Considering the move... Help Needed.

Hello,

I am a 22 year old History Teacher (First year teaching).

My girlfriend of 7 years is a Registered Nurse (First year in job).

We are looking at making the move to Western Australia. We visited last August for one month and fell in love with the place. She has family over there (Cousins etc...) and we just wondered what currently the opportunities are like for two ambitious young professionals.

Any help regarding visas (Which one, time it takes, costs etc...)

What the lifestyle is like...

Who to contact for help...

What the current job market is like...

Thanks in advance. We are really excited and i hope to hear from you soon!

Brad.

Hey Brad,

You are both young enough to come on a backpacker visa to start. Easy to get, This will give you both a year (2 if you do a bit of regional work) to really get a feel for the place and maybe travel around a few parts of Aus.

After that, you can look at permanent visa options.

Oh to be 22 again. The world is your oyster mate, Embrace the travel and enjoy it.

Colin

Thanks Colin,

What sort of money would you recommend to take (Amount). With this visa we wouldn't be able to work in our professions?

Thanks for the reply!

Brad

Hey mate,

That's a bit like how long is a piece of string and will depend on many things.

Do you plan on buying a vehicle? Will you be looking to have your own place for just the 2 of you or are you happy to live in a share house? Where do you want to live? Have you a place to stay for the first few weeks? How soon do you plan on working?

I would suggest a minimum of $10k and possibly up to $30k depending on your answers above. You don't want to be struggling as soon as you arrive. Start saving.

Not sure about teaching but as far as i know there is always a big demand for nurses and plenty of agency work but somebody else may be able to give you a better steer. I worked as an accountant as a backpacker (albeit a long time ago), I'm pretty sure nurses can work on a backpacker visa. I don't know whether you could do subbing for teaching.

As above, I'd say go and try it on the WHV first. Info in the visa can be found here

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/417-

TBH I'd make full use of a year or two on the WHV and seeing as much of Aus as possible to see where appeals and why. Don't confine yourself to Perth or the main cities only, go see some of the outback, travel and see the sights because once living here, you often find that seeing the Aussie sights doesn't happen as much as you had hoped as you have jobs, a home, limited vacation time etc and just can't afford it or fit it in. The WHV is the perfect way to see all those things and more and figure out if Aus is right for you in the long term.

Keep in mind family in Perth isn't going to mean you'll see lots of them if you were living there or that you'd even be close by. Plus people have their own lives, work and so on and don't have time to devote as they might if you were on holiday. Same goes for you once living here, you'd be working, time poor possibly and just not able to see them often. I'd focus on seeing more of Aus on the WHV as there are plenty of other places you may fall in love with and want to move to too. If after everything Perth is still for you, then aim for Perth if the work is there. If the work isn't there, I'd look to moving elsewhere to somewhere there is employment or better employment options for you.

If when you are finished on the WHV (1 year only if you don't do the 3 months regional work to gain the second year) you are then serious about migrating to Aus, you can go through the process from the UK and go from there.

I don't know there is much call for history teachers in Aus. Is that high school level? Would you need to be familiar with Aus history? I know at my son's primary school history is taught by the teacher/librarian and its quite often very Aus focussed to give them a better understanding of their country and its history. High school level I hear time and again its maths and science that are the 2 areas where they are struggling to have enough teachers and that if either of those are your field then you stand a far better chance of finding work teaching.

I think your GF might be able to do nursing on her WHV but there would be some hoops to jump though and if you really want to see Aus I'd not get stuck working busy jobs that don't allow you time to move around, travel as and when and see more. A WHV is intended as a working holiday, so you work to top up your funds for your holiday if that makes sense. They advise a minimum of $5,000 per person to have in savings plus a return flight booked or funds to afford a return flight at the end of your stay. If you have more saved it'd be better IMHO as you can get through it really quickly without even realising and then struggling to pick up some casual work, you could be out of money within a couple of months if you are not careful.

There is a section on the forum for people interested in a WHV or in Aus on one already. Might be worth a read of stuff there and posting and asking WHV stuff there.

Thanks Colin,

 

What sort of money would you recommend to take (Amount). With this visa we wouldn't be able to work in our professions?

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

Brad

As far as teaching, you would need to to register with the WATRB (WA Teaching Registration Board). It takes around 10 weeks and they would require all of your academic transcripts to assess, as well as their own police checks.

You would be able to pick up relief work after that. It would be unlikely that a school would give you a contract though as you cannot work longer for six months in one place on a WHV. However, sometimes short term contracts do come up for three months in the case of illness etc. As a secondary teacher you can do relief work in any secondary subject area, primary schools may also consider you too for relief work. High school teachers do not just teach history, they also teach geography and often psychology, it is called HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences).

You partner would need to register with ahpra to be able to work but then she could join an agency who will find her work and move you around every few weeks to a new place and pay your accomodation organise everything for you etc and also pay good wage especially if you do rural....or even do a few weeks work, save and then have few weeks off

We had a teacher on a WHV with us last year on relief. He was excellent and I think the school would have liked him to stay around. So there are possibilities for relief work.