Go Back   FormKaos: Board > The Office > World Coverage

World Coverage Travels from around the world of electronic.

Reply
 
LinkBack Topic Tools Rate Topic
  #1 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
Living in Australia?

Does anyone on here have information about getting a visa to work in Australia? Or that has done this before already?

Justin and I have decided after a lot of time and thought that instead of going to Europe for a late honeymoon we have much more interest and desire to live somewhere for a year and see where that takes us in life. Australia is somewhere we have both always wanted to go to and looks like a fun place to live. After a bit of research, we are extremely excited and want to do this even more seriously than ever! So far I have learned it is reasonably affordable if you are able to work while you are there (depending where abouts you decide to live). Someone told me it is fairly hard to get a work visa for Australia yet I was told by someone else as long as you have a skilled profession it's much easier, anyways any info about interesting & affordable cities to choose as a destination point/ a good amount of money to bring to start out there/ how to go about getting a visa/ any other miscellaneous information would be of great help to us.

I always suck at this whole asking for information thing, I have never traveled before and so I don't know exactly how to go about getting the right information and taking the next steps to make it happen.

:Star:
Reply With Quote
  #2 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
DONT BE BITTER BE BETTER
 
Join Date: Apr 2001
rawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to allrawb is a name known to all
I HEARD THEY'RE RENAMING IT TO 'SHITTY ENGLAND'
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
har har

*hoping for some serious and informative responses*
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
baby-phat's Avatar
*bassline baby*
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
baby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the rough
^ My friend Cheryl lived and worked in Australia for about a year and a half, she got back this time last year. I will get as much info from her as I can and will pass it along to you. :)
Reply With Quote
  #5 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Go Hard Or Go Home
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
SmokeOne is on a distinguished road
pm me i got tones of info..I also have a buddy that could probably help set you up over there..he lives there 6 months a year..has 2 houses..he may beable to rent to you in Byron Bay
Reply With Quote
  #6 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
black swan
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
prozac is just really niceprozac is just really niceprozac is just really niceprozac is just really niceprozac is just really niceprozac is just really nice
I lived there for a year...will return here after work and give you lots of know-it-all advice.
Reply With Quote
  #7 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
The Thug...errr Pug.
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Bentley is an unknown quantity at this point
I worked over there and did the Eastcoast. Met some hot chicks in Thailand and rented an aprtment in Surfers paradise where I worked the most.

If you're into diving than you may want to hit up the west or the northeast. Don't know much about the westcoast but I do know that if you don't mind picking mangos in the blistering heat and getting eaten by bugs than you can find a job easy in Cairns on a farm. Most of the guys I knew would work their asses off for a couple weks and than come back to party or dive.

I found tons of quality job offers in Surfers Paradise. Its pretty plastic in the way that its basically OZ's hollywood. But if you're into surfing, or the ocean in general its pretty cool. Not that the surf there is all that special but byron is close by. Not that you need good surf b/c basically you're going to suck for the good part of however much time you spend surfing.

I lived in Melbourne but could'nt find a job. Mostly b/c I lived in the burbs. Melbourne was really cool. Its like any metro city.

Sydney's cost of living is really high but theres prolly alot fo oppurtunity there as well. Its a bigger city though. Bigger city = bigger probelms. More bedbugs, more theifs, and more skanky hoes out there to try and steal your man.

Out of all the places I visited I loved cairns. Its small and if you end up with a good group of people its a great setting off point to visit the rest of the country. Its like a whistler though. Everyone has sex with eachother there.

have a good trip. Australia is nothing compared to asia and b/w the two you would definately have a way better time in somewher elike thailand. But I think the key word was work and you can't do much work in Thailand.
Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
ohhh jesus! I am so excited thank you, thank you, thank you for responses, thanks baby-phat I look forward to hearing your relayed info from your friend and smokeone we really want to try and have majority of things set up before leaving if possible too so your offer could just end up being a big help to us! Where abouts is byro bay? I can't wait to get your advice from someone who lived there first hand as well prozac I will be checking in later to read your response!

We haven't picked our destination place there yet because we want to get as much info first but we won't be leaving here really soon. We're trying to plan it out well and save up a good amount of money before we just take off out of the country. I am really interested in either Perth (first choice after talking to a co-worker who is from there I am in love with it) or Sydney (secondly) because it also seems pretty easy to find work and a place to live there not to mention the beaches! But yeah, we are doing this for sure within 6 months we can't just up and leave because Justin needs to give his work notice and would have to help them train someone to fill his shoes while he is gone since his position there is very critical. I could go off on a tangent but it's just excitement I don't know very much yet the next few months will be very busy planning and what not.

