How to Move to Australia

       

-Questions to ask yourself-

For what reason am I moving?

What is my current financial situation?

Is there anyone in Australia to help make the transition easier?

How tied am I to my homeland?

Do I need fast internet?

     Ok, so the last one is a joke. But if you’ve ever used Australian internet you can surely relate. It’s important to ask yourself these questions because moving here isn’t the easiest or cheapest thing, and you need to be set in your decision. Reasons for moving may include change of scenery, a new job opportunity, education, or a partner to name a few.

     What is your financial situation? This is critical because moving to Australia can be very expensive, and not only for the application fee. Anticipate background checks, health checks, and possible taxation from your home government if you’re working in Australia while you wait for your residency.

     Do you know anyone in Australia to help make the transition easier? If you have a partner, family, or job willing to sponsor you it can make the whole process a lot easier.

     How tied are you to your homeland? Even if you’re coming from a western culture, Australia will be very different from what you are used to. Unless you’re from California, they always fit in here. I strongly encourage you to visit or temporarily live before deciding to apply for a long-term visa.

     I recently had my permanent residency visa granted within 9 months! My waiting period was supposed to take anywhere from 12-16 months, but I got through very quickly. This is most likely due to my reason for moving (my Australian fiancé), hiring a migration agent (Godsend) and having a clean record (both medically and criminally). So for anyone looking to get a partner visa here is how I did it.

     I started off moving to Australia on a working and holiday visa. This allowed me to stay in the country and work for 12 months. I applied for my permanent visa before my temporary one expired, which switched me over to a bridging visa. So, first of all my partner and I had been together for four years which meant we had plenty of evidence to back up our relationship. Second, we had lived together for at least 12 months prior to applying. Then we registered our de facto relationship through New South Wales. This set up our successful visa application. After that we searched online for a migration agent whom we felt comfortable with, had good pricing and amazing success rates. It’s important to do your research so you don’t get scammed. I will be writing a post about my experience with a migration agent another time. So working with the agent we were able to fill out the application step by step, get my medical exam done and hand in our evidence. The final step was getting my criminal checks done by both Australia and America. For this I also had to be fingerprinted. Once this was all done it was just down to waiting. The way the visa process worked for me was we did things step by step rather than all at once. Once your visa is approved you are all set! If you are getting a permanent residency you will be able to apply for Medicare right away! However, you will be on a temporary residency for 12 months, sort of like a trial period. This will grant you the same rights as a permanent resident though so don’t worry! There really is so much to cover on this topic but I wanted to start by outlining what I went through for this process and then I can go into more details in the future. If you have any specific questions please feel free to comment! Good luck with your visa process.