Thanks for the information - didn't realise there are allocated quarantine slots per flight. I read from passenger comments from flights flying in that planes were mostly full and i had the impression that airlines could just fill the plane up with passengers but what you say makes sense.

The govt has this philosophy that strong housing prices gives 'confidence' to people. Whether it is flawed policy or not, no one can really tell until later. At the moment, everyone in my retirement group is bragging to each other    that the house they live in has gone up A$500k and their retirement portfolio has also shot up A$290k in the last 6 months - what could be more rosy than that? Retirees are all smiling now (esp the self-funded retirees). Hopefully this dream can continue or could be sustained as everyone of us retirees are feeling good 

Definitely catch up with you when you are back in KL.

I don't go out much in KL - try to minimise interaction with others as much as possible. My wife loves it so much as she has been re-united with her younger sister. I take an hour walk around my apartment (Mt Kiara) at 7am every morning - i see a lot of expats here walking in the morning as well.

Looks like Randwick is one of those suburbs that is affected in Sydney this time. I go to Westfield Bondi Jn a lot to shop as my wife bought two Chanel bags there recently(just before we flew back to KL) and that is her favorite shopping venue (other than the city) and Westfield Bondi Jn is one of those buildings with a few infections 

Wow! Saving 10 hours drive to work! So you like WFH without the need to drive in to your office, huh? 

Bro my drive to work during peak hour is about 1 hour each way also loll from Rhodes to Darling Harbor!

The reason why Eastlakes has such a high crime rate is because there are a lot of public housing (used to be called Housing Commission). Part of Mascot which borders Eastlakes also has a lot of public housing. Never buy near public housing because crime rates are always high in those areas. Public housing is a problem that society has to face and Aust wants an egalitarian society so it tries to spread the problem across all suburbs. The most famous block of public housing is at the Rocks whereby rows of terraces were used to house these welfare recipients - some of the terraces had beautiful views of Opera House and Harbour Bridge. The govt took a long time before they managed to sell off all this houses as there was a huge public backlash and it was a political time bomb. Eventually after more than 10 years, they managed to start selling off these terraces. The govt doesn't want welfare ghettos like Claymore so is very reluctant to sell off the more expensive areas (even Vaucluse and Double Bay has quite a lot of public housing). The govt is forcing some developers into offering some parts of their development for public housing so as to spread the problem throughout society and avoid welfare ghettos    .

I don't go out much so the mco doesn't really affect me that badly. I wouldn't like to be working in Msia at the moment because cases are so high and govt seems to have totally lost control on how to handle the pandemic. I think the poor will suffer really badly this time - at least in Sydney govt will give handouts but here the country is already so poor. Luckily i didn't bring too much money back to KL - with the ringgit dropping to US4.20, people are wondering what is going to happen next!

I like the variety of food that we are now getting (even though we cannot eat in), it is still nice to get the variety of food here and it is so cheap!!  . In Sydney, my wife and i are so sick of what we have been eating in Chinatown and Kingsford. I still dare not eat Indian and Malay food now in KL because my wife will not let me order them (she says i will get Covid because the food is dirty  . There is a eatery opposite my condo called Seng Kee Restaurant (Solaris Mont Kiara) and i buy quite a lot of my meals from them - they are quite nice!

How are you there in Sydney? It is now middle of winter so another one and a half months to go for you. I really dread winter in Sydney - where i am now, my condo is quite cool and i have not been needing to turn on the air-conditioning yet. Lately the weather in KL is very cool and it always rains in the afternoons  which keeps things a lot cooler .

Gold standard Gladys isn't doing that great at COVID either tbh.

How to get PR without employment offer and having a Malaysian degree/masters? I keep hearing people say it's possible but I only see Canada having that sort of programme

I think a lot of rich investors can invest A$5mil and get visa 888. This is the visa class a lot of rich PRCs have got in with. A mortgage broker friend of mine told me that he has been applying a lot of loans for these rich PRCs and this is the visa with minimum fuss and approval is usually granted quite fast. I think it is called the substantial investor visa or something like that. Aussies kicked a big fuss about this when it was implemented but now everyone has quietened down now. Money talks 

The fact that they can't tell whether we (as Malaysians) are PRCs, we all get lumped into that category .

Thanks man. If you don't mind, how many points did you have? I checked and I should have ~75, not sure if that's enough realistically.

I got an email recently from imigration.com.au to say that mechanical engineers has been added to the priority migration list and I have been seeing so many ads to say that Australia is looking Doctors, Nurses and Engineers.

I wanted to check with the kind folk here...
a) how true is this news ?
b) is immigration.com.au a scam site ? is it worth it paying for an eligibility assessment ?
c) if your skill is in the migration priority list, how much faster does your application get process compared to regular application ?
d) I see there a few english test accepted for aussie visas, (IELTS, TOEFL, Pearsons, OET and Cambridge C1) which one of these are the easiest to get the highest points ?

Are you happy with you decision thus far, were you able to find a good career there ?

Hi Guys,

I am a Australian PR holder and have managed to extend my visa till next year. For those who are currently in Australia, how is the job market like during the covid times?

I am currently working as a Business analyst/ consultant in KL. Any folks who are currently in Australia working as a BA or Consultant within the IT / digital space?

When i was younger, i also liked the overcast weather but as the years progressed, i liked the warmer weather and rainy days are the worst.

Heard this year's summer been pretty cool as well - i always like a warm summer. The good thing about summer is the sunset-ing after 8pm. I have always lived near the beach and my wife and i will go for walks along the beach after dinner. Cannot imagine i have lived 40 years in Sydney  .

Life in KL is very different. Don't need to wear long johns all the time. It has been raining a lot in the aftrennons so evenings are quite cool. I like retirement in KL as food is everywhere and CHEAP!! My expenses are halved what it was in Sydney. I now understand why a lot of Westerners live in Phuket for their retirement.