DianaK

Another article, which gives some numbers and discusses EU vs Non-EU migration: Last week, I spoke alongside Nigel Farage in a debate about immigration organised by the Evening Standard. It was good fun, as you’d expect, with David Lammy, Tessa Jowell and Simon Walker of the IoD on the other side, and David Goodhart alongside me and Mr Farage. You’d be startled, mind you, at the way Nigel Farage gets mobbed by an audience, and in a good way. I did get the chance to get to talk briefly to him myself and ask the question I’d wanted to put to him for ages: why it is that he keeps on about EU migration, when it’s non-EU migration that’s the greater problem.He was unfazed, of course, and said, look, when we meet again in the future to talk about all this, it’ll be EU immigration that’ll be the problem. Well, that’s as may be. He’s returned to the fray today in a piece in the Evening Standard in which he declares that ‘most of our school leavers are desperate to work but they have been blown out of the water by an endless stream of Eastern European migrants who are older, often better qualified, and ready to share bedrooms in shifts while they are getting established.’ And that’s what you get from Ukip…the invariable linkage of immigration and the EU; their answer to the question is that Britain must regain control of its borders. Look, I do realise that freedom of movement within the EU is a problem, though nothing like what it’d be if the main parties had their way and Turkey joins, because it is a virtually unlimited pool of labour. Nonetheless, in terms of numbers and the capacity to integrate, it is immigration from outside the EU which poses the real problem. Of the 532,000 people who came to Britain in the year to last September, 244,000 of them were non-EU citizens. That’s less than 269,000 the year before but still nearly half, and it was about half the previous year’s total too. And of the 3.8 million people – net, not gross – who came to Britain under Labour, no fewer than 70 per cent were from outside the EU. The notion that immigration is a problem of EU membership just isn’t true. Besides numbers, there’s the problem of migrants’ fiscal contribution – though of course I do appreciate that people’s human potential is rather larger than whether they contribute more in taxes than they take out in benefits. But if we’re going to be vulgar and talk in these terms, there’s simply no comparison between the contribution of EU and non EU migrants. There’s a very good analysis of a recent UCL report on the question by Ruth Alexander on the BBC More or Less website. The report, on the face of it, bore out the standard contention that migrants pay in more than they take out in benefits. But only if you’re talking about recent arrivals, those who came between 2001 and 2011, most of whom are in their twenties. Of those, the arrivals from the EU (and almost certainly more from the older member states than the newer ones) contributed over a third more in tax than they took out in benefits; non-EU migrants contributed just two per cent more. And if you look at the figures from 1995-2011, including all migrants, the picture is even more dramatic. It appears that while those from the EU still pay £6,000 per capita more than they take out, those from outside it take out £21,000 per capita more than they contribute. Quite a difference, no? And I don’t think all of it is attributable to age – many people from the Indian sub-continent will have been here for quite a long time. In fact, it turns out that taking all migrants into account for that longer period, immigration costs the state £95 billion overall. Which is something to put in your pipe and smoke the next time someone declares as a matter of fact that migrants ‘contribute more’. Of course, like every sweeping pronouncement, this one is riddled with exceptions to the rule. If you’re talking about Australians, none of the above applies. Seeing that most seem to come in their twenties for a while as part of a contemporary Grand Tour and return home to age and have children, and are more or less part of the family anyway, they’re pretty well the ideal immigrants.

How many??? UK is flooded with them! Police catches the illegals and releases them almost immediately as they prevoiusly destroyed their documents. Those that are leagal and live on government money for sure outnumber the east europeans. They have lived in UK and abused the system for decades but all of a sudden it is the east europeans that will drain the budget??? Bulgaria is less than 7 million and half of the population are children and old people. It is not serious to think that even 10% of the remaining 3 million will go to UK and all of them will be "free loaders".

What amazes me is how nobody mentions anything about all the indians, pakistani, chinese, africans, etc who live in UK illegally, without documents, getting paid in cash, tax free of course. Or those of them that get government money and free healthcare for their large families and aged parents, who even do not bother to learn basic english? British secular schools run by islamic fanatics and sharia rules went unnoticed for years but the east europeans are the big problem with immigration that UK faces???

