Realistic advice on Sydney

Hi all, we are hoping to get a skilled 189 visa for my husband who is a carpenter. Only just starting process though so visa is a while off. What we are trying to figure out is realistically what to expect of Sydney, where to live etc. Family here are quick to point out that cost of living in Sydney is very high and we won't afford it, friends in Sydney say it's doable. I have a friend who lives in Manly but they earn far more than we would.

my husband would probably be working for a firm based in Bondi junction with work all around the east suberbs. I'm a solicitor here in the UK, I wouldn't be qualified to practice there but would likely need to work in the CBD. We have a daughter who is nearly 11 so would be 12 probably if all went to plan.

My husband would earn around $70k we think, I'm not sure for me though I'm told I could earn around $80k? So joint income of around $150k?

where would you recommend living for family life, good (free?) schooling and not a dreadful commute?

Also are we going to find we are permanently skint on that income in Sydney?

You'd get by on that ok I think.

Can't say for sure with rentals - but if there's only 3 of you you can get by on a 2 bedroom place. So you could probably live around the eastern suburbs.

Coogee is really nice. Randwick has nice bits and prices drop a bit towards Kingsford. The girls school at Randwick is meant to be quite good.

Many use the catholic schools as it means you have more choice where you live (although we couldn't afford that with 3 kids!)

No solid answers but there's some ideas to look up.

I think the high school at Rose Bay is also pretty good.

When we looked into it the high school near Marubra was best avoided

There's others on here who live over that way who can be more specific for sure.

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There will be plenty of families living in Sydney on $150k. So I wouldn't go so far as to say you would be skint, but you would be priced out of the most desirable areas for sure and you won't be near the beach with a dreamy commute. Presumably you could take some exams to enable you to practice in Australia and that would up the income eventually though? Or is this not something you want to consider?

To be honest though, I would not recommend Sydney to anyone if their occupations are portable enough to work elsewhere or unless they are bringing $1million or so of cash to sort the housing out. Even Melbourne is substantially cheaper for housing. Is there a reason you picked Sydney, like family already there or something?

Realistically, if it takes a while for you to get a job, then you will be surviving on your husband's salary of $70,000.

Even with a $150,000 estimated salary,you would be pushing it to find anything near a beach (if that is important) or anything that does not have a commute.

It really depends on what you are used to. A large proportion of your husband's salary would be taken up with rent, yes you could survive as lots do, but if you want a social life or holidays, then not so much.

You have to also consider if you would be happy to be renters for a long time. If you currently own a property you may find it hard to go back to renting. Also, on that income you would not be able to return to the UK very often.

There are threads on here about requalifying as a solicitor - including estimates of how many subjects and how much it will cost. You may well be very surprised how many subjects will be required. Unless you have a particular speciality you may also struggle to find work that justifies the expense - Australia has a large of over supply of lawyers, and Sydney has many UK lawyers who are requalifying and competing for work.

I'm sorry to be a purveyor of doom! Perhaps don't fixate on that one job based in Bondi Junction.

Where do you live in the UK? I've observed that people who migrate from London seem to find Sydney OK, whereas people coming from other parts of the UK are shocked!

So, if you had to move to London tomorrow would you say, "no I couldn't possibly afford that!" If that's the case then I'd say you will have a similar reaction to Sydney.

This is my take on your situation. On paper, you could 'do' Sydney on a combined salary of $150k. But:

- You are going to need to seek conversion for your qualification. My husband tried to do this in Queensland and it is $$$$$, time-consuming and he is under the impression that for the level of stress, law jobs are actually not very well paid at all. This probably has something to do with the amount of competition for jobs.

- Surviving in the interim on $70k is going to put your finances under serious pressure: cost of living in urban Australia in general let alone Sydney is high relative to most parts of the U.K., bar SE England.

- Childcare is going to cripple you once you start working!

If you have a good life in the uk, then please do not think the grass is greener here!

We had that kind of income in Perth and found we were far worse off financially then in the UK.

It depends in part on how much equity you can bring over as a deposit to buy a house - for us the difference in our housing costs made the biggest difference. I agree absolutely with Marisa in that it depends where you are moving from in the UK. For us a nice 4-bed costs less than £200k in the UK and that's far less than in Perth (& Sydney) unless you want a long commute.

You really need to analyse your reasons for moving, we knew we would be financially worse off but believed the lifestyle was worth it - we found the lifestyle wasn't any different - after the first year honeymoon I realised that if I'd known when we were emigrating what I knew after a year I wouldn't bother, not that we were unhappy it was just no better and not really any different. We moved back after 5 years and have never looked back.

