The Decision has been made.. Skills assessment on its way.. Reality sets in..

[muzzmegs]

Hell i'm nervous.. I think this accurately describes how i'm feeling at the moment.

I never thought of leaving SA, not even in my wildest dreams, but a recent family holiday to Aus with the wife's folks in August has either derailed or opened my eyes up to another way of life..

The thought of uprooting everything my wife and i know and love here in SA for a country where we hope our lives and careers will prosper is daunting.

A bit of our background: My wife is a speech pathologist (own practice), 29, and i am an attorney, 31, (currently in a Legal Advisory role at a large telecoms company).

I initially came upon this site/forum while trolling the internet on SA to Aus immigration and it has really helped with a lot of questions which i have had so far. I write this now as a form of therapy i guess, and, of course, to try become part of a community who has already walked in our shoes.

Our story: I personally have been struggling over the past two (and a bit) years in finding another position which will allow me to grow or move my career forward. I have been for several interviews and have had many companies tell me that i am a great candidate for the role, however only to find out through my recruiter (and through the usual grapevine) that the position has been filled by another candidate due to BEE/AA objectives or that the position has been placed on hold as they cannot find suitable BEE/AA candidates to interview. I have even encountered this issue at my current employer as well. Roles which, i subjectively believe, that i am great candidate, have been filled by less experienced individuals. Many use this as false excuse in order to gain sympathy, where in actual fact they have not put even the required effort into their work to warrant another company's employment nor a promotion within their current company. From my end i can say that i really have tried, I've up-skilled as far as possible and tried to make myself as attractive as possible for further employment elsewhere or even for promotion internally.

My issue in not with the principle behind BEE/AA strategy, yes broadly speaking SA really does need to level the playing fields as there still is a lack of black individuals represented within the private sector, and companies need to abide by these rules as they may be penalized otherwise. My issue essentially is that the other hard working ethnic groups are being put on the sideline during this process. I currently feel that my career has come to a grinding halt. It would be silly though to say that all vacancies are BEE/AA exclusive as there are two realities which i am well aware of: 1. The varsities are pushing out a ton of graduates with law degrees and have been for some time now (the same may be said in Aus) and 2. There is a swarm of people applying for the limited non-BEE/AA vacancies when they are listed which makes securing a position so much more difficult.

I cannot however say that it's all doom and gloom for us at the moment. We recently got married (no children as yet), we have a nice 3 bedroom townhouse in a small secure complex in Fourways. We both are employed and can pay the bills. We are therefore better off than the vast majority of others in SA and for that we can count ourselves as very fortunate.

Our personal future though is extremely uncertain..

I do not believe that for one minute SA will eventually crumble and become another Zimbabwe like so many others have prophesied. Even after reading the now infamous RW Johnson's "How Long Will South Africa Survive?". I may be wrong, but for the short to medium term, I would highly doubt it. We are in fact, much better off than a whole host of other countries around the world and crime and corruption is definitely not a South African nor an African only problem. However, more and more South African's are relying on the private sector to fulfill services which govt should provide through our taxes. We therefore have to pay twice and the private sector bill is of course a whole lot more expensive and in some cases completely unaffordable. This alone is one of the biggest reasons for our decision to move as i cannot foresee any comfortable future for my wife, myself and our future kids here, even though we are both professionals.

Affordability creates a serious grey area as for those who already have wads of cash, paying for private schooling, housing within secure estates and other services is not a problem. The older generation has already made there money in a time where the restrictions which we now are in were non existent, or somewhat reduced. My folks (both retired) are part of this generation and cannot understand why we want to leave. They take it as a personal attack or an attempt to break the family apart as they cannot see or do not fully understand our perspective. This has made the immigration process a whole lot more difficult, but this story is reserved for maybe another day..

The fact of the matter currently is that if we choose to stay in SA and i cannot find another position soon, that we will most definitely not be living the relatively comfortable lives we live today. Even taking into account that children do in any event place financial pressure on any parent/s. It goes with the territory and we understand this completely. I most certainly do not want to place extra financial pressure on my wife while pregnant or even after the pregnancy due to our reliance on her income as well, and this becomes more of a problem as she runs her business by herself. If you don't work, then you don't get paid.

I now have to look out for my own new family and provide them with the best i possibly can. I just want the opportunity to prove myself and to be given a reasonable chance whether in my own career or whether in the lives or my wife and future kids. I grew up in a small town where it wasn't considered very dangerous for me to hop on my bicycle and ride to a mates house, to walk into town and not fear being another crime statistic and to sleep at night without the fear of a break in (or even worse). i desperately want the same for my kids one day.

In conclusion, I do not believe that it is all sunshine and rainbows in Aus, as they have their own unique challenges. But i do believe, that at least, we will be given a much needed chance to live.

I do apologize if the above post doesn't follow the norm, but at least people may have a clearer indication of who i am and my reasons for immigrating when i post again.

Thanks for listening All.

[SDTCPT]

Welcome,

Feel free to post any questions that you might have (or if you are so inclined, have a ramble in the Journal section).

