[fingerprinter]

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.

[beilabs]

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.