T he only good news that we ought to know and remember is that Jesus Christ had already won the war against sin and death. He has made it possible for us to join Him in the afterlife. All we need now to do is accept Him as He is. God is alive today and it may be sometimes be difficult to see this. The world and its demonic nature has still made it look like that only worldly things matter and that the ultimate goal of each one is to achieve their own personal happiness. This is the biggest lie of all, that we should do all to make us happy. Individual happiness at the expense of someone else is the biggest deception of all. The truth is, our lives are never really about us. It is ultimately about God and about others. It is about how you can provide and give joy even at our own expense. This is the model of ultimate and genuine love that Jesus shown us at the cross. "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:13 "But
I have to write about this because as a lot of Filipinos are being led astray by migration agencies in the Philippines. They are all being encouraged to get the student visa as a way to come to Australia and some of them make it unclear that a student visa doesn't usually lead eventually to the permanent resident visa. I repeat, getting a student visa is not a sure fire way for you to eventually get the permanent resident visa and it takes you to a very costly path.
Back in 2009, I was able to secure my permanent resident visa while working in the Philippines since I graduated in 2000. Yes, you heard me right, I obtained a permanent resident visa while working locally in the Philippines since I graduated from a university there in the Philippines. And I never went through an agency. I just read the Australian migration website, got a few pointers from some of my colleagues that did the same, and processed it on my own. Saved my half the price if I went through these agencies that honestly do not do much.
A buddy of mine and I went into one of those seminars where they promise to help people secure visas for multiple countries. I attended this seminar because my friend asked me to and as for myself, I wanted to see if they really were genuinely there to help. By this time, I already secured my PR visa for Australia. So we went, they discussed and bragged about their multinational visa status and eventually we came to the part where we were told to join their MLM company to help with financing the cost of your visa. Strike 1. They were baiting this seminar to gain additional members for their MLM business.
So ok, I thought, I was already there two-thirds of the way and just want to see this through. The final act was that they'd assess your qualifications and they'd recommend or suggest where you can get the most chance of succeeding of getting a visa. They told me that my qualifications were not going to succeed in Australia and I'd be better off going to Canada. I was just holding my laughter from within. What a scam. I already had my PR visa to Australia. I thought, why did they tell me this. Why to Canada? Is it because they'd get more for Canadian visa application rather than an Australian one?
I proved I can't trust these seminars and then I also proved that going through agencies, don't really help as much. You are still the one going to prepare and pass your IELTS exam. You are still the one who is going to create the documentation proving your qualifications and all the damn agencies do is pass your docs. You can do that yourself and you'd save Php 80,000, well that was the price way back then. They don't assist you when you arrive to Australia, all they do is get your docs and pass them to Australian migration and they charge you a significant amount of money for that.
Is going to Australia on a student visa really that bad? Not if you're intention of getting one is really just to study and you have enough resources to shoulder your stay here as a student. It is going to be extra difficult though if the intention is just to use the student visa so you can come here to eventually find a way to stay permanently. Remember that as a student, you can only work 20 hours per week and if you like usurped all your resources, borrowed money to meet the barest minimum to get a student visa, it is going to be a gamble for you. These Philippine based agencies won't care once you are here. All they care about is that they tick their sales quota. Your course must also be aligned to what Australia needs or requires else, after you finish your study, you will have to return to your country of origin.
The couple in this video share their challenges coming here via the student visa path way. They are quite fortunate that they were able to do it eventually but I have to say that is a harder way of doing it but for every one of these success stories, you'd find twice or thrice as much stories of those who had to return back to the Philippines.
There is an easier and less costly way of doing it but the only requirement is that you have to have an occupation in the Philippines that Australia needs. Just like me and a handful of others, we were able to secure a PR visa while in the Philippines, skipping all these hardships and costs that you will experience with the student visa pathway. Drop me a question and I will try to answer as much to help out.