Ike

I've been here for over 6 and a half years now. In December last year I visited the UK for the first time since arriving (Albeit it was a flash visit due to my Dad being Ill) As I was driving from Manchester Airport to my home town, my first through was 'What the hell have I come back too?' Now, don't get me wrong, it was nice to catch up with friends and family, and also to see places that I have not seen in such a long time, but the novelty soon wore off. All the time It was just in the back of my mind how I want to get back (Admittedly I did leave my wife behind) But the strangest, and most pivotal thought happened to me on my journey back. In past conversation I have always referred to the UK as 'Home' When that plane touched down on the Tarmac at Sydney Airport a warm fuzzy feeling came over me, and I subconsciously thought to myself how glad it was to be home. I then realised what had just gone through my head. This Country... Australia is home :-)

Hey Guys, long time member here. Granted I haven't posted in a while, but it's always nice to drop by and say hi! I did a post similar to this a while back, since then so much has changed! So rolling back a few years to the beginning of our mega journey..... Back in 2009 after being together for some years, my Fiance and I decided it was time to buy our first house. We earned a modest amount of money, myself being a Welder and her being a Manager. So one would expect it wouldn't be to much trouble to pull together the money for a deposit. WRONG. You see this was smack bang in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis, and if you didn't have a 40% deposit you just got laughed out of the bank. Instead of getting Angry we decided to take a different path and leave the weather and the prospect of not getting our mid 2 bedroom terrace house behind. After 18 months of saving and planning, in 2011 we quit our jobs, took a one way flight and flew to Sydney on a WHV. It was all fun and excitement leading up to us leaving, then as we walked to the Taxi Rank outside Sydney Airport, with nothing more than 2 suitcases and a pocket full of money - we sh*t our selves. We had a hotel booked and that was it. People said we was mad, just stepping into the unknown, and told us 'at least you can say you had a go' when it doesn't work out. We was beginning to think the same. After a few days in Sydney, we decided to head north, so we hired a car and went to Newcastle. We decided that we would set up base here, try to find work and a place to rent. Prior to us moving, we both lived with my Fiances Parents, so we had no rental history. Coupled with the fact that we didn't have jobs either this made it impossible to find a rental, and stress was starting to kick in. Newcastle was proving real difficult, so we looked further afield and found a Unit in a Place called Port Stephens. We knew nothing about the area, but we was desperate. The Landlord offered it us on the basis that it was a 3 month Lease, paid up front, plus Bond. If we didn't trash it and we had jobs after that they will give us another lease. With funds running very very low, I managed to find a few weeks work back in Newcastle. The few weeks turned into a few months, and when the 6 month limit was coming up they offered me a 457 Visa to stay and work with them. When the 457 was granted we decided that this was finally a good time to get married. The family came for the Wedding, and as hard as it was for them when we left, when they seen what we had achieved and they could be nothing but proud. They was blown away with where we loved. Fast forward 4 years, my employed offered to sponsor me on a 186 ENS. The Application was lodged in December 2015, and we became permanent residents a in June 2016. After much saving we bought our first house in August that year. Then the realisation of what we have achieved really kicked in. The disappointment of not being able to afford that mid terraced house back in the UK is long gone. I am now sat typing this in my very own 4 Bedroom house, with 2 living areas and a double Garage, all of which is literally 5 minutes walk away from the beach. Summertime is coming, the days a getting longer, as a weekend hobby I teach Scuba Diving in one of Australias greatest places, Port Stephens. This is literally living the dream. When we take in to consideration that we don't have any family living over here, and didn't know a single person when we arrived we feel so proud. The Icing on the cake was in June this year when we got the news that we are expecting our first child. Watch out Australia, in February 2018 your latest citizen arrives! My point in all this is not just to tell a nice story, but to show that anything is possible if you try hard enough. It's been the scariest, most terrifying few years of my life, but also to best in my life! I have people from the UK telling me how lucky we are..... ....We aren't lucky, we just worked hard. We don't have rich families, and never had well paid jobs. We just took a chance and worked hard, and are still pinching ourselves that it's real.

Hey Buddy, just checking in to see how you are getting on. I still can't believe you haven't been grant yet! What an absolute piss take,

Work hard enough and you will get there. It will have tough times, but if it was easy everybody would do it!

Exactly, it seemed a nice place, but very little to do. I also visited in Winter when the weather was 'nice' I couldn't imagine it being very nice welding there in Summer!

