Matt Down Under

Yesterday my new visa was granted.

Suddenly everything went so fast. I few weeks ago I finalised the required medial documents and since I hadn’t heard anything from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) I already started to be worried. It would have been a nightmare if the documents would have gone lost in transit.

Then yesterday I received an email. When I saw it is from the DIAC I thought this is the message that tells me something is wrong with my medical documents. But then I read the words “visa granted…” and saw a list of conditions and requirements, and I realised I finally got it. Wow!! I didn’t expect it so soon, but I’m glad the wait is over, I’m so relieved. I mean I never had real doubts because I easily met all the visa requirements, but you can’t really do longterm planning without knowing that you will have the permission to stay.

Yesterday was probably the happiest day for me in a long time. I don’t remember when I started preparing my visa application, I’m too lazy to read the old posts. It must have been around April/May last year. There was lots of confusion until I actually figured out what type of visa I am eligible for and what is the best one. It took me a lot of time to find out where to start and how to collect all the necessary documents. I passed a skill assessment, an English test and a medical examination, I successfully applied for a state sponsorship in Tasmania, I had all sorts of documents sent to me from Germany, I found a very nice accredited German translator in Melbourne (none of the Tasmanian ones replied to my requests) who translated and certified my university docs, and in the end I probably paid between $3000 and $4000 in total. That’s quite a lot, would be interesting to know how much more it is with the help of a migration helper. It makes me even more happy that I did it all myself.

So much effort for a permission to stay in Australia. For locals it may sound crazy, but I think it’s worth it, and I’m totally happy that all my efforts were worth it and I achieved what I wanted to achieve. I can’t imagine living somewhere else, it’s simply cool here.

I guess the alternative would have been to go back to Germany. I’m glad I don’t need to, too many bad news every day. People tell me how tired they are of all the bad news and how unsecure everything seems to be. The economic crisis starts to affect my own family, people I know lose their jobs, it’s terrible. I can consider myself lucky, I seem to have made the right decisions so far. First I based my career on IT and web which is still booming despite all the layoffs even in Australia, then I decided to turn my life around and try my luck in Australia. And the plan worked so far, I have a lot of reasons to be happy. But I’m usually not the guy to reflect on the past - the past is dead, long live the future. And the future looks bright and sunny, with kangaroos.

Ok, here’s the deal: my visa is valid for 3 years and I am not really forced to stay in Tasmania, bascially I could leave and work in Sydney. However due to my sponsorship from the Tasmanian government (thanks again guys), if I spend at least 2 years in Tasmania and work at least 1 year in Tasmania, I can apply for permanent residency after 2 years already. You could see this as some sort of reward for doing regional development by working in a skilled profession (Tasmania is pretty regional… but it’s cool doing IT work here). Of course it’s not guaranteed that I will receive permanent residency, but if I should meet these two requirements, follow the rules and avoid doing stupid things like robbing banks, then I guess I’ll be fine.

I could have applied for permanent residency directly, but the requirements were higher, I would have had to present evidence for several years of professional work experience, which I don’t have (or it would have been a pain to collect the documents). Since I love Tasmania I really don’t mind having to stay here.

Since I have a beautiful apartment, nice people around me and not much to worry about right now, my plan is to spend at least the next two years here. Permanent residency is the next step. Someday I’d like to have an Australian passport. A UK friend of mine just got his Australian citizenship not long ago and told me about the ceremony he attended, it sounded great, a real event. Especially when I receive comments from friends and family who tell me how much they would like to do the same, then I see once again what a great place Australia is for spending the rest of my life here. It’s a really positive country with positive people.

When you tell people in Germany about Australia, everyone goes like “Wow, Australia!”, it’s one of the most popular and fascinating countries among Germans. A lot is due to image campaigns like tourism spots on TV where they show stunning beaches, happy people and lots of wildlife. And that’s what most people think of when they hear “Australia”, it is beaches, sunshine, kangaroos, easy-going. Of course there are also heaps of other reasons, like the popular working holiday visa. Thousands of young people return home to Germany every year and tell their friends how great Australia is. Fantastic free PR campaign.

So yes, that’s pretty much all I can say right now. Spending the next two years in Tasmania. In the last 1,5 years I didn’t do much longterm planning but now it feels good to have a goal again, I can now make plans for the next two years.

So it seems like I don’t need to change the header graphic anytime soon. Australia it is, for the next 3 years, and hopefully even more.