Moving to Australia!

Hi, my partner and I have decided to move from the Isle of Man (if all goes well!)

We will be applying for Visa 189 soon and was just wondering if anyone can recommend what areas to move to. We are interested in moving to Brisbane or Perth... however never been there before so advice is much appreciated. We are a young family of 25/24 with a young son who is currently 10 months.

Thanks

Hayley

Please do a lot of research yourself on the matter. Houses are easy enough to rent these days in Perth, at any rate, but employment is something else. There is a lot to consider before listing off suburbs. Perth is an incredibly sprawling city and large in area. Work location will be or should be a deciding factor.

Hi welcome to the forum, we have lots of members in Brisbane and Perth so you willfind lots of comments on both places to help you choose.

First up if you know you qualify for a visa and have applied then check job sites to see where there seems to be more vacancies in your profession.

Realestate.com is a great to site to check property prices and rental prices in areas the you feel attracted too.

We have been here 10 years now, after leaving the UK with 2 young children and we are enjoying life, its great if your an outdooor or water fun type of family.

Cal x

Thanks for your replies... we are fully aware that jobs will have a huge deciding factor but I was thinking of looking into a number of places and looking out for jobs near those areas. We are just starting with a visa agent now to get the process started We are very excited to move and have a better life style for our family ! If our visa is accepted then we wont be moving until end of 2017 anyway and once our house sells , but i'd rather get an idea now rather than getting closer to the time and then stressing over where to start haha. That's great to know Cal , thanks x

I have just moved to perth been here about 3 weeks i am enjoying it, the job market is much better than in england, if you have any questions about Perth specifically let me know a d i will do my best to answer...

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I've a friend who moved to Perth from the Isle of Man. The only advice I can give is that her Driving Licence couldn't be converted as it wasn't recognised here so she had to go back to 'P' plates. Like the others have said just research where your job opportunities are most likely to be. Then look at climate to see which would suit as they are both very different. Perth s more Mediterranean climate, whilst Brisbane more tropical.

The only thing with Perth is it is very isolated whereas with Brisbane you are kind of in the heart of things and can get to other capitals much more easily.

Hi, my partner and I have decided to move from the Isle of Man (if all goes well!)

We will be applying for Visa 189 soon and was just wondering if anyone can recommend what areas to move to. We are interested in moving to Brisbane or Perth... however never been there before so advice is much appreciated. We are a young family of 25/24 with a young son who is currently 10 months.

Thanks

 

Hayley

The sinking Australian economy and the very weak pound means its a bigger challenge than ever. Get a job offer before you go out if possible. Jobs are getting very hard to come by (and keep)

Costs - just make you sure you take lots of money with you for back up. The cost of living there is much much higher than UK.

Perth is nice for young families, a very quiet peaceful sort of place and relatively safe, but for many it can be too quiet and doesn't have a fraction of the vibrancy or facilities of even smaller UK cities like Newcastle or Liverpool for example.

If its the quiet life you want, Perth certainly will give you that. The high cost of property should be taken into account too.

Good point about the isolation, that really used to get us down at times. There is next to nothing outside of Perth so apart from the a couple of fairly mundane places down south that everybody seems to descend on at holidays and weekends, you cant really go anywhere for a day out or a stopover break like you can in Britain, and the rest of Australia may as well be a foreign land distance wise and it is expensive to fly to other places. Cant comment on Brisbane.

Its hard to understand what its really like until you go and live there yourself because everybody has their own impressions and experiences.

The sinking Australian economy and the very weak pound means its a bigger challenge than ever. Get a job offer before you go out if possible. Jobs are getting very hard to come by (and keep)

 

Costs - just make you sure you take lots of money with you for back up. The cost of living there is much much higher than UK.

 

Perth is nice for young families, a very quiet peaceful sort of place and relatively safe, but for many it can be too quiet and doesn't have a fraction of the vibrancy or facilities of even smaller UK cities like Newcastle or Liverpool for example.

 

If its the quiet life you want, Perth certainly will give you that. The high cost of property should be taken into account too.

 

Good point about the isolation, that really used to get us down at times. There is next to nothing outside of Perth so apart from the a couple of fairly mundane places down south that everybody seems to descend on at holidays and weekends, you cant really go anywhere for a day out or a stopover break like you can in Britain, and the rest of Australia may as well be a foreign land distance wise and it is expensive to fly to other places. Cant comment on Brisbane.

 

Its hard to understand what its really like until you go and live there yourself because everybody has their own impressions and experiences.

