Sooty

We spoke to our case officer by Phone/email we arranged to leave for New Zealand on the Monday and return on the Friday once she knew our arrival time in NewZealand she issued our visa. When we re-entered Australia the customs officers took us to one side for a few minutes and then it was all systems go I hope this helps it was a lovely feeling for it to be all sorted. Good luck. 

The Mornington Peninsula 1 hour south of Melbourne is lovely, not the Temperatures of Noosa but not the humidity either.  But don't let on as it's rather special ?. Lots of lovely winery's & restaurants plus miles of uncrowned beaches, except for the 6 weeks or so over Christmas. 

23 minutes ago, Catlady2014 said:

Just to give you some perspective - my daughter just bought a brand new Toyota Corolla 1.8 automatic for $22,000.  You could get an ex-demo or low mileage one a lot cheaper than that though.  I decided a long while back not to take my car, because the shipping costs (I think about £1,500, but not certain now) made it just not worth it.  And there would have been extra costs for the roadworthy test, rego etc.  I will sell it just before I leave and should get about £3,500 for it, but at the time when I was considering taking it the resale value was about £5,000 - and still not worth it.  

When we brought our car to Melbourne 9 years ago, we had to have owned the car for 1 year.  So buying just before leaving won't work, unless the rules have changed.  We were very pleased we brought our car over, we had enough things to sort out when first arriving without having to decide on a new car, some models are different.  So it was a good move for us. ?

1 hour ago, Catlady2014 said:

Completely agree.  No point taking my large fridge/freezer, which wouldn't have been big enough to do the job in a hot climate where so much needs to go into the fridge.  Anyway, it went on ebay last summer and I've been making do with my smaller one, which I'll leave behind for my house buyers.  I'm taking very little with me and reckon to save thousands on shipping costs.  Added to that saving is the stuff I've sold already.  My total of ebay and private sales plus the stuff currently on sale or still to be sold, comes to about £5,000.  I've  also had my daughter in Aus pricing up a lot of the stuff I will need and I'm confident I can get it all at really good prices. But each to their own, people are sometimes attached to particular belongings, whereas furniture etc diesn't generally have any pull for me and I'm looking forward to a completely fresh start.  If I can fit it all into a Movecube, I will take a small but rather nice sideboard and two matching lamp tables, bedding, towels, pots and pans etc, printer and coffee maker, clothes, photographs.  That's it, and anything that won't fit will stay behind.  

I'm opting for the granny annexe, as my daughter's plot has plenty of room for an annexe and it's a short walk from shops, restaurants etc, and 5 minutes drive from the beach.  

I took my nearly new HP printer 8 years ago they make the same model here but the print cartridges are not compatible.. you might like to check it out HP said sometimes a new code would work, but it would not. A new printer is under $100 so not worth the bother.  

We brought bedding with us. It's more expensive here and we wanted to get new when we had our permanent house so we could match it in with the decor. Even when we got our house it took us a while to find the right bedding/Manchester which is what they call it here.


Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

My GP gives me up to 6 repeats on a prescription. I'm in Victoria. Before I was permanent my prescription costs could be anything from $6 for antibiotics to $58 for migraine tablets, my medical insurance covered anything over $32. Now I'm permanent the costs are less but not much less because I can't claim anything back on insurance now. But there is a yearly cap I think it is $600. 

Hi geoffandgill. We shipped my Jeep inside our container and really wish we had shipped my husbands jag as well we came in 2008 PSS helped us and it was very straight forward we sold the jag in the U.K. for £5k and would have got $60k here ?  

We packed a lot ourselves but found that the removers had to repackage everything for custom purposes they mark the shipping note with anything that the customs should look at, so it's better to let them do it all.


Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

Shipping furniture
In 2008 we used PSS and they were excellent. We shipped a month before we left and it took about 12 weeks altogether. We shipped my car as well. All worked very well. Most rentals are not furnished but we had holiday accommodation for the first 6 weeks then a pertly furnished house. Good luck everyone I hope the parent visas come good soon.


Sent using Poms in Oz mobile app

MEDICAL INSURANCE

Beware of the cost of medical insurance, temporary visas are classed as tourist visas for medical insurance.  The cost can be as high as $17k per couple per year.  Whereas a permanent resident with access to Medicare pays about $6k per couple.  

You will have to advise your case officer that you are onshore, and she/he will advise you.  We went Monday to Friday as they won't issue a visa on Sunday not sure about Saturday.  This was in 2014, I'm so sorry your CPV's are taking so long now.

9 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

@NanaJan someone quoted earlier (fisher1?) they went to NZ for 5 days but visa was though the day after, so a weekend would have done them. Troll through earlier posts  But who knows might not be next day. Hope others share their experience with you on that. Good luck! 

