VERY DEPRESSED AND LOST

[MOH]

I am a Australian citizen here in Australia from 2001.I came as a skilled worker in IT, I do possess a PhD degree in Information Processing, a Master degree and an engineering degree in Electronics. I worked here in Sydney till July 2005 then I had to leave Australia in a hurry to be near my old sick mother in Algeria. In 2010 I got married and had 4 children, two boys (6 and 5 years old) and two girls (3.5 and 2.5 years old). My children got their citizenship by descent.
When my mother died in 2015, I came back to Australia. Since then I have been looking very hard for work but until now nothing, only some part-time short contract jobs (few hours by weeks, 2 hours/week). I am now 55 years old and I am disabled, I do have polio at my right leg. I do need sticks to walk. I am now more than 30 months without my wife and children (one born in 2015 when I was here). I am very depressed. I do miss my wife and kids, and see no solution to all my tentative to bring them here because of all the hurdles I am facing each time I try to do something about it. The application spouse visa fee is AU$7000, the ticket costs for 5 persons will be more than AU$6000. I do not have that amount without stable job or not! I do not see myself having that amount in the near future! I am very very depressed, I hate this life at this stage.
I just need some advices or help on how to resolve this mess.
Please appreciate all kind of help and advises.

[Mathy]

Hi MOH and a belated welcome to the BB forums.

Wow, you have a tricky situation happening there, My best suggestion would be for you to contact a relevant not for profit organisation, that assists migrant in this country. You don’t say what state in Australia you are living in. However, most states have some form of organisation that would be familiar with the immigration laws. A quick way to find an answer would be to contact the Australian Greens - Senator Hanson-Young - they are very proactive in this area. I’m sorry, but being from Algeria, things are probably going to be tough for you, due to terrorism etc.

Basically, you need to find the community organisation in this country who supports people from Algeria. Sorry, that’s the best I can think of, best wishes for sorting this out for yourself, cheers M 🙂

[Croix]

Dear MOH~

I'm sorry that you have not had replies before today, I think Mathy is right, it's a very tricky and heartbreaking situation and perhaps an organization may be able to help.

The one thing that might fix it all of course is decent employment and here, despite your qualifications you haven not had much luck.

My apologies for mentioning this if you have already been down this track but have you thought in terms of remote work, either in the mining industry or perhaps in oil/gas maritime services. These don't always require great agility, more a willingness by employees to be away from home and live in isolated conditions.

I do hope something turns up for you soon, it is indeed a most depressing situation.

Croix

[Blue_Jane]

Hi MOH

Thank you for taking the time to share what is going on with you. Apologies that we took so long to respond to you, there are many messages that we catching up on.

I am so sorry to hear about your current situation. You have so many great qualifications and experience, now you just need someone to employ you. Croix and Mathy have some good suggestions.

With your mobility issues, can you do any phone or computer work from home? I know that the big organisations are focusing on analytics at the moment, do your IT skills cover this? Maybe you could market yourself to the big recruiters like Hudson, Hays etc as someone who can diligently work hard but from home? They often do three month contracts, sometimes up to 12 month contracts.

I would focus on being clear on what you can offer an employer and see what comes of that.

How do you keep in touch with your wife and children? How is your wife holding up during this situation?

I am thinking of you, I hope your luck changes really soon.

Blue Jane