A Family's Journey On A 163 Visa

[KathyP]

When did my obsession with Australia begin? Was it after my first holiday here, 10 years ago? Or was it after we got shot at leaving our business? Id wanted an investment property outside of South Africa for a long time. Checked out Spain (too much of a language barrier) and finally decided on Australia. Came out to the Gold coast 10 years ago to look at property. Although we decided not to purchase that property. The memories of that holiday stayed in my mind. Pictures of old people walking their dogs in the early hours of the morning. Children riding home from school on bicycles. Young girls locking up businesses late at night - all the things we, living in South Africa had lost a long time ago.

10 years later - we where victims of crime. We’d had various other “tame” incidents, but this one was too close for comfort. Time to immigrate. We looked at our options for visa’s, and due to my husband’s age - decided to go with the 163 state sponsored business visa. Due to the recession, we rented out our properties and made the move.

We arrived in Queensland on the Sunshine Coast, July 2008 and decided to have a “gap” year. We enrolled my daughter in grade 11, my son was still on his gap year in England, and joined us 6 months later. That year we spent looking at businesses, touring and just enjoying the freedom of Australia. We soon realized that although beautiful, the Sunshine coast was not for us and decided to move to the Gold coast a year later. Rather than uproot my daughter in grade 12, we commuted between the 2 areas. After looking at hundreds of restaurants in the 200-300 000 price ranges and finding the turnover figures suspect, we decided to start one from scratch. Not an easy feat - just understanding the value of the dollar was probably the hardest part, then the culture - very different. Where South Africans go out for an evening of drinking and eating, Australians go out more for the food, probably due to the strict drinking and driving rules. South Africans are verbal and will certainly tell you when they are not happy - Australians say all is fine but never come back. Gosh, that first year was hard. Not a month went by when we didn’t have to pay into the business; we made tons of mistakes and at times felt like novices in the game. (Despite being in the hospitality business for over 25 years) Time and time again I thought what have I done? It didn’t help either that the family back home where constantly on our case about immigrating. The family arguments, the guilt, the loneliness and financial worries at times felt totally overwhelming. Luckily my children settled, made friends and where loving Australia. My husband, on the other hand, was struggling and so depressed, he was just going through the motions. Id often wondered where did the required turnover figure of $200 000 a year spring from, soon found out that less than that - you wouldn’t be earning a cent. Well that first year we did a lousy $100 000 turnover, had pumped in $3000 a month into the business, and where still living on our capital. The only dollar I earned in that year was the odd tip. You can imagine the doubts that go through your mind. Doubts about your business acumen, worry about your husbands state of mind and worry that you are not going to meet your visa requirements. We met a few South Africans, also on the 163 visa and all had been through the same process. All had lost huge amounts of money, even the ones who had purchased a franchise, and most had dumped their first business after getting permanent residency. We had sort of resigned ourselves to the same fate.

Then, our luck changed. In March this year (1 year and a half after running the business) our chef went on compassionate leave. Due to the sudden change, my husband was forced to step into the role of chef. We changed the menu to suit his cooking ability, renovated the shop accordingly and….the turnover doubled in 3 months. It was an exciting time although we could have kicked ourselves for not going this route right from the beginning. We had ‘hid” the fact that we where foreigners, and had gone the safe route, by offering an Australian restaurant. Once we had realized that Australians actually love trying out new things, the restaurant went from strength to strength. I had read and devoured every article on immigration and the forum. Had spoken to ex South Africans and been advised, not to do the South African thing - no one would be interested. We had been told that had we’d purchased an expensive restaurant, we wouldn’t have been in that position, but you know what? 2 of the businesses we looked at are now closed. We’ve reached the required turnover (and more) and are about to apply for permanent residency. We currently employ 4 staff, and they all come through a government agency. In return for training them, we get back money from the government - why didn’t any one tell us about this service? These staff are so keen to learn, they have made the business a pleasure to run. We open Wednesday to Sunday and do on average 35 hours a week.

On the personal side, my daughter is in her second year at Griffith University and is currently on an exchange program in California. My son completed a year diploma in events management and works in hospitality, although he earns very good money, he still hasn’t found a permanent position or a “career”. They have a great circle of friends, mostly ex South Africans. Now the tough part. My husband! His family has never adjusted to us leaving. He is plagued with guilt for leaving an aged mother. Every illness that has happened these last 3 years, every call late at night has unsettled (to put it mildly) and added to his guilt. We had promised we would get our residency, and then move between the two countries. Spending us much time with his aged mother as we could. How naïve we where! We don’t have the support system in place to leave our business. My son is still too young to take on the family business. So, in order to keep my marriage intact, we have decided to sell our business - rent out our home and return to South Africa for the time being. Hard to say, but probably to see out my mother in laws life. We have realized, we cannot just move on with our life and forget about the family back in South Africa. Easier said than done! My children will stay in Australia; continue their studies and building their careers. Now that we have successfully built up a business in Australia, I don’t doubt that we will be able to do it again. In the meantime, we have to do the duty so to speak. Our turn will come, we will return to this lovely calm country, with ALL of our assets and loose ends tied up.

I hope our story helps someone is some small way. Hopefully you can see our mistakes and I wish you the best with immigrating. Its is probably the hardest, loneliest thing I have ever done. Yes, we have had a happy ending - not quite the ending I imagined, but then life has no guarantees. If anyone would like to chat, please feel free to pm me.

[MrsMupersan]

Heavens Kathy! What a harrowing tale! Much love and strength to your family for the difficult decision you've had to make. Life does throw us the most unbelievable curveballs sometimes. We've had a few since arriving in Oz too. I'm sure things will work out for the best for your whole family. Even though your immediate future is in SA, you must know that you have done the very best by your kids in securing their future in Aus - and a place for yourself in the lucky country down the line.

[KathyP]

Thank you, we need all the love and strength going. xxxx