Australian residency for geoscientists

The state government of Western Australia is currently offering skilled migration visas to geologists and geophysicists in order to meet the skills shortage caused by the continuing resource boom. The STNI scheme is a two year working visa, successful completion of which culminates in permanent residency. Applicants under this scheme must live in Western Australia and work for a WA company. Details on the visa are found here. The deadline for the current visa conditions is 17 August 2007.

Needless to say, most of the earth science job shortages are in the minerals industry. However, defection of people from other geoscience areas (e.g. people like me) means that there may be other types of employment available. You won’t know until you look. So if you are a geologist or geophysicist, you want to try the Australian lifestyle, and you meet the criteria (see link), check it out.

Note: I am not a migration agent. I strongly recommend that anyone interested in these schemes contact a professional for accurate information on how they work.