Our 5 years Permanent Resident Visa is up. Basically it means that if you want to stay in Aus without leaving the shores, you're fine since you are considered a permanent resident but you need to apply for a Return Visa if you want to go out of the country for a walk.
The process couldn't be any easier if you've fuflfilled the basic requirements which is live in Aus for the last 2 out of 5 years. All you do is go online, fill in the online form, pay using Visa and voila you get the visa which is valid for another 5 years.
Showing posts with label Moving to Aus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moving to Aus. Show all posts
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Saturday in Perth
Went on the usual Saturday trip to Perth yesterday to do my shopping. Left at 10 in the morning and the first stop was lunch at my favourite Japanese restaurant, Kanta (U 7/76 Langford Ave, Langford 6147 (08) 9451 5720). We found the gem when I was staying in Langford. The place is run by a Japanese family and the food is pretty good and it really reminds me of the family restaurants I find when I go travelling around in Japan.
When I'm at Kanta, I'll ususlly start off with Tamago jiru which is egg in miso soup. After that I'll have the Scallop and Salmon roll which for $11 is a little pricey but a must have for me. The salmon and the scallop goes well together and frankly if not for the price, I'll be having dozens of it if I could. For the main course, I'll usually share a sushi set and another main meal with my wife. Choosing the sushi small set or the large set is dependent on how hungry I'm feeling then. The large sushi platter has 14 nigiri and 8 pieces of roll which for around $28 is pretty good. The sushi are all hand rolled and not from the machine like some other restaurants. I'll usually share a don set but yesterday we had a ramen. It was good but slightly saltish for my taste. The soup base is very flavourful and definitely not like those I have from the packet ones that I tend to have in Perth. At the end, it's definitely a satisfying lunch.
After lunch we went to Oriental Cash and Carry (junction of Bannister Rd and Willeri Ave, Cannington) which to me is one of the better Asian supermarkets around. It's the warehouse for Kong's so basically the more you buy, the cheaper it is. They'll give a discount if you buy 2, 6, or 12 of the same item. They stock just about everything you may need to cook an Asian meal but of course they don't stock everything. After living in Perth for a while, you'll find the different places to go to for different things.
We went to Market city supermarket which is down the road (junction of Bannister Rd and South St) for fruits and vegetables. Definitely one of the cheaper places to get the green stuff and the cheapest for eggs that I can find. We got ours for $1.80 for a dozen.
When I'm at Kanta, I'll ususlly start off with Tamago jiru which is egg in miso soup. After that I'll have the Scallop and Salmon roll which for $11 is a little pricey but a must have for me. The salmon and the scallop goes well together and frankly if not for the price, I'll be having dozens of it if I could. For the main course, I'll usually share a sushi set and another main meal with my wife. Choosing the sushi small set or the large set is dependent on how hungry I'm feeling then. The large sushi platter has 14 nigiri and 8 pieces of roll which for around $28 is pretty good. The sushi are all hand rolled and not from the machine like some other restaurants. I'll usually share a don set but yesterday we had a ramen. It was good but slightly saltish for my taste. The soup base is very flavourful and definitely not like those I have from the packet ones that I tend to have in Perth. At the end, it's definitely a satisfying lunch.
After lunch we went to Oriental Cash and Carry (junction of Bannister Rd and Willeri Ave, Cannington) which to me is one of the better Asian supermarkets around. It's the warehouse for Kong's so basically the more you buy, the cheaper it is. They'll give a discount if you buy 2, 6, or 12 of the same item. They stock just about everything you may need to cook an Asian meal but of course they don't stock everything. After living in Perth for a while, you'll find the different places to go to for different things.
We went to Market city supermarket which is down the road (junction of Bannister Rd and South St) for fruits and vegetables. Definitely one of the cheaper places to get the green stuff and the cheapest for eggs that I can find. We got ours for $1.80 for a dozen.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Moving to Australia 2
When we decided to take the step of moving to Australia, we went to see Philip at nTrust at the end of 2004. He was very helpful and he helped to check whether we were 'qualified' to apply for a PR Visa. Apparently there are different categories and depending on individuals qualifications, they can apply for different types of Visa. It is based on a point system whereby age, qualification, jobs are all taken into account. My advise is to visit a migration agent to see if you qualify if you are interested in going through the migration process, but make sure that the initial consultation is free. Furthermore the Immigration Department is always changing the regulations and it is hard to keep up with all the changes.
After going through our details, Philip advised us to submit the application through my wife as she is younger. Luckily for us, we are teachers and teachers do get higher points. Apparently there is a shortage of qualified teachers (check with individual states if you are interested in becoming a teacher, I'll talk about what I went through in a later post). Spouses automatically get the PR too so I had to just tag along.
For the application, PC had to submit all her documents ranging from birth cert to academic transcripts. As she was applying for a Skilled Migrant Visa as a teacher, she also had to sit for IELTS to prove that her command of English is up to the Austalians' standards, lol. She had to score higher than the usual and the papers are long and tedious. She had to register and get the dates to do it it at RELC. My advice for teachers migrating here is to apply for teacher registration as soon as they get the IELTS and the PR is approved, as IELTS is valid for only a year and they need that to be registered as a teacher here. If you make the same mistake as us, you haveto resit for the paper again and it is a toture. There's actually another qualification besides IELTs which is easier and they do accept for teacher registration but not for all states.
One thing good about going through a migration agent is that you do not have to go around looking to get the documents certified. The agent will do it for you. Certification must be recognised by the Australian government and apparently our JP is not recognised.