Sydney? Don't go there.

Thank you all for taking to reply..much of what you have said has been out concerns and what made us think twice about applying to move a few years back. We do have a comfortable life here, both earn well and own a nice home. Maybe we are looking to move for the wrong reasons and need to rethink. We have talked about it for years and years and feel it's now or never due to my husbands age and worry we'll regret it forever if we don't. But, we don't want to move and then find we struggle to afford to live as that's not fair on our daughter either. We looked towards Sydney as my husband had a job offer, I have friends in Manly and my husband has a friend up in Newcastle. Our other thought was Brisbane or Sunshine Coast but not sure if that's any more affordable and we would not have friends there or a job offer. I hadn't planned to requalify as a solicitor there as I did understand that it's a long expensive process and for not much return. I had planned to just work in a legal setting in the CBD where I could rely on my experience but not need a practising certificate

lots to think about I guess ☹️

Thank you all for taking to reply..much of what you have said has been out concerns and what made us think twice about applying to move a few years back. We do have a comfortable life here, both earn well and own a nice home. Maybe we are looking to move for the wrong reasons and need to rethink. We have talked about it for years and years and feel it's now or never due to my husbands age and worry we'll regret it forever if we don't. But, we don't want to move and then find we struggle to afford to live as that's not fair on our daughter either. We looked towards Sydney as my husband had a job offer, I have friends in Manly and my husband has a friend up in Newcastle. Our other thought was Brisbane or Sunshine Coast but not sure if that's any more affordable and we would not have friends there or a job offer. I hadn't planned to requalify as a solicitor there as I did understand that it's a long expensive process and for not much return. I had planned to just work in a legal setting in the CBD where I could rely on my experience but not need a practising certificate

lots to think about I guess ☹️

Where in the UK do you live now and, if you don't mind saying, what kind of income do you have? We can gauge from that how you might feel financially in Australia. Don't fall for the whole "better to regret things you did.." claptrap. Moving because you might regret it if you don't is not a good reason to emigrate. Find solid reasons to support the move.

Re locations, I would not go for Sydnwy based on one job offer, yes Brisbane and Subshine Coast will be HUGELY different on cost, say half or even a third of the price for a similar house. But I would also say don't be lured by a romantic namr like the Sunshine Coast, it is lovely of course but high unemployment. Brisbane is a good pick.

Thank you all for taking to reply..much of what you have said has been out concerns and what made us think twice about applying to move a few years back. We do have a comfortable life here, both earn well and own a nice home. Maybe we are looking to move for the wrong reasons and need to rethink. We have talked about it for years and years and feel it's now or never due to my husbands age and worry we'll regret it forever if we don't. But, we don't want to move and then find we struggle to afford to live as that's not fair on our daughter either. We looked towards Sydney as my husband had a job offer, I have friends in Manly and my husband has a friend up in Newcastle. Our other thought was Brisbane or Sunshine Coast but not sure if that's any more affordable and we would not have friends there or a job offer. I hadn't planned to requalify as a solicitor there as I did understand that it's a long expensive process and for not much return. I had planned to just work in a legal setting in the CBD where I could rely on my experience but not need a practising certificate

lots to think about I guess ?☹️

A job offer is good, but do you have the visa? That is your foremost concern right now. Everything can come after that.

We live in Wales, around 10 miles out of Cardiff where we both work. Our joint income at the moment is around £80k before tax though we have managed on around £65k until recently when our wages increased. Our mortgage payments are only around £670 a month so vastly lower than rental costs in Sydney. We wanted to move for many reasons, I'm unhappy in my work and law in the UK right now is pretty depressing, so I was open to a career change, my husband as a carpenter likes outdoor work but it rains so much in Wales that means spending much of his working day drenched in wet weather clothes if he takes a job outdoors on site, we want the outdoor life, time to go to the beach and other things and not be stuck indoors, also we felt our daughter would benefit from that kind of lifestyle. My sister is also emigrating as a teacher in the next year or so though but she is likely work in the rural regions for a while so we wouldn't be close.

We live in Wales, around 10 miles out of Cardiff where we both work. Our joint income at the moment is around £80k before tax though we have managed on around £65k until recently when our wages increased. Our mortgage payments are only around £670 a month so vastly lower than rental costs in Sydney. We wanted to move for many reasons, I'm unhappy in my work and law in the UK right now is pretty depressing, so I was open to a career change, my husband as a carpenter likes outdoor work but it rains so much in Wales that means spending much of his working day drenched in wet weather clothes if he takes a job outdoors on site, we want the outdoor life, time to go to the beach and other things and not be stuck indoors, also we felt our daughter would benefit from that kind of lifestyle. My sister is also emigrating as a teacher in the next year or so though but she is likely work in the rural regions for a while so we wouldn't be close.