Y

1 hour ago, Geoffandgill said:

For us, selling our house, which we had lived in for over 38 years, caused us no feelings of heartache. Our eldest two children already lived abroad ( USA & Australia), so when our youngest moved to Australia in 2015, the house gradually stopped feeling like a family home, and more like a millstone round our neck. Although the house held memories, they were still with us, but we looked forward to the future more, especially our grandchildren growing up. For us, this was the best decision, but obviously everyone is different.

Geoff & Gill

We sold up and moved to the Mornington Peninsula Victoria nearly 9 years ago it was very hard leaving 2 sons and my elderly mother and our only granddaughter. But our daughters and husbands were heading here and we felt that it would be a far better life for them.  We were right in the last 6 years we have had 6 new grandchildren here and 1 more in the UK.  We have never regretted our decision, it is hard being so split  but we usually go back each year.  We got our CPV 4 years ago and are now citizens.  We have a lovely lifestyle so different from what it would have been had we been still in the UK, our little grandchildren keep us very busy.

Hi our CPV visa took 16 months to go through, granted October 2013. We've lived on the Mornington Peninsula for nearly 6 years and never looked back, we miss friends and relatives but not the UK weather or traffic, good luck with your visa, the non contributary visa has now been closed so only the expensive route for parents available now.

[quote=juliew1499;1936541758

after some last minute wobbles finally sent off the docs to PVC in Perth. Having great fun watching DHL processing our document parcel. Has now left Heathrow.......From what I can gather it's now a long waiting game. :arghh:

Any other parents recently applied? We will be going to Mornington Peninsular so would be good to know of other parents in the area.

Hi genie 1

We were already here in Oz and pre loaded our American Express Card and earned enough Singapore Airlines points for 1 return ticket to the UK which worked very well for us but if you are off shore you might be able to do the same with a credit card, there was no surcharge.

I think we had about 28 days to pay.

Good luck

Sooty

There are lots of display home sites here in Victoria, it depends where you live really but if you can find a display home style you like the prices are pretty good for what you get and very big compared to UK houses you can also customise them. Google Metricon homes or Henley Homes for an idea lots of choice just depends what you want really. We have not gone that route but built a one off to our own design, on our own block a very hard and complicated route not cheaper but we have got exactly what we want.

good luck Sooty

Hi Phalarope83

We have been here in Oz for 5 years now and are just at the end of a house build in Mount Martha on the Mornington Peninsular in Victoria, the property market has not done much at all in this time. Citizenship can be applied for after being in Oz for 4 years one of which as a permanent resident. It just means that you will not have to renew your residents return visa every 5 years which means your CPV it is about $150 not a lot I know, but citizenship gives us an Aussie passport ie dual citizenship so even if we leave the country for say 5 years we can always just come back it keeps our options open if you like and makes us completely safe. Saying that we have made friends who came here as $10 poms 40 years ago and they have not bothered with citizenship even though the husband was leaving the country on business and his visa would run out before he returned so it caused him to miss his flight while he sorted it out. So once a citizen you can forget about it. Both of our daughters and husbands have now got citizenship and of course their children born here are automatically citizens they will also be able to get UK passports if they want to do gap years in the UK etc when they grow up, citizenship here is just a few multiple choice questions then a quick service. I will really feel that I belong here then, although we personally would never go back to the UK to live. We return each year to visit family and friends that is the hard part but could not contemplate living there again, if you try to be friendly with neighbours etc I'm sure you will soon make friends. We have found everyone very friendly.

We are not sunworshipers but who would want the UK weather at the moment, we now know where the phrase "sunny disposition" comes from we find in general that people are happier here.

Good luck. Sooty

So having a few ups and downs...

 

 

I know now it's hard we did it in our retirement when my Mum was old and our son and granddaughters were/are not coming, and it was and is hard but you must follow your dreams if you wait for everyone you love to pass on you will be too old and the opportunity might not be there.

 

We we decided to do it for a 5 year experiment and just see how it went but after just a few months we knew we had made the right decision but it will always be difficult for you with your loved ones in the UK but better to have followed your dreams while you can rather live with the thoughts what if. You are still young and life is for living. Our children who came out here as well have done far better in their careers than if they had stayed in the UK if you are prepared to work hard the opportunities are good.

 

We we have now been here 5 years have just received our permanent visa and have gained 3 grandsons with a granddaughter on the way.

 

Follow your dreams.

 

Good luck Sooty.

 

 

We decided to move to Oz last April. At the time everyone was well, not a lot was happening really and my husband and I have no kids yet and are only renting so thought let's do this while we can...

 

So got started on the applications and submitted our EOI end of November and application at the beginning of December. Got a bit excited about it all and we've booked flights to go in August.

 

After, we found out...