Good post.

I like Perth, found it very clean and no graffiti on the public transport. The outer suburbs came as an eye opener to me, more so than Melbourne. Very open and would need a car to do anything on a daily basis. Defiantly not high in the walkable score. The city centre is small and very clean but they have most bases covered with what you do not want to buy on the internet. Would I want to live there, mmmnn after living in Sydney and Melbourne I find Melbourne a more attractive city with so much more to offer, except the beach's. Then again it all depends on what you are looking for. Young family, Perth may be ideal. Just consider the weather in summer. I spent a week there, morning cup of tea in the back garden 8/9am and picked up a great tan.

Brisbane I found a bit greyish, but only was in the city centre. Compared to Melbourne, Sydney and even Perth I could not see the appeal myself, but that was in 2002.

As for jobs, depending on what you do. Perth and Brisbane might be hard to secure anything quickly. The job market is pretty tough here, all over, in certain fields and with the mining boom crash this has certainly not helped WA.

Australia did not experience the GFC, and since 2009 Melbourne and Sydney have seen properties rise nearly 100%. Believe Perth has seen drops since the mining boom collapse.

It is certainly an interesting time to be moving here. Having a decent/good job lined up if you can would really help you get settled.

I have no idea what you do in the working area but Perth is increasingly difficult to obtain work. Perhaps foreign incomers are preferred over locals, but I know a few professionals now without work, casualties of restructuring in their former work place, worse still barely a bite over four/five months in job searching. I can't speak for the trades, specifically, but having had a lot of renovations done throughout 2016 to the house and lots of sounding out of tradies, it did appear a very mixed bag, to say the least. Social care is the growing area, a lot depending on funding, which of course can be cut at any time. We in WA have inherited an ever increasing deficit after the biggest boom in living memory, so everything is on the cards.

Perth City has certainly improved over the course of the decade. We are far more cosmopolitan. More lively in the city. But rather expensive. We saw the WA Symphony Orchestra last Saturday night by the banks of the Swan, close to the heart of the city, for free. Great event. A good mixture of classical, musical ad modern. A good number of the orchestra appear to hail originally from England.

I live in the inner city, and must admit am surprised just how house prices have maintained their prices, in spite of the slump. Our neighbouring property has just sold, and they got the full asking price. Three houses further down the road sold in two weeks. I believe they got close to it. Hence affordable property is or can be quite a distance out from the city. While this would not suit me, as I would hate to be car reliant, it doesn't appear to phase a lot of people whom seem content to live 16 kms or more out.

I have no idea what you do in the working area but Perth is increasingly difficult to obtain work. Perhaps foreign incomers are preferred over locals, but I know a few professionals now without work, casualties of restructuring in their former work place, worse still barely a bite over four/five months in job searching. I can't speak for the trades, specifically, but having had a lot of renovations done throughout 2016 to the house and lots of sounding out of tradies, it did appear a very mixed bag, to say the least. Social care is the growing area, a lot depending on funding, which of course can be cut at any time. We in WA have inherited an ever increasing deficit after the biggest boom in living memory, so everything is on the cards.

 

Perth City has certainly improved over the course of the decade. We are far more cosmopolitan. More lively in the city. But rather expensive. We saw the WA Symphony Orchestra last Saturday night by the banks of the Swan, close to the heart of the city, for free. Great event. A good mixture of classical, musical ad modern. A good number of the orchestra appear to hail originally from England.

 

I live in the inner city, and must admit am surprised just how house prices have maintained their prices, in spite of the slump. Our neighbouring property has just sold, and they got the full asking price. Three houses further down the road sold in two weeks. I believe they got close to it. Hence affordable property is or can be quite a distance out from the city. While this would not suit me, as I would hate to be car reliant, it doesn't appear to phase a lot of people whom seem content to live 16 kms or more out.

I left during the good times when there was a lot of money going around Perth and it was very much on the up.

My mate along with others was let go from his Perth oil job over a year back, so he came straight home to UK.

He picked up a decent job quickly after arriving home in UK and he says he wont be returning to Perth again because the future there does not look good for him so he's settled back down in UK for good.

Anyone with a technical trade or in engineering should consider carefully about migrating to Perth, too many other skilled migrants down there struggling to find work.

They just imported far too many skilled migrants and engineers to Perth during its heyday.

I left during the good times when there was a lot of money going around Perth and it was very much on the up.

 

My mate along with others was let go from his Perth oil job over a year back, so he came straight home to UK.

