Find A Place To Live
Here are a few websites that might help you find a flat:
Anne Lessard
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Visas in Australia
There are many type of visas allowing you to stay in Australia and to work as well. I will only name the most common here, for an extensive list you can visit the Australian Immigration Department on www.immi.gov.au
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.
For more helpful information: http://ozworkingholiday.weebly.com/
* When you leave Australia for good, make sure you claim your superannuation (aka super). All employees receive at least 9% of super (equivalent to the "regime des rentes" in Quebec), which is included in your salary package per annum.
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...
NOTE: I am not an expert in immigration so I'm more than happy for people to add information in this section (and even correct me if I'm wrong!). The path I followed was getting an ETA Business Visa (temporary visa allowing me to work - without being paid - for 3 months) at the General Consulate of Sydney (internship). I decided to stay longer in Australia so I went to New Zealand to obtain a WHV and then I was put on a temporary de facto visa ("conjoint de fait") and finally a permanent visa.
Major Newspapers
Australia:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
More detailed list for Australia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_newspapers_in_Australia
Canada (Quebec):
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/index.html
http://www.canoe.com/journaldemontreal/
http://www.journaldequebec.com/
More detailed list for Canada:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_journaux_canadiens
Job Market in Australia
The job market is strong. Probably due to Australia's consecutive 13-years of growth.
It is easy to find work in Australia. There is a huge demand for clerks' employees (especially in restaurants) and also for skilled employees.
It has been 4 years that I live in Sydney and I never had problems finding jobs. I found most of them either through recruitment agencies or by applying online. The recruitment agencies are a huge player in the Australian market, most companies go through them to fill jobs. If you are looking for a skilled job, I recommend you apply online (see below for websites) and\or contact recruitment agencies. Because most of the recruitment agencies' jobs are also online, they will contact you if your resume stands out.
If you are looking for a clerk job, I recommend you just apply to the different restaurants\stores in your suburb or wherever you want to travel.
Main Employment Websites:
To give you an idea of the average salary by industry in Australia, please click on the below link.
http://content.mycareer.com.au/salary-centre/?ads=0&s_cid=215859
I think the Australian minimum wage is around $13 per hour. It may seem high compared to Quebec (i.e. $9.50 per hour) but the major portion of the difference goes into your rent! Especially if you wish to live in Sydney near the beach!
Job Hunting Advices: