I am currently in Sydney Australia with my girlfriend and slamming into the immigration laws. Being an old fart of 34, I am too old for a temporary work visa, available to anyone 18 to 30. I have a BS in Computer Engineering and a MA in Spiritual Psychology, not to mention 6 years massage therapist experience and 3 years management experience. The MA doesn't help with visa requirements at all. The Computer Engineering would have allowed me to obtain work rights if I was in the industry, but as my winding road of a life has taken me, I spent the last five years doing massage and management, which simply means my computer background is obsolete for visa purposes or simply the BS is just that BS. Bottom line, my work visa opportunities in Australia are confined to a student, employer sponsored, or spousal visa.
Let's start with the student... Even if I wanted to go back to school, I would have to come up with the extra money for the classes and be limited to part-time work of 20 hrs a week. I would however, have full time privileges during the holidays. Considering I will most likely head home to family over the holidays, full time work is not an option. I will end up spending the money I make at my part time work on the classes and still be holding a full load of school at the same time. Not a very viable option either.
This leads me to the employer sponsored visa option. Can you say catch twenty-two? Employers simply don't want to hire someone for work they can fill with any average Aussie bloke. This is completely understandable. Based on a resume and a few references on the other side of the world, the employer has no idea if this crazy American will hop on a plane next week to go home or not or even be able to perform to the level needed in the job. Why would they take a chance on that and spend the thousands of $$ to sponsor a foreigner? Umm, realistically they just won't. I actually had a recruiter hand back one of my resumes simply because I didn't have a work visa. He won't even consider spending time to find sponsorship for me. I can handle rejection, but five recruiters in a row did the exact same thing. I am healthy, willing and able to work yet can't because I don't have sponsorship.
Finally, the third option a spousal visa. I could pay the buck-toothed, ugh boot wearing, townie, ten grand to marry me, but I think I would get tired of britos by the barby everyday. Yes, I am here with my girlfriend, but do we want to rush a marriage just to get a visa after only 8 months? Talk about adding pressure to a relationship, as if the distance and culture shock isn't enough already. There is an option under the spousal visa called the de-facto that allows me to get a visa if I can prove we have been together for more than a year. Well, if I was able to live here for a year without working, sure no problem. But my savings aren’t opening that door very far.
Without a viable option before me, I kick back as big brother Australia comes to an end and ponder how ridiculous it is that I am unable to work in a country where millions of people watch these kids living in a house doing silly stunts all day. It seems the immigration is much easier if you are a hasty, uneducated kid than it is for someone with experience, education, maturity, and patience.
I can understand the reason for immigration laws being in place and greatly respect that, but I wonder what the world would be like if the separations of countries were to fall away. What if we could legally work in any country or travel to any country without limitation? The first thing that pops into my head is terrorism. Funny how that is at the forefront of my mind? Five to Ten years ago it would have only been used in a passing headline on the evening news. Now, not a day goes by that it doesn’t come up three or four times in various contexts.
It may be a bit far-fetched and possibly extreme, but I feel that there is a correlation between immigration laws and terrorism. Are not immigration laws results of separate governments? Are they not self-imposed boundaries? Am I the only one who thinks that it’s odd that I can work on one side of the planet without an issue, but can’t on the other side? Of course that doesn’t make me want to go crash planes into the Sydney Harbor Bridge or Opera House for that matter, but what if it wasn’t just my work privileges that were being restricted.
What if it was my freedom to travel, or my freedom to worship spirit, or my freedom to love, or any freedom a human being should be granted? Would that push me to lash out at the imposed boundaries and societies that create them? Perhaps.
What if these boundaries and laws created harsh living conditions and brought death and destruction at my doorstep? What if I was a child trying to survive in these wars of divided sides? Would that push me to rebel? I would say most definitely. I was one to rebel against my parents and my school, would I not be one to rebel against governments imposing boundaries and laws? Of course I would.
Is that not what a terrorist is doing? Are they not fighting for what they believe and so divided that they forget how we are all one race, one society of human beings? And who created that perception? You may argue they did, it was there choice. Of course it was, but was it not the conditions they were raised, or perhaps the environment they were taught that helped formulate the mind set of terrorism? Is it not the division, the separations, and the differences that are creating the boundaries? Is it not the very structure we hold on to for control, order and justice that creates separation?
So what should we do? I believe our world needs a restructuring. I believe our world is an obsolete model of imposed segregation inherited from fear-based beliefs held in the past. I believe we need to look at how technology is evolving and model our world after it… That’s right model a new world around the Internet.
Does it have borders? Does it have judgments about what sites are allowed and what aren’t? Does it discriminate or segregate? No, it is all just blips of data streaming together. Are there wars on the Internet? Is there terrorism on the Internet? It may be utilized by terrorism, but the human imposes that, living in the border filled world… not the Internet itself.
Well. I do believe I have segued a bit too far from my original subject. So… while I sit here searching for a way to make some money without my an Australian work visa, perhaps I will delve into this terrorist/immigration correlation and find way to create peace on earth… yeah right…
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