Thinking of moving abroad...

[VJ]

Hi guys!

As some of you might know (or might have known ), I'm working on my PHD. If all goes well, it ought to be finished by the summer of next year (that is my aiming point). Of course, there is the matter of finding a job afterwards... While I'd like to stay in the academic world, it seems unlikely that there will be an opening at my university. Combine that with the fact that for some reason (dunno why), I was thinking of moving abroad and you can guess where this thread is going...

As I'm not in a relation (and don't have a big family), I don't think I'll have much problems settling in elsewhere. If the country is English spoken, it would be a huge plus. Currently, I'm thinking about either New Zealand, Australia and Canada.

Have any of you guys moved to a far away country?
Did you try to get a job first, or did you start looking when you got there?
Was it difficult finding a place to live?
Some countries offer a 'skilled migrant program' (i.e. New Zealand), which does look interesting: it facilitates searching for a job, a temporary home, ... Because of this, New Zealand - despite it being probabely the furthest country from Belgium - is at the top of my list.

Currently, I'm putting it all on my PHD, but as I'm more and more thinking about the future, I thought I wanted some opinions.

Any advice from you guys?


Jörg

[Brian Ellis]

Depends what you mean by far-away. I moved from Geordie-land to Switzerland, as culturally dissimilar as anywhere in the world, I guess. I had a job waiting for me, but I handed my notice in after 3 months and found a different job. Finding somewhere to live was not difficult.

NZ is a beautiful place in parts but if you want to try for academia, Oz would be better: what's your PhD in? NZ and Canada have long wait periods for a visa, depending on your speciality and how badly they need you. Oz may have as well.

How about Cyprus?

[Nowhere]

(why I thought after reading the thread and looking at who posted it "he wants to move to scandinavian pennisula?" )

Hmm...New Zealand must be a nice plays...

[Tjalfe]

I moved from Denmark to Canada in 1994. My parents took care of all the logistics then, so I cannot say how hard it was to find a place to stay / job.
I know the university I attended ( www.lakeheadu.ca ) always needed more profs for the engineering department as the university was in a relatively small town of 120000 people.. I think all but a few were recent immigrants.
I think you may want to have a job ready when you arrive.. if nothing else, it will make the immigration process that much easier

[VJ]

Well, I have a license degree in computer science, and my PHD will be in 'applied sciences' (engineering faculty); it specifically has to do with integrating fuzzy logic and reasing in geographic databases. I have some experience in teaching various IT-courses (data structures & algorithms, compilers, databases, ...). Mostly my lessons where practical (exercises), allthough we had to fill in for the professor (and give theory lessons) on quite a number of occasions.

Brian: NZ works with a point system for skilled migrants. The higher points you have, the faster you can get in; the IT sector is in great demand, as is university staff.

Nowhere: I know what you are getting at . But I think it will be hard to get into Scandivia, as the IT sector is quite popular there (and having to compete with local candidates is always difficult).

Tjalfe: Just checked the site, and there are indeed quite a lot op openings, even in the IT sector...

I also think it is best to have a job ready when you get there... What timeframe should I expect between applying and learning the result of the application?


Jörg

[SpiralDragon]

hay.... i am thinking of going of after an MA and then a PHD in Filmmaking... also seem to have gven up on canada and decided to try for NZ..... from my experiance, as far as paper work goes for canada, the prosses is alot quiker in european countries than in arab ones (has to do with the ineficency of the locals working at the embacies) one thing i agree with is that it helps alot more if you have a job offer waiting for you.. it just facilitates things..... as soon as i have some money and time i am planing on visting NZ for a few month and building some contacts... may even do so under a small fillmmaking project that i have in mind.... going there will give me an idea of what to expect and if i am lucky enugh maybe get a company to higher me and sponsor my imigration.....

Good luck VG... hope things work out well for you,... and if you end up in NZ and i eventualy get there then we get to partay...

