Bored with your current job and fed up of cloudy skies? Or sick of looking for a job in credit-crunch Britain? South Australia might have the job for you, with the state government starting a campaign offering Britons aged 18 to 30 the chance to  take up unusual and quirky jobs on their Australian Working Holiday.

While it may sound like another spin on the successful “Best Job in the World” campaign, the South Australian Government says the difference is this campaign is about exciting work and travel options for everyone.

South Australia's London-based agent general Bill Muirhead said life seems to be dealing workers a rough hand at the moment and the jobs they are offering are in stark contrast to the UK's long working hours and high taxes.

"This isn't about one job that everyone has to compete for, but rather about showing people that South Australia offers more exciting work and travel options than anywhere else in the world.

"And anyone on a working holiday could do them,” Mr Muirhead said.

Quirky jobs that offer ultimate work-life balance

Jobs include driving the world's first solar-powered bus fleet in the coastal city of Adelaide, catching koalas, shark personality profiling in Port Lincoln, beer taster or Fairy Penguin home remodeller on Kangaroo Island.  Even a position of “roo poo” harvester is on offer.

All interested applicants need to do is fly to South Australia on an Australian Working Holiday Visa to be in contention for the unusual jobs. None of the jobs require previous experience.

The campaign follows a survey by the South Australian government of 2000 British workers that found an estimated 60 per cent of British employees were bored with their jobs. Those most bored by their work come from Portsmouth, Chelmsford, Southampton, Cardiff and Oxford, with those from Wrexham, and Coventry among the most disgruntled.

The survey revealed the most boring job sectors to be electronics, administration, retail and call centre work.

In contrast, the South Australian Government says life in the state is the “ultimate work-life balance”.

The Queensland tourist board posted the “Best Job in the World” in January 2009 to raise its profile around the world and increase tourism, inspiring more than 34,000 applicants and generating millions of dollars worth of free advertising for the destination.

Briton Ben Southall won the “Best Job in the World” campaign to become caretaker of Queensland’s exotic Hamilton Island. 

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Some episodes of the popular BBC Wanted Down Under television programme are being reshown, and it is a great chance for potential migrants to get a sneak peak of many popular Australian cities.

The programme is a reality series presented by Nicki Chapman in which British families are given a look at life Down Under and a sample of how their lifestyle could change before they permanently emigrate to Australia.

The series was initially screened last year, but potential Australian migrants would still find the episodes give an insight into many Australian cities, general indication of property prices, and the lifestyle and employment opportunities available.   However, the programme also doesn’t gloss over the challenges faced by a permanent move to the other side of the world.

Series three of Wanted Down Under follows British families from different walks of life, including a policeman looking for work in Adelaide, a family living under the Heathrow airport flight sample life in Sydney, and a single mum gives tropical Darwin a one-week trial, as well as looking at New Zealand destinations.

Some episodes of the series are being shown on BBC Two, as well as also available on BBC iPlayer.

The episodes include:

Season 3 Episode 1

Williams Family: Adelaide
The Williams family from Leicester has the chance to sample life in Adelaide for a week, before deciding whether to make the massive step to emigrate. But when policeman Paul meets the South Australia police, he finds the job prospects don't really stack up. And when he weighs up whether he could leave his 12-year-old daughter in the UK, the whole family feels the unbearable pain of deciding whether they could leave loved ones behind.

Season 3 Episode 2

Mehra Family: Sydney
Zoe Mehra has dreamed of a new life down under ever since she went travelling there after university, but she must persuade husband Peel that their future would be brighter if they emigrated. They spend a trial week in Sydney, where painter-decorator Peel finds there is plenty of well-paid work. Will it be enough to tempt him? 

Season 3 Episode 3

Cookson Family: Melbourne
The Cookson family tries life in Melbourne for a week before deciding if they want to move to Australia permanently. Will the laid-back lifestyle prove enough of a draw to tempt them to make a new life for themselves down under?

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Anyone with a keen eye on China when considering the Australian currency exchange is one step ahead, but market time differences can still be a killer. Halo Financial Director David Johnson explains why.   

When you think of all the things that might directly affect your migration plans to Australia, decreased investment in Chinese building projects probably isn’t an issue that springs immediately to mind. But perhaps it should.

It may seem odd to think that the ups and down of the Chinese construction industry will have a very direct correlation with how wealthy you are when you arrive in Australia but there is no getting away from the facts.

