IDP Student Alumni: Hai Long, Vietnam

I chose IDP because I have family members who have previously used IDP services to study abroad in Australia and they suggested that IDP would help me to achieve my dream.

My first biggest challenge was getting a visa approval which IDP helped me with tremendously. My case is a special one, however, my counsellor guided me carefully through the visa application process which resulted in me successfully receiving a student visa to study in Australia. The second challenge was accommodation.

At the moment, international students have to deal with the "housing crisis" where it is almost impossible to find rentals successfully through real estate agencies. The only way that I could find a good place to rent was from the Vietnamese community living in Perth.

I wasn't in a good position to find a job. At first, I thought I could use my video production skills to find freelance jobs in Western Australia. However, in my opinion, media and production jobs are not strong in WA. Instead, there is a huge market for health care and hospitality.

In the beginning, I didn't have any experience in hospitality, and I was struggling to find any job. Luckily, my landlord who worked at a restaurant, gave my CV to the manager and I got an interview right after that. Now, I have a stable income working part-time as a waitperson.

I'm getting ready to become an environmental scientist or consultant in the future. My goal is to get a job right after I graduate and eventually reach 100,000 AUD a year in salary. That would be my ultimate goal.

When you receive your student visa to Australia, it is just the beginning of your journey. Yes, it will be really hard in the first year, but after that, you can enjoy every good thing while studying in Australia – with beautiful beaches, amazing parks, and wildlife.