[SpiralDragon]

btw... Canada has a 'skilled migrant program' too

good place to start would be http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html

as for NZ

http://www.newzealand-infocenter.com/

and

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/

NZ is more of an emerging market kind of thing .. so i think your chancese may be best there

[Fat Tone]

Of course, having the job sorted means the employer gets to pay for your visit for interview, which also gives you a chance to check the place out much more cheaply.

At my Uni, we tend to advertise for ~1 month, interview 2-4 weeks after that, offer on the same/next day and then wait. Things like Research Associates/Assistants tend to have a close starting date, but it is often expected that lectuerships and professorships may not start until after the end of the current semester.

[GuchiGuh]

About Australia
Personally, I like it here. Multiculturalism is just the best. Fuel prices are not the best, car prices are reasonable (especially when buying Holde/the local Opel/Vauxhall brand or even 2nd hand), house/apartment prices vary from cheap to super expensive (Depening on which city and what suburb within the city) and rent is quite reasonable as well. I say, starting of your life here is quite easy, especially since you speak perfect english. The people are nice, easy going, always cheerful, shopowners will guide you to the nearest shop if they dont have the product that you want, the nightlife is not bad, lots of things to see and touch, great varity of food (japanese, chinese, korean, vietnamese, thai, indonesian, malaysian, singaporean, Ipohrean!!!!!, Indian, Middle eastern, European (although not as good as you might think)). Food prices vary from dirty cheap to super expensive, buying at the local supermarket and cooking yourself can be almost the same price as going out to eat. Everything is quite spaced out in Australia, I have to drive about 30 minutes to get to a market and purchase my goods there. Once you leave the metropolis, its all bush/gravel/sand out there. As dull as it might sound, its beautiful at the same time. Inside cities, its full of parks, modern etc. (Both Sydney and Perth)

Visa
Visas are painfull.
If you are thinking of going to Australia, just take care NOT to obtain your permanent residence visa by business (Subclass B435 Visa it was called when I got mine). It will take you more than 5 years and a shitload of money, but your PhD degree will make it easy to enter a university here and they will handle all the visa crap for you. I can ask my final year project supervisor how he did it (he is from India and came just last year and obtained his Visa just a short time afterwards). That is, if you are interested in Australia.

Work Oppoturnity
Australia, too has this "get european workers over here, STAT!" thingy, but I am not sure what it is called. Besides it is not hard at all to get work at a University here, most departments here are not large size like in America (I think?) so they have always got a free spot for you. If you can show that you are good in your field, then thats even better. All I know that there is a big shortage on qualified General Engineering, Science and Computing people, especially here in Perth. Perth is the city you want to go, if your field is in the engineering/manufacturing/design/research industry (basically we are the industrial state here in australia) and you would want to go to sydney/melbourne (eastern states) if your field is in the business area/accounting/banking etc. You earn about 50% more in the easter states, but costs of living are just as increased.

Oh and a word of advice that I think you should take seriously: Go visit the country, but don't experience it as a tourist. Experience it like a local. Only then will you know if you like it here or not (in the long run anyway).

If you got more questions, email me.

Good luck bro.

[TransformX]

Joke
Come to Israel, you'll have a BLAST!

[Umfriend]

Joke
Come to Israel, you'll have a BLAST!

There's a witz if I ever heard one (even though it is a bit aged by now).

[KvHagedorn]

How heavy is she and how far do you want to move her?

[Nowhere]

And here was, my small mind, thinking that I'll read that VJ shouldn't pollute other cultures while the page loaded . Instead my small mind can't even figure out the post...

[VJ]

Thanks for the insights!

Looks like I was more or less thinking in the right direction... I'll give it a rest for now (and focus on the PhD), but don't be suprised if this thread is resurrected (or I start a new one) somewhere next spring.
(New Zealand is still highest on my list )

Good luck VG... hope things work out well for you,... and if you end up in NZ and i eventualy get there then we get to partay...

Agreed!



Jörg

[gt40]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/10/04/eui.survey/index.html