Lucie1 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 We are looking at travelling to Perth in November for two weeks to have a look at areas we would like to emigrate to. We are at the point of booking flights and accommodation and have just had second thoughts. The cost of the break could potentially cover the cost of visas. Do you just take the plunge and emigrate or visit first ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Secure the visa first and then think about areas that you would like to live? Otherwise, just treat it a great holiday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 We are looking at travelling to Perth in November for two weeks to have a look at areas we would like to emigrate to. We are at the point of booking flights and accommodation and have just had second thoughts. The cost of the break could potentially cover the cost of visas. Do you just take the plunge and emigrate or visit first ?? I don't know your situation. If you've got an established house and children, then emigrating is going to cost you at least $50,000 by the time you get settled. So you don't want to spend that kind of money lightly. Also, compared to that cost, the cost of a few weeks in Australia isn't much. However, don't treat it as a holiday: if you just go around enjoying all the touristy stuff, you'll go home thinking Australia is fabulous but with no idea what it's actually like to live here. Instead, use the time to research. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammy1 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) I don't know your situation. If you've got an established house and children, then emigrating is going to cost you at least $50,000 by the time you get settled. So you don't want to spend that kind of money lightly. Also, compared to that cost, the cost of a few weeks in Australia isn't much. However, don't treat it as a holiday: if you just go around enjoying all the touristy stuff, you'll go home thinking Australia is fabulous but with no idea what it's actually like to live here. Instead, use the time to research. They can research before they come and whilst they are here of course. However, two weeks here is really just a holiday. Edited March 12, 2015 by Sammy1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NicF Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 We are looking at travelling to Perth in November for two weeks to have a look at areas we would like to emigrate to. We are at the point of booking flights and accommodation and have just had second thoughts. The cost of the break could potentially cover the cost of visas. Do you just take the plunge and emigrate or visit first ?? Well I did 7 holidays here before deciding to emigrate - but my OH is an Aussie. I would say that six of the holidays did nothing to make me want to move and the seventh we were already thinking about it so approached the trip slightly differently. To be honest though, unless you are loaded or really fancy a holiday in Australia regardless I'm not sure I would bother with a holiday before getting visas. It might help if you got here and hated everything about the place but really a holiday is not like moving and you can't be sure if you like it here on holiday that you will like living here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 (edited) They can research before they come and whilst they are here of course. However, two weeks here is really just a holiday. Surely it's only a holiday if they spend it going round tourist sites and sitting on the beach? Whereas you can do a lot in two weeks - things like checking out supermarket shopping, what the price of clothes and furniture and cars is. Most importantly checking out rentals and houses, because it's very easy to think they are much cheaper than they really are from real estate sites (which use fish-eye lenses and photoshopping to make places look better than they are for the price). Plus, of course, getting a feel for what the place is like and how different it is from the UK. Edited March 12, 2015 by Marisawright Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucie1 Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 Thanks all. My plan is to come out and research areas and look at job prospects. I was going to arrange to meet up with individuals in hospitals, regarding employment. I have had two email response from hospitals saying they would offer me a sponsor visa if I was successful with them in getting a job. I'm stuck as to what would the benefits be between a sponsor visa or skilled visa ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo and scott Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 We have never been to Australia. We are just gonna go for it. Hoping to fly out September and heading to Perth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozmaniac Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Thanks all. My plan is to come out and research areas and look at job prospects. I was going to arrange to meet up with individuals in hospitals, regarding employment. I have had two email response from hospitals saying they would offer me a sponsor visa if I was successful with them in getting a job. I'm stuck as to what would the benefits be between a sponsor visa or skilled visa ? If you can get a positive skills assessment and 60 points on the points test, definitely go for an Independent visa rather than a sponsored visa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucie1 Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 ok thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benj1980 Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 If you haven't visited before I can appreciate the temptation to 'holiday' and see what the place is like. However if you've been before there's no point in a holiday is there? You'll never know for certain if you like a place until you are there in reality. I went a few years ago for 15 days with my family and treated it as a holiday. However I had an eye on the future and visited a couple of schools, met with WA Education department and spoke to a couple of recruitment agencies. We had a lot of fun and I took home some handy information. