Skilled Migrant Professionals Spring 2016 | Page 26

Settlement

Settling Into 

LIFE
How to navigate
the migrant and
employment
services system

From settlement agencies to
community and employment
services, each one can have varying
requirements for eligibility and
offer different forms of assistance

MANY NEWCOMERS
TO AUSTRALIA, whether refugees or migrants, are usually confused and sometimes frustrated by the
diversity of agencies and programs available to them. From settlement agencies
to community and employment services,
each one can have varying requirements
for eligibility and offer different forms of assistance. For many, the main questions that
By Florence
come to mind are, ‘where should I start?’ and
Muvandi,
‘which is the best one?’
Community and
Firstly, it is important to know that such serBusiness Development
vices are optional, often free and are there to
Manager at
help you settle in. Most of these services are also
Metropolitan Migrant
provided by not-for-profit organisations, which
Resource Centre Inc
all work under the guidelines of their funders
(normally the government). This means that the types of services and how they
are delivered are usually non-negotiable, so you may not be able to utilise the
services of two programs at the same time, or you could be restricted to access
a program only once. Knowing what each one does may help you to decide
where to go, as well as understand the limitations of their support to you.

Settlement agencies
These agencies sometimes have multilingual staff and can help you with
information, referrals and support for a variety of areas including housing;
health; family or individual counselling; schooling for your children; immigration processes such as sponsoring or applying for documents and
change of status; general financial and legal information; and searching for
short-term or long-term employment. For details on settlement agencies
and settling in Australia, go to the Office of Multicultural Interests (OMI)
website at the following link http://www.omi.wa.gov.au/resources/translations/english.pdf

Employment agencies
Programs offered by employment agencies specialise in career exploration, searching for employment, job placement and job maintenance. The

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www.smpmagazine.com.au | Spring 2016