# Reasons to leave USA to live in Australia



## talisman_of_asu (Jul 17, 2012)

Hello,

My question is to those;
-	who are living in the USA but are planning to move to Australia 
-	who had lived in the USA but moved to Australia. 

I will apreciate if you could list your reasons to leave the USA to live in Australia. 
Your location in the US might help as well. 

Thank you very much.


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## tcscivic12 (Jul 2, 2008)

talisman_of_asu said:


> Hello,
> 
> My question is to those;
> -	who are living in the USA but are planning to move to Australia
> ...


I am currently in South Carolina, United States and planning a move in the future.

My reasons would be wanting to see other cultures, different way of life, better life, better weather, better scenery, better career outlook, growing economy, the accents , multi-cultural like the United States, over all there are alot of better, stable democracy, government is not poking their noses into other countries business as bad at the Unites States, more exotic wildlife. There is alot more, but I need to cut it short.


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## jb12 (Jan 27, 2012)

talisman_of_asu said:


> Hello,
> 
> My question is to those;
> -	who are living in the USA but are planning to move to Australia
> ...


May I ask why you are asking these questions when your profile indicates you are not from the US? Are you deciding between the US and Australia to where to apply to immigrate?


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

talisman_of_asu said:


> Hello,
> 
> My question is to those;
> -	who are living in the USA but are planning to move to Australia
> ...



Ugh, honestly, I don't know what I want. 

~~Sometimes I wake up, still undecided about the move, ~~
~~and other days I am determined to move ~~
~~ Sometimes I am afraid ~~
~~and sometimes I am not ~~
~~sometimes I cringe about my giving up stability ~~
~~ and sometimes I do not, for life itself is not really stable ~~
~~ Sometimes I dream about life in a different country ~~
~~ and sometimes I do not dream about life in a different country ~~~

lol, do you like my little poem? (not bad for a non-artistic person. It's called, "Ugh, honestly I don't know what I want" )


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## striiing (Mar 1, 2012)

Why would anyone want to leave the land of the free  answers below


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## ozbound12 (Mar 23, 2012)

talisman_of_asu said:


> Hello,
> 
> My question is to those;
> -	who are living in the USA but are planning to move to Australia
> ...


Whenever anyone asks me why I want to leave the States and move to Australia, I always respond with "why not?" Probably not what you want to hear though.


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## tara.jatt (May 15, 2012)

okay so till now all the answers are from Americans moving to Australia, so here is a non immigrants perspective :

When you are in US on a non immigrant visa and hoping to get an immigrant visa, unless you are not an exceptionally talented guy in your field of work, it will take you forever to get that visa. Moreover you need to be on job during all that time, and you can not apply for immigrant visa on your own, your employer has to sponsor it. and then there are whole lot of issues with preference categories. In short, If a person comes here for higher studies, then starts his job, and then dream of immigration (if employer is willing to sponsor), it will at least take 8-10 years, this is at least, this wait can be more than that as well.

Now look at Australian system, I can apply on my own, I do not need any employer to sponsor me, if i am meeting criteria, i can apply directly. they usually approves your visa within a year, 

So in short, to have a sense of security, non immigrants move to other destinations.

If you loose your job in US, you are out of status next day, your cases sponsored by employers halts. you have to leave country within 30 days, 
on the other hand, you apply on ur own to Australia, you have all the rights to remain in country, full work rights , travel without restrictions. 


This is just a small example from a person on non immigrant visa's perspective, there are tonnes of other reasons why non immigrants may chose to go to Australia from USA, and believe me everything is related to getting stuck into immigration limbo over here. 




talisman_of_asu said:


> Hello,
> 
> My question is to those;
> -	who are living in the USA but are planning to move to Australia
> ...


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## ozbound12 (Mar 23, 2012)

tara.jatt said:


> okay so till now all the answers are from Americans moving to Australia, so here is a non immigrants perspective :
> 
> When you are in US on a non immigrant visa and hoping to get an immigrant visa, unless you are not an exceptionally talented guy in your field of work, it will take you forever to get that visa. Moreover you need to be on job during all that time, and you can not apply for immigrant visa on your own, your employer has to sponsor it. and then there are whole lot of issues with preference categories. In short, If a person comes here for higher studies, then starts his job, and then dream of immigration (if employer is willing to sponsor), it will at least take 8-10 years, this is at least, this wait can be more than that as well.
> 
> ...


