I got my permanent residency!
 

That's right.. you guys can't get me deported anymore.. I'm a permanent resident.

What a fucking hassle.. $5500 and a year (almost to the day), it's all over. Woo-fucking-hoo... my shout...

I feel like buying a bluey, some thongs, and a longneck of VB, for some weird reason.

I'm glad you've really embraced the aussie culture mate, unlike those asians who get residency and dont give a toss about the non asian community. Glad you're finally a resident cobber

hooray for Latch!

congrats man.

Dunno if I can agree with that. I'm born and bred Australian and there's more I don't like about the local culture than I like. That Australians are by and large pretty friendly and happy to challenge authority is fine by me, but the flip side of that is a kind of brittle Anglo-Saxon coldness and lack of depth and imagination.

I can understand new immigrants coming from older and deeper cultures finding it a bit raw here and hard, if not undesirable, to assimilate. It's not a simple thing, to immigrate.

That's excellent, mate! And you didn't even have to get hitched to a bushpig for it to happen!

thats awesome, congratulations!

i'll not offer any over-the-top ocker compliments, and i'll not take the opportunity to heave racist opinions across the ether, but i will just say that i think you're a great guy, and we're lucky to have you.

i have quite a number of friends from uni who are in the process of getting their PR, and from what they've said, it sounds like a beaurocratic nightmare (i mean, even the old fake marriage scam isn't viable anymore with all the checks and paperwork), it must feel brilliant to finally get through it all.

Oh yeah my family got our permanent residency few years ago. We went through a long process and thought we might have to leave Australia, but then we got our permanent residency. Gives you some piece of mind that you can go on living in such a great country.

Good on ya. I thought they handed out blue singlets, thongs and a pair of shorts to each new Aussie.
My pommy mate took years to get here. He's a pilot and owns his own helicopter charter business at Bankstown airport. He's ex British army, spotless record and a good bloke. Why do immigration fuck people around like that?

Congratulations mate.

A year and $5500? Bloody hell. Luckily I married an Aussie chick, so I should be able to get my permanent residence (and subsequent citizenship) whenever I choose. But I'm afraid that as long as this country has a Queen and its citizens remain British subjects, I'm going to quite happily retain my Irish citizenship. Besides, I have... erm... certain tax reasons to remain a temporary resident. :)

What an unfortunate thing to have said. Verging on racism, this is one part of the "Aussie culture" I don't like.


Mr Mephisto

Congrats. Are you going to go the whole hog and getting citizenship? I have an american mate who managed to kill the plant they give you at the citizenship ceremony, which I think is kinda funny.

Funny you should say that about the plant, Spindles. My ex recently became a citizen (he's from NZ) and also killed the plant they gave him. He only became a citizen so uni studies were cheaper (or something)....he's been here for 16 years already, so the plant was kinda inconsequential.

Well done Latch! Glad you made the effort :)

I don't see this as a racist comment, more a frustrated generalisation. I too find it annoying that we have stacks of people who have chosen to live in our country but have not bothered to learn the customs or even the language.
I would never dream of moving to a non-english speaking country and not bother to learn their language and customs, I would feel it was my duty to fit in as well as I possibly could if I intended to stay there for any period of time longer than just a holiday.

It bothers me that there are some areas of Sydney which I feel scared to visit because of the gang issues (and I am the wrong race to be a member in these gangs) and it is also frustrating that in these areas I cannot read any of the shop signs or communicate with any of the shop attendants, because I am a mere Aussie.

Having said all that, I love a lot of aspects of our multiculturalism, it's just these issues which really piss me off!

Thanks guys!

I picked up my passport w/ the correct visa sticker in it.. so now when I leave the country in a couple days.. I can get back in when I return... always a bonus :)

I wonder if they give out "already dying" plants...

Where are you going in a couple of days, Latch?

Thursday I fly back to the States (Wisconsin) for the whole month of December. Almost as exciting is that Tuesday's my last day of work for the whole year.... fuck yeah!

a whole year??? lucky bastard.

how did you scam that?

Not "a" whole year.. "the" whole year.. as in.. I go back in January 2005 :)

OOOOOoooooooo...

don't i feel silly now that i've re-read it.

S'OK Ishmal...we're a pretty forgiving bunch. You could do what I do and blame it on my hair colour.

or take the slim approach and say you don't actually read posts.. you just read the title and post a response.. regardless of it makes sense or not ;)

LOL.
how about the Bart Simpson approach???

"i didn't do it, nobody saw me, u can't prove a thing."

doesn't really work when my name is signed next to it... but oh well...