AA11:

I would like to communicate with you through email if you don't mind. In a similar situation with you currently.

NSW is not currently accepting civil engineers for offshore in any of the RDA.

So when will they start accepting offshore applicant?

yungmin:


NSW is not currently accepting civil engineers for offshore in any of the RDA.

FBS:

PR would have been the "easier" option but yes it is not that straightforward. Lots of hurdles to scale but perhaps the doctors in the house can advise of the field to enrol in as a student. One thing is 99% sure though, as a GP you should be able to get employment easily. Na to dey prescribe panadol for everything and sending referrals left, right and centre. No stress. lol. Just kidding ooo.

If you don't mind, do nursing. There are some school that are offering 2 years nursing programme. Do it in regional areas for points, thereafter, apply for PR. While doing this process, you can do your AMC 1.

Sorry to ask, are you still in Australia ??

debsty:
Hello all,

Nice to be here to talk about experiences of living in Oz. Tyosho has done some real justice to much of the areas. I will just chip in some bits from a NSW (Sydney)perspective .

Housing: Rent in Sydney is quite expensive, though depending on where you stay, you might get some cheaper deals. In a month , it could be as high as half of your monthly wages excluding other small bills. The only good news is that the further you are from the city, the cheaper it is for you. Talking about my experience, I decided to come in first on my own before bringing in family and I think it worked fine for me. I got a shared apartment close to the city and paid about 250 per week for a small room. It was just me so I didnt mind. Used the opportunity to research the different areas. I finally settled for one in the MacArthur region , about 54km from the city...about 1hr train ride from the city. I didnt mind the commute , as I use the time to do other things. In this area , houses , apartment are cheaper and you have more open spaces and parks for children to play. Applying for a house through an agent is another story altogether which I know would be dealt with in this thread.

Transportation : Everyone in OZ would always tell you to get a car as a necessity. Everywhere is far from each other. You can manage with bus waiting times and walking to train stations for a while but as time goes on, you would definitely need to get one. Depending on what you want , car prices are not bad . I know someone that got a Camry pencil light for just $600 with little or no issue. Just some paintwork needed but that's based on preference. If working in the city, the train is your best bet, however if working in the suburbs...a car is needed. In NSW, you can use your naija licence for only 3 months, after that , you become a learner. Dont know about Victoria , but NSW test is usually difficult , its a rule that they don't pass you the first time and one little wrong move , its failure. I got it at my third attempt .

Other experiences still to come depending on what people want to know.

@ Bellong, I have always wanted to say thank you to you for your help during my application journey, sometimes in 2015. Greatly appreciated.

No stop over ??

pemilabelle:
Good day everyone!!

Please is there anyone traveling next month or recently just left? Need to find out what airline is best to use.

I checked Qatar airways, it’s almost $2300 for a one way ticket (March). Must one get a return ticket too?

@debsty please how can I get you direct, I really need a help, I need much info please

tunlex01:
1. Fortescue
2. First Boys’ Prison at Port Arthur
3. Tasman Island
4. Cape Pillar

nice pictures. Just a quick question. Do you know if there is currently any restrictions on working as a student in Australia

Razgas:
nice pictures. Just a quick question. Do you know if there is currently any restrictions on working as a student in Australia

No

If you stay in Sydney precisely and you know any legal Practitioner who is very good preferably African who is very good. Please come under my mention one unfortunate white female Bastard is trying to ruin my elder brother's life with a rape accusation due to some past relationship experiences they had. Help is needed urgently!

Craggybogg:
If you stay in Sydney precisely and you know any legal Practitioner who is very good preferably African who is very good. Please come under my mention one unfortunate white female Bastard is trying to ruin my elder brother's life with a rape accusation due some past relationship experience they had. Help is needed urgently!

Legal Aid Suggestions
NSW: https://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/what-we-do/criminal-law
VIC: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au.
QLD: https://www.legalaid.qld.gov.au/Home
SA: https://lsc.sa.gov.au/cb_pages/legal_advice.php

These organisations can provide you with some initial legal advice and support. And sometimes, even court representation. Legal issues involves lots of money.