Best answer so far (and probably most applicable in the OP's case).


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## onlyassignments (Aug 22, 2011)

Unless you have professional job, pay rate in usa is really bad. You


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## jb12 (Jan 27, 2012)

The one word that I think best describes why I think Americans decide to move to Australia is CHANGE. There maybe differences in culture, government, and landscapes. But overall, we have similar types of industries, jobs, etc. Therefore, it’s likely that Americans are able to adjust to the lifestyle in Australia easier compared to other people coming from other countries. Americans wouldn’t really miss being in the US except for maybe not seeing their other family members, friends, and establishments that are not available in Australia. 

Yes, it’s true coming from a non-immigrant’s perspective that it is more difficult to get permanent residency in the US compared to Australia. However, one has to evaluate the immigration restrictions between the US and Australia. Australia does not have a severe problem of illegal entry to their country due to their location. Australia is able to maintain illegal entry to a certain degree by watching their water borders. The only other entry would be through planes entering with fraud documents. While in the US, there are more opportunities to enter the US. By land (Mexico and Canada), water borders, and fraud documents to fly into the US. The US government can only do so much to stop illegal entry. 

So the population of people coming illegally into the US, I would assume would take some jobs away from US citizens. Although there is debate in the information that I’ve read it’s most jobs that Americans are not interested in taking. However, with the change in the US economy, the jobs that most Americans thought of never taking, they would be interested in having any job since many are having difficulty getting a job. Even military veterans are unable to get jobs after competing their military service. But lately, there has been a new initiative to provide more job opportunities for military veterans.

There also has to be a great impact to the US when people are working illegally in the country and not able to get taxes from them. Although from this forum, I have learned that non-immigrant workers also get taxed but get no benefits from the US government. I believe different situation in Australia? Less taxes collected from people working in the US means less benefits to their citizens. It is not widely discussed. But there are some hospitals and other organizations that provide free health care, etc. to people that are in the US illegally. While US citizens are not able to get that same service. Mostly see this on the tv news reports.

All of this together somewhat plays a role in how the US will change their immigration policies. The change in the US economy has caused loss of jobs for their citizens, which means less services that previously employed people had such as health care. Less people going to doctors and hospitals means less money for hospitals and other medical workers. Example would be nurses. This was one occupation that was most highly recruited for overseas workers to come to the US. However, this is no longer the case. Nowadays, some nursing positions are being filled by nursing assistants due to financial constraints as told by a relative who has children in the medical field as doctors and nurses. There is also only a set quota of available visas set aside for certain occupations for each country. So if it exceeds the amount, it could be along time before a person can be sponsored as explained by the previous poster above.

While comparing to the Australian immigration, it seems easier. If you meet all the qualifications and provide necessary documents, you likely will be granted that skilled migrant visa. Although there has been a new change called Skill Select that you will first need to be invited to apply. I was one of those that approved for the PR visa before the change. However, the more I look into the job postings and read stories on this forum about people having a hard time finding a job. It makes me wonder there must be hundreds or thousands of others like me with the similar industry experience, education, etc. applying for maybe 5-10 jobs that we all could be qualified to do. It is great to be able to provide opportunities for people around the world to come to Australia. But I think Australia needs to restrict their immigration to an extent. Approve certain number of visas to the exact occupation/industry shortage. Example, advertisement showing there is shortage of engineers. But the shortage is actually only in certain industries such as mining. However, according to a post on this forum, even in the mining industry, you have to have certain specific work experience in mining to be able to work there. The reason why I think there should be a restriction of visas to certain occupation/industry is because the people that are already in Australia with the same skills need to be accounted for. Otherwise, you will end up with too many skilled workers but not enough jobs for everyone.

In addition, I’ve read too often on this forum about the people approved for the state/regional sponsored visas that require the visa holder to live and work in a certain state/region for about 2 yrs. Often times, they post on this forum and others that they can’t find any type of jobs even if they applied for so many. Or some are forced to work for jobs not even in their occupation and at a lot lower pay just to meet the qualification. It makes me wonder is there really a shortage of skilled workers in those areas? Maybe Australian Government needs to provide incentives for companies to invest in having their businesses in certain regions and states?

