Moving from US to Australia (or New Zealand!)

I ran a little search for topics on moving to Australia and didn’t find too much, so if this is a re-thread, point me to an older thread and I’ll post there.

Basically, I want to know what my chances are of moving to Australia (or New Zealand), from the United States. I read over the government sites for Australia and New Zealand citizenships, but that’s all legal stuff, not really social. I've wanted to at least visit Australia (and New Zealand ::laughs::) since I was a fetus -- those red storms and the flora and fauna just stole my heart -- or at least as long as I've known about the places, which is just about at long. I heard from (other US-born) people that it's generally really difficult to become a citizen of either place even after having lived there for the prerequisite time, and there tends to be minor prejudice toward State-ers. If that's true (as a whole) I can understand; US-ers have an earned reputation for being assholes, and while it is still sadly one of the best places to be (that I know of and have been told), the reputation is a part of the reason I want to leave. I am rather sick of the US stereotype - or more specifically, the citizens who uphold it. Once I finish schooling at Evergreen, provided I get in at all, I plan on fleeing the States.

Anyone have any help? Need more information? I’m all ears for anything.

My advice would be to first visit and see how you like it. The people are cool, but the threat of dropbear attack might just be too much for you.

No worries, I have Anti-dropbear spray!

p.s. Stupid Polaris and their interia-less ships.

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Originally posted by Lollipop Spider
If that's true (as a whole) I can understand; US-ers have an earned reputation for being assholes

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This is true... *Ducks befor he is beaten to a pulp*

Now that Australia now has a free trade with the US, shouldn't it be a little easier now... Your best bet is to go to your travel agent to gain all the up to date information you need...

But can I get unbiased information from 'em? They might be all, "OMG a potential tax payer trying to escape kthx!!!1" then say something like, "Uh.. no, both of those countries are terrible. The locals have many diseases, will try to cannibalize you, and.. err.. steal your soul!"

Hm. I've been at work to long.

Thank ya kindly for the suggestion!

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Originally posted Lollipop Spider
"Uh.. no, both of those countries are terrible. The locals have many diseases, will try to cannibalize you, and.. err.. steal your soul!"

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Now, I not going to say we wouldn't do that... but just see what they also have to say... what can it hurt?

YAY!!!
first of all find out the pre requsities (sp) for residency before you come over... is there a point system?(certian amount of points to be deemd eligable for entrance) or a special agreement between the countrys like they do between australia and NZ? If you move to NZ and decide that you would like to then come to aussie it may be easier for you...
Find out both countrys policys for immagration. I moved from nz to aussie and it was the best thing I ever did!!!! Hope this might help you sweetie

Hello!

My soul mate (and previous HOP Old Skooler) Dangerboy is a Canadian. he came to oz on a 12 month working holiday visa and tried EVERY VIABLE OPTION in order to become a resident. He spent lots of money on solicitors etc but all to no avail. He managed to stretch out the bureaucratic nonsense for a further 12 months and was with us for just over 2 years but eventually he had to return.

The most effective option would have been marrying an Australien in the first instance, but because he had brought such attention to himself by trying all the legal avenues to get residency, it would have been too obvious in the end.

So, I say start a pseudo relationship with an aussie or a kiwi that's prepared to marry you in order for you to migrate. lots of hot emails and stuff - evidence to show Immigration that there is a romantic history.

hope that helps

Not good news for me either..I'd love to move to oz one day..Beeennndeerrr!?!?! Marry me?!?! I'll keep your new titanium leg all nice n polished

I believe there is a point system, which country you come from, the amount of money you have, education... etc . Take it you don't have immediate family over here?
Hmm, i am not actually a citizen, just a perminant resident (since i was seven), so i will ask my folks how it all works (or did, 14 years ago! ). I also have a friend who is trying for residence from Austria. Will see what i can find out.
And if worse comes to worse, and you decide you really do want to swap a country of a$$holes for a bunch of backward, disease-ridden, cannabilistic convicts... I'll marry you.

