Sam Summers

Hey bud Thanks for the heads up, I am much like yourself , gonna go for it and see how it goes .worse case scenario is I retrain in another profession. Were probably only have around 20 grand saved to go with its not finding work that is the only real concern fingers crossed it will all work out

Hi Maria I totally get where your coming from it is such a huge deal to pick up the family and just move from everything you have ever known , it's bound to give you bad nerves , it's sounds like your much the same as me in that you have an opportunity to go but your worried in case it all goes wrong , the driving force for me is friends I have over there now that left the UK years ago and absolutely love it there and wouldn't dream of returning to the UK . Its just the worry of finding work , apart from that one issue there is absolutely no reason for us to want to stay in the UK. The problem is its like a tick that won't go away ,I think once you have it in your head that you want to live in oz it never goes away . I think sometimes in life you need to just go for it.which is why for us I think we're going go ahead with the visa application and hope it all works out for us . I hope you both do make it there and it's everything you hoped it would be . And yes it would be great to hear from you in the future on how it's worked out for you both . Good luck Sam

Hi Marisa To be honest that is exactly what I'm thinking of doing , come over on my own and get everything set up before bringing the family .it does make sense to do it that way. I reckon it would be stressful enough without worrying about the wife and kid going through the stress of it all . I personally do prefer the idea of brisbane than Melbourne (for the weather mainly )but then again I would go where ever the work is.

Thanks mate really hope it works out for us

Hi mate , we were originally looking at brisbane areas ,but at the moment my sister is traveling around oz and is looking to try and stay indefinitely as she loves it there and has said she would want to settle in Melbourne after trying both city's, so we are now looking at Melbourne,nothing set in stone yet but it will definitely be between the two

Hi everyone Well after years of thinking and dreaming about moving to oz I am finally in a position to be able to make the dream happen , I am married and have a 4 year old son , I am an level 3 qualified plumber since 2007 and am gas safe registered, I have been talking to Ian harrop associates who have looked over my quals and work experience and have said we have a good chance of making it over on a 189 or 190 visa .so apart from the 20 odd grand we would lile to save to take with us were good to make an initial payment to Ian harrop and get the ball rolling . It's just now it seems like a reality I am now having last minute nerves ,I have done quite a bit of reading up on other people's experiences etc and my only real concern is work , I am panicking a bit about getting work In oz as a plumber , I am aware I need to resit all my quals once arriving and have heard ball park figures of around 4 grand to do them , absolutely fine with that , and I know I can do any kind of work to fill the gap while retraining , I am just a little worried as I have read quite a lot of negative posts about tradesmen finding work in oz (especially in my line of work )and that people are having to return to the UK as they cannot find enough work to stay . I know everyone's situations different and I am not gonna let it put me off applying I think it's just not knowing what to expect if we make it there , obviously money is a big factor ,if we go we need to make it work as we're not in a position to be able to just take a chance and hope for the best , I was just wondering if anyone on here is in a similar situation Many thanks Sam

Ah that's good to know , I just told the wife about there being a decent thai community over there and she's made up , I am not worried as much over the work side of things as I enjoy work and being a tradesman for 20 or so years since leaving school there isn't much I haven't done , and can turn my hand to most things ,I pick things up pretty quick , so it is mainly just the finances in order and being a bit nervous about the big move more than anything, but I know (if we get accepted ) once we're there it will be amazing. Just got to get my head down now and start putting plans in motion ?

That's some good advice , it's what happened last time , I actually got put off by people who tbf were being honest and just giving me there opinion ,but there were quite a few and in the end put me off , the thought of going has never left me though so this time around am in a better frame of mind and are really looking forward to make a go of it

Thanks matey you are right its like sn itch you cant scratch , we need to do it . Mabey see you for a beer . All the best mate

Hi mate Thank you for giving a view from the other side , there are always two sides good and bad, for myself it's been a constent itch that just won't go away, for over ten years now and to be honest came really close to starting the ball rolling a couple of years ago , but did exactly what you mentioned ,and instead of reading all the good stuff about oz I actually came on this site and did read up on the coming back to the uk stuff to try and find what was the main cause of Brits returning back , sure enough it did make me question the whole move and ultimately put me off going . For us our circumstances have changed a bit since then , my wife is a thai national so has no family here (and for her Thailand is closer in oz) so that's all here problems solved in one go lol ,most of my family now do live abroad or have retired and spend a huge amount of time away , my sis at the moment is in oz backpacking and absolutely loves it there and has said her intention is to try and stay in oz indefinitely, the biggest thing for me is weather , I love the uk in the summer and am more than content ,I really struggle with the rest of the seasons , the dull days and overcast makes me bloody miserable, it's not nice spending half a year down in the dumps , so as much as I am a little nervous about the whole thing I do think we need to try , my thoughts are if it doesn't work out we've lost money , but we can always make more money , I think it's got to the point where I need to stop talking about it and do it [emoji1]

I am a plumber and gas safe registered here in the uk , so I am hoping there will be work out there for me in those trades , but I have always been happy to muck in and do other kinds of jobs over the years if needed so definitely not a job snob in thst sense lol , I wouldn't have a problem picking up a paint brush or labouring on a brick layer if that's what I needed to do at the start , it's a massive financial commit for the wife and me so it's almost a case of it has to work and failure is not an option , we're both graters so really hope it will be a desission we don't regret , good heads up on the 6 months up front there and will bear it in mind if we make it over

Hi there thanks for the advice, we're currently living in Birmingham so may find it a little more expensive in brisbane compared to where we are now , but it's the lifestyle were looking for more so than any financial gain so we're prepared to swap being a little worse off for a better quality of life , but who knows what kind of work I will fall into once we get there , how did you find getting a job ? I've been told different story's , some have gotten a job within the 1st week of arriving ,others have really struggled , I guess for us at the moment it's the fear of the great unknown lol

That's good to know . Thanks for taking the time to reply . Many thanks

Ah that's good to know , I've heard oz is expensive so was thinking would it be enough , it's sounding promising ☺, I have heard that I would need to get certified in my trade once getting there so is something I'm definitely going to look into ,but at the same time I'm pretty happy doing anything in the beginning just to get established, and a change of work sometimes for a short time can be a good thing , I know I'm not going to earn as much as I do in the uk for a little bit while we settle ,but I think it's going to be worth it in the end. We are definitely looking forward to a lifestyle change and a fresh start so fingers crossed we will make it ☺ .

Thank you for the advice guys . I was hoping I was in the right ball park with 30 k as gonna struggle to get much more than that together , we're looking at brisbane to settle , I've heard that there is quite a bit of work there from the research I've done so far . Gonna get the ball rolling as think we're about done with the British weather for now .