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobj Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 We have never been to Australia. We are just gonna go for it. Hoping to fly out September and heading to Perth. Love your attitude. Cheers, Bobj. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo and scott Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Love your attitude. Cheers, Bobj. thanks bobj !! your only here once, I was quite scared and worried for a while, but hubby scott is not and has not worried the whole time we have been doing this, so im going to take a leaf out of his book and chill out, as long as we are together, who cares where we are !! in the sunshine would be lovely tho, instead of pissy England lol !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I've never thought about this queston before! I imagine you will be jet lagged for the first week or so, and then just as you start to feel 'human' again, it's time to go home! Perhaps the jet lag is not so bad going to WA as you don't cross so many time zones as if you do, coming to 'The Eastern States.' (Do they stlll use that term in WA?) I don't know if it matters whether you 'do the tourist' or 'do the prospective migrant?' (I've never thought about that either!) As it happens, I loved Perth from the moment I stepped off the ship in Freemantle. Disenchantment did not replace 'love' but I couldn't get a job, and I came to Sydney, which I did not 'love from the moment I stepped off the bus', but 'Love Grows, where my Sydney Goes!) If you want to enact an experiment into the effects of emigration, just spend two weeks in another part of the UK, far enough away from home, to feel 'alien.' I come from Southampton, so, had I followed my own advice, I would have gone to Newcastle-upon-Tyne (where I was born.) 'Spend two weeks getting up as if you are going to work, read the local papers, watch the local TV, listen to the local radio. Go in January, too! I've heard that a Newcastle winter is somewhat 'bleaker' than 'down south?' Anyway, if you can't wait to get home after those two weeks, it does not mean that Australia is not for you, but it will just be harder to go home! I've got a theory that, if many of the 'PIO-ers' who say they hate Australia, and yearn to go home, were to go to a different part of Britain from their home, they might feel just as alienated (as in Australia?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I don't know if it matters whether you 'do the tourist' or 'do the prospective migrant?' ... I think you answered your own question. I agree that it's possible to get an instant 'vibe' from a place, but it's what the place will be like to live in that's important. That's why they should do what you say - come to their chosen city in Oz and "spend two weeks getting up as if you are going to work, read the local papers, watch the local TV, listen to the local radio" - and I would add, "buy food at the local supermarket and check out clothes and other essentials at the local shops, go and look at rentals as if you were looking for a place to live, check out short-term accommodation for when you arrive, and look at houses for sale." If, after all that, they're still excited about coming to Australia then it'll be a great confidence booster and they'll be able to hit the ground running when they finally get here. If they don't do any of that, but instead spend their time in a nice hotel, eating out at cafes and restaurants, swimming and sunbaking on the beach and generally having a whale of a time, they'll go home thinking what a great place it is - but it's not the same as living there, so they haven't achieved anything. For instance, I love visiting London when I'm on holidays but having lived there, I know day-to-day life is a different experience altogether. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
susanbro Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Love your attitude. Cheers, Bobj. We're just at skills assessment stage and my OH has never been to Oz tho I was there for 6 months in 2008/9. We are of the opinion that you only live once. It's just jobs and bticks and mortar we're giving up. Whats the worst that can happen, we don't like it and have to come home or live with the regrets and what ifs. Can't wait to get back out there!! xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 I think you answered your own question. I agree that it's possible to get an instant 'vibe' from a place, but it's what the place will be like to live in that's important. That's why they should do what you say - come to their chosen city in Oz and "spend two weeks getting up as if you are going to work, read the local papers, watch the local TV, listen to the local radio" - and I would add, "buy food at the local supermarket and check out clothes and other essentials at the local shops, go and look at rentals as if you were looking for a place to live, check out short-term accommodation for when you arrive, and look at houses for sale." If, after all that, they're still excited about coming to Australia then it'll be a great confidence booster and they'll be able to hit the ground running when they finally get here. If they don't do any of that, but instead spend their time in a nice hotel, eating out at cafes and restaurants, swimming and sunbaking on the beach and generally having a whale of a time, they'll go home thinking what a great place it is - but it's not the same as living there, so they haven't achieved anything. For instance, I love visiting London when I'm on holidays but having lived there, I know day-to-day life is a different experience altogether. Maybe I should set myself up as some kind of 'reality of Sydney' agent? Come for two weeks, and I'll meet you at the airport and immerse you straight into my life. 