Well I really think you should think hard about whether to rule Sydney out. You are going to feel massively worse off $150k in Sydney compares very unfavourably with £80k in Cardiff. Sydney is a beautiful city of course, to me it provided a perfect blend of city and beach lifestyle, especially living as we did on the northern beaches and working in the CBD. Very happy memories, but one of the reasons we ultimately left and returned to the UK was because of the high housing costs and it just not making financial sense. Unfortunately we did not have the option of movng elsewhere due to niche occupations, as you do appear to have options, I would pursue those first.

Sydney by the way, like many Australian cities, sees an awful lot of rain. Far more than in Wales and no it is not short tropical showers, it can rain torrentially non stop for a whole day maybe more, it rains like you have never seen in Wales. During my first couple of years, I actually started to get depressed by the amount of rain (it was particularly bad at the time with La Niña) but I am from Manchester so not unaccustomed to rain. Outdoor working in heat and humidity is tough. Overall though, I do prefer the Australian climate because I like the milder winter, but whilst I prefer it I would not say it is an easy climate to live in, it is quite brutal at times.

Anyway, sounds like you are all up for a change and an adventure and a carpenter should qualify so why not. Good luck with your journey.

Here's a couple of recent studies:

http://www.domain.com.au/news/domain-liveable-sydney-citys-555-suburbs-ranked/

and http://www.domain.com.au/news/for-the-most-liveable-sydney-areas-for-families-head-north-20160812-gqoetj/

I wouldn't take these exactly at face value, but there's some tips there, There's loads of places here, all with a slightly different flavour, and different cost of living.

We live in Wales...We wanted to move for many reasons, I'm unhappy in my work and law in the UK right now is pretty depressing, so I was open to a career change, my husband as a carpenter likes outdoor work but it rains so much in Wales that means spending much of his working day drenched in wet weather clothes if he takes a job outdoors on site, we want the outdoor life, time to go to the beach and other things and not be stuck indoors, also we felt our daughter would benefit from that kind of lifestyle.

I wonder if your husband would enjoy outdoor work any more in Sydney. It's very tough doing manual work in the heat!

Have you got a realistic picture of what the weather is like in different parts of Australia? I'm ashamed to admit that before last year, I'd never stopped to work out why it's so hot in Oz compared to the UK - somehow I had this idea that Australia was more or less "opposite" the UK on the globe. It's not, it's much nearer the equator.

So in fact, Sydney is more or less in the same position as Morocco. And even then, the sun is stronger in Sydney because the southern hemisphere is closer to the sun in summer than the northern hemisphere. Would your husband look forward to working all day in the sun in Morocco?

As for time to go to the beach - most of Sydney's population lives at least an hour's drive from the beach and if you're on a tight budget, you could easily be two hours away. None of the beaches has particularly good public transport so you will have to drive, and then good luck finding a parking spot when you get there (since your only chance to get to the beach will be the weekends when everyone else wants to go, too).

I would give serious thought to Newcastle if you have a friend there - a nice city with good work opportunities for your husband and if you're willing to be flexible you'd get some kind of job. Plus it would be much, much more affordable and even from the outer suburbs you'd be able to get to the beaches fairly easily. I may have mentioned that two of my former colleagues used to commute all the way from Newcastle to Sydney every day for work - they felt Newcastle was such a good place to raise their kids, they simply refused to relocate to Sydney.

I wonder if your husband would enjoy outdoor work any more in Sydney. It's very tough doing manual work in the heat!

 

Have you got a realistic picture of what the weather is like in different parts of Australia? I'm ashamed to admit that before last year, I'd never stopped to work out why it's so hot in Oz compared to the UK - somehow I had this idea that Australia was more or less "opposite" the UK on the globe. It's not, it's much nearer the equator.

 

So in fact, Sydney is more or less in the same position as Morocco. And even then, the sun is stronger in Sydney because the southern hemisphere is closer to the sun in summer than the northern hemisphere. Would your husband look forward to working all day in the sun in Morocco?

 

As for time to go to the beach - most of Sydney's population lives at least an hour's drive from the beach and if you're on a tight budget, you could easily be two hours away. None of the beaches has particularly good public transport so you will have to drive, and then good luck finding a parking spot when you get there (since your only chance to get to the beach will be the weekends when everyone else wants to go, too).

