Meet Fidelity Migration Services — a migrant who now helps migrants
As of 2026-10-23 · Da Vin Lim (Erik)
Childhood trips to Australia, an exchange year at UQ, a master's in Melbourne, four Starbucks stores, and finally a career in migration. The story of how Da Vin Lim (Erik) came to open Fidelity Migration Services in Brisbane on 1 June 2026.
Hello. I'm Da Vin Lim of Fidelity Migration Services, but most people call me Erik. I am a Registered Migration Agent in Australia (MARN 2619380) and a Licensed Immigration Adviser in New Zealand (IAA 202602450). After leaving my role at one of the world's largest education and migration companies, I opened Fidelity on Queen Street in Brisbane on 1 June 2026.
This post is less a company profile and more my own story. I also came to Australia on a student visa, and after graduating I spent a long time working out what I should do with my life here. That is why the questions people bring to a consultation never feel unfamiliar to me.
Meeting Australia as a child
My connection with Australia started in primary school. I travelled here several times with my family, and the wide open skies and the unhurried way people lived stayed with me for a long time. Back then, I never imagined I would one day live here.
After military service: exchange at the University of Queensland
After completing my military service, I returned to Korea University and spent a year studying at the University of Queensland (UQ) Business School through the business school's exchange program. This was my room in student accommodation on the day I arrived.
My student apartment on my first day as an exchange student. Photo: Da Vin Lim
As soon as I dropped my bags I went outside, and it was raining on Queen Street in Brisbane. It is the same street where Fidelity's office is today.
Queen Street in the rain, on my first day. Photo: Da Vin Lim
My year at UQ turned out to be far better than I expected. Walking between the sandstone buildings of the Great Court to class, and opening my first English textbooks, made me want to study here for longer.
The University of Queensland (UQ) campus. Photo: Da Vin Lim
My first textbooks as an exchange student. Photo: Da Vin Lim
Starbucks, in Korea and in Australia
While at university in Korea, I worked at Starbucks as a Shift Supervisor for more than two years. That experience meant I could keep working part-time at Starbucks in Australia alongside my studies. My first Australian store was the PA Hospital (Princess Alexandra Hospital) store in Brisbane.
My first Australian store, at PA Hospital. Photo: Da Vin Lim
Starting out in an Australian store with an 'Erik – Training' badge. Photo: Da Vin Lim
Inside the hospital, medical staff, patients and families came through all day. Working through unfamiliar accents and a fast stream of orders, I first felt what it meant to take a step into Australian life.
I talk about Starbucks at length because, like many of you reading this, I worked hard while I studied. I know what it is like to go back and forth between classes and shifts, balancing study and work day after day, because I lived it too.
A master's in Melbourne, and the questions of a migrant
After the exchange I went back to Korea University for my final year and prepared to apply for graduate school in Australia.
Back from exchange, preparing for graduate school in my final year at Korea University. Photo: Da Vin Lim
I had loved my exchange so much that I came back to Australia for a Master of Management at the University of Melbourne. This time it was Melbourne, not Brisbane.
The flight map on my way to Melbourne to start graduate school. Photo: Da Vin Lim
Melbourne's city centre on the day I arrived. Photo: Da Vin Lim
In class at the University of Melbourne. Photo: Da Vin Lim
A University of Melbourne lecture theatre. Photo: Da Vin Lim
In Melbourne I kept working part-time at Starbucks while studying. The store at 117 Swanston Street was my second in Australia. Through work I made real friends. Life got busier, but I loved the feeling that I was becoming part of this community.
My second Australian store, on Swanston Street in Melbourne. Photo: Da Vin Lim
The opening checklist for a day when I opened the store. Photo: Da Vin Lim
My third store was on Elizabeth Street, also in Melbourne's city centre.
My third Australian store, on Elizabeth Street in Melbourne. Photo: Da Vin Lim
When the semester ended, I moved to Brisbane for good, back to the city I had first grown fond of as an exchange student.
My boarding pass on the day I moved from Melbourne to Brisbane. Photo: Da Vin Lim
In Brisbane I started working in marketing, while keeping my Starbucks job on the side until my main job grew so busy that I finally had to let it go. The Valley Metro store in Fortitude Valley was my last Starbucks store in Australia.
My last Australian store, at Valley Metro in Brisbane. Photo: Da Vin Lim
But the longer I worked in marketing, the bigger the practical questions became. In marketing, almost anything can be argued either way, with no clear standard, and it was hard to build something that was distinctly mine. I had scored 90 in PTE and 8.5 in IELTS, yet among local colleagues I still felt like a foreigner whose English fell just short. As a migrant, would I eventually hit a glass ceiling I could not see?
I came to feel that, to build a secure place in this society, a migrant needs a profession where skill is proven by qualifications and a licence. I decided I needed to find a professional field where being a migrant would be my strength, not my limit.
Finding my way into migration
Searching for an answer, I found my way into the migration field. I wanted to understand the visa problems I had been through, and I wanted to do work that gives clear, accurate answers to people facing the same questions.
So I started working at one of the world's largest education and migration companies. Seeing so many cases up close taught me that no two people are in the same situation, even on the same visa, and that the first decision can shape the next several years of someone's life.
While working there, I completed the Graduate Diploma of Australian Migration Law and Practice at Griffith University, where I received the Griffith Award for Academic Excellence. I also passed the Capstone Assessment on my first attempt and became a Registered Migration Agent.
During my time there I counselled a great many students and people preparing to migrate. Working through each situation with them, and watching them move on to their next step, I became more and more certain that this was the work I was meant to do.
The farewell card and cake on my last day at my previous workplace. Photo: Da Vin Lim
Opening Fidelity
Wanting to help each person myself, from start to finish, I opened Fidelity Migration Services on Queen Street in Brisbane on 1 June 2026 — the same street I walked in the rain on my first day as an exchange student.
The Fidelity office on Queen Street. Photo: Da Vin Lim
Fidelity's first business card. Photo: Da Vin Lim
At Fidelity, I handle consultations myself. I am a member of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) and a Qualified Education Agent Counsellor (QEAC), so I advise on both migration and study.
Now, and what comes next
Alongside running Fidelity, I am studying law at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Having found my calling in this work, I wanted to get even better at it, and that made me want to study law more deeply. Migration law keeps changing, and reading those changes accurately is the foundation of this work.
The QUT campus, where I study law today. Photo: Da Vin Lim
From exchange student to graduate school to law school, QUT is the fourth school I have attended in Australia. I have been through applications and admissions, student visas, balancing study with part-time work, and the worry about what comes after graduation. That lets me give people planning to study here practical advice drawn from my own experience.
How I give advice
Fidelity aims to be clear from the start about what we can and cannot do. Some advisers prefer to lead with the most positive possibilities. Studying law taught me that the legal criteria matter most, so my approach is a conservative one.
If you go ahead on the hope that it will probably work out and it doesn't, the money and time have already been spent. False hope can hurt far more than a frank answer, so rather than encouraging people to take on risk, I would rather show them the proper, well-established path.
That is also why every post on this Insights blog names its sources and the date its information was current. As a migrant who has walked the same road, I want to be an honest guide for anyone weighing their next step in Australia or New Zealand.
It took me a long time, but I found my path. I hope everyone reading this finds the path that is right for them in Australia, too.
Fidelity Migration Services · Registered migration agent MARN 2619380 · Brisbane · Book a consultation