Simo - The Red Shoe Diaries (Part 1)

Looking pretty swole!!

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Come to Australia, you might not get killed.

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Is that a joke about homicides in the US or in Australia?

No it is a joke about all of the creatures and insects in Australia that can kill you.

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Thanks big Rob, hope you are well.

Getting a visa to live and work in Australia can be a little tricky there are many different types of visa and all have different requirements. The two most common for people coming were to work and live are. 1) A skilled visa and 2) a sponsored visa

  1. With a skilled visa you essentially need to work in a field that is viewed as a needed skill in Australia. There is a big list of the jobs and each job has a number of points allotted to it. You then also get points based on age, education, $$ and some other stuff. You need to have a total number of points to meet the entry requirements. For this type of visa you would need a skills assessment to confirm you meet the requirements for the job you say you can do. This visa can take 6-18 months to get sorted.

  2. A sponsored visa. This is basically where you have a job already and the company is sponsoring you to come and work in Australia (this is how I moved here). There are still some requirements to meet but it is a lot easier and quicker. Basically the company is sponsoring you and confirming you will have ongoing employment with them. These visa are usually 4 years, but after 2 years you can get the company to sponsor you again and change it to a permanent residency visa, and then later go for citizenship if you want. If you come under a sponsored visa you have to work for that company whilst under that visa. If you leave or they let you go then the visa won’t be valid. Once you convert to a permanent visa then this condition doesn’t apply and you can move to another job.

There are lots of other, travel, student, family and working visas but those are the most common.

In terms of income tax, when you move to Australia and work here, you apply for a TFN (tax file number). You will then basically complete a yearly tax return and pay tax in Australia. There are some complicated rules around if you still have foreign income and whether you pay tax in the other county or in Australia. Essentially though you won’t pay tax twice.

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Why would a company sponsor you for permanent residency? Seems like only risk for them

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Good question. You can only work on a skilled temporary visa for a fixed period and then after than they have to sponsor you for permanent residency. They generally know this at the start and either you come here in a fixed term contract knowing you will be going home after it finished or you are here Long term and they sponsor you. My
Company paid for the permanent visa and I signed a contract that basically said if I left within 2 years I would pay it back. I stayed for 3 and then got a better offer and moved.

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On top of that risk comes the opposite too, seen a couple of my expat mates get screwed towards the end of a visa period by being let go. Happened to one girl I know within only weeks of the finish line.

She had to leave Australia for a bit to reset it all. Massive arsehole boss. She also found out he hadn’t been paying her superannuation benefit…and was lying to the tax office about her total worked hours each week too lol. Nice guy.

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That makes sense.

That’s the scary part with some of the ex-pat moves: there’s definitely no guarantees.

I always wonder when companies aren’t quicker to fire those folks. You’d rather lose all the people he’s impacting vs just get rid of this one jerk?

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Ya know, I’ve actually (briefly) considered Australia. Y’all’s Navy recruits US sailors pretty heavily, especially guys with certain equipment experience. I know a couple guys who hopped over after their service was up here, everyone had great things to say about the Aussie Navy (much shorter deployments, better work life balance, little bit less bugged down by bureaucracy). Easy path to citizenship too. Seems like an amazing country, the outdoor opportunities and adventure really call to my soul…. But the US is home, and I don’t think I could ever really leave that lol

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If you had asked me 20 years ago, I would have said the same thing. But in reality it didn’t take me long to settle down here and now I can’t think of living back in the Uk

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I discovered a congregation of devil worshippers when i lived in Aussie. Ive never encountered sorcery until i lived there. Other than that,the place is alright. INSANELY hot in summer,its a wonder anything gets done.

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It can get a little warm, especially out bush.

its 20c here tommorrow.perfect. Not 40.

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@atlas13 were you in the Navy?

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Pretty sure he still is

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40 is actually quite rare in Sydney.
Though 35 will happen a few times in summer…

Overall the last couple of summers have been quite mild. Very unusual actually.

The top end though, from say Cairns all the way accross to Monkey Mia…is boody proper hot.

In darwin they get 30 on the regular in winter…

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But remember… Australia is HUGE. it’s as big as the US. Just with the 1/12th the population.

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40 plus is pretty common in Victoria in summer. Especially in country places like Mildura.

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