Yes, 10 or 15 days per year is the normal vacation time that the employees get in Canada. Very often, it could be an issue to use them all at the same time. Some companies will have 2 weeks max policy. Also, it could be a problem to get unpaid leave, unless something really bad has happened.

Our experience and knowledge are easily transferable as my husband is in Finance and I am in systems. We thought we would like to continue to work in this industry as the experience is quite unique and it is a pity to throw away years of hard work to gain the knowledge. But, we are flexible and we will be ready to adapt to the market there.

When we were thinking where to move to in Australia, we decided that moving to Perth will be similar to living in Calgary, except the weather will be totally different. Northernbird, do you think that there could be some truth to that? Our experience is in the Oil & Gas industry and Pert seems like the moset sensible choice but there is this gut feeling I have about Perth...I do not know how much I should listen to it. I have been to all bigger cities in Australia, except Pert. We are tempted to go there during our validation trip just to make sure we are not eliminating Perth for a stupid reason. We have 2 weeks only, and it will add to the cost of the trip but may be it will be worthwile? The agony of choices...

We have been in Calgary for the last 10 years. Since our move, we have made a lot of progrees in regards to our standard of living and carreer. Great place to work as the salary and cerreer choices are really good. We have not felt the crisis at all. It is very safe and peaceful and there is no issues among the many ethnical groups that live here. Also, we bought a nice new house, we drive a nice car, people are very friendly, we are covered for medical and dental through Alberta and our employer but...the weather is a killer. I have never thought that I would want to move somewhere beacuse of the weather but it is happening. The winter is 9 months long, the Chinook winds cause migrane headaches for at least 4 months of the year, the grass is green 2 months and after that the surrounding colours are 50 shades of grey, yellow and ... grey. There is not much culture here, it is a bit conservative when it comes to fashion and entertainment. All that is on TV is censored heavily and we have to watch international channels to get the real picture of what is gong on in the world. What happens is, we do not feel going anywhere or doing anything because it is too cold. The only winter activity we enjoy is snowboarding, if the temperature is not bellow -15C. After a while, we realized that our life is working and staying at home or going to the mall (depressing, really). The mountains are beautiful but after the sceond year, the scenery looks the same, wehrever you go in a radius of 1000km. It is quite isolated from the rest of the world, as flights are expensive and the holidays that most people can afford are to Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican republic. Caribbean is a bit expensive, and Europe is still far away. Few people go to Thailand or other Asian destionations. Driving to USA is restricted to destinations that are may be 5 maximum 7 hours drive and it is still the Rockies, so the scenery is not much different. You can fly of course, but then it is the same like going to any other place that is further away. Don't get me wrong, we have enjoyed every trip we took to the states and had the chance to explore it, as well as our Mexico and Caribbean vacations but it is 15 days per year and combined with our regular trips to Europe to see family,it is not much really. All in all, Canada is one of the best countries, may be better than Australia in many aspects but in the end it comes to are we happy here, in our nice house and living our "comfortable" life? And after 10 years, we decided that it is not worth it and we would like to move, knowing perfectly well that we will most probably experience "discomfort" at many levels. We are up for the challenge and we are confident that it is the right thing to do.

I am just curious if you have moved to Canada and what is your experience? We are planning to move from Calgary to Australia and it will be interesting if you came to Canada and want to share your thoughts?

Just found an older post from PomQueen: You could use one of the following companies: Aussie Mailman : Home SOS Mail Solutions – Australian Mail Forwarding - Mail Redirection for Travellers - Business Online PO Box - receive your mail anywhere in the world : All your mail solutions You will struggle getting a PO Box until you arrive.

