At that time, the path to getting permanent
residency looked something like this:
* Attend a government-approved
culinary school for two years
* Work in a related part-time job
for about a year and a half,
at least 20 hours a week
In my case, that meant working in a kitchen
* Take IELTS, an English exam,
both partway through and at the end,
and achieve the required score
* Submit all the documents
and the application fee, which was quite expensive
* And then, simply wait for the visa.
During that time, a temporary visa would be issued.
That was the process.
But the permanent residency occupation list
was unstable, and the contents could change
depending on the government at the time.
Even if you cleared every single step above,
if your occupation was removed from the list,
you could no longer apply.
Two years after returning to Japan,
I was lucky enough to pass the IELTS test
I took there.
I was so happy
I could have jumped for joy.
And with that,
I began preparing to move to Melbourne.
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