Looking forward to more advice and info, Thanks guys! :)

-ang
Reply With Quote
  #9 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Go Hard Or Go Home
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
SmokeOne is on a distinguished road
Well if you have the chance to go to Perth do it..most of the people that go to Aus..ususally missout..Perth Is a very nice place lots of jobs there too..it is one of Aus. bigger citys. If you head down to melborne..and if you go in our summer their winter.. yuo can also go snowboarding there..got a not too bad of a mountain. Sydney is a nice city..but as was said..it is a city so things are more expencive and crouded. Head up to Byron, Surfers..you will love it there guaranteed. Defiantly try and surf..if you have a hard time ther is always bodyboarding(which is way easyer). As for jobs it is easy to get a job in many cafes, bars along the coast. Fruit Picking is always an option..they are always looking for people to work..As for the work Visa. No Criminal records no sort, you need to have a minimum of $2000 in your bank..and thats about it..oh yea you need to get updated on shots..contact your doctor. But besides tha tit is prety easy to get a traverers work visa..but you usually only get one in a lifetime unless you get sopnsered again by a company ther..so if you dont plan on working that much dont get one..save it for the next time.. Therer is now a option to get a 2 year work visa if you promis to work in the fruit picking/orchard industry for more than 4 months a year..This is strictly enforced. Other than that it is one of the nicest places on earth to vcisis and ewveryone should definatly try..I also guarantee you will runb into peole from Vancouver in your travels..prety funny.
Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bentley View Post
I worked over there and did the Eastcoast. Met some hot chicks in Thailand and rented an aprtment in Surfers paradise where I worked the most.

If you're into diving than you may want to hit up the west or the northeast. Don't know much about the westcoast but I do know that if you don't mind picking mangos in the blistering heat and getting eaten by bugs than you can find a job easy in Cairns on a farm. Most of the guys I knew would work their asses off for a couple weks and than come back to party or dive.

I found tons of quality job offers in Surfers Paradise. Its pretty plastic in the way that its basically OZ's hollywood. But if you're into surfing, or the ocean in general its pretty cool. Not that the surf there is all that special but byron is close by. Not that you need good surf b/c basically you're going to suck for the good part of however much time you spend surfing.

I lived in Melbourne but could'nt find a job. Mostly b/c I lived in the burbs. Melbourne was really cool. Its like any metro city.

Sydney's cost of living is really high but theres prolly alot fo oppurtunity there as well. Its a bigger city though. Bigger city = bigger probelms. More bedbugs, more theifs, and more skanky hoes out there to try and steal your man.

Out of all the places I visited I loved cairns. Its small and if you end up with a good group of people its a great setting off point to visit the rest of the country. Its like a whistler though. Everyone has sex with eachother there.

have a good trip. Australia is nothing compared to asia and b/w the two you would definately have a way better time in somewher elike thailand. But I think the key word was work and you can't do much work in Thailand.
well we are thinking of doing a stop over, I was told by someone that you can get your ticket to Australia that stops over in bangkok which is obviously more expensive but way worth it! the reason we want to get a work visa in Australia is so we have a place to call home and make money to help us live off of while we are traveling. Plus it is really close to a lot of other cool places. Does anyone know if you are aloud to travel out of Australia while living there with a work visa? I wouldn't see why not but who knows what kind of crazy stipulations they might have hehe. Cairns huh, I am going to look that place up. I have heard good and bad about Sydney too I am not super keen on it but it seems like an easy place to start off at... but who knows I am probably wrong I haven't done too much research yet. This is just the beginning :)

Last edited by brokencrayon; Dec 08, 06 at 04:07 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #11 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
The Thug...errr Pug.
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Bentley is an unknown quantity at this point
just make sure when ur there that you refer to cairns as "cans" for some reason australians cant pronounce everything we can so they look at you really weird when you say things right.
Reply With Quote
  #12 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
cheeseburger is on a distinguished road
CAIRNS IS THE FUNNEST PLACE ON EARTH