For the original poster of this question, apply to the country that you are able to get the PR visa the quickest if that is what you seek. To get a consensus to know if the the US or Australia is better, I think it highly depends on the person’s occupation, economic status, and previous country that they may have lived in that they can compare. As a phrase that is mostly used here in the US, comparing Australia to the US and vice versa is _like comparing apples to oranges_. People will have their opinions.


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## tara.jatt (May 15, 2012)

I completely understand what you are saying, but i was talking from "Legal Non Immigrants" point of view. Agreed, illegal immigration is a big problem here in US, but historically, US lawmakers care more about illegal immigrants than legal non immigrants. 

and you are absolutely right that the jobs the illegal immigrant is taking are not the ones a citizen is willing to do. and in order to be competing with Citizens for white collared jobs, a legal non immigrant has to be best so that they can convince company to sponsor him/her. also, for getting that job, you have to be legal. 

So in short what i want to say is policies for both illegal immigrant and legal non immigrants cases should not be mixed. Both needs to be viewed as separate cases, where you need to make sure that you are not making deserving people who are contributing to US economy, paying same taxes as citizens (and not treated equally in case of getting benefits) frustrated with all the immigration complexities. 

About getting jobs in Australia, When someone leave a place to take a new start in another place, you have to start from zero. moreover you wont be tested with a strict timeline to get a job in x days or get lost from here kind of situation.

I highly doubt there will be any immigration reforms, so a person who is not willing to do anything and everything just to be in US, will continue thinking of moving to other destinations where there is sense of security and peace of mind. 


Other than immigration policies, I love everything about US.  




jb12 said:


> The one word that I think best describes why I think Americans decide to move to Australia is CHANGE. There maybe differences in culture, government, and landscapes. But overall, we have similar types of industries, jobs, etc. Therefore, it’s likely that Americans are able to adjust to the lifestyle in Australia easier compared to other people coming from other countries. Americans wouldn’t really miss being in the US except for maybe not seeing their other family members, friends, and establishments that are not available in Australia.
> 
> Yes, it’s true coming from a non-immigrant’s perspective that it is more difficult to get permanent residency in the US compared to Australia. However, one has to evaluate the immigration restrictions between the US and Australia. Australia does not have a severe problem of illegal entry to their country due to their location. Australia is able to maintain illegal entry to a certain degree by watching their water borders. The only other entry would be through planes entering with fraud documents. While in the US, there are more opportunities to enter the US. By land (Mexico and Canada), water borders, and fraud documents to fly into the US. The US government can only do so much to stop illegal entry.
> 
> ...


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## jb12 (Jan 27, 2012)

Some good news for people seeking US employment based green cards. Although I'm not sure if this has been passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama and how the changes will occur?

Excerpt from : Congress Moves to End Per Country Limits on Employment Based Green Cards | Jeff Goldman Immigration on December 2, 2011
_"CONGRESS MOVES TO END PER COUNTRY LIMITS ON EMPLOYMENT BASED GREEN CARDS
The U.S. House of Representatives this week enacted bipartisan legislation to eliminate the country-specific caps for foreign nationals seeking permanent residency in the United States. Should this legislation be accepted by the Senate and endorsed by the President, this will be a huge step forward for professionals from India and China who have been subject to long queues that are based on archaic law. 

Under the current immigration quota system, 140,000 employment-based immigrant visas (green cards) are allowed to issue each fiscal year. No country is allowed to use up more than 7% of these 140,000 immigrant visas (9,800), and of course India and China regularly exceed this level. The relevance and logic of this system is out of date with the realities of the current U.S. immigration landscape and our global economy. Right now there is a large demand by U.S. companies to employ highly talented and skilled scientists and engineers in hopes to jump-start a sagging U.S. economy. This legislation recognizes that it makes no sense to permit a worker from Luxembourg with a Master’s Degree in French Literature to obtain permanent residency in the U.S. ahead of a worker from China with a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering who started the permanent residency process four years earlier, simply because lots of other Chinese scientists have applied for permanent residency as well."_

In regards to Australia, I believe people on the 457 visa who are not yet qualified for a PR visa and who may lose their job due to layoffs or left their job for personal reasons must find another employer to sponsor them within 28 days. Otherwise, they will need to leave Australia.


