Permanent Residency in Australia

We got some really good news from immigration this week.  It looks like we can get a permanent residency (PR) visa whenever we are ready.  All we need to do is leave Australia for several days and the PR visa will be issued to us!  Finally!!!

First, let me explain what a PR visa is.  Permanent residency visa allows us to live, work and study in Australia.  Indefinitely!  We will have the same rights as Australians, except the right to vote.  

Second, once we have accumulated 4 years of residency, we can apply for Australian citizenship.  Our time on our student visa counts towards the 4-year citizenship requirement (up to three years).  We should be able to apply for Australian residency in July 2013.

Third, as we had applied for an offshore visa, Immigration cannot issue us a PR visa while we are in Australia.  So, after Carla finishes her last term, sometime in February/March, we plan to go on a short trip to New Zealand (closest foreign destination to Sydney).

Tourism in Australia - needs help

According to the article below, tourism in Australia is really hurting.
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/tourists-head-for-the-exits-20110915-1kaxp.html

First, not as many tourists are coming to Australia due to poor economic conditions throughout the world.  Second, Australians are not vacationing in Australia but going overseas due to a strong Aussie dollar.  Third, flooding and other natural disasters have scared tourists away from Queensland.

If you are to listen to the Australian Minister for Tourism, Australians "should" be patriotic and not travel overseas.  Instead, they should travel around their own country.

I think this guy needs to:
1. Quit his post of a federal minister as he is too stupid to run anything important as witnessed by his comments,
2. Visit some Australian hospitality establishment, evaluate the quality of the offerings, service and pricing and compare that to equivalent destinations in Asia and Americas to find out the REAL reason why Australians travel overseas,
3. Take an Economics 101 class to figure out how an intelligent person would resolve this type of situation.

I get perturbed EVERY time a 'Buy Australian because it is Australian even though it is more expensive and of poorer quality' excuse is used.  If you keep buying those Australian products that are inferior and more expensive than imported products, you are being inefficient with your money and are supporting an unproductive industry.  With an unemployment of 5%, I think we can afford to stop making certain items in Australia and switch to things that cannot be imported (like education, services, and construction).  It is amazing how expensive manual labourers are here.  Plumbers and electricians are being paid better than engineers and programmers.

There are simple and effective ways to deal with many of the problems that ail several industries in Australia.  Prescribing a 'Buy Australian' approach is just prolonging the inevitable correction in those industries and making that correction even more painful and costly in the future.

Long time no post

It has been a while since my last post.  Partly due to us spending 10 days in Bali, and partly due to us trying to catch up on work and school activities that piled up while we were away.

Bali vacation was very relaxing.  Well, the second half of our vacation was quite a bit more relaxing than the first half.  We did some fun activities during the first half of our vacation (water park, tree top adventure park) which made us even more tired.  I did not take many pictures while in Bali as I was too tired to lift my camera.

I have been posting more and more of our daily events and pictures on Google+ so I would highly encourage you to get a Google+ account (very easy if you already have a Gmail account) and follow me there.

Click on the following link to got online with Google+.  It is really easy to use.  I found it a lot simpler than Facebook.

Canceling Ontario Health Card (OHIP)

As I was going through my old Canadian documents, I came across my OHIP (Ontario health plan) card.  I guess I should have cancelled this while back, but I might as well do it now.  That should be easy, right?

Not!  I was able to find the form to cancel my health card but not the address to send it to.  Wouldn't it be a smart thing to put a mailing address right on the form?!

I spent hours searching the OHIP website for a mailing address.  Then, I spent hours searching the Internet hoping to find someone else's tale of how they've cancelled their card successfully.  No luck there, either.  I even found information on how to change your sex on your OHIP card (like that happens that often!) but not the mailing address.

After getting too frustrated to deal with this issue, I asked Carla to help me.  She had the same experience of wasting hours looking for the address.  The only way we could resolve this issue is to call OHIP and ask them for the mailing address.  You would think that in this age of everything being online, you'd at least put your mailing address online.

For those having the same issue, I'll save you a phone call.  The address is:
Service Ontario
P.O. Box 48
Kingston ON  K7L 5J3
Canada

Two years in Australia

I realized today that it has been two years since we have moved to Australia.  Wow, how time flies! 

To tell you the truth, I feel like I've lived here forever.  Australia really suits me.  I love the active lifestyle, the global outlook, and the most of all - the beautiful scenery.

There are still a few things that I have not gotten used to.  For example, Australians have a big focus on buying Australian-made products.  Personally, I don't give a hoot where it was made, as long as it meets my value-for-money criteria.  Another local phenomenon that I don't think I want to get used to is lack of proper heating and insulation in houses.  Newer houses are not too bad, but they have a lot of old houses and apartments that were designed for a climate from 50 years ago.

Overall, living here is definitely a positive experience and I am glad that we have made the decision to move here.  It was not easy, and is still not as easy as it could be, but I see it getting much easier once we get our permanent residence visa.