You'll get sucked in and overstay whatever dates you've set

If you get desperate for a job, let me know
Reply With Quote
  #13 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokeOne View Post
Well if you have the chance to go to Perth do it..most of the people that go to Aus..ususally missout..Perth Is a very nice place lots of jobs there too..it is one of Aus. bigger citys. If you head down to melborne..and if you go in our summer their winter.. yuo can also go snowboarding there..got a not too bad of a mountain. Sydney is a nice city..but as was said..it is a city so things are more expencive and crouded. Head up to Byron, Surfers..you will love it there guaranteed. Defiantly try and surf..if you have a hard time ther is always bodyboarding(which is way easyer). As for jobs it is easy to get a job in many cafes, bars along the coast. Fruit Picking is always an option..they are always looking for people to work..As for the work Visa. No Criminal records no sort, you need to have a minimum of $2000 in your bank..and thats about it..oh yea you need to get updated on shots..contact your doctor. But besides tha tit is prety easy to get a traverers work visa..but you usually only get one in a lifetime unless you get sopnsered again by a company ther..so if you dont plan on working that much dont get one..save it for the next time.. Therer is now a option to get a 2 year work visa if you promis to work in the fruit picking/orchard industry for more than 4 months a year..This is strictly enforced. Other than that it is one of the nicest places on earth to vcisis and ewveryone should definatly try..I also guarantee you will runb into peole from Vancouver in your travels..prety funny.
Do you know how long it takes to get approve for the visa and also how long you have from when you get it until when you have to leave to Australia? We won't be leaving to go there for another 4-6 months but I want to make sure we cover all the bases y'know.
Reply With Quote
  #14 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Go Hard Or Go Home
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
SmokeOne is on a distinguished road
It took 2 weeks. picked it up at the australian consalate in vancouver. if you have a one year visa you have one year..the visa starts as soon as you enter the country
Reply With Quote
  #15 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
ok so say you get your visa a good couple months before you leave for Australia, it wouldn't start counting time towards that year until you actually arrive there? Or do you get a year starting from when you receive the visa?
Reply With Quote
  #16 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Go Hard Or Go Home
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
SmokeOne is on a distinguished road
when you enter the country it starts. but just incase check it out..contact the austrailian consalate in vancouver for better detail
http://www.dfat.gov.au/missions/countries/cava.html

Last edited by SmokeOne; Dec 08, 06 at 05:42 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #17 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokeOne View Post
Well if you have the chance to go to Perth do it..most of the people that go to Aus..ususally missout..Perth Is a very nice place lots of jobs there too..it is one of Aus. bigger citys. If you head down to melborne..and if you go in our summer their winter.. yuo can also go snowboarding there..got a not too bad of a mountain. Sydney is a nice city..but as was said..it is a city so things are more expencive and crouded. Head up to Byron, Surfers..you will love it there guaranteed. Defiantly try and surf..if you have a hard time ther is always bodyboarding(which is way easyer). As for jobs it is easy to get a job in many cafes, bars along the coast. Fruit Picking is always an option..they are always looking for people to work..As for the work Visa. No Criminal records no sort, you need to have a minimum of $2000 in your bank..and thats about it..oh yea you need to get updated on shots..contact your doctor. But besides tha tit is prety easy to get a traverers work visa..but you usually only get one in a lifetime unless you get sopnsered again by a company ther..so if you dont plan on working that much dont get one..save it for the next time.. Therer is now a option to get a 2 year work visa if you promis to work in the fruit picking/orchard industry for more than 4 months a year..This is strictly enforced. Other than that it is one of the nicest places on earth to vcisis and ewveryone should definatly try..I also guarantee you will runb into peole from Vancouver in your travels..prety funny.
so I just noticed this post now haha.... anyways yeah I really want to go to Perth even if just for a little while. This girl that I work with is actually from there and is living her with her fiance for a year to work which is kind of what inspired us to do the whole live and work in another country thing and get the ball rolling on whatever country Justin and I decided on, which just so happened to turn into Australia. Both of us had always said it was on our top 5 places to travel to sometime before we die, I mean who wouldn't want to it's amazingly beautiful!
Reply With Quote
  #18 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
I <3 House
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Ree Fresh is an unknown quantity at this point
I traveled for a year after high school... it was the best thing I ever did in my whole life! It's like it was almost made for back packers.

Anyways as far as getting a visa I think you need to go to their embassy to get one or check on line. I did mine through a program called "swap" which made it easier. Actually I think if your LESS skilled your more likely to get a visa because they dont want foreiner's taking the good jobs away from the aussies. They prefer you work the tourism industry and pick fruit.

