Opportunities in the US
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I say good luck to all of you. However as a Yank getting my OZ permanent visa took way more money, time and info than did my (now x) husband's green (pink) card for the USA. He never was able to get employment at a 135 operation because of the fact the movement was slow. He is now back in Oz.
The point I want to make is in reference to Ironbutts. After having lived in Queensland and the USA I can guarantee that living expenses in the USA are way less than in Oz. The fuel in the car, the car itself, telephone costs, utilities, food, housing is all way less expensive unless you live in Manhattan, or one of the exclusive areas of Los Angeles or the Bay Area of San Francisco. Housing in comparison is way less and there are many more opportunities for roomshares here than in OZ. There are many people wanting jobs here, both Yanks and aliens. The aviation community is still very much a who ya know community as there are thousands flying but they all have family that want to work for the airlines and flight operations too. I guarantee you this; a person related to Joe will get the job before you. Or if Joe knows you personally you will get the job over the stranger. Sorry to say, but we do have loyalties to those we know. We are like that. There is also a sense of initiative here in USA that I did not see nor experience in OZ. It is also an unfortunate thing that since the world looks at the US as the place to get, and has, and gives, and takes the free lunch we are a bit defensive since the majority of us work hard for what we have "ain't nothin' here for free" what is free is the right to buy your telephone service from another company besides (Austell) the one owned by the government, which makes the market competitive, therefore less prices. You have the right to go to church, not go to church, and go to school in a public or private school. You have the right to not vote and still bitch about how things are. Voting is not compulsory as it is in OZ. The freedom to accept a job on the terms and conditions of the job agreed to between you the employee and the employer. It is not governed by the Department of Primary Industries. We do have a minimum wage but if the company you work for has less than 10 employees they are not required to pay such wage and if you agree to work for less that is your right, your freedom of choice, which you do not have in OZ.
I was the general manager of a business that had 10 employees in Queensland and learned about the Award system and had the Department of Primary Industries take the company to court because I had a retired man working who did not want the full award as to not effect his pension. The Department of Primary Industries took the company to court to ensure the man received the full award even though he did not want it. Never happen here, well at least not yet.
You can do a search through Yahoo and get the classified sections of nearly every news paper in the USA read what houses rent for in the area you are interested in and also you can find within the newspaper the section for food costs. I live in a 5 bedroom two bathroom home central in town with air conditioning and heating, a dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer included in the rent, two telephone lines one for calls and one just for the computer and fax line, I drive a Jeep Cherokee '96 that I have owned for 2 years and here is the cost.
Rent for house: $600.00US
Electricity with a/c in summer:$150.00US
Jeep Initial cost $10,000.00US $265.00US a month for payments and $50.00 a month for two people on my insurance.
My Internet service provider is included in my telephone bill. Both lines and Internet unlimited service is $80.00US a month I can make as many local calls as I want with no charges for each call unless I ask for measured service where then your bill is drastically reduced but you pay $0.35US per local call. Plus in that $80.00 I get all the bells and whistles of voice mail, phone forwarding, call waiting, call block, caller ID, *69 which tells who your last call was and numerous other aspects to the "Complete Choice" package. The phone line for my computer has no bells and whistles just dial out dial in action and it costs on $25.00 per month for unlimited local calls. My long distance carrier charges are dependent on the calls I make but I pay $0.05US per minute to anywhere in the USA anytime and to call OZ anytime day or night is only $0.12US per minute and $0.19US per minute to Hong Kong. A local pay telephone call is $0.35US for the call and if it is local most phones is the flat $0.35 some charge a per minute cost but you don't have to use that phone. II can buy a gallon of gasoline for my jeep at the BP servo for $1.46 per gallon where it is sold by the liter in OZ and so that makes it approximately $0.37US per litter. And if you are not earning the big bucks and are willing to stand in the line you can get qualified for Section 8 Housing which is government assisted living, but in some areas you are really taking your life in your hands to live in the government housing projects. That also may depend on the visa you are living under here.
All up my entire total living expenses with entertainment included averages under $2000.00 per month but I do not have to live in a 5 bedroom home. I could buy a less expensive vehicle one that doesn't have a monthly note. I could buy a Nissan or a Ford for between $500.00 and $1000.00 and still have reliable transportation. Not fancy and not a flash car but it will get you there legally and with minimum repair costs. These prices are fair to the rest of the country you might want to add 20% for certain areas. But if you want to live in Manhattan, LA, San Francisco or Chicago then prepare to add about 50%+ to the cost of living. Especially in NY City.
