On Monday September 2 VisaFirst.com will take their roadshow to the Sheraton Hotel, Athlone and attendance is expected to reach usual levels of 150-200 people.
The seminar, which will outline the visa options for four of the most popular destinations for Irish looking for work - Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US - aims to educate people as to what their options are and will also outline what types of job opportunities are available in those particular countries.
Edwina Shanahan, manager with VisaFirst said, “We are running these roadshows because of the huge demand for information we are experiencing from Irish people looking to work abroad. In July of this year, according to the latest CSO stats, there were approximately 9,084 people over the age of 25 currently on the live register in Westmeath. We are confident that there is definitely a percentage of these people who are interested in securing employment opportunities overseas.”
In advance of the roadshows VisaFirst.com looked at their 2012-2013 customer database.
Edwina went on to say, “While the average age of our applicants is 25-34 I think there is going to be a trend in this profile getting older because unlike three to four years ago - now over 50 per cent of attendees at our roadshows are over 30 years of age. In keeping with this another trend emerging is that the longer term visas are now increasing in popularity with the numbers applying for Working Holiday visas to certain countries dropping – this reflects people’s desire to make a long term move away rather than just the traditional cultural exchange experience.”
Edwina also points out that the Working Holiday Visa (WHV ) is still a good avenue for those under 30 to test the water in Australia or New Zealand. Although you can work only 6 months with an employer on a WHV, you can apply for a 457 sponsorship while you are in Australia to allow you to continue working with the employer. VisaFirst.com say that they are currently looking for the right people for a variety of roles that need to be filled and that employers are contacting them on a daily basis with new work opportunities.
