[dingaling]

> Painting Australia as difficult to migrate to is patent nonsense

From experience, it is difficult. When worked on this a few years ago there were only two options for moving to Australia from the UK.

One was skill-based employment, a points-based assessment scheme for which two-thirds of immigration slots are reserved. Applicants must be under 45 and meet the requirements of the Skilled Occupations List. I've worked in a compatible job for 20 years but didn't qualify because I didn't have a suitable university degree. Why that was relevant after two decades wasn't clear, but terminated my application.

The other option was inward-investment business migration but even that didn't give guarantees of residence, just 'possibility'.

[vacri]

Have you compared the process with that of other countries? I hear similar stories from folks looking to move to other wealthy, stable western countries.

I once had a friend that worked in American universities doing high end coding, supporting academic staff. It took him twenty years to get his residency. Western democracies in general will only take in younger people, because older people are a direct drain on the healthcare system (without having helped to fund it via taxes).

Australia is a popular destination, so they can pick and choose a bit I guess. I guess that makes it difficult to migrate to in terms of competition, but when you look at the overall numbers, there's huge amounts of migrants arriving in comparison to contemporary nations.