The link is perhaps less tenuous than you may imagine. The fact is that China is a major importer of Australian mined and quarried materials. They import copper, bauxite (the base element of aluminium), cement and iron ore to fuel the massive building program they are still undertaking and, as far as Australia is concerned, that is a good thing. It keeps demand up, boosts job prospects in the Australian mining industry and swells the accounts of the Australian taxman.

However, China is starting to slow the pace of new construction projects because its economy is hugely out of step with the rest of the global economy and the 11 per cent economic growth in China is, by any measure, an unsustainable pace. That slowdown means they need less of the products Australia provides and that in turn means Aussie mining companies are not as flat out and not as profitable as they once were.

This is happening, by the way, just at a time when the miners are being hit with a new tax regime which will relieve them of 30 per cent of their profits. The taxman might have missed the boat on this one and Kevin Rudd may have lost his job as Australian Prime Minister for no purpose. 

Unlikely influences on the Australian currency market 

The fact that China is a major influence on the Australian economy is what Steven Fry might call, "Quite Interesting" but it does serve to remind all of us that the currency market, to which you will be vulnerable until you have converted all your Sterling into Aussie Dollars, can move for some of the most unlikely reasons.

Keeping tabs on the Sterling – Aussie Dollar exchange rate is something you can do in a minor way through checking websites, having an applet on your phone or watching the news but, assuming you have a life to live, it isn’t something to which you will want to devote all your waking hours. And if you have no life and you do watch the exchange rates from dawn until dusk in the UK, you will still miss some of the action because the currency market trades every second of the 24 hour day from Monday morning in Asia to Friday night in America. Australia is open for business while the UK is away from its desk so the action you will miss will tend to be the busy period for the Australian Dollar.   

How to get the most out of your currency exchange

There are three possible solutions; Option 1 is to consume vast quantities of sugary drinks, caffeine and sweets to ensure you do not have to sleep and can therefore watch the markets 24 hours a day. This is not recommended by me or your doctor.

Option 2 is to ignore the market and just write off any losses that you may incur on exchange rate fluctuation as unavoidable. And option 3 is to use the best tool for the job; in fact the tool designed for precisely this job, the market order. This is a method of setting a target exchange rate and placing a firm order in the 24 hour market through a specialist broker like Halo Financial, to ensure that as long as that exchange rate is available anywhere in the world at any time of day, you will get your order filled.

So imagine the scenario where, at 04.30 GMT, the Chinese government announces it is cutting all new construction projects, traders see this as a threat to the Australian economy, the Australian Dollar weakens, your order placed previously at AU$1.68 to the Pound (within the expected range of trade), is triggered. Subsequently, the news report turns out to be a little overstated; China isn’t cancelling all projects, just those for shopping malls. Therefore the threat to Australia is not as stark as previously thought and by 06.30 GMT, the exchange rate is 5 cents lower. You receive a phone call at 08.30 GMT to confirm that you have bought your Australian Dollars at an exchange rate that you didn’t even know was possible.

It may sound like little more than a dream scenario but this kind of volatility happens more often than you might think, in almost all circumstances, the use of well-placed market orders is the very best way to make the most of currency transactions where the currency of a country in a different time zone is involved.

It is obvious which option I would favour and which I know is an excellent solution to an age old problem.

Anyone planning to go for option 1, please consult your doctor first and perhaps ask for a referral to a psychiatrist while you are at it.

- Halo Financial is a leading specialist provider of commercial foreign exchange services for both international business and private individuals who require foreign currency and need expert assistance in successfully managing their foreign exchange exposures. They are a partner of Australian Visa Bureau, an independent company specialising in helping applicants emigrate to Australia.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Market volatility could mean significant challenges for migrants but there are ways of making currency conversion work to your advantage,  Halo Financial Director David Johnson says. 

Canada seems to be operating in a different dimension to the rest of the Western hemisphere.  Canadian interest rates were raised by another 25 basis points at the Bank of Canada’s July meeting in response to solid domestic data and good receipts from growing commodity exports and we cannot forget that the Canadian banking system is in much better form that that of America or Europe; largely due to long standing regulatory constraints.

However, the volatility in other markets, including Canada’s chief export client, America, is causing some significant volatility in the Canadian Dollar. In the last month, the Sterling – Canadian Dollar exchange rate has been down in the CA$1.48 area and as high as CA$1.62.

