempt to discourage overseas purchases (this would not work anyway, because overseas prices are still significantly cheaper even with 10% added). The government told them to get ******.

End of story.

 

[Greebo]

Too many spiders and snakes. The fact that Australian has 8 of the top 10 deadliest cretures puts me right off.

And those beaches are lovely except for the deadly jellyfish and sharks.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Effectively, they are paying less than the locals because they need fewer £ to buy items priced in $.

No, you need more £ to buy items priced in $!

In June 2009 a $200 item required £100 to purchase it.
Now, a $200 item requires £127 to purchase it.

 

[ricky1981]

Did any of you go to New Zealand on a skilled migrant visa? If so, how long did it take to get?

We did, got Permanent Residence about 10 months after we first applied online, could probably have sped that up by a month or two if we'd had paperwork like medicals done in advance. We didn't have job offers, if we had then it would have been done in 1-2 months.

The impression I get is that it's harder now (we moved over in 2009) and without a job offer you are more likely to get offer WTR (Work to Residence) than PR which means you have to get a job in your specified career path within 1-2 years and only after you've held the job for a certain time do you get full residence.

 

[Zip]

The government told them to get ******.

End of story.

So they should.

Gerry Harvey and his retail friends can ram there price tags up his arse

*hugs Internet shopping*

 

[AmDaMan]

I found I ran out of GBP fairly quickly when travelling as said, travelling on GBP is expensive. Once you're arning AUD it's really quite nice It also works the other way though, I've got a small loan i'm paying off and it could be paid off in a few weeks as opposed to a few months.

I'm not sure why it took your friend a month to find an Admin job.. They are EVERYWHERE and usually pay about $22 an hour minimum + super. They even dish them out to unskilled backpackers so he must have been doing something wrong.

You only need to work a month on contract and you've earned enough to go off for a couple of months without work again, that's with the agencies taking a large cut. I need to stay here but want to do Asia inbetween so I may have to do some fruit picking or something to get my second visa There is a serious lack of skills here and I got offered a contract extension + sponsorship within my 2nd week but I really don't want to be tied down in Brisbane.