Are you thinking about moving to Australia and want to know how to go about getting there? There is a lot that you need to know. Moving to another country from the United States is not as simple as picking up and moving from Idaho to California, or even moving across the country from New York to California. It is easier to move to Australia if you are young and a skilled worker. There are a few steps that you need to take to be able to move to Australia successfully.
The easiest way to move to Australia is by being sponsored by your place of employment. If your place of employment has an office in Australia, then it is as simple as applying for the job, getting the job and being told when your work visa is ready so you can move. In this scenario, your company takes care of all the paperwork for your work visa, since they are sponsoring your stay in the country, and they take care of all the fees associated with it as well. This is by far the most cost effective and easiest way to get to the Australia.
If you do not have a job that will, or can, transfer you to Australia, then it is a task that you must take upon yourself. Before you begin the grueling process of gaining entry into Australia, first decide if this is really something that you want to do as there will be many changes from food to way of life that you will encounter. Once you are certain that you want to take on this endeavor, your first line of action is to line up a work visa for yourself.
One way of obtaining a work visa for Australia is to see how you rank on their point based skilled migration program. You can find immigration points calculators online to see if you would qualify under this category. Higher points are awarded for higher post secondary degrees. The younger the applicant, the better, with age 45 being the last age that earns extra points on the calculator. You can also get extra points if your occupation is listed on the Skilled Occupations List (SOL). The SOL is broken down into four categories of: Managers and Administrators, Professionals, Associate Professionals and Trade persons and related workers. There is also a listing of Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL) that awards you extra points if your occupation is listed. You must earn at least 120 points to get a ‘pass’ mark on the questionnaire, but if you make at least 70 then you fall into the ‘pool’ mark which means that your application is held in reserve for 2 years.
There is also something called a SIR (Provisional) visa, which is granted when you agree to live in a particular region of Australia. With the SIR visa, you cannot live in Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, the NSW Central Coast, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne or the ACT. The pass mark for this visa is only 110. You are granted a three year temporary visa, and after 2 years of living and working in Australia you can apply for permanent residency.
You can also immigrate to Australia using a business visa. For the Business Owner visa, you have to show you have a successful business with 2 of the last 4 fiscal years showing net assets of at least AUD $200,000. Additionally, your personal assets must have a net value of at least AUD $500,000, you must be under age 45 and you must demonstrate that there is a need for your business to be in Australia.
