Sorry, we are essentially a social club and can't really help you with your visa or immigration process. However we can suggest you contact your nearest Australian consulate in Canada (www.ahc-ottawa.org) or visit the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs website (www.dimia.gov.au/) which has excellent information and downloadable forms.
There are many type of visas allowing you to stay in Australia and to work as well. The most common are...
1. Working Holiday Visa (WHV) Eligibility: You must be aged between 18 and 30 years-old. Condition: It allows you to stay in Australia for up to 12 months. If you work, you are not allowed to work for more than 6 months for the same employer. Comments/Tips: It is a very easy and unexpensive visa to obtain. If you wish to stay in Australia for more than a year, I recommend you start off with this visa and, while in the country, try to get sponsored by an employer. It gives you the opportunity to ascertain you wish to live in Australia and simplifies finding a job as well (not easy to set up interviews from overseas and employers would rather prefer having face-to-face interviews with the candidates). First things to do when you arrive in the country are: * Go to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to get a Tax File Number (TFN) - the equivalent of the Social Insurance Number in Canada. Every time you will change job, you will be asked to fill-in a new TFN form. As a person holding a WHV, you can say you are not Australian resident for tax purposes so it gives you more money now instead of having to wait to have completed your tax return and claim the taxes paid.
2. Skilled Migration Visa Eligibility: You must be aged between 18 and 44 years-old. You must earn enough points (see form on the immigration's website to assess if you are eligible or not). We have a shortage of certain professionals here (e.g. Childcarer, Accountant, IT, Dentist, certain Engineer, Graphic Designer, Medical Practitioner, Teacher, manual jobs, etc) so more points are allowed for these. Condition: It allows you to stay indefinitely in Australia. This visa applies for permanent moves.
3. Sponsored Visa Eligibility: You must find an employer willing to sponsor you. This might happens if there is a shortage of your profession here or if you are really qualified. Condition: You are tied to your the sponsoree employer. You are not allowed to work in Australia in general, just for this specific employer so it is hard if you don't like the job... Unless you try to get sponsored somewhere else later. 4.Australian residency visa generally takes approx. two years to be granted or denied permanent residency in Australia.
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