By Rebecca Di Nuzzo Strolling into Northcote Plaza, Jhon Rodriguez, 26, appears relaxed.

Once he starts talking its obvious why. Born and raised in Columbia, a country rife with drug related violence, Jhons hometown was a treacherous place and dead bodies could often be seen lying in the street. Everyone is corrupt there, he says. Everyone is trying how to take your money. Moving to Melbourne in 2011 allowed Jhon and his wife the opportunity to start afresh. Like many other immigrants, they looked forward to new cultural experiences and employment opportunities in Australia. We thought to come here and expand our minds. To have a change. We needed that, Jhon says. But despite the relative safety our communities provide, the two years since the couples arrival have been hard. While Australia offers people like Jhon freedom in security, he says it comes at significant financial and emotional costs. The Australian Government keeps tight control of the work and study activities of foreigners through strict visa regulations that hinder their ability to work and study while earning an honest living. And while Jhon believes the governments interest in monitoring peoples activities is one of the methods why you are safe here. He also says they make the process of immigrating to Australia confusing, stressful and emotionally draining. Its a double edged weapon, he says, explaining that many of the regulations can be contradictory or simply unrealistic. Residing on a student visa, Jhon is learning English while juggling work commitments, earning a living, paying course fees and saving money for his visa renewal. For residence you have to speak well, no? It is necessary, Jhon says. But education is expensive for international students often have to pay fees upfront without access to the same concessions as locals. We have to pay $2000 at the beginning and $6000 at the end of the year, Jhon says.

And for a couple such as Jhon and his wife, who arrived with little savings due to poor employment in Colombia and have no family connections in Australia to lean on, these costs are difficult to bear. They both work hard in low skilled cleaning jobs, but scraping together the funds to pay study fees and meet the cost of living is a daily struggle. But instead of feeling bitter Jhon shrugs his shoulders and calls it the Australian business. He says things are this way because the Australian Government enjoys a large income from selling education to international students. And hes right. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows Australia made $15 billion last year from international students studying onshore on student visas, making education our largest services export and one of our economys highest earners. But the difficulties for international students dont end at expensive course fees. Visas cost money to obtain and renew, and under Australian Government regulations students must have sufficient savings to evidence their ability to cope with the cost of living in Australia. For local students the concept of savings is laughable, with money earned at part time jobs often spent at the pub. But for many international students such regulations make saving money a serious matter. Jhons visa will expire at the end of the year. He says they will need $12,000 in their bank accounts to renew it and prolong their stay. But such a large amount of money is difficult to come by, and Jhon says many international students struggle to save the necessary funds. Many end up borrowing money from friends or other sources and returning them after their accounts have been audited. Every year you have to look for that money. You have to show more money, all the time, Jhon says. But dodging the system is sometimes the only way, as the government restricts the amount of paid work foreign students can undertake. We can just work 20 hours per week. But you know in Australia, Melbourne is one of the most expensive cities in the world, he says. To live you must work more than this. The need to make ends meet while paying course fees and scrounging together savings forces many students to resort to illegal employment. Jhon says its

common for international students to break the conditions of their visa and take on a second or third job where pay is cash in hand. Anything just to pay some stupid course just to stay here. Just to buy a space in Australia, he says. But this leaves students liable to abuse. Cash salaries allow local employers to pay below minimum wage, meaning they can increase their profit margins on the backs of desperate students. David Zhang, 21, a university student from China, is in this situation. While he only works a part-time job to supplement the living allowance supplied by his parents, he has found it difficult as an international student to find an employer willing to pay him legal wage. For nearly three years he has worked at the same popular franchise receiving just $10 to $11 per hour. He says when he started working in Australia he had no idea what minimum wage was, and had heard his peers working in Chinatown received only $7 or $8 per hour. I had no idea how much I should get paid, so when my boss said you start from 10, I thought Oh God, thats a lot, David says. But when he realised he was being ripped off he started looking for another job. Unfortunately his attempts proved unsuccessful and today he finds himself trapped in the same position. I tried to apply for other places like Safeway and Coles but it didnt work out, David says. The practice of underpaying international students has been difficult for regulatory bodies to stamp out. And while the Victorian Governments International Student Care Service provides free confidential advice for students like David, many are reluctant to dob on their employer. Part of me thinks hes a good guy but another part really thinks he should pay legal [wage], David says. At least when the time comes to apply for residency, David feels he has one thing sorted. Filling out application forms and providing the right documentation is confusing David says, but he intends to apply for a de facto relationship visa with his partner Glenn, an Australian citizen. David believes de facto visas are easier to apply for, as all that is required is proof that he and Glenn are in a relationship. Glenn will also be able to help fill out the forms, which are only available in English. However Anka Sahin of Immagine Immigration warns people against going it alone when applying for visas.

He says completing an application can be a confusing process as it only takes one small misunderstanding or reading the wrong information to make a potentially disastrous mistake. While some visas are less complex to apply for than others, he says it is important serious prospective migrants engage the services of a good agent. In some cases, it can mean the difference between living in Australia for the rest of their lives and losing that opportunity forever, Sahin says. Jhon intends to apply for a General Skilled Migration visa when he completes his studies, and for him the decision to use an agent is a no brainer. He says the forms have complex legal language and changing conditions to the General Skilled Migration visa make the application process difficult. You have just a few options, Jhon says of the list of skilled occupations people can choose from to qualify for residency without requiring sponsorship. And although Jhons passion lies in industrial design, which doesnt figure on the list, he says he is happy to make a compromise if it means he can stay in Australia. But the list is not set in stone and he is nervous because each year occupations may be added or removed. July 2013 saw five occupations removed from the list and Jhon says this left some international students stranded. They had been in the middle of studying a course to qualify for skilled migraton when suddenly the occupation was removed and they found they had paid their course fees and done the study for nothing. That is totally, totally unfair, Jhon says. Such difficulties illustrate how hard it is for people attempting to become Australian residents. Sometimes it makes you crazy, really crazy, Jhon says, describing the recent case of a Colombian girl who he heard had committed suicide. He says the girl could no longer handle the pressure of trying to make things work in Australia. She said that everything is really difficult here. She was tired here, really tired because it is so hard, Jhon says. Psychologist Sarah Godfrey of Moving Mindsets says the difficulties of migrating to a new country are often underestimated. In order to leave the familiarity of the home country behind she says the lure of a new country is often inflated. But when people realise how difficult it is to build a life from scratch they often

struggle to cope with the hard reality of their situation, especially if the move has incurred large financial loss or involves upskilling to obtain a job. But while things have been hard and the journey is far from over, Jhon remains optimistic about his future. He says he doesnt regret the decision to come to Australia, and getting through the tough times will be worth it if he and his wife are one day permitted to call Australia home permanently. You have to pass for the hell to get to heaven, he says, quoting his favourite philosopher Osho.