Re: Canada v Australia
 

Gophers and Jack rabbits are though!!!!!

Re: Canada v Australia
 

Perhaps because so many are looking to move to Canada because of the great outdoors?

It is very difficult to assess risk in a new place when you have no experience. That's why people contribute to and use places like this, to try and educate themselves (mostly ;) ).

Re: Canada v Australia
 

Well, aren't they? Don't you know that everyone in Australia has a kangaroo in the back garden and keeps koalas? Kangaroos are a nuisance in the high street too - they take up so much room on the pavements and on the roadway...

Re: Canada v Australia
 

And in South Africa, there are elephants and lions roaming around most neighbourhoods, too ...... :eek: ;)

Re: Canada v Australia
 

:zzz: I've been living in NZ for 5 years and I can say that your comments are realistic. On top of technological and cultural deficiencies they also lack quite a bit in terms of human rights and race relations. Not to mention employment laws and regulations (they have just introduced the obligation of written individual working contracts), bullying and bad treatment for people of other nations. So when you said 15 years behind you were actually nice...

Re: Canada v Australia
 

Try going to Adelaide - that's where you get most red backs (but fewer hunstmans!). I lived there for a while, and all of my colleagues (living 'ordinary' lives in urban areas) regular encountered them - most of them had them nesting in their meter boxes or gardens.

And I think it's worse for us Brits having grown up with no indigenous species to be scared of (don't think many people have nightmares about adders!), so we're extra wary. I know when I lived in Aus I wouldn't go near any spider (even though most of them were probably innocuous) as I didn't know which were which, not having grown up with them!

We were going to move to Melbourne, and started the PR process and had jobs lined up - but when push came to shove we couldn't do it partly because of the distance and also because of the homophobic laws out there (thanks to little Johnny Howard aka Bush mark II)... - my partner and I, who have been together over 8 years, had no legal rights there, and also had to apply for PR/work permits idependently. Fortunately Canada is somewhat more open minded (and doesn't have nasty spiders! ;) ).

Re: Canada v Australia
 

That's not quite true - there is such a thing as the "interdependent" visa.

Re: Canada v Australia
 

But that's not the same as applying for PR together: the interdependent visa is only "If you are in a genuine interdependent relationship with an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen and wish to enter and remain permanently in Australia, you will need to obtain an Interdependency visa" - not if you are both UK citizens wanting to migrate together. Hence one of us would have had to apply, get PR, migrate, and then sponsor the other one on an interdependent visa - a somewhat convoluted, lengthy and also risky process (i.e. what if the sponsorship got refused - we'd have ended up with one of us living in Aus and the other stuck in the UK!). That's also true of work permits; one of us getting a job and work permit did not give the other one any entitlement to enter Aus at all...

And yes, I am slightly bitter! It is incredibly unfair that a 'normal' couple who have only lived together for 1 year can apply for PR jointly as a de facto couple, but that although we've been together over 8 years we couldn't. Australia isn't the big tolerant place that people seem to assume it is.

I'd rather go to a country that seems to be accepting and welcoming and doesn't make life an uphill struggle. ;)

Re: Canada v Australia
 

There's been a recent Government announcement on the subject:
http://www.minister.immi.gov.au/medi...a06/v06024.htm

Re: Canada v Australia
 

Thanks for that - nice to see they're addressing the problem at last :D

Too late for us though unfortunately, so Australia has lost out on these two 'highly skilled migrants', and think of all those tax dollars Canada will get instead...! ;)

Re: Canada v Australia
 

If you were both "highly skilled" then why did you not just apply independently?

If you have just applied to Canada, then Australia's law is likely to change long before you get to the top of the federal skilled queue (3+ years now). So unless you've applied for PNP/Quebec or something, you may want to keep an open mind on Australia.

Re: Canada v Australia
 

We both are degree educated, and I also have an MBA, and we are both Chartered IT Professionals - so we are highly skilled. Applying independently does have an element of risk involved, there is always the 'what if' scenario. My partner did have a job offer in Melbourne, but again accepting that did not entitle me to work or even live in Australia. And there was also an element of 'if they don't want us...' so the whole migration process, and lack of recognition, put us off living in Australia.


I have now secured a job and we head out to Canada in 8 weeks...! If things change, or we really hate Canada!, then we will now reconsider Aus - it is a fantastic country.

Re: Canada v Australia
 

When I say that our suburb of Toronto, the beach, is like America 25 years ago I'm being deliberately nice. The whole, kick the kids out in the morning expect them back at night, way of life has gone in most big cities. That aspect of life being a bit backward in Canada is, in fact, rather nice.

Re: Canada v Australia
 

What exactly is a 'Chartered' IT professional. In my time in IT I have never come acros that term being used within IT ?

Re: Canada v Australia
 

It is the IT equivalent of being a Chartered Engineer, Chartered Scientist etc., so a CITP has chartered status. Are you a member of the British Computer Society? They are the body who award such a chartered status: "BCS chartered status, which will be available to those who can meet strict entry criteria - a true gold standard; it will recognise a broad range of academic qualifications with industry experience also taken into account. The Society believes it will quickly be viewed as a benchmark by which to identify highly skilled and well qualified IT practitioners." It has only been possible to get Chartered status since 2004, which may be why you haven't heard of it.