marta

Exactly. For example, we were told that my spouse could work while here on a 457 visa. That sounds to me like she can go get a job, like anyone else. But guess what ? Aussie employers always ask for the applicant's residency status, and those on 457s can only be hired if no equivalent Aussies or PRs are available. So in actuality, your spouse pretty much has to find a 457 sponsor just like you did, just like any foreigner has to.

 

Employers natuirally paint a rosy picture of work and conditions here in Oz - and let's face it, that's not difficult to achieve. But be warned ! All it takes is for your employer to finish a contract and need to drop headcount....and if you're a 457 in a department of Aussies, you're automatically closest to the door. Especially if the Aussies are all mates. Then all of a sudden it's cheers mate see ya and you have 90 days to find another sponsor or leave the country. Obviously this is less of an issue for those with widely-employed skills (tradies etc), but for those of us who are specialised, it can be a huge issue. People being asked to come here on a 457 may well be giving up a permanent position to make the move. It's only right that they are given the full picture as to just how temporary a position they may be getting in exchange.

 

I know people who have demanded PR upfront, or a commitment to sponsorship for PR after 2 years. If you feel you may have enough clout to swing it, give it serious consideration.

 

I post this message with the intention of warning and helping others.

Sorry to say so, Blewyn, but that's just plain wrong. This misunderstanding might also be where your confusion stems from initially about the 457 visa as such.

I'm in the same situation as your spouse, and I can work for any employer in Australia without needing sponsorship! I've got sponsorship through my partner. That's the idea of being the dependant person on a 457 visa. True, my partner (basically my sponsor) cannot change employers just like that as he would need to find a new sponsor. But I'm free to work for how long and for whom I want. It's true, even though it might be trickier for 457 people to get work, it's not impossible.

Look, I've written so many applications. I've done two internships working for free. I've done menial tasks Aussies wouldn't do. But I've found a job doing this at the end of the day and that's all that counts. It took a while - that's true. But it's okay, because I've done it. You know, I could walk around complaining but that doesn't help anybody. I've got a PhD and several other degrees which my co-workers don't, but it's fine. I knew if I do nothing then I won't get anything. It's the decisions we make in life.

Blewyn, I agree that my post isn't very helpful and I apologise for being quite bold! However, I don't think your initial post is really that helpful either.

To be fair, people who are registered at Poms in Oz looking around for info about migrating to Australia surely know to differentiate between a temporay visa and a non-temporary visa. It's in the name! Also, your posts are quite aggressive too (unnecessarily so I should think).

I can see your initial post was caused by anger and disappointment, and I really feel sorry for your bad experiences. But there are many people moving to Australia and having to deal with a range of problems. It's not easy to migrate from one country to another! And nobody expects it to be easy.

As docboat said, the condition of the temporary visa should have been clear before/whilst applying, particularly after last year's changes to the visa conditions which clearly make it even harder for foreigners to move from a temporary visa onto PR.

I think we should still be grateful for the chance that we are given to work in Australia in the first place. Please note, this comment comes from someone who really, really had to struggle finding work in the first place. I also don't like being treated as 'the foreigner' on a 457 but I knew that it could be hard, and what doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

It's funny I'm saying this because I do tend to complain about Australia a lot as you may have seen from my older posts, but this 457 thing is really something we cannot do anything about, and everybody on a 457 knows what to expect. I doubt anybody planning to move to Australia on a 457 doesn't know about the risk involved!

I certainly would love to get the chance to get PR but I cannot be sure about that happening, and I've planned for that - in the worst case I have to leave Australia without even knoweing where to go to (because I'm not even a Brit so cannot 'just' go back to the UK, and I left my native country seven years ago so there's no home for me actually).

I know, I cannot buy property in Australia as yet, I live in a shitty appartment and I have to pay over 500 bucks just for private health insurance (and on top of that I have to pay for each and every doctor's visit). But I live in Australia, in a highly developed and very sunny country! What more could I want? My partner and I are working very hard to survive here, but it's a choice we made!

