My wife and I have seriously been talking about a move to Australia and up until this point I have been doing all the researching regarding Visa's, Work, Living, etc... You know, all the essentials. The thing is neither of us have ever traveled over seas. We are both born and raised in Edmonton, AB Canada and still live within a 50km radius of where we grew up, this is what we want to change.
We both just hit our 30's and feel we missed out on a lot of the experiences our friends had in their 20's since we had other obligations. No kids or pets but both focused on our careers. I am an IT Professional and my wife is a Teacher.
Keeping in mind that we have not even visited Australia or any other Continent for that matter we are making a trip to Sydney and Melbourne this July and hope to take a look around at the day to day life style and work scenario. Since this move is aimed to be a life move without sponsor we will both need to apply for Skilled Independent Visa's but that is just what I have read so far. I am also interested in finding the right income vs expense mix that will sustain us and my wife is curious about the school year schedule since we don't believe for 1 sec that it follows the same months and holidays that are here in Canada. I hope to get more information to these questions and many more here on expatblog.
Getting ahead of myself
Hello Itdennis.
Welcome to Expat.com.
You could have a look at the Visas in Australia guide? It can be useful.
Thank you,
Aurélie
Yes that resource is where I originally started before looking deeper into the government website.
Hi
I am in IT (Software developer) and my wife is a teacher, both early 30's and we landed in Melbourne 4 months ago from South Africa
I was sponsored so had work but my wife didnt have when we landed, what do you want to know?
Hi ltdennis,
I would suggest you visit the official website immi.gov.au to read more about it. There is a big change to the skilled migration program which will make it more competitive to get one. The new program is called Skilled Select and will be implemented this coming July. Right now the process is that you apply for the specific visa. In your case, I'm assuming you are looking to choose Visa 175?
Under the Skill Select program, you will submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) with your information and put into database. You can only apply for the visa if you are invited by the Australia's Department of Immigration & Citizenship (DIAC). I haven't read too much in detail what the requirements are for being chosen to apply. Please check it out.
I think you and your wife will like Australia. I can compare it to being like in the US and Canada. But of course, the culture is different and different laws,etc. However, do the research in regards to cost of living. It has been stated by many people that the cost of living in higher compared to other countries. But the salary doesn't necessarily reflect this. In comparison to US salaries in my particular occupation, I feel that Australia has about the same salaries or a little less. However, the cost of living is higher than what I am used to.
Some online job websites to check out is mycareer.com.au seek.com.au
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