Down Under Visa- Improve Your Chances Of Success

Improve your chances of obtaining that all important visa by engaging Registered Migration Agent Jeff Harvie of Down Under Visa. Jeff also offers free assessment of your application.

Visit Down Under Visa Specialising in Filipino Migration to Australia
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FREE AUSTRALIAN MIGRATION ADVICE HERE

If you have any questions about Immigration to Australia,  Jeff Harvie from Down Under Visa is just the man to ask.  Jeff is a  Registered Migration Agent.  If you are hoping to bring a spouse or loved one to Australia or perhaps migrate here yourself, Just Ask Jeff for a free, no obligation assessment of your chances of success.

Migration From The Philippines

Migration from the Philippines to Australia is exciting and challenging. It can also be frustrating, yet also inspiring. People appear to be wanting to leave in droves, yet their hearts remain with their barangays and particularly with their families. Filipinos never forget their families, and can always be relied upon to help each other out. This is why it’s our favourite country, culture and people to work with in our Migration Agency practice. (We have family there too!)

What it means is that helping one person means helping an entire family. Money goes back, and kids can go to university as a result. These kids can then go onto good jobs and this means better lives for generations to come. It also means that somebody else in the family will probably have a chance at being sponsored to come to Australia themselves.

You never have to ask the question of a Filipino “Will your relative in Australia sponsor you?” Of course they will! So kids have a brighter future, and parents and other relatives can often be sponsored. Talented workers are rewarded with good salaries and nice homes of their own. This is what is inspiring. What then is frustrating?

There has been a tradition of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW’s) since the days of Marcos. Thousands of Filipinos go overseas to work at often menial jobs to send money back home. Salaries are usually much higher than in the Philippines, yet still much lower than what locals are paid.

Unfortunately this can create a mentality that is hard to get past. Many of our Filipinoclients think we can offer them a job in Australia. We explain that it is not the same as Saudi and Taiwan. Australian law requires all employees to be paid and treated the same, regardless of where they come from. This means that Filipinos compete on the same job market as do Australian citizens and permanent residents. Job offers with sponsors are not so common in tougher economic times.

For qualified applicants with good English skills and stable employment histories in skilled occupations, it’s wise to consider the possibility of being sponsored by relatives already in Australia (or even as skilled independent migrants for some) and to find a job here. A more expensive process than factory jobs in Taiwan, but infinitely more rewarding and with a brighter and more dignified future.

Work Permits? There Is A Better Way!

The “work permit” to travel  to another country and to earn a decent salary has been, and remains, the dream of many poor Filipinos. Why struggle away trying to make a living in a highly competitive job marketplace in order to earn a low salary?

My wife Mila was typical of Filipinos, graduating as a teacher in 1988, and quickly getting her first job in Iriga. She was paid P1,000 per month! She got a job and worked in Taiwan instead taking care of an elderly lady, forever in fear that her employers would not like her and would terminate her Taiwan-style. That means being greeted by surprise one morning by two policemen, told to pack in a hurry, and be escorted all the way to the airport. It never happened to her, fortunately. She went on to work in Hong Kong, again living in fear of termination, knowing that she would never get the same salary in the Philippines.

In the last few years, many Filipinos have found work in Australia in skilled occupations. Most are here with the famous 457 visa. Better pay than in Taiwan, Saudi or Hong Kong. Many have brought their wives and kids here. Many have found excellent employers, and many are now permanent residents.

But then there are the others who are not so lucky. Not all Australians are kind. Some employers have read between the lines of the rules. We hear sad stories on a weekly basis, of employees stuck in jobs that are not what they were supposed to be, unable to bring wives here and unable to gain permanency. They bear it all in silence, because their families back home need the money. Dignity is a high price to pay. These sponsored workers lack something that other Australian residents take for granted. Freedom!

An Aussie citizen, or even a permanent resident, can live where he likes. He can work where he wants, doing what job he wants, and for whom he wants. If he doesn’t like the job, or the boss, he can leave. The 457 holder can’t do that. Yes, if he finds another employer qualified and willing to sponsor him doing the same job, he can leave and hope the new arrangement is approved. But that’s often a big “if”. If he’s been here long enough, he can ask his boss to sponsor him for a permanent visa. Again, that’s a big “if”. Unlike every Australian citizen or permanent resident, he’s depending on the goodwill of a boss for his future. He knows it, and his boss knows it. For $345 plus a $70 nomination fee, the boss has bought himself a person!

This is why we at Down Under Visa encourage independent visas which allow the successful applicant to arrive here already a permanent resident, to make decisions for himself and his family with all the freedoms that ordinary Australians take for granted. If you’re thinking of migrating here, or bringing family members here, please aim higher. Please try to think beyond the “work permit”.