I've started applying for a visa to go and live in Australia

[snaw]

The weather there can be extreme. I've been there a couple of times and the first time I was in a restaurant with about 15 relatives near Melbourne when there was a sudden massive hailstorm with giant hailstones which caused the roof to collapse and the meal to be abandoned. My lasting memory is of a fishtank in the restaurant that was being filled by natural means!! The pressure of water also demolished the drainage system, broke up the roads and submerged many cars. According to the national news there were millions of dollars of damage to property.


Another time we went again to a restaurant and returned to my relatives farm to see swathes of trees had been uprooted by a hurricane while we were out.

Enjoy the warm winters though !!!!!

I was in Melbourne a few years ago for Christmas and it was 12 degrees or something - that was supposed to be summer!

[aussielong]

First thing is the skills assessment from the Australian Computer Society, which takes about 3 months.

You can only apply for the visa once you've got the skills assessment, which can take anything up to a year depending on police checks, medicals, stuff getting lost in the post.

So I'm hoping to be there by 2010

There is a quicker route - if you are good at IT and "in demand". Come here on a tourist visa. Then get sponsored by a company on a 457 visa. Once you've been there a few months get them to sponsor your PR application. I did it the same way you are -skilled migration - but i've got friends who did what i described and it's a lot quicker. Like i say, they don't sponsor everyone.

You can only contract on a WHV. You won't get a permie job. You can only work for 6 months in one job on that visa, then you have to move on.

457 visa is the go! You get "living away from home allowance" (LAHFA) while you have this visa. This means you pay about 20% less tax than someone who is PR. All the poms are on them, until they have to move on to PR for various reasons such as wanting to settle down here.

You can find places like freespirit.com.au who will sponsor you for a 457 and then you go out and find work with the visa. (I think the government have cracked down on this though). Worth a look mind. It's legal and was very easy when I did it many years back.

[beeker]

There is a quicker route - if you are good at IT and "in demand". Come here on a tourist visa. Then get sponsored by a company on a 457 visa. Once you've been there a few months get them to sponsor your PR application. I did it the same way you are -skilled migration - but i've got friends who did what i described and it's a lot quicker. Like i say, they don't sponsor everyone.

You can only contract on a WHV. You won't get a permie job. You can only work for 6 months in one job on that visa, then you have to move on.

457 visa is the go! You get "living away from home allowance" (LAHFA) while you have this visa. This means you pay about 20% less tax than someone who is PR. All the poms are on them, until they have to move on to PR for various reasons such as wanting to settle down here.

You can find places like freespirit.com.au who will sponsor you for a 457 and then you go out and find work with the visa. (I think the government have cracked down on this though). Worth a look mind. It's legal and was very easy when I did it many years back.

That's my intention; proving my worth for sponsorship. Should be ok, honours degree in Computer Science with 8 years experience and I should be almost MCSE'd by the time I go!

In response to another post - 12 degrees IS summer to me!

[snaw]

In response to another post - 12 degrees IS summer to me!

You're Scottish as well then?

[beeker]

You're Scottish as well then?

and ginger! (hence beeker)

i'd have shorts on in a 12 degrees heatwave!!

[TheBigYinJames]

and ginger! i'd have shorts on in a 12 degrees heatwave!!(hence beeker)

In Glasgow, the neds have their shirts off as soon as it stops sleeting.

[Lucy]

and ginger! (hence beeker)

i'd have shorts on in a 12 degrees heatwave!!

In Australia you will be called 'blue'

Don't ask me why...

[Churchill]

In Glasgow, the neds have their shirts off as soon as it stops sleeting.

Stops them getting blood/vomit stained.

[meridian]

And get your criminal records clearance thingy before you go too, it takes months and months and months over there, and loads of contract roles are asking for it now.

I don't think you need a criminal record anymore.




IGMC

[beeker]

In Australia you will be called 'blue'

Don't ask me why...

been called a lot worse!