 

My dad has skin cancer (should be nothing to worry about and moles will just be removed but still quite scary)

 

My best friend (since I was 5!) is getting married in March 2015 - we will only have been in Australia for 7 months and she wants us to come back for it and she wants me to be a bridesmaid. We really want to as well but realistically I don't think we can afford to so soon and I can't guarantee we'll get the time off work - we haven't even got jobs yet it's stupid to think we'll get over two weeks off! It probably would have been different if we'd been there over a year.

Out of all my friends and family she has taken the news of us leaving the worst and this was before she got engaged! So far I've told her we'll try to come back but do I tell her that we probably can't or just keep giving her false hope?!

 

On top of that, there is a possibility my 87 year old grandad had prostate cancer... he's waiting more tests to confirm it but I know he'll give up if it is that. He's getting more and more frail and although we have a big family who will support my granny I'd feel awful leaving my mum, she'll be devastated.

 

And more recently my dad, as well as his skin problems, now had been getting the feeling of a lump in his throat/oesophagus so he's been to the doctors and had blood tests and is waiting for a camera test to have a look. Cant help but think the worst...

 

We should have our visas granted in the next few weeks everything is nearly done - we've done medicals got a case officer so not long to wait. And up until we actually submitted our application everyone was well and no one was getting married. Now suddenly when we've nearly reached our dream it all goes wrong.

We still want to go so badly but I don't know what to do. I guess we have to wait for everyone's test results but it's horrible feeling so excited one minute then devasted the next!

 

Hmmm!

Any words of wisdom would be much appreciated :-) and if none can be offered, thank you for reading.

 

Sam xx

Bumping this up! Where are all our `parents`????

We applied onshore for an offshore CPV in May 2012 it was granted in October 2013 5 years to the day of our first setting foot in Australia. A very painless experience except the money of course but were glad to be legally here now. Will go for citizenship next year.

Good luck everyone. Sooty

Hi Dreamy Fish

Although our children are grown up we now have some pre school grandchildren here. We live 20 mins south of Frankston in Mount Martha we've been here 5 years and were really struck with how the children seemed to stay younger for longer than in the UK.. There are so many more opportunities for an outdoor life here the surf club swimming soccer and lots more, the children in our road ride their skate boards down the hill and often 20 or more congregate for the afternoon just to have fun on our hill, they are much politer and more friendly than in the UK and the older teenagers seem to have more respect for their elders, it's a different world, not perfect but better.

Keep away from Frankston but the towns south of Frankston are lovely and the beaches to die for, just watched a lovely firework display for Australia Day, the Aussies are really proud of their country which is so refreshing.

good luck

Diane

We are currently in the process of applying to Victoria on a 190. I say we, my husband is the main applicant and myself and our three kiddies are coming along for the most exciting ride ever!

I've never been to Australia, we are hoping to visit but circumstances change all the time so I am relying quite a lot on reading posts on this forum to get a feel for things. My parents used to live in Sydney for 6 years so they are really behind us doing this as they think it is a fabulous opportunity and a great place to raise kids. I can't imagine the rest of my life never seeing the other side of the world....

Sooo, we have been looking at the burbs of Melbourne and I am very taken by Frankston South. Having a look at the school websites and they have such positive outlooks, it is just how I imagine it to be.

What I was wondering though was what the lifestyle is like genuinely for children. I have three, a son of 8 and two girls who are 3 and 1.

Where we are at the moment, a market town in Oxfordshire, we are really happy but my god it is expensive and full of gym yummy mummies motoring about in their petite Range Rovers!!!! People are quite judgmental and there is a lot of comparing of things like salaries, cars, holidays etc etc.

I am quite laid back, I like my kids to have freedom and be independent within reason. I have no problem with my son scaling the tree at the bottom of the garden and dropping into the trampoline below, but for other people, it is a big no no. Likewise he is more than capable of walking into school from the school gate and getting himself to class, but again, I am hugely judged by others who absolutely will not leave their child's side and even after they've filed in, will make sure the coat is on the peg by peering through the window!

How safe is Victoria for children? It feels like all the time in the news there are abductions here in the UK. Is it a generally safe area, are kids allowed to play and explore?

I get the feeling Australia is big on the outdoors and sports. Here people rely massively of electronic ways of keeping their children entertained, gaming stations etc. What is that generally like in Aus? Maybe I am naive but I don't tend to imagine children there plugged into the latest GTO game.

And lastly in my rambling post, consumerism, here the children must have the latest passing fad. Moshis have just passed by and now it is Match Attax and Skylanders. We don't tend to watch live TV which I am grateful for because of the constant bombardment of childrens ads. Which then piles on the pressure because you don't want your kid pick on because they don't have the latest "must have" item. What is Australia like for children from that point of view?

Any responses would be very appreciated! It is going to be hard to get to visit so I am heavily reliant on opinions of others who are living it!!

Chrissie x