Need an advice please. If one's job is located at Southbank - Riverside Quay (Melbourne) what would be the best suburb closest to this to look for a house.

kory:
Need an advice please. If one's job is located at Southbank - Riverside Quay (Melbourne) what would be the best suburb closest to this to look for a house.

There is nothing like best suburb closest to Southbank, its all boils down to personal preference as the transport system is very good.
Its depend on your budget and the type of accommodation you are looking for, you can't go wrong with any suburb that is about 30mins by train to Southern Cross station and complete the rest with tram right outside the station.
PS: Try Western Suburbs but avoid Footscray, Sunshine and probably St. Albans. Just make sure that what you're going for is close to train station.

Pls what's the best place suburb to live if one is going to study in Victoria university Footscray. A large family looking for a 2bedroom. Something affordable...
Someone suggested werribee..... I need help, because we need to search for a primary school for the children in that area as well. Thanks

Please, How much is an average salary and expenses in Australia( how much you could save at the end of the month) I know it vary by individual lifestyle, I just need an average. I’m trying to compare with other countries. Thank you.

tyosho:
It will be nice if this thread is restricted to info about life in australia.Not questions on how to secure visa or gain admission.

My family and I made use of IOM to secure our travel tickets.We went with emirates and had a stopover in Dubai.Nothing special about the travel experience.We were entitled to 40kg per adult,40kg for a child and 23kg for infant.We also paid for 2 extra bags of 32kg each but i hear prices have gone up so cargoing is cheaper.You can cargo through certain airlines like saa,emirates and etihad.
All in all we had like 12 luggages.
I went with ALL kinds of food stuffs except beans(becos of weavils).With my food items,i put them individually in transparent bags and labelled them.Fish,egusi,dry pepper,garri,amala etc.
Got to melbourne,declared i had food items but was not searched and was allowed to go through.

We opened accts with NAB and commonwealth bank but didnt transfer any money from nigera.We went with some cash and left the remaining in a GT dom acct and transferred from there to our OZzy acct when we arrived.We also opened a dom acct in OZ(commonwealth bank was seamless) for ease of transfer.There might be a cheaper way to transfer funds but this is what we did.

We stayed with family in Northern suburbs initially but got our own place in the Eastern suburbs,somewhere not far from Dandenong.We settled for the East because its quite busy,more factories and industries in these areas.If i dont live in the East,I will go for the North and West in that order.West is cheapest but people say it has a history of crime.I however have friends who have lived in the West over 10years and have never had any incidents.Anyhow,wherever you decide to stay is fine.Just get somewhere close to the train station and mall.

In melbourne,you can use your naija license for 6months.My husband passed his victoria drivers test on first attempt,i havnt tried yet for my drivers license.People say though that it can be quite tough cos i know someone who failed 5times!I was able to start driving within 2months of getting here.Just remember,you drive on the left always.

No ideas on how mortgages work but when choosing a neighborhood,also consider ones with good schools if you have kids.If your kids are still of daycare age(below 5),use careforkids.com.au to compare prices,reviews etc.

Settling in was not bad for me cos i had friends and family here already.My kids settled fine as well.

Upon arrival;
Get a mobile sim(i use lebara)
Apply for TFN(tax file no)
Open a bank account or go and activate the one you opened from Nigeria
Go to centerlink and medicare for registration
Get a travel card(MYki card if in melbourne).

Update your linkedin profile and make it very appealing to recruiters.You can also search for recruiters on Linkedin.

With regards to work,there is always something to do.It might not be want you want initially but there is work.Some people start off working at factories,aged care homes,disability and support centres etc until they eventually get what they want.Some people also end up going into nursing,community welfare,policing etc.But like i said,if you dont mind chopping humble pie to start somewhere earning money with these blue collar jobs,you will be okay.I know people who have houses with money earned from these blue collar professions.
There is dignity of labour here so people dont care what job you do to earn money.

For transportation,if you can afford it,pls plan to buy a car asap(carsales.com.au,gumtreee.com.au).please buy cars with roadworthiness and valid registration(at least 6months).If no car,you can use the metro system until you can afford to get a car here.

For housing,a friend referred us to her agent who leased us an apartment even though we didnt have jobs at the time.She accepted our bank statements as proof of income.We pay just a little below 2k monthly as rent.

