Three things to know before getting a car in Melbourne

In my experience, the three most important things you need to know before heading to the car dealerships or car yards are:

Number one, know the car you really want or need and stick to it as much as possible.
Number two, know your budget and be very realistic.
Number three, learn how to negotiate and don't be afraid to try.

How to get a driver's licence in Victoria

Before my scheduled flight to Melbourne, I tried to familiarize myself how to drive in Australia.  The best way we can start is Googling "Driving in Australia" or in my case "Driving in Melbourne."  Then you'll learn about enforced speed limits, how we never thought about Roundabouts in the Philippines and the Hook-Turn which is only and proudly Melbourne CBD only.

Below is the licence ID issued in Victoria and is current as of writing.

Ever wonder if your present job can bring you to Australia?

Goodness!  Our blog attracts more people from non-engineering backgrounds asking me questions, what about my skill or occupation, is it needed in Australia?  How can I go about the skills assessment?

Well my dear friends, this post is for you.  I will show you how to take that first step, that will lead you to a new life in Australia.

Moving to Australia: How much do I need to bring?

I have been asked by many of our followers with this question.  My answer is simple,  It depends.  It depends on a lot of factors that I will try to spell out the best I can based on my experience.

A few factors I will name that I think will significantly affect your budget and expenses.  How many of the members of the family are leaving for Australia?  Can you or a member of the family cook?  Where you live and your proximity to the CBD and will you live in a share house?  Where you live and where you will or can find work will tell if you need a car or when public transportation is enough, the fourth.  I'll stop here for now, I know I know there is more to add but I'd rather start somewhere and let you leave your questions in the comments section below to expound on this very dear subject.

A thank you note from Bell Payla and Family.

Few weeks ago, a previous colleague of mine received one of the best news he has ever had.  His Australian Skilled Independent Visa application, you guessed it, has been approved.  He sent his message to me through facebook (with a family picture and VISA Grant Notice LOL)  and allow me to share it with you.

The Ultimate Checklist: Skilled Independent Visa: Permanent (Subclass 189)

The visa requirements form is the mother of all process (as far as I am concerned).  It summarizes all information an applicant needs to know, the processes they need to undergo, the forms that needs to be filled out, the documents that needs to be submitted, etc etc.  How late is this post?  Tell me about it.  I am just going crazy why I have not made this blog entry from day one of this blog.  Enough said, let me explain a little why this post will take you from start to finish.

Towards my first $ pay check

I found a job 4 days after arriving in Melbourne.   When I was in my few weeks to departure to Melbourne, I wasn't excited, more worried, because I am jobless as soon as I arrive and financially, I have enough to last for 3 months without a job.  After paying all fees and expenses related to migration, I only had an equivalent of 5,000 Aud dollars left in my savings.  That's not much really as my forecasted monthly expense was around 1,300 Aud a month.

First week in Australia

Know your way around where you live.  Transport schedules, bus stops, train stations, tram stops.
Public Transport Victoria has a comprehensive website.  It will give you almost all necessary details you need to know to get to your destination from your starting point.

Travelling to Australia

It is important to know what month of the year you will be arriving in what state in Australia.
When I arrived here in Melbourne, it was August of 2012.  It was the last month of winter.  It was not that cold, but it was relatively cold than our coldest in the Philippines.  We are talking about 7-14 deg Celsius.  

Ticket to Australia

Alrighty, here we go.  You have that long awaited VISA.  What else do you need to legally leave the country and become a permanent resident in Australia?

First, you need to get a stamp from the CFO that recognizes you as a Filipino migrating to another country.  I am not sure if OFWs and OFW dependents should get this one, but just ask.  For

First Skill Select Invitation for the month of August

Again, it's been a while since my last post.  I've been busy with all the planning about moving here in Australia so I missed a few updates for everyone.