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## talisman_of_asu (Jul 17, 2012)

stormgal said:


> Ugh, honestly, I don't know what I want.
> 
> ~~Sometimes I wake up, still undecided about the move, ~~
> ~~and other days I am determined to move ~~
> ...



Thank you Stormgal, I liked your poem Similar here, that's why I wanted to see how others, those who live in the countries which I opt for myself, see it.


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## mbc71 (Dec 30, 2011)

Interesting thread! I'm a US citizen, and my DH is from the United Kingdom. We met in Spain (while on vacation) and he relocated to the US where I was living when we got married (12 years ago). I can tell you the immigration process for him (to get "adjustment of status", aka "green card") was horrible and lengthy. My overall impression of US immigration vs. Australia is this:

US immigration's focus is on keeping you out.
Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.

Job market here in the US is horrible right now. Especially in the IT fields (IMO). Most major companies are off-shoring jobs. 

There is no national health here - don't want to get into a debate as to the pros and cons of this, but for incoming immigrants, its important to note. Whereas in Australia you would be entitled to (and receive) care, in the US you have to pay for it (get your own insurance, etc.).

I'm looking forward to making the move.

Sent from my iPad using ExpatForum


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## talisman_of_asu (Jul 17, 2012)

mbc71 said:


> Interesting thread! I'm a US citizen, and my DH is from the United Kingdom. We met in Spain (while on vacation) and he relocated to the US where I was living when we got married (12 years ago). I can tell you the immigration process for him (to get "adjustment of status", aka "green card") was horrible and lengthy. My overall impression of US immigration vs. Australia is this:
> 
> US immigration's focus is on keeping you out.
> Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.
> ...


Thank you mbc71, good points. These must be the basic motives for you to make a step towards Australia. What other concerns do you have if I might inquire further?


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## jb12 (Jan 27, 2012)

mbc71 said:


> Interesting thread! I'm a US citizen, and my DH is from the United Kingdom. We met in Spain (while on vacation) and he relocated to the US where I was living when we got married (12 years ago). I can tell you the immigration process for him (to get "adjustment of status", aka "green card") was horrible and lengthy. My overall impression of US immigration vs. Australia is this:
> 
> US immigration's focus is on keeping you out.
> Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.
> ...


My company is actually wanting to put back their internal IT jobs back to the US and removing it from our company's region location from overseas. They say the company will save money after being able to compare what it costs to have work done overseas. So now they want to recruit thousands of IT professionals. I think the job market in the US probably varies from states and industries. Lately, we've had a shortage of people and trying to hire people back. But then a friend of mine was laid off last month from her company along with others. Just when we think the economy has stabilized, it's still uncertain.

As for national health care in Australia, have you researched enough what that entails? I've read that people still are suggested to get additional private health care insurance for PR and citizens. What would the requirement be needed for this?


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## stormgal (Sep 30, 2009)

mbc71 said:


> US immigration's focus is on keeping you out.
> Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.




I think this is true, although Oz's immigration polices are kind of tightening now. 

But here in the US, the immigration dept has taken it to deporting people who have been here even for a long time. I remember the case of someone from South Africa who was only born there but came to the US as a newborn with his parents. His parents (for some reason) didn't document the baby. Recently, when he turned over 20, he was pulled over for some traffic problem, and the long story short is that they had him deported to South Africa, even though he's been here for all of his life and doesn't know anything about the culture over there. They (meaning the immigration dept) gave him $250 and put him on an airliner, and that was the end of the story. 

The US deports about 400,000 people a year - can you imagine - that's exactly the amount Australia takes in yearly! U.S. deports nearly 400K in a year - a record - CBS News


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## tara.jatt (May 15, 2012)

Hi jb12,

This "bill" is called H.R. 3012, and is still a distant dream for the people trapped into the immigration system. I can assure you there is no easy way to get this bill passed and making it a law. 



jb12 said:


> Some good news for people seeking US employment based green cards. Although I'm not sure if this has been passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama and how the changes will occur?
> 
> Excerpt from : Congress Moves to End Per Country Limits on Employment Based Green Cards | Jeff Goldman Immigration on December 2, 2011
> _"CONGRESS MOVES TO END PER COUNTRY LIMITS ON EMPLOYMENT BASED GREEN CARDS
> ...


