I have some questions for Michelle.  We are looking to move to Australia from Michigan.  Could you please reply to this message so I know I could ask questions. VZ

Hi Michelle -

I am from Texas and upon my recent return from my first holiday in Australia, I was laid off from my job. While in Oz, several young travelers I was with refered to the working traveler visa that US citizens could get for 1-2 years. I am interested in this and now have the freedom to do the travel, however, I also have worked in international events management and I figured this is a skill that would benefit Australian companies just as it did US companies. If I came to OZ on the temporary work-travel visa and got on with a great organisation there, could that company then sponsor me with a full time working visa or would I have to come back to the States first for a time? I just want to set my expectations accurately before I decide on my next move. I am not expecting to return to Oz until July, 2010 at the earliest. Please reply to me at your earliest convenience either through this thread or via my email at cwilder0406@gmail.com. Any advice you can provide is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

- Cori

Hi, I hope you can help, myself and my partner have recently been in contact with an Emigration Consultant at the London Bureau in regards to what type of visa cllass would be best for us, we were ideally looking for an instant PR, but unfortunately have been told that we are only eligable for visa class 475 (state sponsored visa). We are as you can imagine very very put back by this as well as the costs involved and dont know what is best for us!. I am 31 years old and my partner is 29 so we are now ready to start a new life and with this visa class we will be restricted to working in a certain area for 12 mths to reside in an area of australia for 2 years before even looking to aply for a PR, so we wouldnt be able to set our 'roots' as such. The agent also advised that they will assist in looking for a job but cannot guarentee, we just feel its a lot of money with no guarentee, can you please help or provide some advise so we can try and move forward with this? Do you know anyone that has been in the same situation as us, and if so how did they get on?

Thank you for taking the time to read this