So I get home, check my emails, and *finally* there is an email from the nursing manager - I GOT THE JOB!!!!
Isn't that just the way - Murphy's Law I guess. Purchase a large priced item and get a job in another country... <sigh>
Now came the next stage - obtaining the work permit. If I thought getting the job was hard - I had NO idea what was now ahead of me!
The HR guy recommended that I apply for Permanent Residency (PR). This would give us a bit more security, allow us to stay in the country indefinitely, and offer the perks of being a resident. However, this would take at the very least, another 6 months for approval before we could even consider hopping on a plane to come over.
Now I know it appears that I'm a tad impatient about all this - but I honestly feel caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place. Yes, there are the advantages of having PR, however the cost of applying for PR is huge - around $1000 compared to only $150 for a work permit. Plus with the PR application I would have the cost of a Medical Clearance for all of us, which would be over $1000 total - there is only ONE doctor in all of Queensland authorised to do the Medicals, so I guess he can charge whatever he likes!
My other deciding factor was the girls, particularly my eldest. She is due to graduate high school this year, despite being only 16. She isn't ready to go to Uni yet, and would prefer to re-do her senior year of high school in Canada. However, the powers that be state she can not graduate from high school twice. So she has a choice. Graduate here in Australia, and then she can go to high school in Canada as an 'extra' year. Or leave Australia *now* so she doesn't graduate, and then finish high school in Canada meeting all their requirements for graduation. She chose the latter option - she wants out now!
So after weighing up all the pros and cons of either option - I decided the work permit was the better option for us. If we like it in Canada, I can then apply for PR and go from there.
So, after informing the HR guy that I wanted the work permit option, I was then told the hospital needs to obtain a Labour Market Opinion - this is basically the government giving them 'permission' to hire an international nurse because noone local wants the job! And apparently this takes approx 2 weeks to come back. Oh, and I need the LMO to apply for the work permit. More delays! Also, a work permit can only be authorised for the amount of time in your current passport. A quick check - bugger. I only had 6 months left on my passport! Thats fine - I had the time to wait for the LMO, so was the perfect time to renew my passport.
So I waited, and I waited.....this is nuts. Why can't anything happen quickly! I still can't understand why the hospital didn't obtain the LMO *before* offering me the job! I knew the work permit can be approved relatively quickly - some people get it in only 2 weeks. However I knew mine would be delayed because I would need to get my Medical Clearance first. This gave me a flashing light bulb moment!
I quickly sent off an email to the immigration department - explained I had the job offer, was waiting for the LMO, however as I would be working in the health industry, I *knew* I would be needing the Medical Clearance - would it be ok to have this completed before putting in the application for the work permit, in an effort to save a little bit of time.
I got a reply the next day - I could apply for the work permit now, and then forward the LMO on when I received it! Excellent news - this would save a couple of weeks hopefully. The only hiccup was I was still waiting for my new passport to arrive! And I needed it to complete the forms!
My new passport finally arrived, I quickly printed off the completed forms and checked I had all the necessary documents. I was quickly checking for the third and final time when I noticed I needed passport photos on the application for ALL of us, not just me. I have no idea how I missed that tiny little detail! So it was a mad dash down to the post office for a quick photo session, paying over my $400 for the work permit and student visas for the girls - popped it all into a registered envelope and placed into the mail box literally 5 minutes before the deadline for next day delivery!
Last week I quickly sent an email to the HR guy, wondering why the LMO was still not through. Was this bad news? Should I be worried? He emailed back saying they had only *just* put the paperwork in! UGH UGH UGH! Apparently, he decided to obtain a letter from the nurses union to support the LMO application, so that was the hold up there. So thank goodness I applied for the work permit already or I would be even further behind schedule!
So where we stand now - back to waiting waiting waiting.......
The time taken so far?
Applied for job - 25 June 2010
Contacted for interview - 5 July 2010
Interview conducted - 18 August 2010
Letter of offer - 4 October 2010
Renewal of my passport - 5 October 2010
My passport arrived - 19 October 2010
Applied for work permit - 20 October 2010
Renewal of C's passport - 27 October 2010
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