One out of every four people in Australia is born overseas. This figure alone shows that a big number of Australia’s population is made up of immigrants from other countries who have called the “Land Down Under” their home.
Australia is a top destination for migrants, having people from the UK and New Zealand as the top two countries with the most number of immigrants. Aside from great career opportunities, people from all over the world are making the move to Australia because of a number of different reasons that eventually lead to one important goal – to live a better life.
Having been dubbed as the happiest country in the world, more and more people from all walks of life are considering Australia to become their new home. If you’re one of these people, here are the steps on how to migrate to Australia.
Research.
Read about Australia and know as much information about the country as possible. Equip yourself with the knowledge of its history, culture, laws, and economy – just about everything. Next is determining whether you and the Australian lifestyle are a good match. If you dread going outdoors, the sun, and an active lifestyle, then maybe you should consider someplace else. Australia is very much defined as having an outdoor and active lifestyle, so take this into consideration.
You also have to assess whether you will be able to get work. Determine how you’re going to earn and finance yourself once you’re in the country. You also have to know where you want to live – in the capital of Sydney? Or maybe in Melbourne? How about Brisbane or Perth? Learn as much as you can about these places and decide where you want to live. Once you know where, then it’s time to research about your options.
Decide whether you want to apply by yourself or through a migration agent. The former will definitely save you money since you won’t be paying anyone to do the work for you, but will take a lot of time; whereas the latter will cost you a substantial amount but you will be given all the knowledge and assistance you need to go through the migration process. Either way, you’d still have to do your own research as you must understand the entire immigration process itself.
You have to know what kind of visa you should be applying for. The Visa Wizard that can be found on Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship website is an online tool that will help you find the visa subclass that will most likely fit your specific circumstance, so you should take a look at it.
Expression of Interest
Once you know which types of visas you can apply for, then you can proceed to the very first step of migrating to Australia, which is submitting your Expression of Interest. You can take a look at the Australia Immigration official website on how to submit your EOI. You should also prepare essential documents such as your IELTS score, birth certificate, certificate of employment, Transcript of Records, and other important papers.
Invitation to Apply and Visa Application
Once the immigration department accepts your EOI, you will then receive an Invitation to Apply, where you can now start your visa application process. You can then wait whether your visa is granted or not. Expect to be given a call for an interview, especially in cases of Family Visas, and even for the Australian partner visa. Only a small number of applications will be called on for this but be prepared for this still.
Once your visa is granted, you can then start to prepare yourself to migrate to Australia.
Need some help with your visa application processing? Move Migration; a migration specialist company; can help you break down the immigration process into simple stages. Visit Move Migration office at Suite 8, 281 Pacific Highway North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia or visit www.movemigration.com for more information about their services.
About the author
Michael Ma is working as migration agent assistant at Move Migration – an immigration specialist firm composed of registered migration agents Sydney with high success rates in visa application assistance such as the Australia partner visa and many others.
Featured Courtesy by tim phillips photos