Clearly, that fourteen cent swing is a very significant move if you are either buying or selling the Canadian Dollar. As the average migrant moves something like £200,000 to Canada, that represents CA$28,000 of either gain or loss dependent on your timing which is a fantastic hourly rate when you think about it. For most migrants, the offer of a one month contract of work that paid CA$28,000 would be snapped up, especially when you don’t have to actually do anything for the return other than enlist the services of a currency company like Halo Financial to monitor the currency market for you.

And that is the key to making your currency conversion work for you while you plan your migration and spend your every waking hour arranging the myriad of things you have to arrange when you move to another country.

Making currency conversion work for you

The key is to have the right information, the right analysis, the right tools for the job and the right strategy to ensure you get the most out of your currency exchange. In essence, it is about either becoming an instant currency market expert or enlisting a partner to help who has the right expertise to guide your actions. I must confess that even after nearly two decades of being involved in this industry, I still don’t profess to know everything about everything so I would urge you not to try to learn it all in a matter of weeks and I am always mindful of the adage that "a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing".

However, we often find that clients are hugely grateful for the availability of a currency specialist to answer questions about the market movement, to highlight changes in conditions; both positive and negative and to offer suggestions on how best to take advantage of positive exchange rate movements whilst protect against the potential for costly adverse movements. Sometimes it is simply a matter of reassuring someone that their own idea is perfectly valid but there are plenty of occasions when our Currency Consultants start from square one and take a prospective migrant right through all the opportunities and pitfalls, detailing all their options before we get to a plan that suits their particular circumstances.  

How Halo Financial can help

Most peoples' circumstances can be analysed and assessed within a 30 minute phone call and a strategy formed to make the most of the available time. Your Halo Financial Consultant will be adept at talking you through your own requirements, needs and limitations and checking that the consultant’s picture of your position is accurate.

Now if that half hour chat results in a saving akin to CA$28,000, then you will be benefitting from an hourly rate even premiership footballers would feel envious of ... oh and ice hockey players as well.

If you would like to talk about your requirements and get an assessment of the market conditions as they affect you, contact Halo Financial and speak with a consultant today.

- Halo Financial is a leading specialist provider of commercial foreign exchange services for both international business and private individuals who require foreign currency and need expert assistance in successfully managing their foreign exchange exposures. They are a partner of Canadian Visa Bureau, an independent company specialising in helping applicants emigrate to Canada.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

You could be focusing on the wrong influences on the New Zealand exchange rate, says  Halo Financial Director David Johnson. 

So you’re standing on the kerbside waiting to cross the road. You are doing your Green Cross Code bit and looking to your right for traffic until then you realise everyone else is looking left. Then it dawns on you that you are in a country that drives on the wrong side of the road and the other pedestrians have got it right. You are suddenly thankful that someone knew what was going on and you manage to cross the road safely.

It is easy to apply that same situation to the current state of affairs with the New Zealand Dollar; you may be concentrating on the New Zealand and UK economies looking for clues as to the direction of the Sterling – New Zealand Dollar exchange rate movement; but those "in the know" are looking in a completely different direction ... and they have got it right.

Where they are looking is towards China and America. That is probably making them a tad cross-eyed but they are watching China because the Chinese economy is currently the most influential force acting on commodity prices and because New Zealand’s exports are largely commodity based. And they are watching America because the stuttering state of America’s "recovery" from recession is causing nervousness across the globe and until more confidence returns the NZ Dollar is likely to remain incredibly volatile.

They should also be keeping a wary eye on the UK economy as well. Whilst the new government has been applauded for making a robust start to cutting UK borrowing and spending in order to reduce the public sector debt burden, there are fears that they may be making slightly larger strides than might be prudent in these fragile times. Fears that the credit ratings agencies may start to remove Britain’s coveted AAA credit rating are rife; driven by constantly updated forecasts of slowing economic growth and the data showing that without government stimulus Britain would still be in recession, caused a tremor across the Sterling trading markets.

Where to from here?

So which way should we be looking really? Well I would suggest you look to enlisting the assistance of someone to do your invigilating for you. Someone who has a constant eye on the markets, someone who can explain the current influences and sentiment, someone who has suggestions for the right strategy to adopt in your particular circumstance and someone who can and will save you money on your currency exchange.

I know I may be biased but that someone is actually a group of people called Halo Financial. Halo Financial’s consultants all have the experience, the background, the access to relevant market information and the customer service ethic to ensure you get the kind of service that, in these days of call centres and automated operators, you probably thought was consigned to the past.

So if you are standing at the kerbside of migration to New Zealand, before you step off the kerb, just check which way Halo Financial’s currency consultants are looking before you leap into the dark. It could make the difference between arriving in New Zealand with more money than you imagined and pouring your money down the gutter because the markets moved while you were looking the other way.