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## tara.jatt (May 15, 2012)

See even a family based green card made you wait for sooooooo long, then one can easily imagine the wait time/ other complications when you are applicant for employment base green card. 

and I could not agree with you more!! on these thoughts: 

US immigration's focus is on keeping you out.
Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.



mbc71 said:


> Interesting thread! I'm a US citizen, and my DH is from the United Kingdom. We met in Spain (while on vacation) and he relocated to the US where I was living when we got married (12 years ago). I can tell you the immigration process for him (to get "adjustment of status", aka "green card") was horrible and lengthy. My overall impression of US immigration vs. Australia is this:
> 
> US immigration's focus is on keeping you out.
> Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.
> ...


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## Sanjukta (Mar 9, 2012)

mbc71 said:


> My overall impression of US immigration vs. Australia is this:
> 
> US immigration's focus is on keeping you out.
> Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.


The above is so very true!!


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## onlyassignments (Aug 22, 2011)

tara.jatt said:


> Hi jb12,
> 
> This "bill" is called H.R. 3012, and is still a distant dream for the people trapped into the immigration system. I can assure you there is no easy way to get this bill passed and making it a law.


There are always two sides of a story. This bill is good and fair but implementation is unfair to all non Indians. It changes the rule in the middle of the game for all Non Indians, increasing the wait time by upto 6 years.
If a new rule is made, it should not have such adverse effect on people who applied under the old rules.


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## ozbound12 (Mar 23, 2012)

The unemployment rate in the US has stubbornly remained above 8 percent for the past 3 years now (and to be honest, I think this number is seriously understated) and there's no evidence to suggest that it will go down anytime soon. The recovery is slow and remains unpredictable, and no one really knows what's going to happen come November. Job growth has been limited in most sectors. Speaking from my own personal experience (so take it with a grain of salt), I don't know a lot of people that have gotten laid off within the past year or so, but it seems as though employers here are less likely to hire replacement staff when people leave their jobs. What they're doing instead is spreading the work around to the people who end up staying.

The immigration situation is difficult for people looking for employer-sponsored green cards. And it's extremely costly. Given the number of unemployed Americans, it seems unlikely that a company would be willing to sponsor you (and pay for all that entails) when they could probably find an American to do that job. H-1B visas are a little easier to come by -- I don't think they've met the cap on these since the recession -- but they're only valid for a maximum of 6 years (3 years, renewed once) and, if you have children that want to go to a state college, they'll have to pay the out-of-state tuition rates in most cases. (And they won't be eligible for a lot of the federal grants and loans that citizens and PRs are eligible for.)

Of course, there are a lot of pros to living in the US. Aside from the fact that it still remains the #1 destination for immigrants, the cost of living is actually quite low compared to pretty much any other Western country. Outside of the large metropolitan areas, housing is pretty cheap. Shopping is a downright bargain here compared to every other Western country I've ever been to -- comparatively low sales taxes, but low prices on most retail items as well. (I'm sure this is helped by the fact that there are over 300 million people buying things here in the US vs. say 30 million in Canada or 20 million in Australia.) Taxes tend to be lower here in the US than other countries as well. However, those higher taxes in other countries provide the safety net that helps people when things go wrong -- things like health care, welfare and other social assistance, things that don't really exist in the US. (Of course, most companies offer health care but in most cases you have to pay for it still, and then it doesn't always cover everything.)

I think you're going to get a different answer from every person. You need to figure out what's important to you and then compare that list of things to what's been said in this thread. That should give you a pretty good indication of what country would be a better fit for you. Good luck.


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## jb12 (Jan 27, 2012)

tara.jatt said:


> See even a family based green card made you wait for sooooooo long, then one can easily imagine the wait time/ other complications when you are applicant for employment base green card.
> 
> and I could not agree with you more!! on these thoughts:
> 
> ...


Yes, from has already been discussed, the US is limiting people coming in even with the skills. We have to keep in mind immigration to the US has been going on a lot longer than Australia. Some research indicates that Australia only allowed certain countries to be able to apply for immigration and not open to the rest of the world. From what I read, it was only in the 1960's or 1970's that Australia expanded the counties that could apply for immigration. I might not have gotten the yrs correct above. But people can research the Internet for the exact details. In the US, it was a little bit easier back in the 1970's. A prof/skilled worker could apply for a green card and would get approved within 5 yrs. The waiting was done while overseas. This was the experience from people that I know. 

