[Australia Or Bust]

I've not talked with my current employer about emigrating. A bloke left our firm a couple of years back for a 'simpler life' in rural France. He was in the same line of work as me and did a lot of work in the computer. He's able to make a living in France as a self employed contracter basically on the back of work my current employer is giving him. Do you know if I could get permanent residence in Australia this way? Could I live in Australia while working as a contracter to a UK employer?

[quincy]

If you are currently working, have a look and see if you qualify for a PR visa based on your current occupation and work experience. At the moment it's very helpful to the visa processing if your occupation is on the Critical Skills List. For those in computing your occupation is on the critical skills list where:

"Computing Professionals -- where the applicant's specialisation is listed on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL)."


MODL List

Computing Professional - specialising in CISSP * 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in C++/C#/C * 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in Data Warehousing 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in Java * 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in J2EE * 2231-79
Computing Professional - Linux 2231-79
Computing Professional - .Net technologies 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in Network Security/Firewall/Internet Security * 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in Oracle * 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in PeopleSoft * 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in SAP * 2231-79
Computing Professional - specialising in SIEBEL *
(especially Siebel Analytic) 2231-79
Computing Professional - Solaris 2231-79
Computing Professional - Unix

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/skilled-occupations/occupations-in-demand.htm

Once you have PR, you can work for who you like or you can set yourself up in business..

[Cliff]

Could I live in Australia while working as a contracter to a UK employer?


Easily. If you qualify for permanent residence then you are free to work for yourself (subject to regulations in some fields) or work for any employer. First, you will need to check that you qualify:

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/175/eligibility-applicant.htm

[quincy]

There are a lot of self employed contractors in the computing industry.