- Halo Financial is a leading specialist provider of commercial foreign exchange services for both international business and private individuals who require foreign currency and need expert assistance in successfully managing their foreign exchange exposures. They are a partner of New Zealand Visa Bureau, an independent company specialising in helping applicants emigrate to New Zealand.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

The approval for an Australian visa comes with double excitement for Valerie Morrissey, because with her Prospective Marriage Visa now freshly affixed to her passport, she will soon be heading off to Australia to join her partner and later wed.

“The visa itself and the passport came through on Wednesday so everything is ready to go and I actually fly out on the 29th of July,” Valerie said.

While exciting, the move is also understandably very emotional.  Valerie is leaving her three grown-up children and their partners and also her granddaughter in the UK.

Valerie will be flying into Perth, Western Australia, where she will join her partner Grant Bingley. They will marry in Perth on 6 November.

 “I’m looking forward to moving into my new house and settling in with Grant and starting a new life with him," she said.  

The decision to move to Australia made sense for the couple because of Grant’s work, but Valerie also has a fondness for Perth and Australia.

“I’ve been on several visits there. I love it, I absolutely love it."

"It takes a little getting used to but it’s good. The heat is lovely ...  better than the weather in Perth, Scotland, where I have lived for the past 16 years put it that way,” she laughed.

“Grant is self employed, and the work that grant does is not done as much in Scotland. It was easier for me to move to Perth than for him to give us his business and move to Scotland and basically start all over again when he already had contacts there. It was easier this way,” she said. 

The final piece of paperwork for Valerie’s Prospective Marriage Visa was lodged on 2 March, and while Bronwyn Taylor and her case worker Andrea Jefferys always kept her informed of developments there was an anxious wait without information while the Australian Government processed the application.

“The visa process was good, but quite lengthy without any information. When I contacted Bronwyn or Andrea they answered my questions very quickly but you don’t get an awful lot of information when the application is lodged at the Australian Consulate. But other than that, I’m happy about it.

“There was some very anxious waiting ... I don’t do waiting very well,” Valerie laughed.

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

While Australian Visa news of late has not been overwhelmingly positive, it is encouraging to hear that Australia will soon be welcoming the Gisanrin family from Northhampton.  

Olu Gisanrin was approved for a skilled Australian Visa only a few weeks ago, and he and his wife are planning to move to Sydney, or the nearby south coast, with their three children.

“We had been to Australia 10 years ago and liked it then but thought only briefly about moving there – we didn’t feel the time was right.  It was early last year that we started reconsidering the option,” Olu said.

“We hope to move to Sydney, but that is not completely settled. The last time we visited Australia we spent most of our time in Western Australia, but as we are moving permanently we did want to explore other areas as options. Sydney or the coast just south of Sydney could work well for us,” he said. 

They hope to emigrate to Australia at the end of the year so their two older children, aged 9 and 7, can commence at the start of the Australian school year, although it’s possible Olu may travel to Australia earlier to pursue job opportunities and prepare for the family’s arrival.

Olu said they were looking forward to moving to Australia, and he said the lifestyle should be perfect for the two older children with school, sports and the outdoors. Their youngest is just a baby.

The Australian Visa application process for the Grisanrin family was smoother than they expected.

“The visa process was a lot easier than I thought. We only started seriously considering emigrating in August last year, and at the time I read a number of old forums about the process and some people were waiting two or three years for a visa,” he said.

“Martin Beveridge handled the first part of the process, and he was very informative and professional.
 
“I did skills assessment last year and lodged the completed Australian Visa application at the end of January this year. Our visa application was approved a couple of weeks ago.”

Visa Bureau caseworker Joe Tindle assisted throughout the visa application and Olu said he was always prompt and kept the family informed of developments.

“Joe was perfect, certainly no complaints there. We were always up-to-date with the process and he always answered emails or phone messages, and if he wasn’t in the office and on holidays someone else got back to us,” Olu said.

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

The final episode of Phil Spencer’s programme Relocation: Phil Down Under airs this week, with Phil looking for a home for the Sharples family in Sydney.  

New South Wales, and the capital Sydney, is the most popular destination for Australian immigration: some 67,000 migrants moved there last year. The buzzing cosmopolitan city enjoys coastal breezes, long sandy beaches, and plenty of sunshine along with the benefits of being an international financial and fashion centre.

The week, Phil is helping three generations of the Sharples family find their first permanent home in almost a decade in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney.