In my previous post, I mentioned that skill select is a benefit for electronics engineers since our occupation didn't make it to top 5 last year and at the same time due to a large number of lodgement from software related occupations.  However,

Good news for Electronics Engineers, possibly!

Just when we thought the new Skillselect will bring more uncertainty to our fellow Electronics engineers due to the lack of information available of where you rank in the hierarchy of EOIs, the recent report on migration program has published very helpful information.

From July 2011 to Jun 2012 migration results showed that the top 5 occupations in the skill stream outcome were Accountants, Cooks, Softwares and Applications Programmers, Software Engineer, and Developer Programmer.

What you need to know about the New Skill Select

If you have always wondered what the New Skill Select process is like and have not had the chance to research enough or ask friends discreetly without them getting a hint of you looking for something other than "here", then, I'd like to share with you some FYIs about the new program.


Firstly, the equivalent of the visa subclass 175 to the new skill select is now subclass 189.  More on this in the next post.

Do I need an immigration agent?

I have received numerous inquiries about which agency I went to to assist me in my VISA application.  I did hire an agency in the first part of the process, paid half of their professional fee, and never returned to them.  I wish I could tell you the agency's name, but then I respect that agency's way of doing business.  I was just not pleased with the service.

Everything in this post is purely based on my experience, so don't take this as true for everybody.  I will try to balance the pros and cons between hiring-a-migration agent versus doing-it-yourself.

You don't need an agent, you need a friend.

Cheesy as the title of this post may sound, but the truth in it is beyond the value a migration agent can provide.

I applied with a friend, actually two friends.  Three of us were serious about the application, so we never let a single doubtful idea or question stand in our way.  We constantly share information about what we learned with our research.

New skills list published for Australian skilled migration program

New skills have been published from the DIAC website last June 13, 2012.  There is very little change on the list.

Four occupations have been added:

133513 Production Manager (Mining)
234912 Metallurgist
251411 Optometrist
263111 Computer Network and Systems Engineer

and Four were also removed:

Australian VISA points requirement lowered to 60.

If you barely reached 65 points and you only have 60 points, this sounds like heaven's answer to your prayers.  A recent news from the DIAC has changed the passmark from 65 down to 60 in accordance with the new SkillSelect system.

"SkillSelect is a new electronic service for managing the skilled migration program. Intending migrants without an employer sponsor wanting to live and work in Australia will need to complete an online EOI, then based on claims of their skills and attributes, will be allocated a score against the points test. SkillSelect will rank intending migrant’s scores against other EOIs." - DIAC

Skilled-Independent VISA health requirement

A medical assessment is required for a skilled-independent immigrant VISA application.  An applicant will be notified to take the medical assessment once his application reaches a case officer.  DIAC publishes its list of panel doctors who are authorized to perform the medical assessment of an applicant.  In the Philippines, the list is here.


If you submitted an online visa application, you can take advantage of the eHealth medical assessment system.

How to get an NBI Clearance: My recent experience and how I should have done it quicker and cheaper.

An Australian Skilled-Independent Immigrant has to submit a penal clearance certificate for every country that they have stayed for a minimum of 12 months in total.  99% of my time, I am in the Philippines, so I only have to submit an NBI clearance.

Firstly, I am annoyed by long queues.  And almost everybody's rule of thumb for queuing in an NBI office or renewal branch is to be the earliest possible.  Robinson's Cybergate in Cebu had an NBI renewal branch, and the never-the-early-bird that I am, I arrived half past 10am and they can only accommodate 200.  A security guard, trying to be as discrete as he can, offered me to come back around 4pm when all renewals are

How much does the Australian Skilled-Independent VISA cost?

Once friends knew that my Australian VISA has been approved, the next question will most likely be, how much did you spend for it?

We'll I kept a good list of expenses in the Budget and Expenses page.   Check-it out and leave me a comment if you have any questions.

Do note however that your expenses will vary from mine.  I published it to give an aspiring immigrant a general idea.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you have any questions.