Good question!

‘Is it easy to move to Australia?’

Errrm… well let’s just say off the bat that no, it is NOT ‘easy’! In our experience.

There are a lot of moving parts, but yes it is do-able.

Lots of people have done it.

First, I think it’s fair to say that Australia ultimately chooses you, not that you choose Australia.

By that I mean that you may very well have on the face of it, all that is required to move to Australia permanently, but if one small aspect in your life is not aligned with their rather long, complex, and very detailed criteria, then it’s a nope!

No Australia for you.

But let’s not jump the proverbial gun.

What does it take, and do you have it to make Australia home? I hope this guide gives you an idea of the process, told from my experience of the process in pursuit of a Skilled Nominated (Subclass 190) Visa.

STEP 1: STARTING POINT

To begin with, as mentioned, Australia must want you, specifically your professional skills. And those skills must be in demand in Australia in the year you’re considering moving.

The Australian government have a migration system that runs off a skilled occupation list that lists skills that are in short supply across Australia.

You can find the detailed list here.

The extensive and diverse lists are drawn up by the different States (6) and Territories (2) with diverse requirements, criteria, and qualifications. You’d need to know how to look through it to determine what meets your needs.

A tall order frankly.

The Good News and Bad News!

The good news is that there are lots of visas that you could potentially apply for that could get you into Australia, to live temporarily or permanently.

The bad news is there are just way too many options; it can get very complex very quickly!

More good news is that there is help from professionals, Migration Agents, who are well versed in the migration process and the various pathways to Australia.

They can help you manoeuvre through this initial stage because you need to get it right from the get-go to proceed with your application and ultimately be successful in obtaining the visa.

It is essential to do your research and get a good Migration Agent. Luckily you can vet any you find online through the Australian government website here.

STEP 2: DECISION

When we decided in 2015 thereabouts to immigrate, Australia wasn’t a shoo in.

In a previous post, I shared how we drew up a list of countries to move to from Kenya and Australia was one of the ones we considered.

Once we decided it was Down Under, I jumped online to find out ‘the how’ and as with the rabbit hole that is Google, there was lots of information. Lots!

I eventually came across a company in the UK, Overseas Emigration, who were instrumental in guiding us through the process until we obtained Permanent Residency visas for all 5 of us.

They courteously have a free assessment tool on their website that, if you punch in your details, they’ll revert on your eligibility of migrating Down Under, no obligations.

I cannot stress enough the importance of using a migration agent simply because of the minefield the various visa options are and matching them up with your skillset, if you are going for a Skilled Migration Visa as we did.

There are of course other visa options but I would be the blind leading the blind to comment on those others having no insight into them.

In pursuing a migration visa, some factors may work against you, such as your age, your health if not optimal, or even a criminal record you (or your significant other) may hold (don’t underestimate what the government considers a criminal record either!)

Heads up – nothing can be undisclosed, no detail is too small, because it could come full circle to bite you in the backside if you don’t ‘declare’ something. In that case, you’d be back to square 1 and in some cases no square, because you won’t be given another chance!

Worse still, you could lose what you’d already spent at whatever stage the ‘minor detail’ is discovered in their forensic process!

At this point you might be thinking… WOW, is this even worth the hassle, considering how many hoops it sounds like you’ll have to jump, and I haven’t even started yet?!

I suppose the motivation to relocate to Australia must be bigger than the effort it will take to get there, to live on a permanent status anyway!

There are no shortcuts and if there are, sure wish someone had told us back then! Anyway, let’s get on with this process; onwards, and upwards!

STEP 3: CAN YOU AFFORD THE MOVE?

One of the critical questions, as is often the case, is finances.

Can you afford the move? It can be an expensive undertaking especially if your family is large, though this is also relative.

Can you afford to live off savings once you get to Australia? Unless either parent (or adult if you don’t have kids) has secured a paying job prior to getting on Australian shores, it is likely you’ll need to take some time on a job hunt.

That would then mean living off what you’ll hopefully have squirreled away to date.

For the move, it’s wise to draw up a budget to work within. Listing your expenses and incomes, if any, such as from investments, will help you get a good grasp of the financial possibility of relocating.

Once we did the free assessment with Overseas Emigration, and they confirmed we were eligible for a Skilled Migration visa, they sent us a cost breakdown of everything the relocation would entail.

We plugged in these costs into a spreadsheet we’d formulated, accounted for savings and the money we received after selling some stuff and fortunately, found we were in a good position to pay for the relocation as well as live on savings for a year if we needed to.

