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The Great Escape 16.02.10
Families seek new life
in the sun
by Linda McGrory
HUNDREDS are planning to flee Inishowen for a new
life in Australia as the jobless crisis threatens to
claim an entire generation.
Visa experts, Australian Visa Specialists, yesterday
said they had had recent queries from more than
1,000 people from Donegal including the peninsula,
who want to relocate Down Under.
The company's founder, Liz O'Hagan, said she had
been "inundated" in recent months with enquiries
from Donegal.
"The interest from Donegal has been incredible and
was the reason we decided to take our information
night to Letterkenny recently. That night turned out
to be standing room only in Gallagher's Hotel," said
Ms O'Hagan. |
"In the last three
weeks alone, we would have taken enquiries from
around 500 people from Donegal who want to go to
Australia.
"We weren't surprised by the interest from
backpackers and young graduates but we were stunned
by the amount of interest from families and people
in their 30s with children. It is a sad reality of
the economic downturn here in Ireland," she said.
She said they had received applications from across
the board including |
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construction workers,
nurses, secondary school teachers and childcare
workers.
Calls to Australian Visa Specialists come against a
backdrop of 5,005 people now on the dole in
Inishowen and more than 21,000 out of work in the
county as a whole. A large proportion of those are
in the under-25 category.
Emigrants to Australia can apply for long term
temporary visas or permanent visas but the entire
application process can cost anything from €2,000 to
€5,000, not including flights and accommodation. |
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Ms O'Hagan said people
are more likely to be successful in their visa
applications if they have the in-demand skills set.
Currently in demand in Australia, are health
professionals including doctors, nurses, dentists,
psychologists, occupational and physiotherapists. |
Others in demand are
engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and
project managers.
"People with the in-demand skills will get visas for
Australia more quickly than, say, tradespeople who
are likely to have to wait a little longer," added
Ms O'Hagan.
Meanwhile, she said Western Australia including
Perth, was currently undergoing a "mining boom" and
would require up to 38,000 skilled workers including
engineers by 2012. Australia as a whole would
require up to 150,000 workers over the next seven
years to keep its economy going. |
Long journey for
medicals
PEOPLE from Inishowen planning to emigrate to
Australia now have to endure a seven-hour round trip
to Dublin for a medical exam.
Medical exams are compulsory for people applying for
Australian residency. Previously, examinations were
carried out by a panel of 12 doctors around the
country including Donegal Town. But the Donegal Town
service and others shut several weeks ago with all
exams, worth around €750,000 annually, now
centralised to one Dublin GP. |
Australian Visa
Specialists founder Liz O'Hagan criticised the
centralisation and said people in Donegal would now
have to travel a long distance and incur extra
expense to get their medicals.
The exam itself costs between €120 - €160, not
including the chest x-ray |
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for everyone over the
age of 11.
"This has really put a spanner in the works for
people in Donegal. Not only do they have to travel a
long way for their medicals but they also have to
incur the travel costs and a longer time away from
home," she said. Australia insists on medical
examinations because it does not want to incur the
financial burden of having to provide medical care
for new residents with long-term illnesses.
Ms O'Hagan said illnesses such as severe arthritis,
newly-diagnosed cancer, hormone growth therapy and
HIV would result in a visa application being
rejected. She said people with high blood pressure,
diabetes or mental health problems would be closely
assessed. "The basic thinking is, if you can't work
and are suffering from ill health, you are not what
Australia needs," she added. |
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