[Humbug]

Sorry this will be a long post. I'll try to keep it brief and not give you my life story. And Sorry if this has been covered 100 times but from all my googling i haven't really been able to get a straight answer.

About me: I've been to Japan twice since 2009 as a tourist for 90 days and working holiday for about 9 months. Unfortunately without a 4 year uni degree, its very hard for me to get a working visa. I only have a 2 year advance diploma (mechanical engineering)

I have been with my current girlfriend for over a year, and she has stayed with me in Australia twice just as a tourist.

After losing my job, motorcycle accident has given me a few demons I needed to overcome... So I have been out of work for about a year as well. Things are looking up and I'm really to get back into work... but this has leached very heavily on my savings.

My girl and I are wanting to get married, and I originally wanted her to stay with me in Australia for a couple of years so I can rebuild my savings so I can move to Japan. Major moving costs would be my sports car and motorbikes (money pits but not worth selling)

So I looked into aussie visas and I spat my coffee. Almost $7000 to get married and the visa in Aus, or almost $5000 to marry and apply outside of Aus. And thats excluding all other fees with will add up to quite a bit.

So I am considering on just working in Aus for a few months, selling what I can except my car, bikes and tools then permanently move to Japan and marry. Only down side is I wanted to save for a deposit on a house as I'm scared of getting stuck in the renting rat race which is almost impossible to escape in Aus. But at least the visas are not stupidly expensive, correct? Though I am a little worried that all my savings I make will eventually get double taxed.

I admit that I've only just started looking into this and I'm shocked at how complicated as this. Not what I was expecting.

I've also come across articles online of people having their spouse visas rejected and accused of fake/sham marriages. With them being out of pocket $20,000 - $60,000 respectively. Shocking!

Unfortunately I don't have much money at the moment. All I really want to do is just have a normal life together together with my partner. I don't really want to waste $10,000 on a temporary visa in Australia and I don't want to live a poor life in Japan as a mere English teacher without my car, bikes or tools struggling to pay the rent.

There has got to be a better way, no? I haven't been able to get any advice from family or friends... So I hope you guys can please offer us some advice.

Thanks, and sorry again for the long post.

Brendan.