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by beilabs 5096 days ago
It took me 12 months from start of my residency application, 4 years total to get permanent residency in Australia. I was working for an Australian company for those 4 years.

I have a MSc in Software Engineering (on the critical skill list), experience on 4 continents and it was nothing short of a nightmare.

The immigration process over here is in a state of change at the moment for residency, hopefully this means it will be a much better process than what I experienced.
2 comments
fingerprinter 5095 days ago
As someone else noted, 3-4 years for perm residency is rather common. And just so you know, I was annoyed by that as well hoping it would be faster, but it isn't. And, yes, I do think the paperwork and runaround can be crazy in AU. My wife is a GP and I'm a MS in Comp. Sci.. There was no way for us to "hurry along" the process. To get perm residency, we needed to live in the country for 2 years before we could apply. 2 more years for citizenship. Even so, 4 years to citizenship isn't a bad deal.

I hear there is reform coming around July 2012 to expedite certain skills shortage list candidates, so hopefully that helps.

The crazier thing is the amount of paperwork my wife needed to do to prove that she was competent to practice medicine in the country. In the US, she went to a great med school, had MCATS off the charts, went to one of the best residency programs in the country and worked for the best hospital in the world for 5 years. In that regard, it was frustrating.

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beilabs 5095 days ago
Interesting, I have the exact experience as you.

My wife trained as a doctor in China, the effort to get the qualifications recognised over here is nothing short of crazy.

Don't get me started on the Australian Computer Society. It took them 6 months to recognise my own qualifications.

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sanswork 5096 days ago
3-4 years for permanent residency is pretty common when you're moving into a country on a work visa. It's the same for the 3 commonwealth countries I've lived in and I believe the US as well.
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beilabs 5096 days ago
Having to be forced to re-apply the week before my wedding was the thing that annoyed me most.

Not only did the original application fee need to be paid but the entire lot of paperwork had to be re-submitted.

All because the business number had changed due to an acquisition, right bang in the middle of my residency application.

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