one year sabbatical...can i get a visa??

[sophie hautefeuille]

Hello everybody,

My company has just offered me a year sabbatical...which means i can try find a job in Australia and come back after a year if it doesn't work out!... that's great, but:

- can i go to Australia on a holiday visa and if i find a employer to sponsor me ( my job, news camera operator is on the ENSOL ( the one just published on the 05/12)), can i stay in the country or do i need to go back until the paperwork is sorted?

- can i do unpaid work to prove my skills to the companies i will approach or is it impossible on a holiday visa?

- a holiday visa is 12 months but u have to leave the country every 3 months. Can u go to new zealand, or asia for example and come back?


Lots of question, sorry! The sabbatical is planned to start in May 2011 so i want to get it right and make the best use of my free year!!

Thanks for reading my post,

Sophie.

[Ken]

If it's a holiday visa (as opposed to a working holiday visa) not only are you not allowed to work (paid or unpaid) technically you are not allowed to look for work (although people do of course).

If you try to reenter Australia for another 3 months after only a short time away there is a risk that you might be refused (if immigration suspect that you are not a genuine tourist).

[sophie hautefeuille]

Thanks ken!

well, thats quite radical isn't it? i guess i am better off finding a sponsor before may!

Do you know however what would be a reasonable amount of time between my visits? If i go for 3 months, leave, and then come back 3 months later, is it OK you think?

cheers,
s.

[kellyjamie]

are you over 30 sophie? if not you could do the working hol visa? if not then you could go out for 3 months hol and try and visit some employers but leaving then going back doesnt really look too good, we watch the immigration officer programmes in oz and they seem very very strict, what about 3months in oz then 3 months in new zealand?

[cazbob]

a WHV sounds like the perfect option Sophie (although as Kelly said you need to be under 30)

or what about the 6 or 12 months holiday visas? you can't work on them but it would certianly be less onerous than risking hopping across the pond just to come back on another 3 month tourist visa! I think you need to prove you have a wedge of money to survive on though!

Also welcome to PIO! :D

[sophie hautefeuille]

thanks for the welcome!

Can i ask you what is the difference between a tourist visa and a holiday visa? I am over 30 unfortunately... so do i have a choice of visa?

Thanx,

sophie.

[cazbob]

tourist/ visitor /holiday visas are the same thing....

have a look at the immi.gov.au website and scope out your options... Visa Options - Tourists - Visitors - Visas & Immigration