Immigration to Australia for American Citizens

Have you always dreamed of living in “the Land Down Under”?

Or are you interested in escaping from the reactionary politics of Trump’s America and living in a more tolerant, welcoming society?

If you are an American citizen and have been giving thought to immigrating to Australia (or if you are already here on a student or temporary work visa and want to explore options for permanent residency) then please get in touch with me – an American trained lawyer from New York, living in Sydney and thoroughly familiar with the complexities of Australian immigration laws!

The good news is that Australia is extremely welcoming to migrants, and there are a lot of different options for Americans!

To start with, Australia has an ongoing skills shortage, so if you have a skilled occupation, you can migrate here through Australia’s General Skilled Migration Programme.

 A wide range of occupations is eligible for skilled migration. You can apply to do skilled migration either independently, or you can do it through employer sponsorship. 

If you’d like to “test the waters” and see if Australia is really for you, there’s a temporary skilled visa programme here too, called the 457 programme.  Under that (employer sponsored) option, you can get a visa to live and work in Australia temporarily for up to 4 years, and if you do wind up liking it here, there’s a way to convert from the 457 programme to a visa pathway that will lead to permanent residency and citizenship.  It's perfect if you are already working for an American multinational!

If you want to find out if you have an occupation that is suitable for independent skilled migration, you can check the Skilled Occupation List on the Department of Immigration's Website. 

For employer sponsored migration, have a look at the eligible occupations (it's extensive!) on the Consolidated Sponsored Occupations List.

There are a lot of other options to consider as well!!!

For example, if the love of your life is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, you could be eligible for a partner visa under Australia’s Family Stream. You don’t have to be married, as Australia recognizes de facto relationships for the purpose of migration. And while Australia doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage yet, people in same sex relationships can nonetheless get partner visas.

If you are a student, Australia has truly world-class universities and a huge international student community.

So you could consider studying in Australia on a student visa.

When you’re done with your studies, there are options for staying here for an additional period to work, through the “485” post-study visa programme.

Or if you are between the ages of 18 and 31 you could come here for a year on a Work and Holiday Visa, and see if Australia really is for you.

Think of all the wonderful things that Australia has to offer: Fabulous multi-cultural cities! An incredible, amazing Aboriginal community and heritage.  A glorious natural environment, with beautiful beaches everywhere, fantastic national parks (Daintree and Kakadu to mention just 2), the incredible outback and Uluru, and wonderful, unique wildlife: not just koalas, kangaroos,  kookaburras and crocodiles (you won’t get eaten if you don’t do anything stupid!) but also wombats and platypuses and emus! And a fabulous, sunny, healthy climate!!!

Please get in touch with me at concordialaw@optusnet.com.au if you’d like to find out what options for immigrating to Australia may be most suitable for you.

Resident Return Visas - A Story With a Very Happy Ending!

I am so pleased to be able to share this account of my work, which enabled three sisters to be re-united with their father and to achieve their dream of returning to live permanently in Australia.

The circumstances of their case were truly compelling: The father of the three girls had been brought to Australia from Croatia by his parents when he was a small child. He ultimately went back to Croatia where he was married. His daughters were born in Zagreb. He then obtained the equivalent of what is today known as a "Partner Visa", and permanent residency status was granted to his wife and daughters. However, after staying in Australia for only a short period of time, the wife decided to return to Croatia. She took the daughters with her, without notifying the father or obtaining his consent. 

Ultimately, all three of the sisters grew up in Zagreb. When the oldest of the young women had reached her early twenties and had begun university studies, and the two younger sisters were in their late teens, they decided that they would rather live in Australia than in Croatia.

Through providing extensive written submissions to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, I was able to demonstrate that the sisters had strong personal ties to Australia, with many family members living here with full citizenship status. I was also able to explain to the Department that there were compelling reasons why the sisters had not been in Australia - namely, that they had been minor children and were thus not in a position to decide for themselves where they would live.

Thanks to the persuasive evidence that I provided to the Department, the three sisters were all granted Resident Return Visas. They have all migrated to Australia and are happily living here.

The outcome in this case was truly wonderful, and it was immensely rewarding for me to use my legal background to produce a result which will help to put these lovely young women on a path to the future they want, and to help them re-unite with their father and their other close relatives in Australia!!