A Letter to You, Caught in an Impossible Bind on the Migration Journey.

Intro

From the first time I set foot on Australian soil to now, it’s beennine yearsalready. From a green nineteen-year-old who could only manage “this, this and that, please” when ordering at McDonald’s, I’ve grown into a twenty-eight-year-old professional who can provide counselling to all kinds of local clients within a government agency. These nine years in Australia have taken me through the‘zero to one’ journey of my life.I want to share this experience in Australia with those of you who might still feel lost right now, in the hope that it gives you something to take away.

→ The First Half of My Studies Abroad ←

I first arrived in Australia in 2012 to study for a Bachelor of Arts. After graduating in 2015, I applied for a PSW visa and worked as a marketing manager at a local company, right up until my PSW was about to expire in 2017.Honestly, during the first half of my time studying abroad my plans for the future were all over the place, and I wasted a lot of time. But before my PSW ran out, I finally made up my mind — I wanted to keep living in Australia.I’d got used to the pace of life here and made some good friends, and even if I later wanted to return home to build a career, having PR wouldn’t be a bad thing — it would give me more options, and if things didn’t work out, I could always come back to Australia.

With that in mind, I got in touch with Kirk at Newstars. Since my undergraduate degree was a double major in behavioural science and media studies,Kirk recommended a social work qualification,because among all the migration occupations, social work was the closest match to my undergraduate studies, and I also happened to enjoy work involving communication and psychology-related fields — so I applied for the Master of Social Work at Monash.

The migration outlook at the time was actually quite promising,I still remember that back then the skilled independent migration quota was still plentiful, and the number of invitations issued by the Department each round was high — for social workers, almost anyone who reached the minimum score to enter the pool would eventually be invited; it was just a matter of how long it took.

Looking back now, that was probably the time since I arrived in Australia when I felt the most hopeful about the future.

→ What to Give Up, What to Gain ←

I began my Master of Social Work studies in 2018. Because I had planned it around“making social work my future career”,I worked extremely hard at Monash, and almost all of my assignments received a High Distinction. That came down to the detailed study plan I set for myself before each semester even started — as soon as I got the unit guide, I’d map out the whole semester: when each assignment needed to be finished, which chapters of which books I needed to read each week, and so on.

After finishing my first year, I received an email from the university’s social work department saying that, because my results were in the top ten of my cohort,they were inviting me to take on a one-year research project — carrying out independent research on my own — after which I’d be eligible to apply for a PhD at Monash.Honestly, I was very tempted at the time. Partly because it meant my year of study hadn’t been wasted — my effort had been recognised — and partly because I genuinely enjoy research, and this project would let me choose my own topic, giving me a lot of autonomy. It was almost the perfect opportunity.

But after thinking it over for a long time, I ended up turning it down.Because in the plan I’d set for myself, I needed to start preparing for migration from 2019 onward.My plan was to get four sevens in IELTS by April (the social work skills assessment only accepts IELTS), pass the CCL by August, and get four eights in PTE by December, so that as soon as I graduated I could apply for my skills assessment straight away and lodge my 189 application as fast as possible. I gave myself roughly four months to prepare for each test — I would have liked to move faster, but at the time I not only had classes to attend, I also had to complete the 1,000 hours of placement required for the social work course, which ate into my time. With so much already on my plate, there was simply no way I could find the time for the Monash research project as well (the Monash research project didn’t count towards placement hours, so I would have had to do research and placement at the same time).

After a lot of thought, I politely declined the invitation in February 2019 and began preparing for migration.

Unexpectedly, almost every test after that went exactly to plan. I got four sevens in IELTS in April, four eights in PTE in August, and passed the CCL in October. Because I couldn’t work while on placement, to save money I studied for every test on my own except PTE, for which I took a course. After my second placement finished in September, the organisation I’d been placed with invited me to join their staff, so I had a job sorted before I’d even graduated.

At the time I genuinely felt unstoppable. I thought everything was going as smoothly as I’d planned, and that my migration path would be just as smooth sailing.

But what happened next made me realise I’d been far too naive.

→ Migration Storm Clouds Gather ←

Right as I was about to graduate, at the end of 2019,the Subclass 189 skilled independent migration quota was slashed dramatically — from an original 46,000 down to around 18,000. When I first saw the news I actually tried to reassure myself — at least I’d stacked up every point I could so I could lodge as soon as possible, and since I’d graduated from a niche occupation I already had 85 points, so I figured I’d only have to wait a few months.But the invitation rounds over the next month or two brought me back to reality — news came through that even social workers on 90 points weren’t being invited, and I finally had to start panicking: 189 might no longer be viable, and I’d have to fall back on the regional Subclass 491.

Honestly, at the time I felt very reluctant to accept that.I felt like I was so close to getting my PR — why should I have to waste my youth in a regional area for nothing.But as the outlook for 189 grew more and more dire, and Victoria’s state-nominated 190 stream at the time wasn’t favouring social workers either (it required two years of full-time work experience and still didn’t guarantee an invitation), I had no choice but to settle for the next best option and go with 491.