There are probably some statistics out there. But I would say of people from other countries where they would like to migrate, I would say US would normally be one of the top countries. Due to that, there are just so many people who could be qualified for the green card due to their skills, education, etc. The current 140,000 quota/yr for all countries is an old number that doesn't meet the demand of what US companies are seeking. But considering Australia has implemented a new skilled migration program to manage the immigration, it must mean they also need to evaluate the demand in their country.


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## tara.jatt (May 15, 2012)

I agree, my take is that if some mistake is going on for long time, it should not be allowed to continue just because it is going on for long time. 

Whatever is applied just process it under old rules, and now on treat everyone the same. an Indian or Chinese are made to wait because they were "born" there, not because they are less skilled. This is same like everyone is competing for a 100 meter race, Indian and Chinese are at Starting point, everyone else starts from 70 meters mark. Make the game fair and square for everyone.





onlyassignments said:


> There are always two sides of a story. This bill is good and fair but implementation is unfair to all non Indians. It changes the rule in the middle of the game for all Non Indians, increasing the wait time by upto 6 years.
> If a new rule is made, it should not have such adverse effect on people who applied under the old rules.


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## boolean (Apr 17, 2012)

tara.jatt said:


> I agree, my take is that if some mistake is going on for long time, it should not be allowed to continue just because it is going on for long time.
> 
> Whatever is applied just process it under old rules, and now on treat everyone the same. an Indian or Chinese are made to wait because they were "born" there, not because they are less skilled. This is same like everyone is competing for a 100 meter race, Indian and Chinese are at Starting point, everyone else starts from 70 meters mark. Make the game fair and square for everyone.


I believe the current immigration system favors people immigrating from small countries. I have seen people from India and China staying and working legally and waiting for their PR for more than 10 years despite paying their taxes on time. On other hand, people from countries with comparatively low population get their Green card in a year or two. There should be a single queue for everyone regardless of their nationality and the application should be processed by filing date the way Australia does. The purpose behind enforcing 7% limit per country was to promote a diversity and it has worked well so far. I feel that there is enough diversity in US now and with the current state of the economy, US needs more skilled workers who can help improving its economy and pay their dues regularly regardless of their nationality.


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## jb12 (Jan 27, 2012)

talisman_of_asu said:


> Migrants generally have immediate access to health care under Medicare Australia. However, citizens as well get private health insurance to avoid long waiting periods for a treatment or even to see a doctor. It took 1month for my brother to get an appointment from a specialist practitioner and another 2.5 months for small operation. I think this happens beacuse there is a lack of health practitioners yet.
> 
> I am not sure if you have seen the brochure that Immigration Office has prepared ;it gives this information in a nutshell.: immi.gov.au/living-in-australia/settle-in-australia/beginning-life/_pdf/eng.pdf
> 
> I suggest you also to check several private health insurance companies web sites. Their pages will give you an idea about their programs as well.


Thank you for providing that information. In the US, most of us have health care coverage through our work place. There are different types of coverage. For the most part, some companies provide additional money for us to pay our yearly deductible. So in some cases, what we pay monthly is minimum. After reaching our deductible limit, most health care and prescription drugs are fully covered under our healthcare plan. The good thing is we can make appointments with any doctor we choose and don't wait too long for the appointment. Of course, the doctors who are highly recommended for specialized area may at times require a longer wait. However, for people that may not have a job or have health insurance plan provided by their employer will need to purchase private health insurance. But it can be very expensive. Unfortunately, then there are others who do not have health insurance at all due to financial situation. But when as a citizen reaches retirement age, they are eligible to get medicare. However, it doesn't pay for all services in full.

I've also heard that Canada has their migrants or citizens have long waiting times to be treated or have specific medical procedures to be performed. It seemed to be the same reason due to lack of health practitioners. But considering that both these countries have a national health care plan, wouldn't providing enough health practitioners to their PR and citizens be a top priority?


