How to Apply for your Australian Driving License

Applying for my Australian Driving License is something I have been meaning to do for some time it’s just that I haven’t had chance to get around to it.

The timing thing was starting to worry me though. If you are a just a visitor to Western Australia then your allowed to drive for a period of 12 months.

If you intend on becoming or are already a permanent resident of WA (like me) then your supposed to obtain your WA drivers license within 3 months!

So 15 months later I thought it was time for me to get myself sorted! If I got stopped by the police then I think I’d probably get the book thrown at me.

What implications not having a valid license had on the validity of my car insurance goodness knows but if I wrote my car off I’m sure the news wouldn’t be good.

So, I trundled on down to my local licensing centre and got myself sorted. Read more

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Migration Agents - How to find a registered Australian Migration Agent

Australian Migration Agents and whether or not to utilise one as part of your migration process is a question that will be at the forefront of many people’s minds when they decide that they want to make a better life for themselves down under.

Where the hell do you start is often the very first question though and having a migration agent guide you through the complexities of moving to Australia might be seen as a must have for some.

Although when we made our own move down under we organised everything ourselves, for some the Australian Migration agent path may be a preferred option.

What is important though is that if you go down this path then you are strongly advised to use a Migration Agent that is registered.

Outside of Australia not all agents are registered. If they are not registered they are not accountable. Some call themselves Migration consultants or similar!

Back in October I wrote about a paper I’d read which detailed some of the antics of some of the more dodgy migration agents out there. It’s fair to say that you need to be careful when choosing your agent as choosing a bad one will waste both your time and your money!

So, if you’re looking for a Migration Agent how do you find an agent who’s officially recognised and registered? Read more

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Can you get SKY Satellite TV in Australia?

I’ve noticed recently that quite a few folks have been hitting getting down under via search engines using search terms such as Sky TV in Australia and How do I get SKY TV in Australia?

The only reason why I’d imagine Google and co are presenting GDU in these results is because of the the article I wrote whilst back in the UK titled ‘How to cut your SKY TV costs in half’?

Within this article I basically wrote about how willing the folks at SKY were to offer us great deals when we told them we were going to cancel our subscription.

In hindsight there wasn’t a lot the poor buggers could do really as we were moving to Australia for good, still it shows that they are willing to drop their proverbial pants to try and keep the business.

Anyway, to provide a slightly more useful article for those looking I thought I’d write an entry to really answer the question: Can you get SKY Satellite TV in Australia? Read more

Popularity: 20% [?]

Australian Salary Survey - How much will I earn in Australia?

When moving out to Australia the question around Australian Salary’s and how these compare to those paid in your current country are often one of those frequently asked questions which will be important to everyone.

The consensus is that due to Australia’s ‘Cheaper’ cost of living, the average salary can often be 10 - 20% less then those paid in your home country.

I know when we moved from the UK to Australia I was told to expect to take a big pay cut if I was applying for a similar job, having said that I think it really comes down to the case of supply and demand and thankfully I was able to secure a job paying a similar kind of salary to the one I was paid in the UK.

Thankfully, there are a number of Australian based recruitment companies who regularly Review and publish Salary Survey information. These are a really helpful resource for you to review if you want to get an indication of the kind of Salaries being paid within a specific region.

Michael Page International has recently published the results of its most recent survey.

The surveys are broken down into a number of areas and include:

• Banking (.pdf 149KB)
• Accounting (.pdf 149KB)
• Chartered Accounting Profession (.pdf 149KB)
• Engineering (.pdf 135KB)
• Procurement & Supply Chain (.pdf 121KB)
• Human Resources (.pdf 123KB)
• Legal (.pdf 127KB)
• Sales (.pdf 143KB)
• Marketing (.pdf 147KB)
• Technology (.pdf 138KB)

You’ll need the Adobe’s acrobat reader to open these files. It’s a free application and if your not one of the 98% of computer users who already have this you can download it by clicking here.

Another of the large recruitment companies; Hays, also publish a similar survey on an annual basis.

The Hays Survey is compiled from information collected from their 42 locations throughout Australia and New Zealand and are based on the average salary paid on over 12,000 jobs advertised by Hays in the previous 12 months.

Similarly to the Michael Page Salary Surveys, the Hays Surveys are broken down into a number of key areas including Accountancy and Finance, Insurance, Contact Centres, Resourcing and Mining and Legal to name just a few.

Surveys are great but sometimes are so generic they may not give you all of the information you need to get a true idea of the kind of money you might end up earning within Australia.

Prior to moving to Australia I found the best way to get an idea of the Salary I could expect to be paid was by simply searching for a role similar to my current role on a number of the Aussie based recruitment websites.

