Emigration question...

Speaking from my own experience, I wouldn't have been able to emigrate had it not been for my mother's financial support.

I don't know how it is for others but from my friends, it's about 50/50 between savings and parental support.

Sell all your stuff that you won't need and save as much as you can in the meantime.

pmcmahon wrote: »

However one year work permits just require the price for flights however,i'd imagine that's the route many take.Not to mention Illegals.

This is not true at all for Australia anyway.

My situation was probably similar to a lot of other peoples storys. Had no money, no job, no hope and a lot of dark thoughts. So I asked my Dad for a loan of 3k euro and booked myself a one way ticket to Oz. Been here just over a year now, and have never once regreted the choice.

dark crystal wrote: »

I've been listening to all the news stories on the radio and TV and reading all the threads about emigrating here and one thing has really struck me....

If all these people are out of work and saddled with debt, where the hell are they getting the money to move lock, stock and barrel to Canada or Australia

Myself and my partner would love to emigrate, but we live on our weekly wages, have no savings and could never afford the moving costs.

To those who have emigrated, how did you afford to do so... (Sorry about the missing question marks, my laptop's fecked )

Moved to the US in mid 90's. I did have family and friends there but not in the city or state that I chose to move to. I was pretty much on my own from Day One. My father let me put the plane ticket on his credit card with the understanding that it was the first thing to be paid off when I got settled. It was.

My sister (also in the US) sent me a check for $1,000 which covered the deposit and first months rent on the studio apt that I found after a week of living in a cheap motel. It also covered the deposits on getting my electricity, cable TV and land line phone services turned on.

I got a job straight away (in a gift shop selling cheap tat to tourists) that I got paid weekly for, and had the opportunity to do lots of overtime. There was no extended job hunt for a job in my precise field, or long training periods, or month long wait for my first pay check. That made a BIG difference.

I bought a TV, a microwave, a sofa that pulled out to a bed, and a table and chairs at a Rent-A-Center store where you pay it all off weekly over a year. It cost double what you would if you walked in off the street and paid cash for it. But as I could not afford to, I had no choice but to just suck it up.

A co worker took me to a US discount chain called Big A Lots where I fitted out my apt with sheets, towels, pots and pans, cutlery etc etc for under $50.

I worked all the hours that God sent. Within 2 months, I had paid my dad and sister back, had a couple of grand emergency money in the bank and was already saving up to get driving lessons and buy a car.

It was very hard and very lonely at first, but I worked very, very hard as I knew that I had no one to fall back on if it all went pear shaped. My sister and fathers assistance were on a once off basis. That instilled a great work ethic and sense of responsibility in me. I worked hard and saved hard and lived a fairly frugal existence for the first year. There were few Irish where I lived, so what money I earned went into the bank and not out for boozing sessions with fellow ex pats where we whinged about hard we had it.

At the end of my first year, I had a car, an even better job (Americans really know how to reward people with a good work ethic,) an even better apt, even better furniture and the price of a holiday back home in my pocket, even though I started out with pretty much nothing. It can be done, and done successfully and done on a shoestring, as long as you do your research, you do your homework on likely expenses, you are prepared to work VERY, VERY hard and and live a pretty basic initial existence when you get to the new home of your choice. If you expect to make a go of it by waltzing into a cushy 9-5 job as soon as you get off the plane, or if you expect to have all the comforts of home awaiting you from the get go, then you can pretty much forget about it.

If you and your partner are in full time employment and have 2 steady incomes, surely there are areas where you could cut back in (less nights out with the lads, selling your current car and getting a cheaper one, leave your current apt and get a cheaper one, no more eating out etc etc) that would free up some money for plane fare & additional set up funds, no?

pmcmahon wrote: »

hardly for a sponsored work permit..

A sponsored working visa is not the type of visa that most people first come over here on as it is very difficult to gain sponsorship from a company when not in the country. Most people traveling to Australia are coming on what is called a working holiday visa which entitles you to live in Australia for 1 year and work for up to 6 months for any company (you have to change companies after 6 months). If you do 3 months regional work (usually farm work but other jobs qualify in regional areas) you can apply for a second working holiday visa which entitles you to a 2nd year in the country. One of the requirements of a working holiday Visa is that you have access to $5000. People will often arrive on the WHV and then having worked for a company for 6 months be offered sponsorship by the company. (This is the route I and many of my friends took.)