RaySheep

This is my first post on this forum, so - hello & hope you all had a great Easter!

I am a 26 year-old female from London England & have been in Oz since the end of December '08 on a working holiday visa. I was lucky enough to secure a six month contract in a Management Accounting department in Brisbane, which is due to expire at the end of July.

To cut a long story short, I have an Aussie boyfriend here now, absolutely love the place & do not want to go back to the UK - but as I am only P/Q, my options for remaining here long-term, are, I believe, somewhat limited!

I am currently considering the following:

1) Applying for a student visa to study CPA in Oz in 2010 - Is this possible? (I'm not sure as the CPA website seems to suggest that CPA is a distance learning qualification only, i.e. I wouldn't need to be in Oz to study it.)

2) Studying CIMA via distance learning on a student visa in 2010 - Again, I'm not sure if this is possible - I'd almost certainly be teaching myself via distance learning, as I don't believe there are any classroom-based tuition providers in Brisbane / anywhere other than Sydney.

3) Completing 3 month's seasonal work in a regional area when my current contract finishes at the end of July, so that I can apply for a 2nd working holiday visa.

4) Obtaining business sponsorship to remain in Oz on a 457 visa - Ideally I would like to stay in Brisbane but would consider sponsorship elsewhere if necessary.

5) Marrying a farmer / cowboy...! (Joke )

Ideally I would like to get business sponsorship but am not sure how realistic this is in the current economic climate; therefore I am willing to consider applying for any visa that will enable me to remain in Oz legally.

If anyone has any information / tips / advice that they feel would be of use to me in my quest to remain in Oz as described above, please respond to this message!

Thanks all

louie

How serious is your relationship with your boyfriend? If you do the seasonal work and get a second RRV and move in with your boyfriend, you could get a temporary de facto spouse visa after 12 months cohabitation, which then becomes permanent after 2 further years together (I think!).

Sorry, can't help re the studying, I did all my qualifications years ago in the UK by which time I was too old for a WHV (age limit used to be 26) so I got my PR the easy(!) way. Thst said, I have read on here that studying accountancy is a popular way of getting in via a student visa, so it must be possible in some way, although that would probably be both "full time" study and expensive, though you would be able to work up to 20 hours per week whilst studying.

You could try contacting an agent for advice. Maybe Go Matilda (Geelong) or George Lombard (Sydney), sorry don't know of any Brisbane agents though there must be some....

RaySheep

Thanks for your response Louie - appreciated! Our relationship is pretty serious (I know that sounds ridiculous seeing as we've only been together for three months, but sometimes that's how it goes I guess!) - I'm keen to avoid the de facto visa as I think it could put a strain on the relationship, but thanks for the info anyway!

I think you're right about having to study full-time at an educational establishment in order to get a student visa; I doubt I could afford paying International fees for that kind of course though to be honest

Ahhh well, hopefully something will come up! I think I will give the agencies a try - thanks for the recommendations