LIVE IN australia.com

This includes increasing the age limit above 45 for Skilled migration, reducing processing times and making it easier for prospective migrants to locate company (employer) sponsors.

The best is yet to come and I want to take this opportunity to thank you and all our Clients for their support.

I hope that 2007 has been filled with joy and health for you and your family and that 2008 brings you closer to your dreams coming true. It is our privilege that you allow us to play a part.

PS- If you were living in Australia, how would you like to spend your first New Year's Eve celebration? I would love to hear from you and share your ideas with others around the world. You can let me know here.

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According to jobsearch.gov.au, there are not nearly enough bricklayers, plasterers, welders, metal machinists, toolmakers, sheet metal workers, mechanics, panel beaters, auto electricians or painters.

Hairdressers are also in short supply, as well as childcare workers and furniture upholsterers.

This means skilled workers in those areas can ask for whatever money they want (within reason). This creates great opportunities for skilled immigrants, as well as young Australians.

Nursing is another area where there's an acute shortage of skilled nurses as well as midwives, mental health nurses, dentists, pharmacists, speech pathologists, physiotherapists, radiographers and podiatrists.

The food industry in Australia is always in need of experienced staff like chefs, bakers, cooks and pastry cooks.

There is no end to the demand, as Australia is traversing a period of vigorous economic growth, creating constant demand for qualified and experienced 'tradies' and professionals. We're not talking moths here, nor even years. Australia's need for skilled people … and therefore skilled migrants … is locked in for decades to come.

Talk to a LIA Migration Advisor, and find out if your skills are on Australia's 'most wanted' list.

Aussie Skills Expos open eyes, open doors
Australia Needs Skills Expos are designed to help allay our current skills shortage. Australian employers can meet people with the skills and experience needed to fill job vacancies in Australia. Overseas workers are invited to attend to learn about visas and employment in Australia.

Recent expos held in London, Manchester and Dublin showcased 29 Australian employers, all of the state and territory governments, the Migration Institute of Australia, Trades Recognition Australia, the Australian Taxation Office, the Murray Regional Development Board and DIAC. Expos were attended by a total of 7,475 skilled workers who were genuinely interested in living and working in Australia.

2008 Expos

Venue	Date	Expo	Website
Edinburgh, Scotland	23-24 February 2008	Emigrate Edinburgh	www.emigrate2.co.uk
London, United Kingdom	1-2 March 2008	Emigrate London	www.emigrate2.co.uk
Belfast, Ireland	8-9 March 2008	Emigrate Belfast	www.emigrate2.co.uk

Reminder – after attending the expos, don't forget that LIVE IN australia.com can provide you with the advice you need to maximize your chance of success. But why wait? We encourage all Clients to move ahead with their application immediately. There has never been a better time to make the move to our wonderful country!

Australian salaries rise faster than inflation
The head of Mercer's information products business for the Asia-Pacific region, Rob Knox, said the gap in Australia between pay movements and inflation was getting bigger.

Closer examination of the figures shows considerable regional differences across Australia. In Western Australia, where the resources boom is running parallel with skills shortages, pay movements were tracking at 5.6%. In South Australia, the corresponding figure was 5%. Mr. Knox said the same story applied to specific jobs in demand.

"Engineers that are engaged on major infrastructure projects, for instance, have typically received pay adjustments well above the national average," he said. "Pay increases in the range of 8% are not uncommon."

Globally, salaries are expected to rise by an average of 6%. The lowest pay increases are expected in the US (3.7%) and Western Europe, where the figure is about 3%. The exceptions are Spain (3.8%) and Ireland (4.7%).

If you have the skills Australia needs, your salary can outstrip inflation. Talk to an LIA advisor on required skill sets.

So how do you like Australia?
Aditya Tater, Nepal.

In Nepal, Aditya's family was regarded as ‘recent arrivals', after migrating from India only 200 years ago.

But now, Aditya is one of the success stories of Australia's skilled migration program. He came to Australia in 2001 to study for his master's degree in business administration at Griffith University. At the time he was pursuing a career in human resource management.

