phillllip

I'll give it a try to explain what I mean under 'junkies rule the country and you can't do anything'. With all the perfect laws in Australia /that make life safer for everyone/ there is still a group of people, who are exempt by the laws /and they are not rich or politicians, they are just junkies/. Sorry for my french, but this is the way I feel it and it is hard to explain it easily. I'm glad for the high response to the topic. I just wanted to share my experience and I'm not looking for help, advice or anything. Everybody has a head on his arms and can make decisions. Good or bad we will never know, we can't live it twice - so just enjoy. I wish all good to everyone living in Australia or heading that way. It is definitely a must give it a try destination for everyone considering immigration. Just be careful with the sun

JockinTas Yes, you are right. Giving Australia a try was very important, because I didn't want 10 or more years to pass and ask myself 'why i didn't try'. I should say that I had great experience in Australia. I decided my place is in my home town, so I will just live it here and travel more across Europe, still plenty of places to visit. Hopefully our region stays away from wars /i am worried/, because things doesn't seem as peaceful as they used to be /being next to Turkey and relatively close to Russia is definitely risky nowadays/

Hi, everyone. I spent 7 months in Melbourne and decided to go back home. I'm 35yo single from Bulgaria and it was my second trip to Australia /the first one 5 weeks in Brisbane/, I also lived in USA from 2002 to 2004. I just want to share my experience. I'm not a pom, but I find this forum very useful and thanks for having you guys. I decided to give my australian dream a second chance and went to Melbourne last winter/summer november.2015. My permanent resident visa expires late 2017. I am an electrical engineer with 10years experience. Non-ozzie experience is count as a negative, once you are down-under, which is strange as far as ozzie electrical systems copy the ones in Europe, not USA. I wanted to start a small business as an electrical subcontractor, this was my main goal /the money/. Electrical workers are very well paid in Australia, they are actually very well paid in Europe too. Eastern Europe is just one poor corrupt place and this is the main reason people to search better life abroad - I guess this contributed to the Brexit /which I don't think will happen at all/. So I did a few courses and tried to get an apprenticeship as an electrician, which is a much lower level for my knowledge, but the money are good and the job is easy /for me/. There were not too many engineering jobs at the moment as well. Getting into the electrical industry turned difficult for me. The main problem was that I have no ozzie experience - so to bypass that you have to lie on your CV and put some friends with ozzie phone numbers /better to be ozzies/, unfortunately I didn't know any people before I got there. Being honest person is not a plus, because they don't even call for an interview. So after 6 months I was not getting closer to my dream, even though thinks were going my way. So I sat down and made a list, what is good for me in Australia and what is not: Pros: - Australia is a stable rich country with a high standard of living. /money/ - The weather is very nice. - Beaches, nature, wildlife. - Far from wars and instability on the long run. Cons: - Australia is very far from everything, family and friends - gone. skype, viber, facebook don't change that. - It is impossible to follow european soccer, because of the time difference. - Australia is strange mix of different cultures and people /in the big cities/. So being TOLERANT is very important, which pretty much means everyone can do whatever they want and nobody can hurt their feelings. Junkies rule the country and you can't do ****. - the sun is very strong and people should be very careful. I hope this list may help somebody, there are plenty of things to be added. The main think I didn't understand is that Australia is huge country with 25m population, but all the houses have very small yards. The main goal of most people is to buy house and build two houses at the same spot. So people actually pay a **** load of money for a very small piece of land and a house, which I can't understand /some people said it is because Australia is a colony and whoever comes first gets the most and than they actually exploit the newcomers/. In the US the houses have nice yards and there is plenty of room for everything. If I have to choose between USA and Australia - I vote for the US with both hands. Also in the US having a russian accent is not a minus like in Australia, but I don't blame people for that /it is the TV that makes people think this way/ and I am bulgarian, people don't understand that we don't like the russian government as well. I made my mind to keep living where I was born. Another problem for me was the big city, I come from Ruse which is 150,000 people. Traffic is not my life sorry. In general I think that people who love money do better in immigration. My parents are divorced and are getting older, even though they supported me - I know they are more happy when I'm close to them - this is probably true for most parents. So after 6 months back home I think I made the right choice for me, I'm happy in the city where I was born and 'everybody knows my name'. Thanks for reading

I updated my spreadsheet, because there are some discrepancies in the official sheet. I'm form HR country Bulgaria and my occupation is Engineering Technologist, because Engineers Australia told me that my job duties doesn't match for Electrical Engineer /but I'm one/. Engineering Technologist sounds like **** to me, but i'll live with it for a while.

I did exactly the same and they gave me extra 28 days, which were enough to get the result back from FBI and upload it. Now waiting for meds to finalize and get the answer on the visa.

I uploaded my last piece of the puzzle - hopefully. Waiting for medicals to get finalized and for the result for the visa. My timeline is in my signature. Good luck to everyone.

It's says the same as yours: medical reffered. No visa grant yet.

Mine changed today as well. Medicals were done a week ago.

I'm not sure if they rest in Australia the same months like in Europe - July-August. Maybe they do Jan-Feb.

I lodged 175 on 30.05.2012 and got my CO yesterday 11.07.2012. Asking for medicals and PCCS.