Blewyn, that's really sad. But this condition should have been pretty clear right from the start when you applied for the 457!?

Don't get me wrong, I'm on a 457 myself and it's been hard for me to find work in Australia. I'm sponsored by my partner who's sponsored by a university in Australia (working about 80 hours a week), and we know that if the sponsor doesn't move us onto PR we're out of here pretty soon. But that's the risk we took!

The 457 visa clearly says 'temporary' so you cannot expect to get the same rights as someone on a PR. On top of that, what's wrong with upskilling oneself? I've paid a lot of money doing one of the TAFE courses to get an Australian accreditation as PM. I don't regret having done that in addition to working full time as a contractor in a badly paid job.

Maybe your expectations were too high in the first place. It's pretty obvious that the job market is very competitive these days, and not only in Australia, it's the same all over the world. Mind you, one can never be too sure about one's own job future, regardless of the country you're living in, and not even if you're in a specialist profession.

I'm sorry it didn't work out for you.

Lovely to hear that you arrived fine. Ah fingers crossed for the next stages of your return! I'm sure it takes a while until you're fully settled. But it surely is worth the trouble this time. Good luck with the job hunt! Take care.

Trust your instinct, I'm sure you'll be fine. -- And don't forget job hunting in the UK cannot be more difficult than in Australia! Remember how long it took us on these 457s back then? Nah, you've got a lot of experience, and not many people get lucky living abroad. It most certainly changed you for the better and you've been through a lot of things already eh!

Take care and don't give up, it's going to be okay!

The best of luck to you guys! OMG I cannot believe you're leaving before us! We're still not sure what's going to happen to us. My poor husband though has been recently travelling back and forth between AUS and ENG to to sort out his late mum's estate. Not an easy thing to do living in Australia!

Ah I'm so happy for you that you're going back together, and it's lovely your husband's supporting you in this. I'm sure you'll be fine when back in the UK. Good luck, take care, and Auf Wiedersehen!

Uh oh no, I didn't know it would pose a problem getting a flat if we moved back to the UK (if we went). That would most certainly suck. So do you always pay more fee to the rental agency in that case? And what about buying property in the UK straight away? Does anyone know how that works out?

Good luck to you! I'm sure you made the right decision. I'm also sure you'll find a job back home easily - much easier than here. Remember how hard it was to find anything at all?!

Incidentally, my MIL just passed away and my partner and I had to go to England over Easter. Because of the sad circumstances and the poor weather unfortunately we found it quite depressing during our time in England. But I certainly do prefer the mentality of the English to that of the Aussies most of the time.

Anyway, we still have no news about our visa. Ours will expire in March next year. We are still not planning on staying in Oz forever but we would rather stay another year or two before going somewhere else. But that's also due to the fact that my partner's profession makes it hard for him to find work easily.

All the best, take care and take it easy! Hope everything will sort itself out, also with your husband. At the end of the day you were not happy here, so just do it!

@HappyHeart, Yes, yes they help indeed (but, as I said, they are not the sexy option). Only buy good quality ones though (they have to sit tight around your leg and ankles). They may not seem comfy in the first place but you'll be surprised how useful they are. I normally get swollen ankles and legs pretty quickly after a normal working day sitting behind my desk even though I'm still young (36 years of age) but I really don't regret using these beauties on the flights! My dad has to travel in the car a lot due to his job and he uses them every day for his trips.

Good luck and enjoy the UK!

Regarding flight socks, I thought everyone uses them! I always wear them, otherwise I would really be anxious about getting a blood clot or worse. Also, I have infrequent palpitations, so a no-brainer for me really. Surely the socks are not exactly of the sexy kind but who cares!

This year we flew up to visit my family in Germany in January and jetlag was really bad. We usually fly in June or July which means it's summer time up there and much more sunlight. The winter in Germany was not that bad, just a couple of days with minus ten and snow while we were there but when we came back down here we had jetlag for almost two weeks. We used to feel jetlagged for about one week only, however, when flying in June/July. So I suppose it's because the time difference is just bigger right now (10 hours for Germany).