'A fortnight of pubs, restaurants and cafes, interspersed with a few trips to the beach, and the ocasional session at a real estate agent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Maybe I should set myself up as some kind of 'reality of Sydney' agent? Come for two weeks, and I'll meet you at the airport and immerse you straight into my life. 'A fortnight of pubs, restaurants and cafes, interspersed with a few trips to the beach, and the ocasional session at a real estate agent. That is really not a bad idea - a kind of Airbnb for prospective migrants, live with someone similar to yourself for a couple of weeks and really understand what it's like to live there or at least get a better picture. You could set up a matching agency and take a fee! We hosted au-pairs and students when we lived in Perth and it was great meeting people from many different cultures and shattering their illusions about Australia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 To the OP, we did a reccie and it probably was a waste of time - it didn't change our mind about going and it should have done but I think once you're on the yellow brick road it's very hard to back track. The benefits were that we got job offers, we decided our first choice of area from internet research was not for us (although maybe too hasty a decision), we found out our second choice of area was far too expensive when we went to look at the kind of houses the median price of $500k actually bought there (only truly fit for demolition!), we found out Perth houses are really cold in the winter so we packed our woolies afterall! The job offers were something already in progress - we had attended an expo in London and it's a different economic climate now, this was pre-GFC so we were just very lucky. The rest you'd work out in the first couple of weeks anyway - to be honest I'd say save the air fare and just plan to spend your first couple of weeks after migrating finding out the kind of things we found out of the reccie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 That is really not a bad idea - a kind of Airbnb for prospective migrants, live with someone similar to yourself for a couple of weeks and really understand what it's like to live there or at least get a better picture. You could set up a matching agency and take a fee! We hosted au-pairs and students when we lived in Perth and it was great meeting people from many different cultures and shattering their illusions about Australia I lack the 'get up and go' to seriously do it, though there is could be a 'gap' in the market! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belle1 Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 To the OP, I would just think very carefully and probably I would take the holiday in hindsight. I didn't move to Australia, we emigrated to Christchurch NZ without having been here before. Now we are moving to Sydney, but the whole thing has cost us a huge sum of money! Dont get me wrong, we have enjoyed our time here, but not visiting before was a mistake. I felt bad about the situation here but disliked Christchurch from the min I arrived, we stayed 2 years but ultimately that feeling hasnt changed. We have friends and family in Australia - we should have just gone straight there really. Each to their own but to give you an idea our move from UK to NZ cost about $80k and now we are spending another $30k moving to Sydney (both of those moves had full relocation packages, but it still cost that to get set up) Spend wisely, but my advice would be visit first, but as others said try to live your visit as normal life. Get up in morning and try the commute etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucie1 Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 Thanks all for help. Think I'm going to visit in November first Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosebud13 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 For my husband our reccie trip next year is a must and he won't consider emigrating without it. It comes down to how much of a gambler or how brave you are to just go for it. If I wasn't married I would have just taken the plunge but everyone's circumstances are different. Best of luck with your visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaclyn Hayes Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 We are looking at travelling to Perth in November for two weeks to have a look at areas we would like to emigrate to. We are at the point of booking flights and accommodation and have just had second thoughts. The cost of the break could potentially cover the cost of visas. Do you just take the plunge and emigrate or visit first ?? My Aussie partner and I travelled to Brisbane last October to research our options. The trip definitely helped us decide where we want to live. We had a strict timetable to stick to but still managed to enjoy some time out too. I would recommend this if you have never been before. We needed this trip to help us and I've been 4 times before! But... It is a big expense and we are working really hard to replace the money we spent to be able to move in December! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul1977 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Would you put 30 grand down on a poker table.....? That's how much it's going to cost if you don't like it, how strange you wouldn't visit place you want to move too, I know I'll look on the Internet. ....! glossy pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.