The Nepalese citizen obtained considerable skills and knowledge while studying in India and Australia. He was the first non-Indian student to hold the position of vice president of the University of Delhi's student union and in Australia he was elected by his peers to be national convenor of the National Liaison Committee for International Students.

A chance meeting with a migration officer led to Aditya applying for permanent residency in Australia, via the General Skilled Migration Program.

After graduating from university, he accepted a senior position with Medibank Private as a state manager with the overseas student health cover unit, where he still works. He said his prospects in Australia are only limited by his 'imagination and willingness to work hard'.

The ‘punchline' to Aditya's story is that his application for Australian citizenship has been approved. Welcome aboard!

If you would like to apply your skills in our exciting country, contact LIA and see what Australia can do for you!

Passionate, determined and debonair, Harry Seidler was one of Australia's most significant architects for over half a century. He was born in Vienna, Austria in 1923, but left after the Nazi annexation in 1938.

His schooling took place in the United Kingdom, after which he went to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. On graduation, he embarked on his architectural career in the US.

In 1948, Mr. Seidler was lured to Australia, to design a house for his parents who had moved to Australia two years earlier. His stunning, iconic house launched his Australian career spectacularly.

He went on to become one of Australia's leading architects of the modern movement. In Australia and overseas, he designed many important residential and commercial buildings, introducing new ideas and construction techniques.

Harry Seidler is also credited with making a major contribution to the architecture of Sydney, including the Australia Square building. He was awarded the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Gold Medal in 1976 and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Gold Medal in 1996. These awards were prominent among a long list of prizes his work attracted, including five Sulman medals.

Mr. Seidler died at his Killara home in 2006, leaving a wealth of architectural heritage that delighted and challenged clients around the world.

Like to plan a successful career in Australia? Contact LIA and lay your foundations now.

Australian Medics serve the region
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) played a key role in this year's life-saving medical treatment in Australia for an East Timorese infant born with a hole in her heart.

Baby Maria Soares was brought to Australia by the Rotary Programme, Reaching Overseas with Medical Aid for Children (ROMAC) because East Timor did not have the medical expertise or technology to complete the delicate heart operations needed by the infant.

ROMAC organised the flights, and worked closely with the department's Dili-based Principal Migration Officer, Haddon Wright, to facilitate visa arrangements.

“It was a case of pulling out all stops to get the visa processed as quickly as possible," Haddon said. “The visa was granted in 20 minutes." Maria and her mother arrived in Australia in April.

The clearance for Maria to return home after treatment at Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick was announced at a ceremony that also recognised the department's help with more than 300 children over 18 years.

ROMAC partnerships involve 68 eminent Australian surgeons, Rotary volunteers, hospital teams and people from organisations like DIAC.

These partnerships helped a record 38 young people from 20 developing countries in the region in 2005-06 and more than 40 in 2006-07.

DIAC issues about 5000 visas a year to patients and carers to come to Australia for special medical treatment.

If you are a doctor, surgeon or medical professional looking for rewarding fields of endeavour, contact an LIA advisor now.

Aussie Surprise of the Month
The Secret Ballot was an Aussie invention. Until the mid 19th century, voting for public office was publicly displayed, which left the voter open to intimidation and/or bribery.

Henry Chapman of Melbourne invented a secret ballot system in 1855. This was the system of casting one's political (or other) vote in a manner that is private and confidential on an anonymous ballot paper. Within a short time of each other in 1856, the independent colonies of South Australia and Victoria adopted this secret ballot system, which became known around the world as the Australian Ballot.

Victoria and South Australia were followed by New Zealand in 1870, the UK in 1872, and Canada in 1874. The first US presidential election to use the Australian Ballot was in 1892. Today the right to a secret ballot as a protection against coercion and intimidation is accepted as a cornerstone for any democratic state or institution.

If you want to find out more about skilled visas to the cradle of democracy, log onto LIA and become a candidate.

A Town Like Launceston
Launceston (pronounced Lawn-cess-ton) is named after Launceston (pronounced Lonson) in Cornwall.

The city was established in 1806 as Tasmania's northern military base and a trading centre for wheat and wool farmers. Over time, as their wealth grew, the city developed its grand vision, expressed in a wonderful variety of elegant heritage architecture. It's Tasmania's second largest city and sits at the junction of the North and South Esk Rivers, where the broad Tamar River valley opens north to Bass Strait, 50 kilometres (31 miles) away.