It's very hard to find a job at first as you dont know the area... but if you hit it hard core and really try it wont be hard. Be prepared to get depressed at times when your losing cash and cant find work. Also you may have to travel in land for work as well. I work at a bar in the out back. I had a free room and got paid $14 hr weekdays and $17 weekends. Personally it was a great experience culture wise, however I had to take up smoking so I wouldn't drink my self to death.

Money works out about the same for what things cost. Some things are a bit cheeper, but than youll get annoyed because they like to charge you $0.50 for tamato sauce on your fries at some places. Their food doesn't taste as good and comes in smaller portions for the same price or a little bit more. However I thought what I paid for rent in most places was a good deal compared to Vancouver... even on Sydney's Bondi Beach.

You have to do the east coast and do Byron bay, Surfers, Fraser Island 4X4 camping trip, WhitSundays sail trip, and Scuba/snorkel in Cairns. The whole east coast is built with tacky hostels, cheep bars and other atractive thigns for the young back packer. Almost every city is like the rest and can get a bit boring unless you live it in. I did a great adventure with Adventure tours though the Ares Rock to Adilade. Cost a lot but tons of fun! I heard the West coast is the best. Perth and Darwin are great places, but REALLY FAR.

Really Australia is just like Canada in almost every way (economy/money/job opportunity) except the climate is hotter. Best way to difference the two would be; Canadians do coffee compared to Aussies do'ing drinks after work.
Reply With Quote
  #19 (permalink)  
Old Dec 08, 06
baby-phat's Avatar
*bassline baby*
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
baby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the roughbaby-phat is a jewel in the rough
Just waiting for my friend to call me back with info n such. :)
Reply With Quote
  #20 (permalink)  
Old Dec 10, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
^^ Thanks for sharing your experience... now we are thinking we might even shorten our trip and skip the work visas so we can check out more than just Australia while we are gone and really enjoy it without having to find jobs all the time, but I am still pretty keen on doing the whole living and working there for a year too so who knows at this point. We could always try and hit Thailand and a couple other places before we make it to Australia or something. I guess that is all part of the planning process though, deciding exactly what we want to do when we go away.

I really appreciate all the responses they have helped a lot since a lot of websites don't really tell you about the actually experience. So far we have heard nothing but great things from you guys so we are super stoked to start getting our shit together and leave the country by summer time, no matter whether we decide to work there for a year or just hop around that part of the world for a few months.
Reply With Quote
  #21 (permalink)  
Old Dec 10, 06
the fink it girl
 
Join Date: May 2005
thechix0r is on a distinguished road
I've always been envious of my various friends who went out and did that. I've been thinking about doing something like that for some time now
Reply With Quote
  #22 (permalink)  
Old Dec 10, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
^ after networking and talking to a lot of people who will be doing this soon and have done this already, I find it such an awesome thing to do in life. I mean it's really only a year, or even less depending where you go and what you do.... and such an awesome experience to have! Everyone should do something like this at least once in their life right! I work with a girl who is doing that here, working and exploring BC/Canada with her fiance (funny 'cause they are actually from Australia hehe). She kind of inspired to really start thinking about what Justin and I wanted to do and see before we settle down :)
Reply With Quote
  #23 (permalink)  
Old Dec 10, 06
the fink it girl
 
Join Date: May 2005
thechix0r is on a distinguished road
Yeah travelling with your significant other can be awesome, good luck if you decide to go
Reply With Quote
  #24 (permalink)  
Old Dec 10, 06
Registered
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
brokencrayon is an unknown quantity at this point
well even with a friend or alone can be an awesome experience, just for me I know I would get extremely lonely and home sick if I went by myself... I'm just glad Justin is also my best friend because I could never go anywhere without him either. Whatever we decide to do, we are leaving the country for at least a couple of months to travel. We just have to decide exactly where and what we want to see and do.
Reply With Quote
  #25 (permalink)  
Old Dec 10, 06
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
mojo is just really nicemojo is just really nicemojo is just really nicemojo is just really nicemojo is just really nicemojo is just really nice
http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com/ca...s.cfm?catid=10

ask away
Reply With Quote
Reply

Topic Tools
Rate This Topic
Rate This Topic:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:51 PM.


Forum software by vBulletin
Circa 2000 FNK.CA