For the companies that do not exist anymore, you can prepare a Statutory Declaration, stating that you are unable to provide evidence due to the fact that these companies ceased to exist. At least you can try. For the rest, you can approach your previous manager, or his replacement and ask them to provide a Letter of employment on the letter head of the company with all the information about your position, duties, salary, work hours per week, etc. It might not be official document for Russia but it is such for the CO. If a supervisor/ manager signs such letter with their name and contact number, it should be fine.

I understand your frustration, as I am originally from Eastern Europe and I know how things work in this part of the world. Now, has the CO accepted any evidence/payslips of your employment? Do you need all years of employment to get 60 points? Have your application been rejected or it is still in the review process? I am sure you have already explained that but I have missed it and this is why I am asking.

Don't you have copies of the tax returns?

Viking, In Russia, do you file your taxes every year? If so, you can provide CO with those documents. as they should be conisdered official evidence in regards to your employment and income. If you have not done so, you might want to give it a try.

189 Visa was granted on Jan 30th. We are now thinking when to go to validate first may be.

Congrats, Alanaibii! :ssign19:

We submitted for 190 NSW on 11.11.2013 and EOI for 189 on 27.11.2013. Got invited for 189 on 29.11.2013. Lodged for 189 visa on 24.12.2013 with pre-loaded medicals and PCC. Visa granted 30.01.2014.

How do you get a visa label in your passport?

I do not want to scare you but my husband received an e-mail saying "PLEASED to inform you that assessment has been completed" and it was negative when we received it. In our case, they missed to notice 3 courses and they made a correction very quickly after that but this is the standard e-mail they send regardless of the assessment outcome.

I just got an invitation - NSW application submitted 11th of Nov 2013. I will not use it, as I have already been granted 189 but wanted to give an update to all who submitted around that time. Good luck!!!

Wrussell, Out of curiosity, are you saying that if he claimed 10 points for skilled employment and when invited, he lodges a visa with 10 points for IELTS as a substitute of the 10 points for skilled employment that he claimed on the EOI, it will be accepted, although he will have 0 points for something that he claimed as 10? This is most interesting, if true.

I had to get 8.0 on IELTS for the 10 points too. Check the exact date when you completed/sat the exam of the last required course. Depending on the assessor, CPA might calculate your experience from that date or they can just take the date you got your designation, which is 2012 (I guess it is easier for them). Because you have already fulfilled the requirement for an accounting university degree, you can challenge them to count your experience from the date of the last course. It gave me an year, which in my case was important.

If CPA told you 2 years, then you will have to decline the EOI, request skilled employment assessment and when you get the result you can submit another EOI. Even if you have enough points without the 8 years, you have already claimed 8 and you cannot support them. Hopefully you will sort it out soon and you will be invited again. Do you have 60 points with 2 years of experience?

You may be better leave it as is. I had declared 3 major surgeries and I specifically asked the doctor should I provide more documentation. He said that although serious, none of those surgeries is related to a condition that is considered chronic or of a concern for the australian immigration process. We got the visa with no questions asked. If such surgeries did not matter, I would not think that minor day treatment will matter.

Experience after you got your accounting degrees at university will be recognized only if you have covered the 9 ot of 12 courses as part of that degree. If even 1 course was not covered, you have to look for when you took that course during your subsequent studies. The accounting assessor might recognize it as of the date you completed the last course or as of the date you obtained the degree/designation which this course was part of. I had 8 years of experience but claimed only 3 for the same reason. You can include your other experience for the CO to review and be more confident that you are a good candidate but I would not claim it as skilled. For accountants, if you claim exactly what you have on the skills assessment( the skilled experience letter) you will be fine as the CO will most probably consider it without objection. It is up to you but in your position I would not claim it (as I did not on my application).

I have also supplied my daughter's tax return since she was 18. This is a great document to show that there is no income or any other form of government help. In our case we got a direct grant, without CO. I thought it will be more difficult because of the dependent older than 18 but we were pleasantly surprised. Can he still get a letter that he was full time the last 3 years? I remember that another member mentioned before that her daughter graduated couple of months before they applied and her other daughter was a part time student but they got the grant. Hope you get an "understanding" case officer.