In Australia and Me, we ask you to tell us about how you came to work and live in Australia. All you need to do is upload your photo and complete the form below.

In our latest installment of Australia and Me we catch up with engineering consultant Rory Corbett, from Cork. “I relocated to Sydney in May 2011 with my wife and two young kids on a 457 sponsored business visa. This is our second time escaping the recession,” he explains.

The number of job advertisements on the internet and in newspapers remained flat in November, new figures reveal.

The first batch of trainees have enlisted in Perth as part of an apprenticeship scheme set up by Irish-owned engineering company Kentz.

Irish workers are being sought on the Gorgon gas fields project on Barrow Island, Western Australia. Recruitment company JobContax it to carry out interviews for foreman and site manager positions in Dublin, London and Manchester in coming weeks.

In this week’s Visability column, registered migration agent John McQuaid is asked about seeking sponsorship from an Australian relative. Paddy Joe asks what his options are. Meanwhile, Gabrielle writes to ask whether she and her husband can extend their work rights while on a student visa. John explains that condition 8105 limits work to 20 hours a week during term time.

In this week’s Australia and Me, we spoke to Gerard Winston who is known to some in Sydney as ‘Paddy The Baker’. Where are you from in Ireland? When did you come to Australia and what brought you here? I’m from Clonskeagh in south Dublin. I arrived in Sydney in August 2010. I ran an advertising business in Dublin and my wife Sarah-Jane ran a florist in Harvey Nichols Dublin. Both businesses were hit by the downturn and we had to make hard decisions.

Dear John,
I have been employing Peter, an Irish lad, on a working holiday visa, for three months. He has asked me to sponsor him so he can keep working here. I’m keen to keep him, but my business hasn’t sponsored anyone before. We are a small business with four employees so I’m not sure I can be a sponsor? Can I sponsor, and what do I need to do to keep Peter?
PJ

In this week’s Visability, we hear that overstaying your visa should be avoided at all costs. And somebody writes in to ask if regional work can be done after the expiry of a first working-holiday visa. Dear John, I have two months left on my working holiday visa but my boss won’t sponsor me. I [...]

Where are you from in Ireland and when did you come to Australia? Under what circumstances? I’m from Cóbh in Co Cork. I came to Australia as a backpacker for 12 months in September 1998. I worked here in a number of jobs as I did a fair bit of travelling in the first year. [...]