LIVE IN MELBOURNE - Key Persons

Simon has worked in genetics since 2012, and as a consultant clinical geneticist since 2017. He left his job in Bristol in England's south west and migrated to Melbourne to begin a role at Austin Health, and has been working remotely since April. Simon was selected by Victoria's skilled visa nomination program and now has permanent residency. "At the time when I was looking to migrate, the Austin happened to be looking for a geneticist - my area is quite a small field, there aren't many people trained to do it," he said. "The application process was quite straightforward which was great." Simon was heavily involved with the 100,000 Genomes Project in the UK, a world-first clinical research initiative that sequenced 100,000 genomes from around 85,000 patients affected by a rare disease or cancer. He says the ties between the Victorian Clinical Genetics Services at the Royal Children's Hospital and the genetics services he worked with in the UK contributed to his decision to migrate here. "Australian genetics work has a strong reputation internationally and has quite close ties to the UK," said Simon. "And obviously Melbourne is renowned for being a great place to live, it tops the global charts for liveability."

Joe Foster dreamt about moving to Australia about 30 years ago when he was working in a packaging factory in Ireland, but he didn't have the opportunity to realise his dream until about 10 years ago. Migrant Joe Foster, who moved to Melbourne, Australia from Ireland shares his story about settling into a new country and what he loves about Australia. "I've been very fortunate that my wife and two children, have been travelling with me over a number of years, when I told them about moving to Australia and told them about the benefits, scenery, for them to do well, it was a very easy sell," Foster said.

The first time Joe Zhou and his family arrived in Melbourne, they felt immediately that Melbourne was their home for the future. Migrant Joe Zhou, who moved to Melbourne, Australia from China shares his story about settling into a new country and what he loves about Melbourne. He said the biggest difference between his life in China and his life in Melbourne has been his own personal relationship with his family. "It is hard to take care of your family when you work in China...however in Melbourne, although we work hard, we still have time to relax," he said.

The great outdoors and the opportunity to work more autonomously were two key drivers for physiotherapist, Jojo Francisco, and his family to move to Melbourne from the Philippines. Migrant Jojo, who moved to Melbourne, Australia from the Philippines shares his story about settling into a new country and what he loves about Melbourne. Francisco said it was his wife Jenny who was the one who pushed him to get his physiotherapy registration in Australia. "We're here, because of her…Melbourne is multicultural I believe and it's a great sporting state, it has a high standard of education and I think those are the elements needed in raising a family, and as parents we want to give our children a bright future," he said.