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## talisman_of_asu (Jul 17, 2012)

jb12 said:


> Thank you for providing that information. In the US, most of us have health care coverage through our work place. There are different types of coverage. For the most part, some companies provide additional money for us to pay our yearly deductible. So in some cases, what we pay monthly is minimum. After reaching our deductible limit, most health care and prescription drugs are fully covered under our healthcare plan. The good thing is we can make appointments with any doctor we choose and don't wait too long for the appointment. Of course, the doctors who are highly recommended for specialized area may at times require a longer wait. However, for people that may not have a job or have health insurance plan provided by their employer will need to purchase private health insurance. But it can be very expensive. Unfortunately, then there are others who do not have health insurance at all due to financial situation. But when as a citizen reaches retirement age, they are eligible to get medicare. However, it doesn't pay for all services in full.
> 
> I've also heard that Canada has their migrants or citizens have long waiting times to be treated or have specific medical procedures to be performed. It seemed to be the same reason due to lack of health practitioners. But considering that both these countries have a national health care plan, wouldn't providing enough health practitioners to their PR and citizens be a top priority?


jb12, thank you very much for the valuable information. 
To my knowledge, both in Australia and Canada, people with medical professions are in top priority on PR lists. They are the sought after people. Yet, I do not know why there is still need for those professions. I think the procedure is even harder for vocational ( like tailors, doctors, craftsmen, etc..) applications.


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## lifeisgood (Mar 30, 2010)

I have lived in USA for 6 years and have found it to be a wonderful place IF AND ONLY IF one has a GREEN CARD. 
Life as a student and a H1B holder was a reminder that talent alone will get me nowhere. The system has been designed in such a manner that people without a GC are made to feel like second grade citizens...
On the contrary Australia has designed such a system that majority of their immigrants are skilled..

Broken and Obsolete « Fareed Zakaria

Australia does not distinguish between newly arrived immigrants and citizens..This is the best part bcoz it does not make me feel like a nerd out here..
I am entitled to Medicare,Centerlink and other benefits just like other Australians...



> Sixty-two percent of permanent-resident visas in Canada are based on skills, while the remainder are for family unification. In the U.S., the situation is almost exactly the reverse: two-thirds of America’s immigrants enter through family unification, while only 13% of green cards are granted because of talent, merit and work. And it’s actually gotten worse over time. The cap on applications for H1-B –visas (for highly skilled immigrants) has dropped in half over the past decade.


Australia is not far behind in terms of granting PR visas to skilled people...


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## belgarath (Jul 15, 2011)

lifeisgood said:


> I have lived in USA for 6 years and have found it to be a wonderful place IF AND ONLY IF one has a GREEN CARD.
> Life as a student and a H1B holder was a reminder that talent alone will get me nowhere. The system has been designed in such a manner that people without a GC are made to feel like second grade citizens...
> On the contrary Australia has designed such a system that majority of their immigrants are skilled..


People with/without a GC are NOT, repeat NOT citizens at all  

Those who are on H1B are almost in the same status as 457 visa holders in AUS, same constraints apply. No job = get out in 28 days.



lifeisgood said:


> Australia does not distinguish between newly arrived immigrants and citizens..This is the best part bcoz it does not make me feel like a nerd out here..
> I am entitled to Medicare,Centerlink and other benefits just like other Australians...
> 
> 
> Australia is not far behind in terms of granting PR visas to skilled people...


If you have a GC in USA, you have almost no discrimination either. You don't get public healthcare but neither do the citizens.

In brief, 457 in AUS = H1B in the USA, you should be aware that you're there on a TEMPORARY basis and can get cut at any time.

Just my $0.02..


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## lifeisgood (Mar 30, 2010)

> People with/without a GC are NOT, repeat NOT citizens at all


People with a GC in USA can work almost anywhere without any constraints.they are entitled to subsided healthcare,educational loans... 
On the other had a H1B holder has to pay more taxes...



> Those who are on H1B are almost in the same status as 457 visa holders in AUS, same constraints apply. No job = get out in 28 days.


I used the word PR aka Permanent Resident when referring to Australia...
A person who's on a PR here in Australia has the freedom to work ANYWHERE ; not necessarily in the same profession on the basis of which he'she got the PR. This is not the case for a H1B applicant..

If you have a GC in USA, you have almost no discrimination either. You don't get public healthcare but neither do the citizens.

In brief, 457 in AUS = H1B in the USA, you should be aware that you're there on a TEMPORARY basis and can get cut at any time.

Just my $0.02..[/QUOTE]

Just my AUS$0.01...


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## susiesan (Jul 20, 2012)

mbc71 said:


> Australia's immigration focus is on bringing you in.