Since I was already working at a government agency by then, and it had offices in regional areas like Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat,I assumed getting a job offer in a regional area would be easy.The reality, however, was that while the organisation could help me secure full-time work,the job title couldn’t be written as “social worker”,and they weren’t able to write a reference letter certifying that my role was social work either (because social work wasn’t a mandatory requirement for the position — it only required a background in social welfare, psychology or counselling, and they couldn’t change the position description just for me). Kirk’s advice was that if neither the job title nor the reference letter could establish that my work was social work, it would be very difficult to get a 491 application over the line.So after two months of negotiating with the organisation with no result, I started job hunting on my own.Every day I’d work during the day and send out applications at night — anywhere in a regional area with work similar to mine, with “social worker” in the job title, I applied.

Luckily, the program manager at my organisation at the time forwarded my resume to almost every manager at every regional community health centre. One organisation in a regional area in south-eastern Victoria happened to need exactly this position, and required a social work background. After getting through the interview successfully, I started working in a regional area from March 2020.

→ Five Hours There and Back, Every Day ←

But as if things weren’t hard enough already, COVID-19 began spreading across Australia, and on my very first day at the new job, Victoria went into lockdown. My plan to move to the regional area fell through, and I ended up commuting every day on the VLine instead.Every day I’d get up at 5am, take a two-and-a-half-hour train to work in the regional area, finish at 5pm, and get home around 8pm, by which time it was already dark.Straight after dinner I’d shower, then be in bed by 9pm, waiting for the alarm to go off again at 5am. My state at the time could only be described as dire — I had almost no leisure activities or personal life at all; apart from sleeping, eating and working, all I did was sit on trains.

Because of COVID-19, the Victorian government also suspended issuing 491 and 190 nominations. Sitting on the VLine every day back then,I’d think about whether what I was doing was even worth it. Should I just give up and go home? What exactly was I still holding on for? I felt like the road ahead was completely dark, and that all my effort was worthless.But whenever I actually made up my mind to give up, I couldn’t bring myself to do it — the “sunk cost” was simply too high.

What if holding on just a little longer meant there was still hope?

→ Holding On, Until the Storm Passed ←

Although the nearly five-hour daily commute left me exhausted in body and mind, I still worked hard, and after finishing my own core duties I also picked up work from other departments, which let me start providing a higher level of counselling,including counselling for people affected by the pandemic lockdowns.

In September 2020, Victoria suddenly changed the eligibility requirements for 491 and 190 — anyone who had worked and lived in Victoria for 6 months in a pandemic-related occupation could apply for 190. I felt my chance had arrived.I got in touch with Newstars straight away and started my 190 application.For this application, my program manager wrote me a reference letter confirming that my work was social work. I gathered together all the work-related material, and wrote a statement of nearly 2,000 words demonstrating that my work had contributed to Victoria’s economic recovery and pandemic response. Once it was done, I handed everything over to Newstars, and the rest was up to fate.

22 January 2021 — that date is etched in my memory. It was Victoria’s first state nomination invitation round of the year.(Editor’s note: Victoria ran an Expression of Interest pre-invitation process for the 2020-21 financial year; 22 January was the first time the state government systematically issued ROI invitations after receiving its full quota for the financial year.)Around midday I got a WeChat message from Kirk telling me to check my inbox,though truthfully I’d been unable to sleep since 6am and had already been refreshing my inbox nonstop.Around 1:15pm, I received my Victorian 190 ROI.The moment I saw the email, the tears just came pouring out.I felt that everything I’d held on through the past year hadn’t been for nothing, and that all the early mornings and late nights had been worth it.

In mid-February I received my formal Victorian 190 nomination.

In mid-March, Newstars lodged my Subclass 190 visa application for me.

On 30 March I had my medical examination.

On 6 April I received my PR.

It all went so smoothly it almost seemed unbelievable — from formally lodging my 190 to getting my PR took just over 20 days in total.But to reach that one outcome, it felt like I’d been through an enormous ordeal.Even now I still haven’t quite come to my senses — it feels like I’ve woken from a very, very long dream.

I know there are many young people in Australia right now who are working hard for a better future, while also feeling lost, confused and anxious over the current uncertainty in migration policy — just like I was last year. Looking back on my experiences over these past few years, I’ve come to understand a saying I never used to agree with, and I want to pass it on to you, reading this now —“Do everything within your power, then leave the rest to fate”.

I used to think that this view, bordering on ‘fatalism’, was at odds with the mainstream pragmatism of our era. I believed that as long as I worked hard enough and was good enough, I could achieve whatever I wanted to achieve. But after two years of putting it into practice myself,I’ve gradually come to understand that “doing everything within your power” is an attitude toward facing difficulty, while ‘leaving it to fate’ is an attitude toward facing the outcome — the two aren’t in conflict at all.Because there are so many things in this world that lie outside our control, all we can do is take care of what we can grasp, what we can change, what we can control — and treat the outcome as simply a by-product.Only then can we keep a calm and composed everyday mindset, without letting a single success or failure define or dismiss our entire life.

Wishing you all the best! Keep going!

The end

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