What visa to choose?

This can be difficult to figure out and it's easy to make it more complicated than it is. I have always been thinking about moving to another country and see how it feels to be away from Sweden for a longer period. The reason why the choice landed on Australia is because my boyfriend is born and raised there. But my main reasons are to experience another country, to travel and to try a life away from Sweden. I don't know what the future holds for me so therefore I want to stay at the company I'm working for, here in Sweden – work digitally/online while abroad. The problem is that this company is not established in Australia so I have to follow the Australian law. I am allowed to work for this Swedish company for 6 months with the Work Holiday Visa 417, then I need to change employer. We'll see if I need to work after 6 months or if I have saved up enough money to maybe travel. Like I wrote earlier, I'm not planning for the whole year, just for the first 6 months. 

At first I didn't know which visa would suit my situation the best. I called the Home Affairs in Australia and I also emailed around, trying to understand where to pay taxes if I want to stick with my Swedish company and so on. Because my boyfriend is Australian, you could ask why we are not trying for a partner visa straight away. Well, for me it's simple. I want to see how it is to live in Australia first. I have never stayed in another country for more than 4 weeks and I have never worked in another country. Maybe I'll hate being away from Sweden. I don't know. That's why it's important for me to start slow, to try it out first. I want to do everything according to the law (both in Australia and in Sweden) but also do it in a way that feels right for myself.

When it comes to taxes, after reading about it from Australia's point of view and Sweden's point of view, I have understood that during the first 6 months I'll pay taxes in Sweden. After 6 months I have to pay taxes in Australia.

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

Steps on how to find your visa: 

1. Ask yourself why you want to travel to Australia
2. Go to https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/trav/visa-1 and read about the different options
3. Apply for the one best suited for you, pay and wait

It went pretty quick for me to get my visa granted. I did all of this myself without any help from an agency. My visa cost me about 3000kr so I didn't feel like adding anymore costs on my visa than needed.

Be honest to yourself and when answering the questions on your application, then I'm sure you'll get the visa best suited for your purpose.

Good luck!

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Swedish summary: 
Att hitta rätt visum kan vara svårt och många gånger krånglar man nog till det mer än det behövs. Mina huvudsyften när jag ansökte om mitt visum var att uppleva Australien, att resa runt om det går samt att testa på ett liv på en plats som inte är Sverige. Eftersom att jag inte vet vad framtiden har att erbjuda mig har jag valt att arbeta kvar på mitt nuvarande arbete så länge jag kan. Enligt australiensisk lag är jag däremot endast tillåten att arbeta för en arbetsgivare i 6 månader, sedan måste jag byta arbete – detta oavsett om företaget är australiensiskt eller inte. Så det är planen. Jag har valt visumet som heter "Work Holiday Visa" som låter mig både arbeta och resa i (och utanför) Australien i 12 månader.

Nästa fråga blev "vart ska jag skatta?". Det jag har kommit fram till efter en hel del mejlande och sökande på nätet är att det första 6 månaderna ska jag skatta i Sverige, sedan måste jag skatta i Australien.