Australia is hard to get into, for a reason; everyone wants to go there. Common perception of how easy it is to get there seems to stem from before 1988 when immigration numbers were clamped down on. It comes as a surprise to many when they get rejected.

You've got to ask yourself what do you have to offer the country? At the very least, that's what the immigration lot will ask you, and saying that you like the plants isn't going to do an awful lot for you.

For immigration purposes you need to be under 45, hold a degree or equivilent industry qualification (you'll have to check your US degree is acceptable as Australian degrees are taught at a higher academic level), and have relevent work experience, THEN pass the points test. Presently they're after skilled manual workers more than anything, so electricians, mechanics, engineers, chefs etc are the ones who will get in with a minimum 18 months work experience (all 60 point occupations). 50 point occupations like most sciences, technical services etc need about 4 years before you qualify, any 40 points are just there for decoration.

Something they don't tell you on the forms is that long-term medical conditions will seriously compromise your application. TB and HIV immediately rule you out, but I know of someone with Chroehn's and someone else with clinical depression who have actually been deported for failing to declare these.

www.immi.gov.au is the official immigration page, you can do an online points test free of charge. It's pretty certain that as a fresh graduate you will not get in, and you will be charge nearly $2000 (non-refundable) to be told that officially. This page will give you directions to work in to improve your chances in the future.

If you've got the right determination, you can do it, but don't expect it to be like it was even 20 years ago when they were pretty desperate to get people in. You may have to re-train in a different career to make it happen, but if you've got the rest of your life, what's four or five years?

Once you've got your schooling go on a long holiday there. Don't look at it with rose-tinted glasses, but rather try and assess if you would be truely happy there. Every positive has a negative: lots of sunshine, lots of melanoma. Laid back work attitude, try getting your plumbing fixed in a hurry, etc. Immigration costs, on average $30000. While it could, and probably will be a wonderful thing, nearly 40% of Western immigrants return to their country of origin within 3 years disillusioned and a lot poorer.

Does all that sound a bit negative? Sorry if it does, I don't mean it to be. Australia is a great country that breeds remarkable people. Once you learn that a) Rugby is kind of like American football, except it doesn't suck; b) Cricket is nothing like baseball whatsoever and c) Vegemite is the greatest yeast-based spread in existance, you'll fit right in.

I hear human can be quite tasty

Wonder why immigration costs so much? Thnx Eera, I was going to ask about the point system for workers n such, knew I had heard about it somewhere..

agreed on the rugby thing, but vegemite? :shudders:

You want to move to a country you've never visited?

Man... remind me to sell you my car.

Evergreen my brother went there - maybe you know him - Christopher Somerville.

Anyway I'm an obnoxious american and have lived in Australia twice. The first time was with my family...my step dad is Australian and that made it much easier. The second time was more solo. I went on a business visa which made it easier to get paid. You can't get on a payroll (which you can't do on a tourist visa anyway) but you can get paid as a "consultant." In other words someone can write you a check and not get in trouble at tax time. The down side is that you can only stay for 3 months at a time and then you have to leave. Leaving need not be for more than 10 minutes - I once went to Singapore and flew back the next day.

Marriage is also excellent advice.

I think you should get there and then figure it out. Sometimes it's easier to work the system from the inside ya know?

Thanks everyone, especially Eera, for the information. I fully plan to visit both places, both just because I need/want to, as well as to scope out the environs for personal tolerance. As for the sun and skin cancer, I'm a born and bred Floridian, just transplanted to Alaska. (Just for the thread recon agents. ::grin::) I love both places, as well as Washington. My only, personal, requirement for an environment to live in is I have to be near open water - a coast. Some sort of pelagic complusion, I got crazy away from a coast. Don't worry about the rose-colored glasses thing; I have a fine sense of comfort and discomfort, and so if nothing else, being too lazy and too much (insert regional environmental effect) will keep me from pursuing citizenship. Heh.