After getting all our documents done, which was very smooth, especially with Philip's help. We lodged the application sometime in early June of 2005 and surpisingly we got our approval in Nov 2005. The PR Visa is valid for 5 years from the date of approval and we were actually not ready to move over that soon as we still had other commitments. We only finally moved over in 2008 as one of the requirements is that you must stay at least 2 out of 5 years of the PR if you wish to get the PR renewed and we did not want to waste the opportunity.
After going through our details, Philip advised us to submit the application through my wife as she is younger. Luckily for us, we are teachers and teachers do get higher points. Apparently there is a shortage of qualified teachers (check with individual states if you are interested in becoming a teacher, I'll talk about what I went through in a later post). Spouses automatically get the PR too so I had to just tag along.
For the application, PC had to submit all her documents ranging from birth cert to academic transcripts. As she was applying for a Skilled Migrant Visa as a teacher, she also had to sit for IELTS to prove that her command of English is up to the Austalians' standards, lol. She had to score higher than the usual and the papers are long and tedious. She had to register and get the dates to do it it at RELC. My advice for teachers migrating here is to apply for teacher registration as soon as they get the IELTS and the PR is approved, as IELTS is valid for only a year and they need that to be registered as a teacher here. If you make the same mistake as us, you haveto resit for the paper again and it is a toture. There's actually another qualification besides IELTs which is easier and they do accept for teacher registration but not for all states.
One thing good about going through a migration agent is that you do not have to go around looking to get the documents certified. The agent will do it for you. Certification must be recognised by the Australian government and apparently our JP is not recognised.
After getting all our documents done, which was very smooth, especially with Philip's help. We lodged the application sometime in early June of 2005 and surpisingly we got our approval in Nov 2005. The PR Visa is valid for 5 years from the date of approval and we were actually not ready to move over that soon as we still had other commitments. We only finally moved over in 2008 as one of the requirements is that you must stay at least 2 out of 5 years of the PR if you wish to get the PR renewed and we did not want to waste the opportunity.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Moving to Australia 1
Well, it's been 9 months since we've moved over to Australia from Singapore. Many people keep asking me why we moved over here and I guess it's hard to really explain. Thinking about it, I guess the whole process started many years ago. I've always enjoyed travelling and since getting married my wife has also picked up the travelling bug from me. During the trips, I guess that I've really come to appreciate that there's more to life than just a 9 to 5 job and living a life like a robot from day to day. Life to me is really there for us to grasp it and really experience it and I just don't seem to be getting that in Singapore. People are always complaining that it is so difficult having a quality of life and in many ways I do agree and I have this philosophy of don't just complain about something, do something about it. So since I was given a chance of getting Aus PR, why not. If I decided to move or not to move overseas after that, I can't gripe about it as I was given an option and it is based on a decision that I've made. Like I always tell my students, in everything we do, we should always do things so there will always be options for us to choose, the more options the better. We do not want to be stuck in a situation where we are forced to do something because that is the only option open to us.
Anyway after marriage, I discussed with my wife about moving overseas to work and as teachers, we applied to go to Hong Kong Overseas school but it wasn't successful. We even thought of going over to Indonesia as they were looking for teachers but after speaking with a friend who was there, we decided against it. So we looked at other options and one of them was to apply for a PR status in Australia, UK, US or Canada and then teach. Everybody keeps telling us that they are short of teachers everywhere. We discounted US and Canada (too far from parents), UK (distance again and cost of living) and so we settled for Australia.
When we decided to try and get our Aus PR, the first thing we did was to look for info and the best place to look for it is at the Department of Immigration & Citizenship's website. It is really very detailed in what you have to do and you can actually go through the whole process on your own. But after reading through all the guideline and info, we felt that it would be better to maybe approach an immigration agent for advise and personally to me, that was the best way to do it if you can afford it (It's worth it). Anyway the first consultation is free and they will be able to tell you whether you qualify or not, and if you do which Visa category to apply for to get the best chance, the immigration law is constantly changing as it is based on the country's labour needs most of the time.
We approach Philip Sim from nTrust and we made an appointment to meet up. He's a nice chap and the interesting thing is that his wife is also a teacher so I guess we kind of hit it off. When we met up after the initial meeting, his wife was always around and we kind of talked shop most of the time.
Anyway after marriage, I discussed with my wife about moving overseas to work and as teachers, we applied to go to Hong Kong Overseas school but it wasn't successful. We even thought of going over to Indonesia as they were looking for teachers but after speaking with a friend who was there, we decided against it. So we looked at other options and one of them was to apply for a PR status in Australia, UK, US or Canada and then teach. Everybody keeps telling us that they are short of teachers everywhere. We discounted US and Canada (too far from parents), UK (distance again and cost of living) and so we settled for Australia.
When we decided to try and get our Aus PR, the first thing we did was to look for info and the best place to look for it is at the Department of Immigration & Citizenship's website. It is really very detailed in what you have to do and you can actually go through the whole process on your own. But after reading through all the guideline and info, we felt that it would be better to maybe approach an immigration agent for advise and personally to me, that was the best way to do it if you can afford it (It's worth it). Anyway the first consultation is free and they will be able to tell you whether you qualify or not, and if you do which Visa category to apply for to get the best chance, the immigration law is constantly changing as it is based on the country's labour needs most of the time.
We approach Philip Sim from nTrust and we made an appointment to meet up. He's a nice chap and the interesting thing is that his wife is also a teacher so I guess we kind of hit it off. When we met up after the initial meeting, his wife was always around and we kind of talked shop most of the time.
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