Same here too. The beauty of living in Port Stephens is that we are only 50kms from Newcastle (which if we are honest isn't a 'city', more of a large town) I love cities to visit, then I just want to get the hell out. Newcastle is lovely, it has everything you could want. and it;s great to visit when you want some normalisation from the serenity and isolation of village life!

My apologies, it seems you are right. Best best would be to speak to NZ immi to confirm :-)

Hey there. Well we opened up an account with NAB before we arrived. https://www.nationalaustraliabank.com/nabglobal/migrant They will have your bank cards waiting for you when you arrive. We used a company called moneycorp to transfer funds, who have a great deal on for Poms in Oz members. (Ironically we used these well before this) http://moneytransfer.pomsinoz.com It was a while while when I was on a working holiday, but feel free to PM if I can help :-)

We never got asked anything about our visas when we was on a WHV. Strange that.

Interesting comments about Medicare trouble here. On our 457 we just dropped in each year with our original visa confirmation and passports and they just issued another 12 month card. When we went on our bridging visa they just issued another 12 month one. Then when PR was granted we dropped in one last time and got a full Medicare card. Never had an issue.

As a permanent resident, no. 2 different countries. If you was a citizen I suspect things would differ.

The process for yourself is actually quite straight forward, but for your employer it is much more complex. Your company may insist on an agent because of this. We used an agent, and she was fantastic. Your company may be fully competent in applying for the visa, but a good agent will make the whole process much smoother. Our agent all up cost us around $5000 (inc police checks etc) All up the whole process was about $10,000 for 2 of us.

Thankyou! :-) People will always try to pull people down. Sadly it seems to be human nature to some. Realistically with us though we didn't have much to lose in the beginning, if it all fell through we would have just moved back in with my Girlfriends parents. I appreciate that for others they have so much more on the line. At the end of the day, if you don't try you will never know.

After conquering most of Europe in our late teens and early 20's, my Girlfriend and I decided that it was time for a new adventure. So back in 2011 we got a Working Holiday Visa, quit our jobs, booked a one way flight and flew to Sydney It was all fun and excitement leading up to us leaving, then as we walked to the Taxi Rank outside Sydney Airport, with nothing more than 2 suitcases and a pocket full of money - we sh*t our selves. We had a hotel booked and that was it. People said we was mad, just stepping into the unknown, 'but at least you can say you had a go' when it doesn't work out. We was beginning to think the same. After a few days in Sydney, we decided to head north, so we hired a car and went to Newcastle. We decided that we would set up base here, try to find work and a place to rent. Prior to us moving, we both lived with my Girlfriends Parents, so we had no rental history. Coupled with the fact that we didn't have jobs either this made it impossible to find a rental, and stress was starting to kick in. Newcastle was proving real difficult, to we looked further afield and found a Unit in a Place called Port Stephens. We knew nothing about the area, but we was desperate. The Landlord offered it us on the basis that it was a 3 month Lease, paid up front, plus Bond. If we didn't trash it and we had jobs after that they will give us another lease. I actually got offered a welding job in Toowoomba. But after taking a flight up there I turned it down, as living in the middle of nowhere wasn't why we came here. We came here for the beach! With funds running very very low, I manged to find a few weeks work back in Newcastle. The few weeks turned into a few months, and when the 6 month limit was coming up they offered me a 457 Visa to stay and work with them. After being together for over 10 years, decided that this was finally a good time to get married. The family came for the Wedding, and as hard as it was for them when we left, when they seen what we had achieved they could be nothing but proud. Fast forward 4 years, my employed offered to sponsor me on a 186 ENS. The Application was lodged in December, and we became permanent residents a in June! We are ironically still in that same unit that we initially moved into, and we have a really really good relationship with our landlord, moving to Port Stephens was the best accidents we have ever done. It is Paradise. So here we are in our early 30's and we have decided maybe it's time we should get serious (maybe!) Next week we are getting mortgage quotes to buy our own house, and there is talk of children. My point in all this is not just to tell a nice story, but to show that anything is possible if you try hard enough. It's been the scariest, most terrifying 5 years of my life, but also to best in my life! I have people from the UK telling me how lucky we are..... ....We aren't lucky, we just worked hard. We don't have rich families, and never had well paid jobs. We just took a chance and worked hard, and are still pinching ourselves that it's real.

I've logged on today just to see how you are getting on :-) Keep the faith!