Then i also just found out about NRAS housing scheme from a colleague days back.Its for families who fall within a certain income threshold.IF your rent was like 350,you would pay like 260 and the govt will pay the balance.I dont have much info as i dont qualify anymore since hubby and I both work now.But im certain most freshbies would qualify.

With furnishing the house,we went across gumtree.com(for people who were selling their furniture due relocation or other reasons),kmart stores( for kitchen items),bestbuy.com(this is a company that sells new electronics at reduced prices because they have scratches or marks on them;there are plenty stores like that but this is the one i patronised) and ikea stores(for kitchen and beddings)

For people that dont mind as well,in order to save costs,you can patronise Salvos stores(its a charity shop that all kinds of household items in great condition).

To get the best energy providers,internet providers,insurance etc,you can make use of iselect.com.au

During cold weather,you wear jacket and use heater(we paid almost 200 a month for heating during this past winter)

I do most of my shopping at Dandenong Market as food stuffs there is cheaper than everyother place I know.There is also Marmara market at Dandenong(all kinds of food items including shaki,cowleg,cow tongue etc) and an African store not far from the market(cant rememeber the name).At noble park is SUR african shop where i get dry fish,palm oil,egusi and stuff like that.

With departmental stores,woolworths is most expensive and aldi is cheapest.Coles is in between.
I know of only one nigerian restaurant that recently opened in the city and i have never been there before.
There is also another popular naija shop in the West called Fatimoh"s shop

With centerlink link claims,we were paid family tax benefit part A and B,family rebate and child care assistance.This all sumed up to $621 forthnightly for the first 4months,it came down to 550 and then now sits at $89 fortnightly.It reduces with every income increase.
Childcare rates was $113 for two kids initially (5days a week) and now is $370 a week.

We also got a concession card which has now been cancelled since we both have jobs.With the concession card,we paid discounted electricity and waterbills,half price for transportation,free ambulance cover,susbsizied fees if we had done any studies at the time and my first kid who is in kinder got 15hours free of daycare weekly .

With jobs,for me,it was just God.I got a job in the Tier 1 team of an IT company with no technical knowledge whatsover.It was my 3rd video interview and i got the job two months after arrival.I commute 54mins by train to the CBD which is quite a distance by OZ standard.But i dont mind really.I got the job through indeed.com which i prefer to seek.com
There a couple of recruitment agencies i know and i will list as i remember.

Strategy one(blue collar)
Adecco
Hoban
Ozstaff(blue collar)
Randstad
Sharp &carter
Hays
Smaart



cc Bellong,vinsmuft,funkjo,oknee,hordunayo,incemay,abeg you guys should come and add o

Thank you a million bunch. I will be relocating to Sydney in a few weeks time. I will make proper use of this piece of information greatly.

Donsaxxx:
Please, How much is an average salary and expenses in Australia( how much you could save at the end of the month) I know it vary by individual lifestyle, I just need an average. I’m trying to compare with other countries. Thank you.

from what i heard, salaries are high in Australia compared to other countries sha

Etinosa1234:
from what i heard, salaries are high in Australia compared to other countries sha

I heard that too but has to be balanced with minimal cost of living. If it’s on a very high side, the net would still end up the same as other western countries. I need firsthand experience.

I Dey Find Woman To Marry Too

Smile4mee01:
Is anyone here intrested in getting married? We dey find babe wey dey try in Victoria. No games.

Donsaxxx:

I heard that too but has to be balanced with minimal cost of living. If it’s on a very high side, the net would still end up the same as other western countries. I need firsthand experience.

Salary is high, cost of living is relative. You can decide to make your cost of living high or not but based on my experience with friends and colleagues in other countries, an average Australian still has more disposable income than many other western countries irrespective of their location/cost of living

Donsaxxx:

I heard that too but has to be balanced with minimal cost of living. If it’s on a very high side, the net would still end up the same as other western countries. I need firsthand experience.

Well there are places with minimal cost of living like Perth and western Australia in general...

The transport system is also good sha...