 

I would give serious thought to Newcastle if you have a friend there - a nice city with good work opportunities for your husband and if you're willing to be flexible you'd get some kind of job. Plus it would be much, much more affordable and even from the outer suburbs you'd be able to get to the beaches fairly easily. I may have mentioned that two of my former colleagues used to commute all the way from Newcastle to Sydney every day for work - they felt Newcastle was such a good place to raise their kids, they simply refused to relocate to Sydney.

Have to agree, it can be very tough for those that have to work outside all day in oppressive heat.

Newcastle has my vote too, nice city and much more affordable.

Newcastle is a lot harder market to break into work wise than Sydney also wages are a fair bit less . A lot of companies up Newcastle way ask for your carpentry licence , they don't in Sydney plus there is far more work about down in Sydney.

Its a lot better to work in the heat than the cold and that's speaking from experience , that's what I find ,if it's too hot wrap up and go home .

He will need to do his white card as well its a health and safety card , also have a read up on BCA or framing codes things are done a bit different out here than uk.

Newcastle is a lot harder market to break into work wise than Sydney also wages are a fair bit less . A lot of companies up Newcastle way ask for your carpentry licence , they don't in Sydney plus there is far more work about down in Sydney.

Its a lot better to work in the heat than the cold and that's speaking from experience , that's what I find ,if it's too hot wrap up and go home .

He will need to do his white card as well its a health and safety card , also have a read up on BCA or framing codes things are done a bit different out here than uk.

Thanks for the advice. My husband agrees, he did 18 months working in Australia so is aware of the heat and agrees hands down he'd rather that than working on a roof in minus figure temperatures and rain. This summer in Wales we have had maybe 10 nice days lol, it's always grey and wet

we were also told there is a lot of work in Sydney for my husband and I'd definitely struggle to find work somewhere like Newcastle. But from what everyone is advising we wouldn't afford a life in Sydney so maybe we need a long rethink

I was pondering your dilemma whilst I was off-line and it occurred to me $150k is about the family income where you no longer get Centrelink benefits or free Medicare so the chances are living in Sydney you'd be at the income level where benefits are still deemed necessary to survive. I imagine you consider yourselves quite affluent now, in Sydney you wouldn't be. Not in itself a reason not

to go but it's a lifestyle change you may not be expecting.

Thanks for the advice. My husband agrees, he did 18 months working in Australia so is aware of the heat and agrees hands down he'd rather that than working on a roof in minus figure temperatures and rain. This summer in Wales we have had maybe 10 nice days lol, it's always grey and wet

we were also told there is a lot of work in Sydney for my husband and I'd definitely struggle to find work somewhere like Newcastle. But from what everyone is advising we wouldn't afford a life in Sydney so maybe we need a long rethink

We came over and started off in sydney , my wife a chemo nurse and myself a carpenter , between us we earned good money and have a good life style far better than back in uk ( we are from north Wales ) and yes the weather does make a difference to me agree what your husband has said. I feel we have achieved more here in 6 years than I would have in that time in uk .

Good luck what ever you decide to do

I was pondering your dilemma whilst I was off-line and it occurred to me $150k is about the family income where you no longer get .... free Medicare

I'm not sure what you mean by this? There is a Medicare Levy Surcharge on families earning $180,000+ if they don't have private hospital insurance.

Other than that, I can't think of any limitations on their access to Medicare. Some GP's restrict bulk billing to Centrelink card holders only - but that also excludes many families on much lower incomes than $150,000.

Why don't you look at Newcastle? Work is available, plenty of nice places near the beach to live and you have friends there. More affordable and not far from Sydney. Why not keep your home and then if things don't work out you will have somewhere to go back to and you will have scratched your itch.

We came over and started off in sydney , my wife a chemo nurse and myself a carpenter , between us we earned good money and have a good life style far better than back in uk ( we are from north Wales ) and yes the weather does make a difference to me agree what your husband has said. I feel we have achieved more here in 6 years than I would have in that time in uk .

Good luck what ever you decide to do

this is the first positive response we have had, do you mind me asking what you earned jointly? I think the issue with us is that we wouldn't earn good money whereas you did, maybe cause your wife's job allowed her to earn more than I ever could

Why don't you look at Newcastle? Work is available, plenty of nice places near the beach to live and you have friends there. More affordable and not far from Sydney. Why not keep your home and then if things don't work out you will have somewhere to go back to and you will have scratched your itch.

we thought about keeping our home, but it has around £50k equity in it which obviously would help us hugely if we moved to Australia. Newcastle is an option. My sister visited and didn't like it there at all so that put me off but my husbands friend who lives there loves it so maybe