That's not what I am seeing. My husband and I want to move from the US and live in Australia when we retire in 2-3 years. He is a highly skilled medical tech, but because he is over 55 Australia doesn't want him to use his job skills and work, even though his field is one that is in short supply (medical ultrasound). He is willing to work part time but I don't think it would be allowed. We are quite wealthy and can afford to pay our own medical costs, and will have US social security as well as pension income. We are totally self supporting. But the amount of assets and income you have to prove for the 405 Retiree Investor VISA are ridiculously high and keep going up every year.

We just want to move to Australia, buy a house or rent, and spend our retirement income there while enjoying our retirement. I would think we would be desirable migrants but that's not the message I get from the Australian government.

Am I missing something here? I have been researching how to live in Australia after retirement for a year, and find it is looking unlikely that we'll make it to Australia. I may have to find another country that would welcome 2 highly educated, highly skilled, wealthy retirees from the US who have money to spend.

I just found this forum and am hoping I can get practice advice from people who have already done what we want to do. We love Australia and w really want to live there!


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## mbc71 (Dec 30, 2011)

susiesan said:


> That's not what I am seeing. My husband and I want to move from the US and live in Australia when we retire in 2-3 years. He is a highly skilled medical tech, but because he is over 55 Australia doesn't want him to use his job skills and work, even though his field is one that is in short supply (medical ultrasound). He is willing to work part time but I don't think it would be allowed. We are quite wealthy and can afford to pay our own medical costs, and will have US social security as well as pension income. We are totally self supporting. But the amount of assets and income you have to prove for the 405 Retiree Investor VISA are ridiculously high and keep going up every year.
> 
> We just want to move to Australia, buy a house or rent, and spend our retirement income there while enjoying our retirement. I would think we would be desirable migrants but that's not the message I get from the Australian government.
> 
> ...



I know what you mean re: the retirement visa - my Dad was looking at it, too, and the amount of money you have to contribute is crazy. 

Probably your best bet would be an employer sponsored visa - but finding a company to sponsor you (or your husband) can be really difficult when you are offshore. 

Have you talked to a migration agent to see what other options there are? 

re: age - I'm 40, so the only visa I could earn enough points for was the state sponsored visa. This was disappointing to me because we really wanted to (orginally) be in Queensland, but Queensland doesn't have my occupation on their SOL. So we picked Victoria instead. 

Anyway - I agree with you re: it being difficult the older you are. I wish you the best!

Sent from my iPad using ExpatForum


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## lifeisgood (Mar 30, 2010)

I think that Australia's focus at the moment is to bring in people in the age group of 25-40...


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## ozbound12 (Mar 23, 2012)

lifeisgood said:


> I think that Australia's focus at the moment is to bring in people in the age group of 25-40...


That's absolutely their focus. I'd say it's an even narrower age range of 28-35. They want these people because they're just beginning their careers and have many productive tax paying years ahead of them still. 

For the OP who was talking about retirement visas, I assume you have your hearts set on moving to Australia, but if it's really just to leave the US, Argentina and Uruguay offer retirement visas and only require a minimal amount of income, something like $2000 per month from a pension or investments. Not sure if you would consider Latin America, but I just figured I would mention it. They're both beautiful countries.


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## susiesan (Jul 20, 2012)

ozbound12 said:


> For the OP who was talking about retirement visas, I assume you have your hearts set on moving to Australia, but if it's really just to leave the US, Argentina and Uruguay offer retirement visas and only require a minimal amount of income, something like $2000 per month from a pension or investments. Not sure if you would consider Latin America, but I just figured I would mention it. They're both beautiful countries.


We definitely want to leave the US. We would like to live somewhere closer to SE Asia, our favorite part of the world to travel to. As Australia is an English speaking country, we thought it would be an easy and comfortable place to live on the other side of the globe.
Perhaps I may shift my focus to New Zealand. I've also considered Japan or Singapore but have not looked into their resident visa requirements.

We have never been to Argentina, but we are planning a vacation there in 2013 and will check it out then. Their politics are a bit unstable now, and with the Argentinian government seizing foreign companies and property, I'm not sure if that's a good place to have all our assets in.

We have not spoken to a migration agent yet as they all want money up front to talk to them. We aren't quite ready to make the move yet so I don't want to spend a lot of money at this time. When it gets closer to the time we make a move I'll have to hire an agent or attorney for advice.


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