The city's attractive, colourful Victorian and Edwardian homes line the hillsides along the riverbanks. It's a city of 68,000 in a state the size of England, but with a population of only half a million. Launceston takes pride in its strong sense of identity. It boasts one of the best regional galleries in Australia – the Queen Victoria Museum at Inveresk, along with art and craft galleries and quality restaurants.

Like most Tasmanian towns it's easy to explore, delightful to live in and nature is your neighbour. Launceston Gorge, with its Victorian parklands, has steep, rugged cliffs that attract climbers.

The city offers a full range of educational, health and sporting facilities. There are diverse skilled employment opportunities and it's a peaceful, prosperous destination for resourceful fun-loving families.

Launceston's weather is temperate, averaging 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit) during the summer and 6 degrees Celsius (42 degrees Fahrenheit) on winter days.

If the idea of a rewarding future in a prosperous city appeals, contact LIA without delay.

Help Save Australian Small Business!
Small businesses in Western Australia and other parts of the country are being forced to close because they can't find enough skilled people with trade and technical experience, reports Perth's Sunday Times.

Both local authorities and the federal government recognise that Australian immigration is a core solution to this labour shortage. The owner of a potentially multimillion-dollar turnover steel security company, Ian Saggers, told the Sunday Times he was closing his business because he has not been able to find anyone to train his staff to operate the equipment.

Many trades, such as metal machinists, are on the Migration Occupations in Demand List, entitling applicants for an Australian visa to extra points.

Australia has the lowest unemployment rate for 33 years. In states like Western Australia and Queensland, it's almost impossible to find some workers, in particularly skilled areas.

Western Australia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Chief Executive John Langoulant told the Sunday Times they are calling for increases in the number of skilled workers being brought in from overseas.

"The chamber has been working with government and employers to develop innovative ways to solve the problem," he said. "The chamber advocates the use of skilled immigration schemes to help industry and business meet their growing short-term labour needs. However, improvements can be made to the present system by allowing more overseas skilled workers to enter the country."

Take this opportunity and – who knows – you may have your own Australian small business someday.

If your skills match any of Australia's urgent needs, call on LIA today. You'll find Small Business can offer big rewards!

Commodities boom lifts construction activity
Construction activity was stronger-than-expected in the third quarter of 2007, as the sector benefited from a commodities boom driving growth in mining and infrastructure projects.

Economists said the boom was expected to support activity in the coming quarter. Total construction work done in Australia rose 2.8 per cent in the September quarter in seasonally adjusted volume terms, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said.

The work done was valued at $29 billion, compared to an upwardly revised $29 billion in the June quarter. The result was stronger than the median market forecast for a rise of 1.7 per cent in the quarter.

JP Morgan chief economist Stephen Walters said mining and infrastructure projects, particularly in the commodities states of Western Australia and Queensland, were driving commercial construction projects.

"The boom is still going on. There's no evidence it is slowing down," he said.
The ABS also said building work done in the September quarter rose to $17 billion, seasonally adjusted, from an upwardly revised $16 billion in the June quarter.

Mr. Walters said residential construction along the east coast of Australia had picked up as housing shortages persisted.

All this adds up to continuing opportunity for you. Contact LIA and talk skilled immigration to Australia!

In Brief
Even considering the current strength of the Aussie dollar, there's a big difference in the cost of buying a home compared with the UK. The average cost of a home in the Greater London area is £377,807. That's $AU885,301.02.

The bottom line is that your investment would buy you a lot more home in most Australian locations. In smaller cities, you can still buy a comfortable home on a minimum quarter acre block for significantly less than $AU200,000 (£85,000). Random example: a riverside brick home with great views in our featured town, Launceston, is advertised at $AU279,000 (£119,064.76). So, it's not only big money you can make in Australia, it's the unique lifestyle that your income can buy.

Aussie Word of the Month

Barbecue stopper - noun an important discussion topic, esp. a political one.

Aussie words in action: The recent Federal election was a real barbecue stopper. Talk to your LIA Migration Advisor to follow how it will affect skilled migration.