Good and bad of being sponsored in Oz

[Ally89]

Hi everyone, 
my name is Ally and today I would like to share with all of you my experience down under. I emigrated from Italy with my husband in 2012. At first, I was really happy to emigrate here and I saw a new opportunity for us to start over a new life. I was so angry with Italian politicians when I left, and I promised myself not to come back there again. I would have done anything to settle somewhere else but Italy, with Mafia and corruption, no thanks. I could not live there anymore. When we came for the first time, I cannot deny it, but we were struggling, financially but also with the language barrier. We both studied basic English at school and we thought it would be enough for us to settle in. But we were so wrong. It was a nightmare at the beginning. Even for the easy things, such as doing food shopping we were so struggling, we did not understand people and it was hard for them to understand us too. In this situation finding a job was almost impossible. I still remember today like it was yesterday, when I started to send my resume out there and people were calling me on the phone and I would not understand them or the place, or the kind of work. So, I decided to go to college and do an English course, which I have done with my husband for about 6 weeks. It costed us almost 4.000 dollars. The course was interesting but it only taught us grammar English. What we really needed was how to communicate with people. Money went out fast from our account and because we did not have a job, money did not go in either. Conclusion was for us to stop going to school and hope with the English that we learnt in 6 weeks to find a job. I was lucky after few days to find a job as kitchen hand and it was perfect for me because my English was broken and I was grateful to have found this job. And also, I was grateful because my employer gave me a chance to prove myself. We both came down under with first working holiday visa and our goal was to find a sponsorship in our field. First year went so fast, and to renew the visa, as many of you are aware, we had to do the farm job for 90 days. We were in a grape farm, horrific and incredible experience at the same time. Horrific because the accommodation was terrible. We were living in a shed, in a room very small (only one bed fitted in there), a makeshift kitchen in common with other backpapers, and a makeshift toilet which was outside the shed, built between two trees. A rope was used to understand if someone was using the facility in that moment. Horrific because I have seen animals that disgusted me, unfortunately I fear any kind of spiders.. and I have seen spiders bigger than my hand. We had to adapt ourselves to the new life, for 90 days. We did not have internet or signal on our phones. Only once a week we were permitted to go 40km away and do food shopping. While we were working every day except Sundays, we did not get paid. We were allowed to have 100dollars a week each for food shopping. That was about it. On the other hand, it was incredible experience because it taught us a lot. We were forced to speak and practice our English, there was no Italians at that time. So our English got better and better day after day. We met some wonderful people and we still are in contact with them. This experience has taught us the hard life, if I can call it that. We learnt different kind of stuff from the sheep to the vineyard, from sprinkles to pruning. There was time where I cried a lot and if it wasn't for my husband, I would have quit the day after. Going back to the city after finishing the farm, it was easier for us to communicate with people. We started to read English books and watch English movies without subtitles. We were ready. We were confident with the new language to find a job, again. So, we did, not long after and I got sponsored by the employer who did not want to lose me. Yes, he gave me the sponsorship to stay but even this road wasn't easy. I had up and down moments. It feels like they have the power over us immigrants. To cut the story short.. I have finally applied last year for my permanent residency which I am still waiting. But looking around and hearing other stories sometimes it gets me really upset and angry with the system. There was a person that I know of, who has forged documents to Immigration, but, because the controls and checks are random, he was lucky enough not to be caught and his permanent residency was granted many months back. And then, there are people like us, who have always gone to work, always done the right thing, paid taxes, being truthful in everything, and still.. we are in this limbo, we do not know if tomorrow we will receive the bad news and pack everything and be forced to leave. Leave where? After living here for 5 years.. I have nothing back home. No house, no job, no opportunity. Sometimes I feel depressed. I feel like I have no purpose at all. I feel we are just a number for the Department of Immigration. I wish they knew what we feel, that we are not machines but we have our emotions and we are struggling and frustrated as the day goes by. Every day we are waiting that phone call. After a year of waiting I see applications of people lodged only 6 months ago  getting processed faster... I do not know how immigration is working, but I think they should process applications by date. I hope one day someone will speak up about what we feel, maybe someone will write a book, maybe I should write a book about what I had to go through these 6 years. I bet many people are in the same boat, and I Would like to say that you are not alone, even if you feel this now, but hopefully a good outcome will eventually happen for all of us. I feel sorry for those people who got their permanent visa refused. I wish that did not happened. But this is called life and nothing is predictable anymore. I wish all of you the best of luck. 

Ally

[rammygirl]

Well your English is now pretty good!  I have read posts with poorer grammar and spelling from British citizens!  

I hope your hard work will be rewarded by a permanent visa and ultimately citizenship. You are the type of people that help to build a great country.

IN SA our current Governor was a Vietnamese refugee who arrived with his parents and two Carrier bags!  He and his wife and kids are lovely people who still feel very privileged and honoured to be here. He has clearly contributed to his new country and made a difference.

 

Migration is important and without Italian migrants the Australian wine industry wouldn’t be where it is today!

 

Your journey is part of your history and you should record it.

[WizardOfOz]

I agree with rammygirl; your written English is really good, and is actually better than some native English speakers'.

At least in doing the right thing, you can sleep well at night after your application has been approved and you won't have to worry that you'll be found out one day. All the best, and may your application be approved soon.

[Turtlestory]

Hi Ally, it was interesting to hear the reasons you decided to move from Italy and your journey after. I emigrated from England to Australia and even though my English is fluent, I still struggled. But for different reasons.

I'm interested in writing about my journey too and write in an online journal every week so I don't forget the small details. Hope you hear your PR answer soon - whatever the outcome at least you have a great story and shown you have courage and determination.