I've not gone there yet... Its just what I read online

tunlex01:


Salary is high, cost of living is relative. You can decide to make your cost of living high or not but based on my experience with friends and colleagues in other countries, an average Australian still has more disposable income than many other western countries irrespective of their location/cost of living

great.

Tblock:
Good morning fam,

I am Emmanuel and I'm new here. I want to emigrate to Australia as a skilled immigrant, can anyone be kind enough to tell me the basics and how I can start?

How is your PR process going?

My Australian landing gist and experience so far.

I arrived Australia on a PR visa through Qatar airways. It was a smooth scale at the border control apart from filling the long covid forms and entries.

I was picked up at the airport by a Senior Brother whom I have been living with and his family since my arrival.

Settling down in Australia as a new immigrant isn't easy especially getting used to a new system.

In terms of jobs, there are many jobs here that can fetch one good money both in the blue and white collar industry.

I got my first job in May and I have been enjoying the experience. Over here, people don't joke with time. If someone living in Australia spares sometime to respond to your questions, you should appreciate it because everyone is busy and on the move constantly.

I didn't understand this till I arrived.

Disability support worker jobs are everywhere in Sydney and they are heavily short staffed. In fact na dem dey beg you to come and work.

Disability support worker jobs can fetch one a good 3k dollars per forth night if you pick good shifts.

In terms of getting a professional job, it's very difficult because most companies won't employ someone without Australian local experience. For instance, if you a construction engineer, breaking into the construction industry is very difficult without local experience.

In terms of mobility, you will need a car, in fact most jobs will ask if you can drive, drivers license, car insurance etc.

Besides, having a car in Australia is a necessity not luxury. You can't get around without a car because everywhere is far from each other. I have spent 8 weeks here and I thank God for bringing me to the beautiful country despite the challenges of settling in.

If you have any questions please do ask me and I will be happy to respond.

Thank you so much and happy weekend.

I wish to relocate to Australia but I don't have a job offer, please can enter through visit visa and later work it out, I need a reply please

Kuljbaba:
I wish to relocate to Australia but I don't have a job offer, please can enter through visit visa and later work it out, I need a reply please

it doesn’t work that way. You wont even get the visit visa nor convert. This is 2022 not 2002

ednut1:
it doesn’t work that way. You wont even get the visit visa nor convert. This is 2022 not 2002

Please how do I go about it

DrCollins218:
My Australian landing gist and experience so far.

I arrived Australia on a PR visa through Qatar airways. It was a smooth scale at the border control apart from filling the long covid forms and entries.

I was picked up at the airport by a Senior Brother whom I have been living with and his family since my arrival.

Settling down in Australia as a new immigrant isn't easy especially getting used to a new system.

In terms of jobs, there are many jobs here that can fetch one good money both in the blue and white collar industry.

I got my first job in May and I have been enjoying the experience. Over here, people don't joke with time. If someone living in Australia spares sometime to respond to your questions, you should appreciate it because everyone is busy and on the move constantly.

I didn't understand this till I arrived.

Disability support worker jobs are everywhere in Sydney and they are heavily short staffed. In fact na dem dey beg you to come and work.

Disability support worker jobs can fetch one a good 3k dollars per forth night if you pick good shifts.

In terms of getting a professional job, it's very difficult because most companies won't employ someone without Australian local experience. For instance, if you a construction engineer, breaking into the construction industry is very difficult without local experience.

In terms of mobility, you will need a car, in fact most jobs will ask if you can drive, drivers license, car insurance etc.

Besides, having a car in Australia is a necessity not luxury. You can't get around without a car because everywhere is far from each other. I have spent 8 weeks here and I thank God for bringing me to the beautiful country despite the challenges of settling in.

If you have any questions please do ask me and I will be happy to respond.

Thank you so much and happy weekend.

This is great, congratulations
Are Australian Schools cheap?
What is the easiest way to come in?

Kuljbaba:

Please how do I go about it

check the first post of this thread or try student visa.

Pls.. Does Anyone know how to go abt filling the health card form..

I don't understand it well

Please how do I get a job in Australia from Nigeria

ednut1:
check the first post of this thread or try student visa.

Kuljbaba:
Please how do I get a job in Australia from Nigeria

by applying online.