 

He picked up a decent job quickly after arriving home in UK and he says he wont be returning to Perth again because the future there does not look good for him so he's settled back down in UK for good.

 

Anyone with a technical trade or in engineering should consider carefully about migrating to Perth, too many other skilled migrants down there struggling to find work.

 

They just imported far too many skilled migrants and engineers to Perth during its heyday.

Yes it was bound to break down. The boom to bust cycle being a part of Perth's make up for ever. I never believed for one instant that the recent passed 'boom' would prove an end to such cycles, though too many apparently did.

It was a feeding frenzy for a few years. We have inherited very high prices as a result of it along with improved infrastructure at least in the city. We have a huge debt though. All a result of selling ore far too cheaply or the taxing off anyway, as the conservative population that dominate this state, fell for the propaganda campaign of mining interests which allowed greater assets to be sent offshore.

The talk seems to be around tourism more these days. They want value for money on the whole and Perth lacks reasons IMO why folk would pay a lot to get here, then more on arrival, for a not particularly unique experience, but a darn expensive one.

Hi Hayley, We left the Uk almost 7 years ago and the plan was to relocate to Perth. An offer of a permanent resident visa sponsored by Australian Capital Territory (ACT) persuaded us to come to Canberra instead. We have visited Perth albeit only for 2 weeks holiday and it certainly has it's attractions. Brisbane is busier than Perth but probably has more employment options. You are right to ignore Melbourne and Sydney. They are overcrowded, over priced and over rated. Having lived in Canberra for almost 7 years however I would highly recommend that you consider it as an option. It has more sunshine than any other state capital, higher salaries, a higher quality of life overall and low unemployment It has no traffic congestion and the average property price is around half that in Sydney which is a 3 hour drive away. Happy to provide more info re Canberra and other cities if required! Good luck, Chris

Hi Hayley, We left the Uk almost 7 years ago and the plan was to relocate to Perth. An offer of a permanent resident visa sponsored by Australian Capital Territory (ACT) persuaded us to come to Canberra instead. We have visited Perth albeit only for 2 weeks holiday and it certainly has it's attractions. Brisbane is busier than Perth but probably has more employment options. You are right to ignore Melbourne and Sydney. They are overcrowded, over priced and over rated. Having lived in Canberra for almost 7 years however I would highly recommend that you consider it as an option. It has more sunshine than any other state capital, higher salaries, a higher quality of life overall and low unemployment It has no traffic congestion and the average property price is around half that in Sydney which is a 3 hour drive away. Happy to provide more info re Canberra and other cities if required! Good luck, Chris

The problem with Perth at the moment is jobs and lack of

The problem in Perth or one of, is still a denial in quarters. Real estate attempting to stimulate market by telling now is the time to buy, before price rises with the corner being turned next year. A lot of construction projects in the city area must surely be at and end in the next eighteen months? Although a lot of workers on some projects do 'appear' to be 457's. Still must impact on the local market. There is a state election next year. Will that amount to any changes? Probably not a lot. At least the centre city is looking better.

The problem in Perth or one of, is still a denial in quarters. Real estate attempting to stimulate market by telling now is the time to buy, before price rises with the corner being turned next year. A lot of construction projects in the city area must surely be at and end in the next eighteen months? Although a lot of workers on some projects do 'appear' to be 457's. Still must impact on the local market. There is a state election next year. Will that amount to any changes? Probably not a lot. At least the centre city is looking better.

This is certainly a dangerous time if they are only talking the market up.

Denial creates stagnation and when a few desperate sellers wobble, the effects are not good.

This downturn, is going to be a very long one.

My mate was told there was no danger of his oil company ever rehiring as they expect the oil price to stay either permanently low or remain low for many years to come, and they told him that they were streamlining their operations so that they could run with an absolute minimum headcount even in the event of an upturn.

The ones who did keep their jobs had to take I think it was a 25% pay cut and are running around like stressed out headless chickens trying to manage the workload which the others used to do, and having to work much longer hours to keep up and also in fear of losing their jobs in this climate.

I understand that the labour market is saturated with engineers and trades right now.

Strange thing is in UK, the economy is improving since the Brexit vote, and the job market back home is looking better than it did this time last year.

This is certainly a dangerous time if they are only talking the market up.

 

Denial creates stagnation and when a few desperate sellers wobble, the effects are not good.

 

This downturn, is going to be a very long one.

 

My mate was told there was no danger of his oil company ever rehiring as they expect the oil price to stay either permanently low or remain low for many years to come, and they told him that they were streamlining their operations so that they could run with an absolute minimum headcount even in the event of an upturn.