As for the flights as such, the flights up via Singapore where pretty rough this time. We had tons of turbulence. The whole time from Mel to Sin (7 hours) the plane was jumping up and down due to bad weather and then again quite a bit of bumping on the second leg Sin to Fra due to the jetstream above India and Pakistan (about three to four hours). We always fly the same airline (Singapore Airlines) and the same journey so by now we know where the bad spots are. But I still take my pills if it is getting too bad for me (I have got bad fear of flying). I never feel sick in my stomach just extremely anxious. Well,there's not much I can do 'cause I wanna live in Australia still.

Hi there,

Long time no see!

Oh dear, what a tricky situation! Well, I totally understand where you are coming from. You know that I am an Oz hate-lover as well. But to be honest, I would go for PR!

It is a great chance to figure out what you guys actually want to do in the long-term, wherever that might be. You can still move anywhere once you have got PR. Sure, there is Super which would have to stay here when moving onto PR, but on the other hand if you left and took Super with you you would also need to pay tax which also sucks.

I would think about staying in Oz for now, also considering the economic state of the UK right now. Exactly, maybe try moving to another city in Australia that you would like better than Sydney and then take it from there.

I am pretty sure that it will also be much easier for both of you to find a job on PR. It is just the sound of a temporary visa that they do not like here! Nevertheless I myself have just landed a new job in Melbourne whilst being on a 457. My old contract was about to finish and I got lucky that I found something before then.

My partner and I arrived pretty much at the same time as you two guys if I remember correctly. We also do not know what we will do in the long-term but should we get the chance to move onto PR we will take it. For us everything will be decided in the course of this year.

Whatever you decide, take care and all the best!

Oh geez we would really like to move back to Europe at some point in time but we know it's not going to happen soon as the economy up there is so bad right now. Unless we both lose our jobs down here which would suck also. Well, indeed, I'm out of my current job by April so that's really not going to be fun.

We are constantly telling ourselves we have to stay because we are saving good money down here which will come in handy once we are leaving OZ. We are still on a 457 and the insecurities related to this visa and the often shitty Aussie mentality (please excuse my French) are really giving me heart palpitations lately (no kidding, I already had to get a Holter monitor appointment to check that out).

Anyway, good luck and fumbs up for all of you guys!

That shouldn't be an excuse, however, to behave like this, isn't it? It takes less than a minute to send a reply such as 'I'm busy and won't come.' or something similar. Not to mention the mega rude recruiters and HR people...who just think of their stupid KPIs.

I made the same experience down here in Melbourne and by now gave up even to wonder why it is the way it is. I'm just so disappointed. There's a huge difference in mentality between the UK and OZ, I think, and I certainly prefer the UK mentality. Just look at the Ashes right now...says a lot about the Aussies (the fact that they behave like bogans all the time).

I am totally afraid of flying and every time I fly I think I am going to die and I hope it doesn't hurt... For me it does not matter if it's long haul or just a short trip, I just hate flying and have to take tranquilizers (only on the long haul flights though, I don't want to over do).

The length I don't care about but the turbulences freak me out, especially the ones above the Bay of Bengal and the aequator were it's always bumpy. Stupid and not helpful when you are forced to fly long distances on a plane...

I don't get airsick as such but I have motion sickness (maybe due to low blood pressure) and am very sensitive to changes in height and movement. That also happens to me on trains and coaches.

Long time no see... Hello all!

He: 43, Englishman, sponsored by a uni in Melbourne, sponsoring me on 457 as de-facto

She (Me): 35 (well almost), Krautwoman, de-facto & sponsored by him, not married, no plans to marry (no need after 14 years); I finally found work in Melbourne (HOORAY!!!), and I have been in that job for a year now. (Still cannot believe that it finally happened after all that frustration.)

We: Arrived June 2011 in Melbourne and not sure yet when to leave. Visa expiring in early 2015. At least staying until then. We shall know more in two years time... (Would be nice to buy a flat sometime somewhere though. Rent is getting expensive in the long term.)