The people on the forum are very friendly and uber helpful.

Having gone through the process, gotten the visa and now waiting for our flight out, I can tell you that the nerves don't really go away, they get worse. But don't let that scare you, it's a good worse .

Good luck and may your journey be an pleasant one.

[muzzmegs]

Thanks mate! I appreciate the feedback!

[AndreCarla]

Loved your post! Welcome! Ours has been a 2 year journey and my hubby and I are amazed/astounded at how rapidly things have changed for us. Things have become more pronounced which supports your reasons for wanting to emigrate and I know there is a psychology behind it but whatever the reason our view point of SA and our future in it has drastically deteriorated, even more so the last 6 months, but the fact remains we still love SA - the memories, the people and the potential it has.....

Wishing you all the best!

[RedPanda]

Muzzmegs, you don't have to follow any norm. The fact that you are interested in immigrating to Australia makes you part of this community.

Thanks for the post, I think it certainly will help other people who read on the forum. I think there has been a shift in recent years when it comes to the reasons why people are leaving RSA. Many of the people we speak to are sad, not angry/affronted. We've been keeping an eye on economic things for many years, and have also been aware of the difference in lifestyles that people experience in first world countries. So we have known for a long time that we want to leave RSA. We just needed to decide where to go to. Fortunately our families support this 100%. I'm sure you have come across the posts where people talk about family difficulties, and parents applying blackmail or emotional manipulation to try to keep their children here. Talk to those people, and ask them how they deal with it, it might help you in your own situation.

Regarding the BEE/AA, my husband also got a callback after an interview where the HR lady said:"This is a phone call, so I can tell you off the record, we really like you, you have the skills we need, we would love to hire you, but we can't hire a white man in that post." And subsequently he has seen posts being left open for months/year because the line manager won't hire an incompetent person, and HR will only hire a black person, and it was in a field where there weren't many black students graduating, and the best ones go to work for a lot more money. So the post was just left vacant. I want to have children, but I refuse to raise a boy in a society where it doesn't matter how hard he works, he will be passed over. Not if there is an alternative.

Hahaha...there is a quote somewhere, that I will probably misquote and mangle now, but anyway, it's about people thinking of migrating and someone responded:"You are not a tree, move!"

Good luck with your journey, and feel free to ask all your questions.

[muzzmegs]

Thanks for the responses AndreCarla and RedPanda.

It was great to get the post off my chest i guess. Currently we are at the assessment stage where we have submitted my wife's skills assessment (as there is a greater need for Speech Pathologists in NSW). So we intend moving to Sydney should the process be successful.

We are very excited, but nervous too.

[RedPanda]

From what I read on the forum, I think you are choosing the best possible time to do this. Work is figured out, but before you have children to worry about. I'll keep an eye out for when you lodge your application. Then we can cheer you on as you wait for an outcome. (I think it helps the nerves)

[muzzmegs]

Wow it's been plenty of months of running  around. We managed to finally receive a successful skills result and my wife passed the English exam! We received the invitation to apply late last week and we are now crossing the t's and dotting the i's on or official application! It should be lodged next week and then the wait begins! In the mean time we got pregnant.. 7 months today!

 

What a year this will be!

 

 

[ChrisH]

15 hours ago, muzzmegs said:

In the mean time we got pregnant.. 7 months today!

 

Congratulations!  How does this affect your application?  Can you include your unborn child in the application or do you have to add him/her after receiving the grant?

[muzzmegs]

Thanks Chris!

 

So we can apply to have the baby added to our application once born. We would need to submit her passport and birth certificate. Unfortunately, she too will be required to undergo a medical and blood taken. I'm sure she won't enjoy that. A few months ago children under 11 were not required to undergo medicals, however the system has changed. 

[monsta]

Make sure to visit your "early childhood centre" when you arrive... its called a different thing in all states.. but most aussies will understand what you mean if you ask about a "childhood nurse". 

 

A childhood nurse will tell you how to raise your kid... but inbetween the bossing you around they do explain about how things work here... like how and when to get your kid vacinated, they can introduce you to other parents in your area, can point out potential health issues (like hearing problems), etc..  Its a free service here in Sydney if you have medicare.

 

Australia is really obsessive on child saftey here. For example, your day care, doctors, etc.. will record any unsual injuries they see on your kids and make the records available to the relevent government departments. Our church even keeps records of which kids came to sunday school!!!  Like I said, super obsessive on child saftey! We have friends whose daughter fell in the bath and injured herself in a bad place. I feel a lot better knowing that, if that ever happens to me, that the childhood nurses have a lot records of us visitig them to try to be good parents to our kids. 

Edited April 4, 2017 by monsta

[muzzmegs]

Thank you for the heads up Monsta. It sure will be a completely different environment for us and our first child. Seems like I will have to stock up on extra bubble wrap for our little one to make sure the Aussies don't think we are bad parents ;D

 

We are stupidly excited to go!

[monsta]

And you should be excited!