 

The ones who did keep their jobs had to take I think it was a 25% pay cut and are running around like stressed out headless chickens trying to manage the workload which the others used to do, and having to work much longer hours to keep up and also in fear of losing their jobs in this climate.

 

I understand that the labour market is saturated with engineers and trades right now.

 

Strange thing is in UK, the economy is improving since the Brexit vote, and the job market back home is looking better than it did this time last year.

One shouldn't pay much heed to the real estate industry, but certainly the government will go out onto a limb to defend them. Even talk of another interest rate cut next year. Talk about clueless.

Indeed what your mate suggested is felt in many areas. The Social care, welfare and related are badly infected as well. Very high stress levels in many NGO's, due to cut backs and over work, combined with poor management, (I mean shockingly poor) but few options for change available.

Not only Brit's appearing better off at home, but some twenty thousand more New Zealanders left Australia to return home, than arrived in Australia according to most recent figures.

Although stats I read from UK were suggestive that a lot want out of UK since Brexit. Could that be Londoners and Home County dwellers? Australia still appears one of the most popular options if words put into deeds.

have a better life style for our family !

This jumped out at me....be careful with this......what makes it 'better'

Im not trying to put a downer on anything, nor take this thread off topic but so many people (myself included in 2012) thought this....and its not always the case.

If a "better life" means being on a beach on your own, away from family, grandparents, friends, aunts, uncles, cousins etc then YES, it will be a better life.

Just please think long and hard about it.

I wish you all the best though, honest.

We are interested in moving to Brisbane or Perth... however never been there before so advice is much appreciated.

Out of curiosity since you have never been to Brisbane or Perth, have you been to Australia?

I suspect in many cases the improved pay scales compared to UK perceives better lifestyle.

I suspect in many cases the improved pay scales compared to UK perceives better lifestyle.

True(or the TV shows flogging Australia), salaries do indeed to be better here I think overall, then again cost of living I think is generally higher.

I suspect in many cases the improved pay scales compared to UK perceives better lifestyle.

You are right there flag!

The problem with Perth at the moment is jobs and lack of

Strange that there is a post from someone who's been here 3 weeks and reckons it's better than the UK then.

There are a number of factors, what you do, what your experience and qualifications are and where you are from in the UK. I know it's still pretty dire in the North as I've got a couple of nephews in their mid 20s and one has just managed to get on a uni course as he couldn't get a job and the other one has done a uni course and is working in a pub.

I've seen a lot written about isolation of Perth but we've lived here 25 years and honestly don't notice or think about it. Perth has everything we need and when we used to go on holiday from the UK we would have been flying somewhere.

Living in Perth we don't feel the need for a holiday like we used to in the UK.

Ive been lucky enough to travel to most of the big cities with work and Brisbane would be my second favourite. It's a trip to beaches but the sunshine coast and gold coast are in fairly easy reach. Brisbane is a good, lively City. Sydney is great but crowded and expensive.

Strange that there is a post from someone who's been here 3 weeks and reckons it's better than the UK then.

There are a number of factors, what you do, what your experience and qualifications are and where you are from in the UK. I know it's still pretty dire in the North as I've got a couple of nephews in their mid 20s and one has just managed to get on a uni course as he couldn't get a job and the other one has done a uni course and is working in a pub.

I've seen a lot written about isolation of Perth but we've lived here 25 years and honestly don't notice or think about it. Perth has everything we need and when we used to go on holiday from the UK we would have been flying somewhere.

Living in Perth we don't feel the need for a holiday like we used to in the UK.

Ive been lucky enough to travel to most of the big cities with work and Brisbane would be my second favourite. It's a trip to beaches but the sunshine coast and gold coast are in fairly easy reach. Brisbane is a good, lively City. Sydney is great but crowded and expensive.

They've been here THREE WEEKS!

I defy anyone to be settled in and sufficiently used to living in Oz to give a true opinion on the state of the place after three weeks.

I have to agree with most of the comments here about Perth. Jobs are NOT abundant at the minute. Just heard on the radio that unemployment is on the rise. House prices are still high. If you want to live by the ocean you will pay very high. Distance is a major factor in where you live for work too. Some lovely places but just too far away to commute. You have a very young child. If you are used to family and friends nearby you may feel lonely. Of course the + with having a baby is you will meet people at childcare and school in a few years so easier to meet new friends, and you are very young (so jealous) :-))) which helps.

Good luck with whatever you decide.