Young Chef looking to move.

[Slimshizady]

Hey guys, Im the head chef of a 4 diamond restaurant here in london ontario, and have moved about withing canada, PEI, Nova Scotia etc. and have been thinking about Australia, BUT im not sure about the process, the culinary scene, Whether my line of work is in demand there. ANY and ALL advice is welcome! thanks !!!!

[comet555]

This is your first stop:
http://www.immi.gov.au/

Before you can think about working in Australia you'll need to see if you qualify for a work visa.

[Slimshizady]

I spent an hour looking through the Australian goverment website looking at a permanent working visa, and I do qualify for it, Based on the point system, with my previous work experience i met the 120 point minimum requirement needed for that Visa. Not to mention you score additional points for english etc, So i do qualify for it. What im unfamiliar with , is the cost of living associated with Australia, What would be a good area to live in, etc thanks again for replying so fast

[comet555]

Right now a good area to live in would be wherever you can find a job!

Generally speaking the big cities have the highest cost of living, with Sydney being the worst and then probably Melbourne, Brisbane and then Perth. For a Chef though it might be easier to find work in the larger centers or in the touristy areas, I have no idea.

You can look for jobs here:
www.seek.com.au
I would have a look and see where there are more positions advertised.

You can find rentals and houses here:
www.realestate.com.au
There are tabs at the top for buying, renting, or sharing accomdation. You will find that almost all rentals will be on there as they are usually listed through an agent (unlike Canada). Keep in mind the rentals don't normally come with white goods (fridge, washer, dryer) so you'd have to rent them seperately. Also, rent is quoted by the week rather than by the month here.

If you're not in a hurry then the permanent visa is definitely the best way to go. Before you can apply for that visa you'll need to get a positive skills assessment. It should tell you when you like at the SOL (skilled occupation list) who the accessing body is for your profession. They have their own criteria that you have to meet to get a positive assessment, so you'll want to see if you meet their terms too.

If all else fails you might be able to get a working holiday visa (WHV) if you are under 30 and don't have kids. This would allow you to work in Australia for a year (up to 6 months with one employer) and would let you check it out. It's very cheap (under $50 I think) and very fast (almost instantly). But you do have to leave at the end of the year.

If you are under 30 and in a hurry to get there then the best strategy would be to apply for PR, then get a WHV and go to Australia to work and get set up. While you are there your PR will be processed (could take up to a year or more). You'll have to leave Oz when your WHV runs out and then you could come back when your PR goes through. Or, if you are still in Australia on the WHV and your PR is granted you have to leave Australia for a quick trip (maybe a week) and then come back in to get it stamped. Anyway, it's just one option to consider.

[Slimshizady]

If im working there on a working holiday visa, and my permanent residency is granted, you actually have to LEAVE the country and come back to have it stamped? That just seems odd lol. I also wasn't aware it could take up to a year to have the permanent residency take that long to be processed , thanks you have been incredibly informative and it looks like i have alot more to look into thanks again

[comet555]

If you apply offshore (while in Canada) then your visa has to be granted while you are offshore (outside Australia). So they send you a letter while you're in Oz and they tell you your visa is ready to be granted, so you have to travel outside Oz, have the visa granted, and come back in again. I agree it's very odd and seems a bit pointless. Most people hop over to New Zealand or Figi for a week and then come back. At least you'd be able to live in Australia while your visa was processing, most people don't have that option.

If you do go over on a WHV then make sure you apply before you leave. That way you know you've got all the necessary information completed. Besides, I don't think you can apply for that visa from within Australia. It is an expensive process though, not sure if you've checked that bit out yet. The application itself is about $2000 and then you'll have to spend more to get the medicals done, certified copies, police checks and postage. It's well worth it though, because if you have PR in Australia you are entitled to Medicare (public health system) and get all the rights and benefits that PR's have.

You can get a rough idea how long the process takes here:
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general- ... processing
Canada is considered a low risk country.

We applied for ours in 2006 and then the timeframe was 6-12 months. We managed to get ours in 7 so I was pretty happy. There are lots of factors, whether your skill is on the critical skills list (chef is not), how quick you do medicals & police checks, and whether your case is complicated by other factors.

Critical Skills List
http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general- ... s-list.pdf

You can get a lot of information on the British Expats website. Mostly it's english people who are moving or have moved. But there's a few Canadians and people from all over. It's a great place to get a lot of help and advice on visa & living in Australia.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54
There's a section for immigration, info on Australia and general chit chat.

I did all the paperwork for our visa myself and I got all the help I needed from the immigration website and the British Expats site. If you learn how to search the site you'll get lots of great info.

There is also a section for Chefs. It is part of that website although it's not necessarily specific to immigrating to Australia. However, most of the people on there are going to Australia so you should find enough info to get you started.
http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=85

As a side note how long do you want to spend in Australia? If you only want to spend a year then the WHV is the way to go (cheap & fast). If you want to stay for as long as you want then you should go permanent. The other thing to mention is that your permanent visa technically expires 5 years after you get it, but if you are living in Australia you can get resident return visas to allow you to travel in and out of the country (cheap and easy). But if you go to Australia live there for 2 years, leave, then want to come back 10 years down the line then you've got a problem.

So if you do go you want to make sure you get citizenship before you decide to leave. Right now you need 4 years living here before you can get citizenship (1 year on the WHV would count I think).

Anyway, hopefully that's given you some more to think about.