Permanent Residency

This is the visa I recommend for any one. The most important step is to make sure your specialization is in the MODL or Migration Occupations in Demand List of Australian immigration. This list may change periodically.  Now the visa takes almost three years to process and approve. This was slowed down after the recession. They may speedup if there is a high demand of skilled professionals. In the mean time the situation may change. So there is a chance of refusal to grand visa. Be prepared for that.

Once your profession is in MOD list, approach a migration agent or refer http://www.immi.gov.au and do all processing online. Apply through the immigration department's web site and pay online. Use the reference no to login and upload any further documents demanded by the department. Also the status of the visa processing can be checked online.

For someone in IT, the most important step is to get approval from ACS (The Australian Computer Society). The link has all the information. Basically ACS is the authority who evaluates qualification and experience of IT professionals. If one get approval from them, it half way to Permanent Residency.

All the above 18 applicants has to write the IELTS exam and get the required percentage of score. Need to check the immigration website for the required score.

Next step is get health certificate from Australian Immigration Panel Doctors. Make and appointment and do health checkup and the doctors will send it to the department with the reference no of the visa application.

While processing the case office may ask for further documents and we can scan it and upload online through the immigration site.

All need to do is wait patiently and get ready for the Australian permanent residency.

Make sure you have some contact before arriving in Australia to find accommodation, make bank accounts, register in centrelink etc. Soon you can start job hunting; Lucky if you get job in a couple of weeks. Normally people do supermarket, warehouse or petrol station jobs before they get the real job.

It depends up on personals, if one has to go through all these exercise and experiments.

good luck! 

457 Visa or Temporary work permit in Australia

The most important thing is to make sure your specialization is in the MODL or Migration Occupations in Demand List of Australian immigration. This list may change periodically. If you are coming as a student and you want to settle here, make sure to choose on trade in the list.

There should be an employer in Australia to nominate and offer an employment. The employer has to get approval from the immigration department to bring down an overseas employee. For that the job skill or the profession must be in the MOD list.

Once the employer has got the approval from the immigration department, the overseas employee can apply for the 457 visa through the immigration department's web site and pay online. Use the reference no to login and upload any further documents demanded by the department. Also the status of the visa processing can be checked online.

Next step is get health certificate from Australian Immigration Panel Doctors. Make and appointment and do health checkup and the doctors will send it to the department with the reference no of the visa application.

While processing the case office may ask for further documents and we can scan it and upload online through the immigration site.

All need to do is wait patiently and get ready for the Australian job.

Tip: Don't forget to get medical cover from the employer (One of the mistakes I did) or get medical insurance from the home country. Otherwise you are gone :)

My Migration to Australia

Start of madness or fate
After spending almost seven years in Bangalore city, some how I got an aspiration to live in a low crowded and low polluted place. I could live in my village, in Kerala, but no chance with my specialist profession.

In the middle of 2007, I got attention to a job posting in INDUG, and I just follow the guys. The chance was, they need a programmer from India and they were ready to sponsor and make the necessary arrangements for the wok visa (visa 457). It took around 6moths for the immigration process and I land in Perth on the first week of Feb 2008. Follow the link to read more about the work visa.
457 Visa or Temporary work permit in Australia

Sickness of transplanting the family
As usual, transplanting family and building a family with all the house hold stuff will cost a lot of effort and money. The money earned was good for nothing and hardly save any money. This will drive in nuts. If we earn 50k/month in India, the equivalent is 250k here. It's dam expensive than any other country (to live with family). But somehow, I build up everything in two years of time. Still over all, not worth if I consider the stress I had.

Permanent Residency
However, there is no thought of heading back. I started the process to become permanent resident, that will give some social and family security. Luckily, IT professionals are in the hight demand list (MODL). So a hope to get out of the fever of transplanting the family back and messing up kids education.

After two years of arrival, I managed to process the permanent residency visa. All got done just because of HIS grace, I believe so. The heart beat of two years, was so intense. I never recommend any one else to do this. Of course for singles can take this risk and build a good career.