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I am married to an Australian and we live in the UK. I am planning on applying for a temporary spouse visa, which then becomes a permanent visa after 2 years. What would happen if we didn’t relocate to Australia having been granted the visa. Does this invalidate the visa and prevent a permanent one being issued in 2 years time. I am aware that you have to enter australia by the "specified initial entry date" on the visa, but less clear on whether you are then expected to remain there for the duration. Thanks for any advice.

No, you don’t need to stay in Australia after you’ve validated your visa but it’s important that you keep DIAC informed of your address. Spouses on temporary spouse visas are able to travel to and from Australia without restriction.

It would probably be a good idea to be in Australia when your visa is due to become permanent because there will be an interview to prove that the relationship is still intact at that time and the process will be simpler if you’re here, but if (and only if) you apply for your original visa offshore, your permanent visa can be granted either onshore or offshore provided DIAC know exactly where you are at that time.

Note that when you have your permanent visa, it is valid for only 5 years if you are outside Australia and you must meet certain residence and/or other requirements to be eligible for a Resident Return visa. You can’t just get a permanent visa on the off chance that you may want to travel to Australia at some time in the future. Our Permanent Residents are expected to be committed to Australia.

If you’ve been in a partner relationship for 5 years (or 2 years if you have children together), your visa will probably be permanent from day 1 and then the 5 year validity and residence requirements will come into play immediately.

Instead of replacing the ageing pigs with superhornets and JSF’s, Australia should just buy the rights to build the pigs here. Why buy new designs for big bucks when the F111 still has excellent long range strike capabilites. I know people will argue ‘there old’ but seriously- built new in Aus they would not have any of the problems they have now. Especially as the US congress will even consider selling us there F-22’s, which is in the works at the moment.

Well, there is no "Contract" for the ‘vark, because the aircraft is no longer built, or supported here. Also, all the tooling and jigs have long since been destroyed so you’d have to "tool up". From a tactical standpoint, you’d be better off building F15E’s (better range, loadout, better offensive/defensive avionics) they have an existing engineering and spares pipeline. There’s the multirole advantage as well: one can combine AIM120s with the fire control system to give the RAAF a complementary lookdown/shootdown capability with the Hornets; something you just aren’t going to get with a ‘vark. You also wouldn’t need to start from scratch: rebuilding some F15B’s in storage would be MUCH cheaper in the long run to re-engineering F111’s.

I’m an undergraduate student in the US planning on attending a medical school here or possibly in Australia.. does anyone know how the two compare? I will have a degree by the time I am ready to apply to med school so I am interested in the graduate programs there.. does anyone know if med schools in Australia require pre-med courses like the US and if so what are they? Any info you can give me will help, thanks!

G’day,

Unfortunately you did not mention the area of study that you intend to do for your graduate course. To find out the course that you are taking and where it is offered, I suggest you to go to IDP Education Australia website (www.idp.edu.au). IDP is an organisation that gives information to international students who wants to continue their study in Australia. The information abt tuition fee and requirement will be available from the universities’ website. Once decided on the uni, fill in the application form and send it together with certified copy of your academic qualification. The process will take abt 2-3weeks, depending on the time of the year.

Hope this helps. Good luck for your study and welcome to Australia

I heard from my friend that to save the water, people in OZ never wash their dish with water, only with the soap/detergent, and after that they mop it until squeaky clean. is that true? how bout the stain of the soap? or maybe in australia you guys use specially made soap?
I have to make myself clear. I heard that australians don’t use water to RINSE their dish after clean it with soap, only mop it. My friend lived in Canberra.

Yes, we wash our dishes with water! Interestingly enough, I remember watching the Chipmunks when I was little and noticing how much water they wasted while washing up. It’s a personal preference thing, some people rinse their plates after washing them, some people don’t. It’s really just a waste of water and they end up perfectly fine if you don’t rinse them. It’s only glasses that streak noticeably. Speaking from experience, I never notice whether my dishes have been rinsed or not.

Australia is actually in the middle of a bad drought at the moment, where I live we are on water restrictions (but yes we can still wash dishes!)

On a similar note, on every American television show, whenever someone brushes their teeth they just spit it out and don’t rinse their mouth afterwards. Is that the norm???

I know that there are quite a few places which will ship to Australia but the shipping costs are generally fairly high. Looking for a good quality ocarina which I can buy from somewhere in Australia.

Have u tried "ocarinas R us" or is ocarina just a female ocker.

According to information provided for an assignment I am doing, there was a significant decrease in Australia’s population during this era. What I need to find out is whether the population decrease was because of disease and illness, economical factors, birth control or migration. Thankyou.

I would strongly consider "birth control" utilization the biggest factor.. considering during that era most people wanted to enjoy "that ol’ nasty stuff" without the responsibilities of child rearing and/or marriage.

Does this help any?

I want to visit most of Australia, however it will most likely be the southern part of AU.

If you’re coming on a Work and Holiday visa, you will be expected to have at least AUD$5000 plus either a return air ticket or the funds to buy one. That’s so that you have enough to live on until you can find work and to survive on during periods of unemployment.

If you’re coming on a tourist visa, you will be expected to have more than that, but how much more will depend on how long you’ll be staying and how much travelling you intend doing. Immigration will insist that you have enough to live on for the entire time without being tempted to work illegally.

Accommodation will be your major expense so staying in dorms in backpacker hostels is the way to go to keep those costs to a minimum. We have a huge network of hostels and they’re located in all of the best places with rates from around $23 per night, though some will be more expensive than that.

Internal airfares can be very cheap if you shop around and can even be less than the bus fare in many cases. Virgin Blue have an online Happy Hour each day from noon until 1:00pm and you can get some amazing deals on there if you keep looking until something comes up that suits your travel plans.

This site has a lot of useful information on all kinds of things including hostels:

http://www.bugaustralia.com/essentials/

See also:

http://www.rex.com.au/Backpacker/default.aspx

http://www.ozexperience.com/

http://www.greyhound.com.au/

It’s rather misleading to consider Australia a continent of its own. If that were to be the case, what continent would New Zealand, Indonesia, and the numerous Polynesian Islands be considered a part of? Besides Indonesia, the other islands are clearly NOT part of Asia. So therefore, I propose that Australia and all these other countries be grouped into one continent: Oceania (the geographical term for these islands). Anyone care to comment?

These days it usually is referred to Australia and Oceania

Also, would it even be possible for someone emigrating to Australia, to get a job working as a teacher? I am considering going to University in Australia and considering moving there permanently. Any information you could give me would be of the greatest help. Thank you

$50.000 + 3 months holiday

My family is from Pakistan and my dad is planning on buying this really nice farm with a cafe in Australia and wishes to move there with my mother and younger brother. The problem is my dad is 56 yrs old and has not really been in a business in the past. I have looked through the immigration website and also through many visa related websites and I am unable to comprehend which visa he can apply for. Is there no hope for my family migrating to Australia?

Check out this visa site to know what visa your father can apply for..

http://www.principalvisas.com.au/