 

And go see a childhood nurse when you get here... it was really helpfull!

 

Edited April 4, 2017 by monsta

[Husky]

4 hours ago, muzzmegs said:

We are stupidly excited to go!

Love that expression. So are we. Difficult to explain to people who are not on the same journey.

Hope all goes well. 2017 is going to be ridiculously amazing.

[ChrisH]

It's hard to explain to somebody what this combination of fear and excitement feels like!

[muzzmegs]

Tell me about it.. on one side I have a great support base and on the other, people who think I'm deserting, making a rash decision..

[monsta]

Sure you won't have a support base out here... but you learn to cope.

 

A good peice of advise that comes up here often  is to join a church/mosque/sports club/etc. In the big cities the locals are very busy and can seem un-welcoming. But they like to multitask... so they will be really happy to give you advise on picking the best doctor while the two of you are braaing sausages for a charity lunch. A mate at church was retrenched... he received several job offers, recomendations to potential employers, etc..  from people at church.

 

[RedPanda]

8 hours ago, muzzmegs said:

Tell me about it.. on one side I have a great support base and on the other, people who think I'm deserting, making a rash decision..

Talk is cheap... unless someone is going to bear the consequences of a particular piece of advice, it's just a point of view, and it's certainly not from your perspective. It's easy for someone else to tell you to put an extra thick duvet on your bed if they are not going to be the ones waking up in a sweat at midnight.

So what I'm saying is that you should think your options through and make the choice that you feel has the best chance of seeing you happy in the future.

 @monsta has some excellent advice regarding joining a group activity once you arrive here. If you don't have an excuse/obligation to socialise with the locals, chances are you simply won't. And local knowledge is priceless.

[monsta]

@RedPanda Its only getting worse in the Trump era. Many people wondered how Donnald Trump got elected or why the UK is leaving the EU. Its because the moment Facebook/Google/etc.. realised you were scared of those europran migrants in the UK taking your job... well then you get flooded with news about it. News outlets then write stories about migrants taking UK jobs because they know Facebook will distribute them and ignore the real news.  It makes people's world view very one sided. Gone are the days where you bought the Sunday paper and read the whole thing. 

 

A university professor (and expert on social media) said that these days "people only read the news to justify their opinions".

 

I guess you either hate Jacob Zuma or you love him. You either love Donnald or you join a protest. You either can't wait to migrate or you think its the devil's handywork 

[Fidjet]

Quote

 I personally have been struggling over the past two (and a bit) years in finding another position which will allow me to grow or move my career forward. I have been for several interviews and have had many companies tell me that i am a great candidate for the role, however only to find out through my recruiter (and through the usual grapevine) that the position has been filled by another candidate due to BEE/AA objectives or that the position has been placed on hold as they cannot find suitable BEE/AA candidates to interview. 

I know this is old news for you, but it is nice to hear someone else move for the same reasons. I'm a mechanical engineer and for the last 4 years I have been struggling with work. Lost two jobs because other people went on strike and then it takes forever to find one because everyone wants BEE. I have been unopened now got over a year. We want to move because there is no way we can afford to have kids if we stay. And even if we could what future would they have with the schooling ect. In the state is in....

 

Anyway congrats on the little one and good luck with the rest of your application and move. 

[speechless]

Do you have an update for us @muzzmegs

[muzzmegs]

@speechless, thank you for the reminder. At the moment all we are waiting for is our acceptance from the Aus Govt. We needed to add our  baby, now 7 months old, to our application which was a simple process. All we needed to to was fill in an additional few documents in which we need to record her details. With respect to the overall process, we had a case officer appointed early October where we were requested to do the usual police clearance and medical tests. We went to Douglasdale for the police clearance and then dropped off the paperwork with our agents who then submitted to the station in PTA. Apparently it's quicker this way. I.t.o the medicals, we decided to visit the PTA center as we were able to get an appointment in a week, unlike the JHB center which had a two week waiting period. I was impressed with the setup in PTA. We were able to do the bloods, full medical and xrays all within the same general facility. No driving to different locations.

 

So now we are just waiting for the government to grant our VISA. It should hopefully come any day now. We are just going about our business until such time as we hear back from them. This process has definitely been a marathon!  

[muzzmegs]

We had our 189 visa’s granted today! Two and a bit years it’s taken. What a journey!

[SimpleSimon]

@muzzmegs congratulations. So what’s your plan now?

[muzzmegs]

21 minutes ago, SimpleSimon said:

@muzzmegs congratulations. So what’s your plan now?

I have a whiskey in hand and we are going to celebrate this weekend. However, next week we will start with the important items. My wife and I will get cracking with employment as one needs funds of course when we get there and we will commence with selling our furniture. We seem to live in a sort after area so selling our house shouldn’t be too difficult (last famous words) and as I am an attorney, we will not be making use of estate agents. We have until October to validate/activate our visas so at least we have a bit of time. But time will inevitably fly.. especially with our baby daughter to care for as well. We we are doing this for her.. everything we do is for her.