The Migration Institute of Australia claims it has seen a significant rise in Greek Australian dual citizens who are making the move to Australia to seek employment opportunities, as an increase in Greek students coming in to learn English, with plans to stay in the country after their studies finish.
Economic and political instability continue to force more Greeks to leave Greece, according to a report by The Australian . The newspaper interviewed Mariette Hatzichistakis, a Greek Australian who moved to Greece 34 years ago as a teenager. Ms Hatzichistakis, who is married to a Greek man, made the decision to take her family and move back to Australia recently to find work for herself and her adult children, as they all had lost their jobs due to employment cuts in Greece.
“We were just struggling to make ends meet until I made the big decision that we had to leave the country quickly,” Ms Hatzichistakis told The Australian from her uncle’s house in Melbourne, where she and her family arrived last month.
Sydney migration lawyer Aristotle Paipetis said a hurdle skilled migrants coming in to Australia may face is a lack of recognition of their available skills and limited English-speaking abilities.
“We have been contacted by trades people who are still in Greece, saying they’ve heard there are jobs in mining. They say ‘I’m prepared to work anywhere, underground, I don’t want to see the light of day, I just want to make money,” Paipetis said.
“It shows incredible resolve but their English is a problem.”
Peter Jasonides, managing director of a private college in Melbourne, said students from struggling eurozone countries were reporting increased scrutiny of their financial status and their intentions of staying in Australia from immigration officials when they tried to extend their visas.
An Immigration Department spokesman said students of all nationalities faced increased scrutiny as a result of the Knight review into student visas.