In QLD I lived in a two bedroom one bath house no air conditioning, no washer and dryer as part of the rent (I purchased them at a very dear price) for $645.00AUS the electrical bill was never under $100.00AUS, fuel for the company truck was $1.65AUS per liter which comes out to be $6.60AUS per gallon which converts to nearly $3.00US per gallon. I could not afford to buy a car in OZ I was glad the company I worked for furnished a ute. Food costs shocked the hell out of me. Plus the farmers still use phosphates as fertilizer there which has been banned here for nearly 30 years. I asked a farmer once why all the veggies tasted like mildew. He said it was because of the phosphates. I am a predominately veggie person so that didn't feel to good. We may have hybrid and genetically altered foods but as we learn that they are not healthy we get them banned. The telephone was nearly $50.00AUS per month just for the service and it was $0.25AUS per call. So if I called to get on line and the server answered but was busy I got charged for that call even though I didn't get online. I did continue my CompuServe Service in the US so that cost was only the connection fee. I was able to use the long distance company from the US which helped me cut costs for that service.
I lived way below what my standard of living is here for nearly the same amount of money. Plus I had the disadvantage of trying to save money while loosing money with the value of the AUS dollar to the US dollar.
Just thought I would give you a better perspective to AUS vs US cost of living. I can stil go to a matnee movie at 18.00 hours for $4.00US. or the later evening shows for $7.00US. It may require a bit of ingenuity to make the best of a lifestyle here but if you shop wisely it can be done.
The point I want to make is in reference to Ironbutts. After having lived in Queensland and the USA I can guarantee that living expenses in the USA are way less than in Oz. The fuel in the car, the car itself, telephone costs, utilities, food, housing is all way less expensive unless you live in Manhattan, or one of the exclusive areas of Los Angeles or the Bay Area of San Francisco. Housing in comparison is way less and there are many more opportunities for roomshares here than in OZ. There are many people wanting jobs here, both Yanks and aliens. The aviation community is still very much a who ya know community as there are thousands flying but they all have family that want to work for the airlines and flight operations too. I guarantee you this; a person related to Joe will get the job before you. Or if Joe knows you personally you will get the job over the stranger. Sorry to say, but we do have loyalties to those we know. We are like that. There is also a sense of initiative here in USA that I did not see nor experience in OZ. It is also an unfortunate thing that since the world looks at the US as the place to get, and has, and gives, and takes the free lunch we are a bit defensive since the majority of us work hard for what we have "ain't nothin' here for free" what is free is the right to buy your telephone service from another company besides (Austell) the one owned by the government, which makes the market competitive, therefore less prices. You have the right to go to church, not go to church, and go to school in a public or private school. You have the right to not vote and still bitch about how things are. Voting is not compulsory as it is in OZ. The freedom to accept a job on the terms and conditions of the job agreed to between you the employee and the employer. It is not governed by the Department of Primary Industries. We do have a minimum wage but if the company you work for has less than 10 employees they are not required to pay such wage and if you agree to work for less that is your right, your freedom of choice, which you do not have in OZ.
I was the general manager of a business that had 10 employees in Queensland and learned about the Award system and had the Department of Primary Industries take the company to court because I had a retired man working who did not want the full award as to not effect his pension. The Department of Primary Industries took the company to court to ensure the man received the full award even though he did not want it. Never happen here, well at least not yet.
You can do a search through Yahoo and get the classified sections of nearly every news paper in the USA read what houses rent for in the area you are interested in and also you can find within the newspaper the section for food costs. I live in a 5 bedroom two bathroom home central in town with air conditioning and heating, a dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer included in the rent, two telephone lines one for calls and one just for the computer and fax line, I drive a Jeep Cherokee '96 that I have owned for 2 years and here is the cost.
Rent for house: $600.00US
Electricity with a/c in summer:$150.00US
Jeep Initial cost $10,000.00US $265.00US a month for payments and $50.00 a month for two people on my insurance.