Oh, I nearly forgot to ask between the phones... What is the general attitude toward homosexual marriage in New Zealand and Australia?

You gotta be carefull in OZ and probably NZ... you see for some reason they drive on the wrong side of the road!!

It's not that WE drive on the wrong side of the road, but that the americans have their own way of doing everything, different weights and measurements and even barcoding from everyone else (Believe me, I sat thru a day-long seminar on barcoding, and the US uses a different system from EVERYONE else in the world)

As for the aussie pre-conception on americans, i once met an american who said that just because he was one didn't mean that he had to like them - He won us all over with that one .

But seriously, Australia is a great place to live... Where were you thinking of... I can recommend the West Coast, even if we are a bit isolated over here in Perth.

If you mention the word "Americans" over here, you tend to hear the word "arrogant" a lot in return, tell everyone that you are canadian, it will go over alot better.

been practicin that, eh? Got my eh down rite, eh? What do you think eh? Bad thing is I have a horrible tendency to mimic the speech of where ever I'm at (gederdun..stoppit!), so I'd probrably pick up the accent after a while.

Therre was another couple of things I should have mentioned; the points system is not the only method of getting a visa. therre's another system where your put yourself on a database and potential employers can offer you sponsorship, downsides are that you have to go where they tell you to, it costs $2000 and you're only on it for 2 years. If you have no employable skills this is a waste of money.

If you can invest $100000 dollars in setting up a business which will employ 2 Australians then a business visa may be the route to go, except if your business fails you have to leave the country.

Immigration costs come from basically having to pay for every service: initial assessment, $2000, TB check, $500, moving your stuff and setting up house $10000. If you have no confirmed job offer you also need to show you have about $25000 to support yourself.

Incidently, Austalian passports come with a booklet basically entitled "How not to get arrested overseas." It states quite clearly that marriage to an Australian citizen does not guarantee you right of residency. It is not the path to go, sure it might be easier, but every fake marriage is preventing someone with something genuine to offer the country from getting in.

Yeah, I always loved (in a sardonic sort of way) that the US are pretty much the only ones who had systems that is essentially inverted from the rest of the world, and then they call everyone else backwards. Perk of being fat and bloated, I guess. I think the US started out relatively decent enough, with Thomas Jefferson and what not. I am a north American by birth and somewhat by blood, but I have yet to see terribly much evidence that I'm a United States-er. ::chuckle::

I'm not too sure where I want to scope out first. If I ever come into a large-ish sum of money, I'd like to venture all over Australia and New Zealand and contribute. I haven't looked into areas for dwelling (visiting or whatever else) much yet, because I have the tendency to get swept away in dreams and distracted by what I need to be doing now. I'm going to try to get into Evergreen first, and see what happens from there. The whole going to Australia and/or New Zealand idea will be based upon my successful exit of the college; I won't have enough formal education and funds, otherwise.

Bubblishis; I'm not good with names usually, and not incredibly social, so I don't think I do know him. Then again, that whole section of coast is uncanny, so it's also possibly. ::snicker::

As for driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, I'm somewhat dyslexic, so I'll probably adjust just fine. Frankly, I think it's the people here that drive on the wrong side of the road!

yee, i think marriage is the way to go. Anyone want to marry me??

*working on getting back to aus*

ps hugs to flashy - miss you heaps beautiful

We should all just marry each other - get everyone who wants to travel from every country in the world, gather us all up somewhere, and get a big group marriage - then we can all travel the world together! Uwhahahah!

hehe - I can find many bachelors to marry you HeatherFeather, but unfortunately they might fal in love with you....What then????

Josh

I might be being a bit ignorant but what is a pemanent resident and how do you get that status?

A permanent resident is a visa status that basically says you can live in the country as long as you want, but you are not a citizen of the country. For most of my life in Australia I have been a permanent resident, and only in the last two years taken out citizenship.

As a permanent resident you are taxed the same as citizens, but you can't vote and don't do jury service. (just some of the implications)