The Northern Beaches extend almost 30 kilometres along the New South Wales peninsula from Barrenjoey Lighthouse to Manly with 22 stunning beaches, each with their own personality, along the way.

The most well-known on the Northern Beaches is the busy and popular tourist attraction of Manly, but there are other beaches such as the Pittwater beach to the north-west of the peninsula, a picturesque waterway with national park bushland surrounds, that belong to the locals.

Real estate along this peninsula has always historically been varied in price, although the price for anything near the water or with a view climbs steeply.

Australia’s most popular online real estate search website, realestate.com.au,  lists the pros of the Northern Beaches market as being the wide choice of properties, price range and areas, and with good local infrastructure and steady prices it’s a good investment. However, the Northern Beaches can be an expensive market to enter, due to the proximity to water and the lack of ability for the suburbs to expand due to the natural peninsular boundaries. 

For almost a decade Jon and Jeannette Sharples have been moved from one posting to the next with John's job in the military, and they are keen to finally have their own dream house although the move Down Under is their biggest yet.

Making things a little more complicated for Phil, Jon's mother Joan will be joining the family in Australia and will need her own space in the new home.

Despite the challenge, Phil also finds the time to do a spot of property searching for himself.

The last in the series Relocation: Phil Down Under screens on Channel 4 on  Friday, 12 February, at 8pm.

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

Britain is still tightly in the grip of winter, but on Relocation: Phil Down Under this week things are decidedly warmer in the sunshine state of Queensland. 

Australian property expert Phil Spencer meets up with Mark and Amanda Daniels, who are house-hunting on the Sunshine Coast with a cool one million dollar budget.

The ample budget doesn’t mean Phil will find this search easy, as the Sunshine Coast is undisputedly one of fastest growing regions in Australia and the local property market has seen tremendous capital growth over the last decade.

Less touristy than the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast is still only around an hour or two from the capital Brisbane, with gorgeous beaches, expansive coastal views, a beautiful hinterland, and a growing economy.

Lifestyle on the Sunshine Coast is a major pull, but as well as the idyllic beachside living it also has excellent local schools, universities, roads, and other infrastructure.

The Mark and Amanda left behind their successful recruitment business in Devon to emigrate to Australia with their two children. They are keen get the most of their money and want a modern, open-plan home that is close to the beach,  with a minimum of three bedrooms, an office, and a pool for the active children.

Luckily, Phil has a few modern homes along the coast that might appeal to the family.

Relocation: Phil Down Under on Channel 4 on Friday, 5 February at 8pm.

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.

More than 2 million viewers tuned in last week for the first episode of Phil Spencer’s new programme, Relocation: Phil Down Under.

It was quite a tidy result for Channel 4, and arguably shows the interest at the moment in the Australian property market, or perhaps the joy of watching a British family find their dream home.

In the second part of this new series, which screens Friday night, Phil will be focusing on Melbourne, the cultural capital of Australia, to find a home for Adam George and wife Cam in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges.

Adam George, a recycling manager, and his wife, Cam, an occupational therapist, from Basingstoke, met while travelling around Australia almost 13 years ago. They are keen to trade in their three bed semi in Basingstoke for spectacular national parks and bush land.  

After emigrating to Australia and  spending nearly nine months in the country with their two daughters they are ready to buy and put down roots.

The Georges were looking for a four-bedroom house with plenty of room for the girls, within easy reach of Melbourne, but also to be near countryside with views and a large garden. Phil managed to find their dream home for £223,000 – and it was three times the size of their Basingstoke home.

Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, is already one of Phil’s favourite cities because of its European-like feel, multiculturalism, four distinct seasons, and top class sporting facilities.

Melbourne is the home of many Australian major sporting events, like the Australian Open tennis and the Melbourne Cup horse race. With 3.8m people, it also has all the amenities and cultural perks, cafes and restaurants that anyone could wish for. 

Phil also considers property in Melbourne to be good value. The average house in Melbourne costs £278,000, according to Australian Property Monitors.

Relocation: Phil Down Under screens tomorrow night on Channel 4 at 8pm.

- Stephanie Bradley is Content and Communications Editor for the Australian Visa Bureau.

©Visa Bureau 2003-2010

Visa Bureau takes no responsibility and cannot be held accountable for action taken as a result of any information or comment provided on this blog, and we recommend that you always seek a number of opinions before making a decision regarding your migration or visa application. Please refer to the Visa Bureau terms of use for more information.