Seek.com.au is touted as being Australia’s No 1 Employment site, however I also found that sites such as Jobserve.com.au and Mycareer.com.au also presented some decent information.

You’ll quickly find that there is some duplication of the roles advertised on these sites so the site you decide to settle on will really come down to your own personal preferences I guess.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Australian Spiders - Should I Worry?

Many people are worried about living in, or visiting, Australia all because of its poisonous spiders. Is there really a reason for you to be worried? Could you be killed after being bitten by a spider if you visit, or move to, Australia? Should the possibility stop you from going to Australia?

In case you did not know it, Australia has only two spiders that should be of a major concern for anyone visiting, or living there. The two spiders that you need to be most concerned with are the funnel-web spider and the red-back spider. These spiders have caused deaths in the past.

But, with a little common sense and caution these spiders are not the major concern that they used to be. There now is anti-venom for both and neither one has caused any reported deaths for many years.

Funnel-Web Spiders Where are they found?

These hazardous funnel web spiders are found most often in the Brisbane and Sydney area. There have been a few isolated funnel web spider bites in the Adelaide area. The are not usually found in Perth or Melbourne area.

How big are they? The females are usually bigger than males and they are most often found to be around 6 or 7 cm long when including their legs. If you put this into perspective you will realize that a female funnel web spider is found to be about the same width as the palm of a person’s hand.

The funnel web spider is not like the timid red-back spider. The funnel web spiders are aggressive creatures. They will not hesitate to attack if they feel that they have been provoked at all. What’s more, their venom is very quick acting and if they are not promptly treated their bite can end in a rapid death. This can happen within an hour so that quick action is a must.

Even though the funnel-web spiders are much more aggressive than the red-back spiders, their bites are not near as common because the funnel-web spiders are much bigger and so they are easy to see. As far as how many people fall prey to the funnel-web spider? The average seems to be around 5 or 6 bites requiring anti-venom treatment each year in Australia.

Some people wonder if funnel-web spiders can jump? No, they cannot jump. What they do is they back up when disturbed then they will bite you with a fast downward stroke. When they are provoked they may rush toward you aggressively, but they are not actually able to propel themselves up off the ground.

The funnel-web spider burrows holes in the ground. They are usually found in moist, shady areas like dense shrubs, rockeries, logs and in leaf debris..

Red-Back Spiders can be found in every area of Australia and is usually around 2 to 3 cm long including their legs. The red-back spider is a relative of the familiar black-widow spider. Red back spiders are Australia’s best-known spiders. They have songs written about them and they even have a brand of beer named after them.

Red back spiders flourish in populated areas. Every year there are hundreds of bites reported but fewer than 30 percent of them require the anti-venom treatment; for the most part only the female Red-back spiders will bite as the males are usually too small to.

The venom of the red-back spider is much slower acting than the funnel web spider and the anti-venom is quite effective. The majority of victims of red-back spider bites do not turn out to be ill. The possibility of death from a red-back spider bite is possible but it is quite rare. Since the anti-venom became available in 1956 there has not been any deaths from red-back spider bites. As far as how many people fall victim to the red-back spider? The average seems to be around 250 anti-venom treatments being administered every year in Australia.

The red-back spiders are usually shy and they will pretend to be dead rather than bite someone. They will usually only bite if they are forced into contact with someone that is putting on their gardening gloves, boots, shoes or similar clothing.

So, if you are contemplating visiting or moving to Australia do not let your worry about being bitten by a poisonous spider keep from going. With a little caution you should not need to worry about getting bit. But, if you are bitten a quick trip to the closest hospital should fix you right up.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Australia

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Why should or shouldn’t I use a migration agent?

Just an update for the FAQ

An agent is very useful if you have the money (costs are usually in the thousands of A$) but not the time, or if you have an unusual case (unclear work experience, bad criminal or visa history, medical problems etc).

If you are willing to do some research, for example on our forums and your case is pretty straightforward, it is very well manageable without an agent.

However, it might be a good idea to have an agent go through your skills assessment application and/or your visa application just before you send them off, just to check that you haven’t forgotten something or did something stupid. Many agents are willing to do this for only a few hundred dollars.
Read more

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What is the difference between permanent residence and migration?

I thought it may be useful to add a FAQ to gettingdownunder.

This way folks who may just want a quick overview can do get one by clicking on the FAQ Link from our main menu.

So, to kick off. What is the difference between permanent residence and migration?

Well, people wishing to live permanently in Australia must apply for, and be granted, a permanent visa. If you apply outside Australia, you are applying to migrate. If you apply in Australia, you are applying for permanent residence.

Simple as that.

Popularity: 5% [?]