Progress!

STEP 4: VISA APPLICATION – LET’S GO!

This is where there’s a lot of hand holding from the migration agent, who I recommended you need. There’s lots of paperwork.

You can actually do this application yourself but the thing is one single mistake can be costly, with time and money potentially.

For starters, you’ll need to do a Skills Assessment for your occupation. This doesn’t mean sitting a test and answering questions about your skills… I wish!

A skills assessment is done by an assessing authority determined within the process. We had to get one done through VETASSESS. You may have to take a test but even if not, you will need to have a successful skills assessment to proceed to the next stage, which is to submit an Expression of Interest.

STEP 5: MIND YOUR LANGUAGE

Growing up, I really enjoyed watching the British sitcom TV program ‘ Mind Your Language’ with my family. It was hilarious! It was about a diverse group of immigrants in London who went to an adult education school at night to obviously learn English.

Well, the next step is to test your command of written and spoken English by subjecting you and your significant other to English language tests. Yes, even if you are a native English speaker as we are!

Not everyone may need to do this but it’s recommended to do it if you need to tally up more points (a certain number of points are needed to be eligible to migrate. You can check here) 

Alex and I sat an IELTS English language test, both written and oral, at the British Council in Nairobi. It sounds easy enough, especially if you’re a native English speaker, but you’d be surprised! Alex scored higher than I did yet I’m the better one at English – go figure!

Right. If all goes well thus far, you’ve got a successful Skills Assessment (check) AND you’ve scored their targeted pass mark for the English tests (check).

No, you’re not done yet. Getting close though, hang in there!

You’re onto the next stage.

STEP 6: EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)

You now have to submit your application to Skillselect, an Australian government online application system for professionals who would like to be invited by one of the Aussie States or Territories to apply for a skilled migration visa.

With an EOI, you are basically declaring that you have the skills that they need, which they assess to decide whether to invite you to apply, or not. Your application will be picked from a pool of other applicants who would have gone through a similar process. 

Sounds like online Hunger Games!

I did say…. Australia chooses you ultimately, not that you choose Australia!

Once you submit the EOI, you just sit tight, biting your fingernails until you finally hear from the Aussie government. Your Migration Agent can help you with wait times but to be frank, those would just be educated guesses or estimations. It’s out of anyone’s control.

Sit tight.

STEP 7: INVITATION TO THE AUSSIE PARTY

Phew!

You finally hear back by getting an invitation to apply. Happy days!

The application form itself is quite a slog. We sent our kids to my parents, put the phones on silent, snacks on the table and filled out the applications with no distractions!

Again, we had the help of the migration agent in preparing everything so that nothing was left out.

Once submitted, your application will be assigned a Case Officer who will go through and verify every detail you submitted on the applications and eventually, give you the green light to proceed to the next stage, which is:

1. Get your Medical checks done.
2. Get your Police Check / Clearance.

For starters, the medicals are not done by your friendly GP or by the Doctor you’ve been seeing since you were 7. Nope!

You’ll be given a panel of pre-approved doctors with whom medical tests on the whole family are done. This is when it dawned on me just how rigorous a process it is!

STEP 8: VISA GRANT YAY!

You’re done! High fives all around.

If you’re using a Migration Agent, you’ll get the good news from them, that your visa has been granted.

In our case, Alex got the phone call from Overseas Emigration UK during his office hours in Nairobi. He chose to break the news to me that evening with a handwritten note on a piece of paper that he gave our 3 year old daughter to give to me while I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready!

Glad I wasn’t holding hot soup or a hot beverage when I got the note because I’m sure the contents would have ended up all over the kitchen floor!

It was a euphoric moment, considering the anticipation of the wait after a rather lengthy process that had some ups and downs.

We kicked off the process in June 2015, received our visas in October 2016 and made the move in January 2017.   

CONCLUSION

Now after reading through that whole process, you might want to take a break and have a coffee or glass of wine as you contemplate your next steps.

As I said at the beginning of this post, lots of people have successfully gone through all of this so if you’re considering a move to Australia, go for it!

As mentioned, we moved in January 2017 and settled very quickly. We were successful in setting our roots down quickly because of our secret weapon… Edward. Once we had him in our corner, everything was pretty seamless and painless!

I’ll tell you about Edward and all about the actual move in a future post.

In the meantime, I wish you well if you’re considering making a move to Australia in 2023 and beyond.

Drop me any questions you may have in the comments below. Thanks for reading!