In 6 weeks we have to leave Australia

Stress, nervousness and not-knowing is what's been going through our heads...

Since our arrival June 5th last year, all Mariel and I have been working on is finding a plan to stay Down Under. 4 Jobs, lots of paperwork and a few thousand dollars later we thought it looked pretty positive. Does it still look like that?

So what's goin' on?

Ok. Let me explain. Mariel and I are both on a Working Holiday Visa. This allows us to:

• Stay 1 year in Australia from date of entering Australia
• Travel & Work
• Extend our 1 year visa by doing Specified Work for 88 days
  

Unfortunately we can't do Specified Work as Mariel, holding a Chilean passport, is not allowed to.

On the oppisite, this Visa doesn't allow us to:

• Apply again for the same visa, it's a once in a lifetime chance
• Work more than 6 months for the same employer

We passed working for more than 6 months for the same boss. Ofcourse we saw this coming, so we had/have a plan.

Mariel and I in our first week in Sydney. Almost a year ago.

Getting a sponsorship

A company who loves you to keep working for them can offer you a sponsorship. They have to offer you a contract, certain minimum salary, paid holidays etc. The real deal.

We hoped at first that Mariel would get this easily being a nurse, but there are more obstacles than expected. 

That was plan numero #1.

Eventually after working hard all summer and aiming for a sponsorship, they offered me to go down that road. Celebration was the reaction!

The reason why I write ''to go down that road'' is simply because it's not just signing a contract and there it is...Realising a sponsorship costs easily up to $10.000 AUD (€7.200+ EUR).

Current situation

We are weeks further after getting offered a full-time job and with that a sponsorship. So what's holding us back?

Every company has to be approved by the Government to give a sponsorship to an employee. And let us find out with less then 3 months to go that their approval expired in 2013...my luck!

Getting this approval isn't easy. Info of the company has to be given from the past 3 years, with lots and lots of other info. Any error and no aprroval what leads to no sponsorship, no extended stay Down Under...

Loving my job and life to much and there is unfinished business here

So at the moment we are hoping we get

• The company approved,
• Get the right documents for my sponsorship,
• Get my Visa extended,
• Get Mariel approved as a partner to stay with me in Australia

In just 6 weeks...

Besides that we have to extend our contract of our beach appartement in 3 weeks, not knowing if we even gonna be here that much longer.

Inevitable the next question pops up. What to do and where to go if we can't stay? This time a good excuse to travel won't be as fun.

I guess we can call this typical world citizen problems. We are keeping our hopes up and trust that karma will come around. If you want you can cross your fingers for us, all little things help!

Keep ya posted!