My Internet service provider is included in my telephone bill. Both lines and Internet unlimited service is $80.00US a month I can make as many local calls as I want with no charges for each call unless I ask for measured service where then your bill is drastically reduced but you pay $0.35US per local call. Plus in that $80.00 I get all the bells and whistles of voice mail, phone forwarding, call waiting, call block, caller ID, *69 which tells who your last call was and numerous other aspects to the "Complete Choice" package. The phone line for my computer has no bells and whistles just dial out dial in action and it costs on $25.00 per month for unlimited local calls. My long distance carrier charges are dependent on the calls I make but I pay $0.05US per minute to anywhere in the USA anytime and to call OZ anytime day or night is only $0.12US per minute and $0.19US per minute to Hong Kong. A local pay telephone call is $0.35US for the call and if it is local most phones is the flat $0.35 some charge a per minute cost but you don't have to use that phone. II can buy a gallon of gasoline for my jeep at the BP servo for $1.46 per gallon where it is sold by the liter in OZ and so that makes it approximately $0.37US per litter. And if you are not earning the big bucks and are willing to stand in the line you can get qualified for Section 8 Housing which is government assisted living, but in some areas you are really taking your life in your hands to live in the government housing projects. That also may depend on the visa you are living under here.
All up my entire total living expenses with entertainment included averages under $2000.00 per month but I do not have to live in a 5 bedroom home. I could buy a less expensive vehicle one that doesn't have a monthly note. I could buy a Nissan or a Ford for between $500.00 and $1000.00 and still have reliable transportation. Not fancy and not a flash car but it will get you there legally and with minimum repair costs. These prices are fair to the rest of the country you might want to add 20% for certain areas. But if you want to live in Manhattan, LA, San Francisco or Chicago then prepare to add about 50%+ to the cost of living. Especially in NY City.
In QLD I lived in a two bedroom one bath house no air conditioning, no washer and dryer as part of the rent (I purchased them at a very dear price) for $645.00AUS the electrical bill was never under $100.00AUS, fuel for the company truck was $1.65AUS per liter which comes out to be $6.60AUS per gallon which converts to nearly $3.00US per gallon. I could not afford to buy a car in OZ I was glad the company I worked for furnished a ute. Food costs shocked the hell out of me. Plus the farmers still use phosphates as fertilizer there which has been banned here for nearly 30 years. I asked a farmer once why all the veggies tasted like mildew. He said it was because of the phosphates. I am a predominately veggie person so that didn't feel to good. We may have hybrid and genetically altered foods but as we learn that they are not healthy we get them banned. The telephone was nearly $50.00AUS per month just for the service and it was $0.25AUS per call. So if I called to get on line and the server answered but was busy I got charged for that call even though I didn't get online. I did continue my CompuServe Service in the US so that cost was only the connection fee. I was able to use the long distance company from the US which helped me cut costs for that service.
I lived way below what my standard of living is here for nearly the same amount of money. Plus I had the disadvantage of trying to save money while loosing money with the value of the AUS dollar to the US dollar.
Just thought I would give you a better perspective to AUS vs US cost of living. I can stil go to a matnee movie at 18.00 hours for $4.00US. or the later evening shows for $7.00US. It may require a bit of ingenuity to make the best of a lifestyle here but if you shop wisely it can be done.
Guest
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IT has only been within the last 18 months that the 121s have been doing so much hiring. During the early to mid 90s aviation hiring was very slow. He worked at FAPA which is like AIR Inc they send out hiring info to members about who is hiring and etc. Since he returned to OZ in September '98 the 121s really started hiring lots of people. He decided to quit flying because he was not finding a job. He did fly skydivers and banners but at that time there was very little hiring taking place. Then FAPA (Future Aviation Professionals of America) was closed by the IRS and he didn't have a direct connection to who was hiring. Also he quit flying at 1400 hours. I afforded him all of this flight time. And now, I am in training for my pilot's license and I am aiming for my CFIIME rating and staying here at this flying school where I am taking lessons. However, I am very aware of the demand for CFIs across America, so I may chase the $$ but I doubt it. I like the idea of staying around town and taking a plane off to Oshkosh for the airshow, but not to be gone from home so much for work, nahh. The Oil Captain comes from being a ship's captain and I did hitches out to sea and out of places like Rio de Janiero, Nava Scotia, and the Gulf of Mexico Coast. I was gone from home for 28 days to 6 weeks at a time. I like having a home life.
Yes that rent in QLD was per month @ somewhere around $159.00AUS per week.
I lived two hours north of Brissie and east of Gimpy in a place called Tin Can Bay. Where you can feed and play with wild dolphins. I left Australia 21 January 1998.
