joninoxford

Hi there,

I emigrated on a de facto spouse visa in Feb of this year with my Aussie girlfriend. We originally looked for jobs in Melbourne, but when she got offered a job at Townsville university, she accepted as we thought it would be a great experience to live and work in the tropics. I also have a Marine Science background and everyone told me Townsville would be the ideal place for this type of job.

It is a lovely, underated town, which has a lot going for it. The beaches are wonderful and empty, traffic is light and housing is cheap. We have bought a boat and often sail over to the gorgeous Magnetic Island (the locals think we are mad and don't trust boats without motors, especially 8 foot sailing dingeys!). The only big downside is the job situation is very very slow. Many of the local aussie's only work part time as the situation is so slow, but many seem happy to do this and spend the rest of the time relaxing. The skilled job market is very small and centred around the hospital, uni, and the council. The council does not like taking on non - Australia citizens however and they say it is to do with the Australian Public Service Act . So I have been going stir crazy waiting for interviews and phone calls for the last 3 months. I have even been turned down for non-paid charity work as they say they have enough people already. I am considering moving back to Melbourne where I have a better chance of employment.

So the moral is to check very carefully the employment siutation before moving to the smaller Australian towns and cities. Also, anybody heard of this Australian Public Service Act, which jobs it applies to and what it means to non-citizens? Cheers!

JAJ

From the website of the Townsville council:

"Please note that all positions advertised are only available to applicants who are citizens of Australia or who hold permanent residency of Australia."

You don't need to be a citizen but you do need to be a PR. And it sounds like you're on a temporary spouse visa, not a PR visa yet.

As for the "Australian Public Services Act," I had a look on the federal Attorney General's website and could see no such piece of legislation.
http://scaleplus.law.gov.au/html/pas...owse/TOCAU.htm

That's not to say it doesn't exist, but may be called something different. It would be unusual for a federal government Act to regulate local government hiring. That said, I can't see anything on the Queensland statutes either:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/qld/consol_act/

Jeremy

joninoxford

Thanks for the reply. My visa is actually a "Provisional Spouse Visa" which is in effect a provisonal Permanet Resident Visa. I am not sure if for the purposes of employment you can claim you are a Permanent Resident. It is very worrying if you can't because all the jobs I have applied for clearly state you must be a Australian Citizen or Permanent Resident to be considered.

From the Marine Park Authority website:

"The Australian Public Service Act requires that persons appointed to the Australian Public Service must be Australian citizens prior to confirmation of probationary appointment".

The confusion within the council (and other councils I have applied to in Melbourne) would likely not help a person on a provisional visa to get to the interview stage it would seem!

bondipom

A provisional spouse visa is classed by DIMIA as a temporary visa. I arrived here on one and remember clearly the letter stating that for all purposes my residency was temporary.

Good luck

Pollyana

See my answer on your other thread John.....it is a temp visa, but theres nothing to stop you applying and stating what visa it is, and that it will lead to PR.
If you are on a de facto visa, it should be under 2 years now till PR - thats what I'm writing on my applications.