Google Street View - Now that is useful!

There’s a ton of useful sites on the web that may help you decide where you’ll want to settle once you move to Australia.

We’ve already spoken about the Australian Suburb Profiles which are available over at Domain.com and theres a number of great real estate websites which you can use to identify properties to buy or rent before you get out here; the main of course being Realestate.com.au

One of the problems with selecting a house to rent or buy when your on the other side of the world though is it’s often difficult to get a feel for what the surrounding streets and suburbs actually look like.

You can always try asking in our Australian Real Estate Forum as there’s a good chance that for the more popular area’s we may have a member who already lives there. Having said that Australia is a pretty big place and for the smaller suburbs this may not be an option.

Let me introduce you then to Google street View.

Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps and Google Earth that provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.

When it was launched on May 27th 2007, only five American cities were included. It has since expanded to hundreds of locations in the United States, France, Italy, Japan and as of the 4th of August this year. Australia

Google Street View displays photos that were previously taken by a camera mounted on a car, and can be navigated using either the arrow keys on the keyboard or by using the mouse to click on arrows displayed on the screen.

Using these devices, the photos can be viewed in different sizes, from any direction, and from a variety of angles. Lines that are displayed along the street that is shown indicate the direction followed by that street view camera car.

It really is an excellent way to check out the surrounding suburbs and houses. It’s also a nice way to get a feel for your future home… Australia Seriously guys. The geeks at Google have done good!

To check out the street map view. Head over to google maps. Type in the address and if the Google camera car has been past the street by then you’ll be offered a ’street view’ link.

Looking at our own house it looks like the street view camera car past about 3 - 6 months ago. Still, It’s pretty damn clever.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Current Australian Immigration processing lead time as of August 2008

OK Guys, it’s August already so please find below details of the Australian Immigration processing lead time for as of August 2008.

To discuss this time line then check out this thread in our forum. Also remember to check out our Australian Visa Time line Forum which has been set up specifically so that folks sharing a similar timeline can hang out and keep each other motivated during times of stress

NEWSFLASH

The Brisbane Skilled Processing Centre (BSPC) commenced operations on 1July 2008. BSCP are processing electronically lodged applications for Classes VB and VC lodged on or after 1 July 2008.

Any paper documents received in Adelaide for these applications will be couriered to Brisbane for processing. Applicants are encouraged to provide their documents electronically either by attaching them to the application or by email.

Supporting documentation and enquiries regarding these applications should be directed to the relevant Brisbane contact point. Read more

Popularity: 4% [?]

Minimum Salary Levels under Subclass 457 program increased

News in from the guys at the Department of Immigration (immi) that from the 1st August minimum Salary Levels under Subclass 457 program are to increase.

The 457 Visa  is the most commonly used program for employers to sponsor overseas workers to work in Australia on a temporary basis (3 months to 4 years). There are also special arrangements for employers in regional areas across Australia.

On 1 August 2008 a new Legislative Instrument (Gazette Notice) was issued, increasing the Minimum Salary Level (MSL) by 3.8 per cent.

This instrument applies not only to new sponsored worker visa applicants, but to all sponsored workers.

This means that the formula for calculating the MSL will apply to every sponsored worker who is paid in accordance with an MSL.

See the attached PDF on the immi website for more details:

Popularity: 3% [?]