[This message has been edited by Oil Captain (edited 20 October 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Oil Captain (edited 20 October 2000).]
Yes that rent in QLD was per month @ somewhere around $159.00AUS per week.
I lived two hours north of Brissie and east of Gimpy in a place called Tin Can Bay. Where you can feed and play with wild dolphins. I left Australia 21 January 1998.
[This message has been edited by Oil Captain (edited 20 October 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Oil Captain (edited 20 October 2000).]
Guest
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If you have the funds for a long term stay and training costs, there may be another way for you to get into the USA or Canada - as an Investor Immigrant.
Don't ask me for the fine print such as visa numbers etc. but basically, what this involves is going in with a financial plan for a small business which - and this is crucial - creates employment for a few local citizens in the country of your choice. Setting up a small aviation services business might possibly do the trick.
Also, Canada is a lot easier and can be a back door to working in the US under the Free Trade Agreement between these two countries (and Mexico).
[This message has been edited by helidrvr (edited 21 October 2000).]
Don't ask me for the fine print such as visa numbers etc. but basically, what this involves is going in with a financial plan for a small business which - and this is crucial - creates employment for a few local citizens in the country of your choice. Setting up a small aviation services business might possibly do the trick.
Also, Canada is a lot easier and can be a back door to working in the US under the Free Trade Agreement between these two countries (and Mexico).
[This message has been edited by helidrvr (edited 21 October 2000).]
Guest
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CO EX is hiring.Approx 30 per month.
They are upgrading there fleet and will have RJ's completely before 2003.
Once you're there, stepping up to CO is only a short time away (2 years approx)
Green card and US ATP and 500 multi are an advantage.They will welcome you in open arms with the above.
They are upgrading there fleet and will have RJ's completely before 2003.
Once you're there, stepping up to CO is only a short time away (2 years approx)
Green card and US ATP and 500 multi are an advantage.They will welcome you in open arms with the above.
Guest
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Oil Captain:
It's true that the last 2 years or so have been good for hiring on 121 operations. The Canadian/Mexican route to US GC is easier because of the aforementioned trade agreement. Once legalised, you can apply for a TN visa.
Ireland is also another country to keep an eye on. Although there are no official trade links as such yet, there have been considerable ties closer to the USA, culturally and socially within the past two years.
It's true that the last 2 years or so have been good for hiring on 121 operations. The Canadian/Mexican route to US GC is easier because of the aforementioned trade agreement. Once legalised, you can apply for a TN visa.
Ireland is also another country to keep an eye on. Although there are no official trade links as such yet, there have been considerable ties closer to the USA, culturally and socially within the past two years.
Guest
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For info on visas and work permits, check out www.usvisanews.com
Post a question in Wednesday Questions.That is the quickest way to get an answer.There has been a few answers given about two weeks ago regarding the granting of work permits etc.
I have a Canadian friend in El Paso who got in on his ability to fly a DC3...and he is sixty-eight years old.I haven't decided on whether to take up his offer of employment, mainly because I don't want to fly DC3's anymore....they do have Lears too...mmmmmmm!
Post a question in Wednesday Questions.That is the quickest way to get an answer.There has been a few answers given about two weeks ago regarding the granting of work permits etc.
I have a Canadian friend in El Paso who got in on his ability to fly a DC3...and he is sixty-eight years old.I haven't decided on whether to take up his offer of employment, mainly because I don't want to fly DC3's anymore....they do have Lears too...mmmmmmm!
Guest
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can anyone tell me how i go about converting my licences to US standard, i am going into my 3rd and final year of a Aviation degree in Australia and will have all the australian qualifications. i wish to work in the US as i am a citizen studying in australia, i was wondering the posibility of getting work over there with only 300 hrs and about 50 multi. i sound very similar to abroard as my mother too is American andi have studied uni in australia, abroard if you could email me any advice it would be a great help
thanks
Bosco'
thanks
Bosco'
Guest
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I need to tell you that Airborne Express is hiring. You will be a 2nd Officer for a while, hard school. But a great company
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What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains, and studying night and day how to fly?
— William Law, 'A Serious Call to a Devout and Holly Life XI,' 1728
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What can you conceive more silly and extravagant than to suppose a man racking his brains, and studying night and day how to fly?
— William Law, 'A Serious Call to a Devout and Holly Life XI,' 1728
