Privet! RWD

[Spoon]

Hello All,
My first time posting at RWD, I have lurked before I see some familiar faces.
I am from New Zealand, but have been living in Australia for the past 3.5 years, my wife, Anastasia, from Ozersk, Russia (originally) currently in Moscow, will be joining me in Australia in September, we have been married 4 months today! I'm hoping my experiences can help some folk here and I plan to participate in some interesting discussions.

[Vaughn]

Welcome, Spoon ~ new members open to sharing ideas and experiences are the lifeblood of this forum. I certainly look forward to hearing more from you.

[Faux Pas]

Hi Spoon!


Welcome to RWD. Look around and enjoy 

[Ade]

Hello All,
My first time posting at RWD, I have lurked before I see some familiar faces.
I am from New Zealand, but have been living in Australia for the past 3.5 years, my wife, Anastasia, from Ozersk, Russia (originally) currently in Moscow, will be joining me in Australia in September, we have been married 4 months today! I'm hoping my experiences can help some folk here and I plan to participate in some interesting discussions.

Nice to see you're venturing away from RMP. Contrary to popular belief, the moderation here is pretty good and a damn sight more rational all things considered.

[Kuna]

Another bloody kiwi living in Australia... What's new???

Oops...  this is the introduction forum - we have to be nice, even to Kiwis!   

G'day Spoon,  welcome to RWD.  If you're from NZ then you probably still have family back there (somewhere to stay)... and you might even have tickets to the World Cup (something to do - if I'm invited).  I'd like to give you my heartfelt welcome to RWD and the most sincere congratulations on your recent marriage.  If there's anything I can ever do please let me know!   

Seriously though...  yes welcome,  and yes congrats on the wedding.  You'll find a few Kiwis and Aussies here...  everyone has different experiences,  it's what makes it interesting.

Where's your wife from???

I'd also be interested in your immigration process.  We see some in here that happen in the snap of a finger and others seem to drag out for a while.  I hope yours is quick!

Oh, and where in Oz are you?

[wicheese]

Welcome Spoon!


Like yourself I have migrated here from other spots on the Internet and found it to be a decent place.
 

[Spoon]

Thanks for the welcome guys. I will add that I'm not exactly migrating from RMP, I am still quite active there and plan on keeping it that way, but thought it was worthwhile looking at RWD (well, I have been looking, but now plan to contribute a bit)
@ Kuna: Yes, another Kiwi living in OZ! I still have family and property in Christchurch NZ, seem to be surviving the earthquakes ok, but the Rugby World Cup games are not being held in Christchurch any more  My wife is originally from Ozersk in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, but she has lived in Moscow for several years now, plus a 3 year stint in the States studying (Boston, MA) She has also lived in St Pete.

On the immigration front, we applied for the 461 subclass visa (family of a NZ Citizen) at the Australian Embassy in Moscow on the 3rd May this year (I was in Moscow at the time), my wife had one 40 min interview about a week later, then one month later (to the day!) they called her at work to say it had been approved. It's a temp residency visa valid for 5 years, but renewable every 5 years, with full work rights.

So it was a quick approval, not at all costly (the fee is only about $250), and when my wife arrives here, she will look at taking some accounting exams to see if she can qualify for something more permanent under the skilled migration programme.

I currently live in a small mining town in the Pilbara region of WA, my wife has visited it and decided that life here is not for her (can't blame her, with 48˚C summers and pop. of about 2000) so she wants to relocate to Perth, so I am looking at options in that regards, either transfer within my Company or fly in/out for work.

[acctBill]

Hi Spoon welcome to RWD.  Feel free to ask and answer questions.

[Kuna]

@ Kuna: Yes, another Kiwi living in OZ! I still have family and property in Christchurch NZ, seem to be surviving the earthquakes ok, but the Rugby World Cup games are not being held in Christchurch any more  My wife is originally from Ozersk in the Chelyabinsk Oblast, but she has lived in Moscow for several years now, plus a 3 year stint in the States studying (Boston, MA) She has also lived in St Pete.

Terrible what's happening in Christchurch.  I hope your friends and family are OK!

On the immigration front, we applied for the 461 subclass visa (family of a NZ Citizen) at the Australian Embassy in Moscow on the 3rd May this year (I was in Moscow at the time), my wife had one 40 min interview about a week later, then one month later (to the day!) they called her at work to say it had been approved. It's a temp residency visa valid for 5 years, but renewable every 5 years, with full work rights.

So it was a quick approval, not at all costly (the fee is only about $250), and when my wife arrives here, she will look at taking some accounting exams to see if she can qualify for something more permanent under the skilled migration programme.

Glad to hear the immigration process was quick and painless...  BIG bonus with the fees too! 

I think the Australian Embassy has it pretty efficient all in all.  My wife went for her interview and delivered her documents on the same day.  They called her up a week later and said she was approved IF she could be in Australia within 2 weeks.  In total it was application - interview - approval and arrive in Australia in under 3 weeks - which was great (Except I was planning another winter trip which still hasn't eventuated... but we'll do that now once our children are a bit older.)

I currently live in a small mining town in the Pilbara region of WA, my wife has visited it and decided that life here is not for her (can't blame her, with 48˚C summers and pop. of about 2000) so she wants to relocate to Perth, so I am looking at options in that regards, either transfer within my Company or fly in/out for work.

I have a mate who was working up in the mines before he married his wife.  When she first arrived they went back there but his wife didn't like the mining town lifestyle so they came back to the city - but then he found it hard to settle back into city jobs - so they compromised and moved to a coastal Qld city and he works for a company servicing the mines and she has now settled into a great job and lifestyle in town.

They've been married for 14 years now so it's proof it can work!

Welcome to RWD again...  jump into the discussions as it's always interesting to hear new opinions.