How’s my Australian English shaping up? I can’t shorten words and phrases the way Aussies do. I still say sunglasses, breakfast, and chicken instead of sunnies, brekkie, and chook. Speaking in abbreviations feels forced and unnatural for me, like text speak. I can’t do that either. I text mostly in complete, properly punctuated sentences. It’s not because I’m a …
Last April, I wrote that I would soon be applying for a de facto partner visa subclass 820. That went through without a hitch and Immigration issued me a bridging visa. A bridging visa is a temporary visa. It bridges the gap between the expiration of my previous visa and the time it takes to …
I visit my local library two or three times a month. Browsing, I came across this little book and I had to share it. G’day Boss!: Australian Culture and the Workplace, by Barbara A. West and Frances T. Murphy, is a study into the diverse cultural environments of Australian workplaces. It is specifically aimed at migrants …
In August 2012, I wrote about three tools to help expats stay in touch with family and friends abroad: Skype, the magicJack, and Viber. Here’s an update starring Facebook Messenger. As it turned out, I rarely use Skype. My family never caught on to it and I don’t keep it open to see if friends …
I’m not an expert and I’m not a lawyer or migrant agent. But I’ve spent a year working on putting my visa application together. With the benefit of hindsight, here are tips to make your process smoother. I applied onshore. That is, from within Australia, as opposed to offshore, from another country. I applied …
I started on the road to residency in June 2013, almost a year ago. The process is finally coming to an end. Well, sort of. I’m applying onshore (that is, from within Australia) for a de facto partner visa subclass 820. This is a temporary visa. When granted, if the relationship is intact after two …
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