Good questions, I am a defacto on a 457 too. Will watch this thread.

Good luck to you!

Yes it's Mark Twain.

Sorry I have to be honest. No I wouldn't do it as you earn enormously in London. We lived off £40k in London together (the two of us) and even then we already had PhDs, work experience, four European languages and stuff.

I am sure you would be able to live ok on $100k together in Melbourne which is not as exciting a place as London (honestly) but you would certainly not be able to get everything you want as life is more expensive down here than in London. Even the rent is higher and the flats are crappier too which says a lot if you have lived in London.

On the other hand if you want to try something new, why not go for it?! The sun is shining a lot and if you like a hot climate, that's perfect then. The nature and the ocean are amazing, that's for sure. And if you know in advance that you will not have the same money in Melbourne as in London and that you will have to go job hunting for a while that's fine, I think. You should do whatever you feel is right for you.

Whatever you decide, all the best!

What do you mean by showing the contract? You mean for the visa application? You are aware that you need a sponsor to apply for 457 at all?!

We got 457 super quick in four days. We lodged the application online. Sponsorship is via university.

I find the exact moment of departure the hardest and I usually cry silently for a while. When you see them waving and they are just standing there. And I always think what if I never see them again.

I have been experiencing many departures since 2003 as I had a long-distance relationship inside Europe with my partner for a while and when we lived in England and Italy I went home to my parents around three to four times a year (lucky days!) and it was always kind of sad.

So no, I don't think it will ever get better. At least when you have feelings for the people you are leaving behind. I know there is Skype and LiveMessenger but of course it's still not the same.

I have a friend down here in Point Cook who is just in the process of leaving Australia due to the new or upcoming LAHFA regulations. They have one child, she doesn't work and he earns more than 100k and they seem to be struggling even with LAHFA.

So this friend told his employer about the LAHFA cuts and asked if the company would be willing to increase his income. The boss said no and wished him all the best for his future.:eek:That's a clear statement.

My partner and I are also on a 457. He earns 80k and I have been job hunting intensively for about 10 months without much luck and we never applied for LAHFA because my partner's position is 'actually' ongoing and the employer only allows LAHFA for people who are on a fixed term contract. The problem is a) my partner's job needs to confirmed after a four year probationnary period to move over to the ongoing position, and b) right now we are on a 457 so have all the disadvantages which are included in that kind of visa. How unfair is that please? Anyway.

I have to say that I am almost happy that we never could apply for LAHFA as I am sure we would be very angry about it being cut off. We don't struggle on 80k but we don't live a luxurious life either. No car, no alcohol, no fun. So I can imagine it must be quite hard to survive as a family of five on that kind of income especially as childcare and schooling is ridiculously expensive for families on 457.

I am so sorry for you guys and hope all turns out well for you and your family.

I think the most important job is to use 30+ sunscreen at all as the sun is just unbelievably extreme down here. However, when I go down to the beach I still see so many people (tourists? stupid Europeans?) who just keep burning themselves. That's when they end up looking like tomatoes. How can anyone be so stupid to risk their lives? They seem to underestimate the sun.

But I still do wonder why the newspapers down here keep saying every second 'Australian' (dunno if immigrants count too) will get skin cancer once in their lives. I thought they have this huge awareness scheme for skin cancer such as the one by the Cancer Council.

I am quite into natural cosmetics and we have a lot of good and affordable brands in my native Germany but I stopped using the heavy zinc stuff last year as it's just so sticky and white. I now use any broadband spectrum sunblock with 30+. I bought the last one at Aldi and it's as good any any expensive cream. Honestly.

Just for my face I do indeed use a mattifying sunblock by Hamilton which can be worn under make-up. I bought that at the Chemist Warehouse.

We used Living & Working in Australia by D Hampshire too.

We knew about that series from our earlier move to Italy, and the books in this series can be quite helpful.

I also got some German books on emigrating to Oz but those where crap.