Three expat Brits explain their move to Australia In our New Year's edition of The eXpat Files we're going to do something a little different: namely, chat to three folks who've all made the same move from Blighty to Australia, to give you an idea of just how good your correspondent has it down here at Vulture South... and how good you could have it if you brave Australia's …
There seems to be a lot of demand in Sydney for .net developers, particularly C#. On the subject of the immigrant 'experience' I can relate the following from Immigration at Sydney Airport (yes I know, not really the WHOLE of the immigrant experience):
On hearing me say I had nothing to declare: "I hope you're going to declare that bloody shirt"
On being told I had bought 2 bottles of whiskey for someone while my woman had bought none: "Let me explain it to you again. YOU bought ONE bottle, and SHE bought ONE bottle. Otherwise I have to do the import duty form. Got it now?"
And when I was travelling to Auckland to get my permanent visa sorted and it was discovered my tourist visa had expired 6 months previously: "Tell you what, we could deport you to New Zealand, and look - you already have a ticket. That saves us a lot of paperwork."
On the actual being in Oz thing, yes, there's probably more casual racism than you are used to, but remember that the White Australia Policy is within living memory for most people. I know people who didn't ever meet anyone who wasn't white and English until their 40s. Not to excuse it, just to try to see where it comes from.
The worst aspect is that Australians don't believe that a degree from, say, an Indian university can possibly be worth anything, with the result I have been in taxis driven by some highly talented mathematicians and physicist who can't work in their field until they get a TAFE certificate.
Yeah, the failure to recognise overseas qualifications is a massive protectionist fail. Likewise I've met some bloody smart Indians/sub-continentals that are driving cabs when they could be adding somewhat more to GDP and the tax coffers.
As for C# in Canberra, I was under the impression that Java is more the thing there then you can immerse yourself totally into the Federal Government trough and earn a fair chunk of change contracting.
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