Migration to Australia
Thinking about Migrating to Australia ?
The Skill Matching Database can contain the educational, employment and work details of skilled migrants who have applied for one of the following Visas to be in the database:
Visa subclasses 175, 176, 885, 886.
This database is used by employers for employer sponsored migration categories as well as by State and Territory governments.
There is no charge to register.
Australian Skills Matching Database - www.immi.gov.au/skills/index.htm
Federal Government Migration Links
Government Migration Links for each State:
Migration Agents
What services can migration agents provide?
A migration agent can:
- advise you on the visa that may best suit you
- tell you the documents you will need to submit with your application
- help you fill out the application form
- submit the application for you
- communicate with the department on your behalf.
You do not need to use a migration agent to lodge any kind of visa application or asylum claim. Your application will not be decided any sooner if you use a migration agent and they cannot influence the outcome of your application.
However, if you do not feel confident in lodging an application, or if your case is complex, you may wish to use a migration agent to help you.
The above is quoted from:
OK, that's the official bits, now for the "will you fit into Australia bits"
A number of new migrants have some difficulties with certain aspects of living in a new country.
They miss some things, and some people.
Will you be one who misses any of the following, sufficiently to create you problems ?
- Going down your local pub with friends.
- Buying your shopping where you know all your favourite brands.
- Watching British TV.
- Visiting your relatives.
Let's look at each of the above:
Going down your local pub with friends
Think carefully about this, as most of the pubs in Australia are very different to the UK pub.
In general they tend not to be family friendly in the same way as the typical UK pub that I recall from years ago.
Most of the Australian pubs, other than Western Australia, have quite a number of poker machines and are designed to relieve you of more of your money via gambling rather than drinking.
Buying your shopping where you know all your favourite brands
The brand of coffee you like may not be available, and the Tea Bags may not be the same.
Finding Marmite is almost impossible, and Bisto granules ? well, it may be time for home made gravy ?
Aunt Betties Frozen Yorkshire Puds, well, yes we can get them where we are, but they are not everywhere.
Watching British TV
We do get a number of British TV programs here, but sometimes about a year behind.
An example: Top Gear series 12 episode 1 aired on Free to Australian TV on Jan 5th 2009. I am not sure when it aired in the UK, but if you check you will get an idea of the time lag.
Many people say that Australian TV is not that good, (some will use other descriptive words that I consider family unfriendly), but at least we do not have a TV licence fee to pay.
Visiting your relatives
This can be a major problem, experienced most by people at about Christmas time, but also at times of major circumstance changes.
Try to consider how it will affect you if you are unable to see your UK relatives.
Personal Diaries and Websites of previous Migrants from Britain to Australia
Please let me know if you have a similar, and suitable, diary that you would like listed on this page.
Settling in to Australia
As a mother, settling in in Australia, it could be worth looking at the Play Group Australia website
Playgroups are set up and run by parents and caregivers, for children normally up to about 5 years old.
They can be a great benefit in providing an avenue for parents and caregivers of young children to get together over coffee and interact with other people in a similar situation to their own.
These two Australian forums may also be use
An excellent comment from a Canadian in Australia, username Comet555
I've been following these forums for a couple of year and I can honestly say that for the most part it seems to be more of an attitude or expectation issue that causes people grief when the immigrate to a new country.
I've been following both the Canadian and Australian sections for a long time and I find them to be very similar regarding why people return home or are unhappy in the new place.
So I'm going to give you a summary of what I've seen in the past few years on both boards.
An unsuccessful move would probably look something like this:
- starts with thinking the new country will be better and will change their life in various ways (they will be happier, make more money, spend more time with kids, etc). While some of that might in fact happen you can't base your move just on one or two of those factors.
- person constantly compares everything with previous country.
- sees the negative in most situations, things don't work out like you "expected" they would.
- spends more time feeling homesick and trying to keep up old connections in the last country rather than trying to out and forge a new life in a new country.
- constantly thinks about how things would be like in their old country, this includes keeping tabs on the job market, housing, and what's going on in general.
- sees many of the differences in the new country as being inferior to the way they're used to it (ie. schools, shopping, services, etc).
- doesn't give the new country a fair chance and returns back "home" before most people even start to settle in.
A successful move would look more like this:
- Recognizes that their life will change in many subtle ways and that things won't necessarily be better.
- Takes the time to relax and settle in and acknowledges the fact that it will take the time to truly be "settled". It won't happen overnight or even in a few months.
- Respects the fact that they are in a different country and some things may be run differently. Sometimes it's for the better, sometimes not, but the person is at least open to the experiences.
- Makes a real effort to get to know people and get involved in the community (school, sports, town, neighbourhood, etc).
- Trys some new things (food, activities, things to do, sports, etc). You didn't move to a new country to continue doing absolutely everything the same as you used to.
- Pays attention to what is happening locally or at least in Canada rather then what's happening back in the old country.
- Is open to seeing what the new country has to offer and trying to learn from it.
- Gives the new country a fair chance and accepts that it will take a while to settle in, make friends get into a routine.
- Does not compare everything to the previous country (how things are done, the cost of goods, etc).
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