Smirfyduo

I still have my PR visa stamped in my passport. Do you know if this will help with the airlines? Surely they wouldn't know either way. Only issue will then be my son, who was born here while we were on PR, so has always been a citizen and never had a PR visa. I believe I may be able to get an ADV as it is a death in my immediate family, but I need the death certificate, which is proving hard as it is in africa and will need to be translated

I don't have time - is there any other way? Do you know if they issue ETDs?

Hi everyone, Hoping for some help please - we need to fly out of Aus urgently and I need some advice about coming back in please. Hubbie and I became citizens last year - son was born here. We are all on UK passports - no Aussie passports. Question is, we do not have visas in our passports, how do we get back in??? Hubbie and I have citizenship certificates, and we have son's birth certificate - but I do not want to carry them with us. Help please Thank you in advance

Just a thought, but once bub is born, you could find a new social group through bub which could be supportive and could help you to feel a bit more settled. Good luck with whatever you decide though:wubclub:

You don't say what visa the family were on? You are doing more than expected - I assume from the tone of the previous posts that you are expecting the widow and children to return to the UK? Not a great task - but you might need to check with the coroner about any special preparation of the body in case the family do want to repatriate his remains. Also - when you contact the High Commission - get them to tell you what they need in order to transport the remains - sounds callous, but get any necessary paperwork in order to ensure they don't have any issues. Assuming they are on a 457, you are required to paid for the family airfares back - not their household effects. You sound like a very caring employer - you could assist with this and arrange it on their behalf. Also - if they will be moving back to the UK, assuming they are renting a property - speak to their estate agent and explain the situation. Find out if there will be any lease break fees, or if there is anything that can be done to mitigate them. Can you get authorisation to deal with a close friend / family member who can convey their needs to you in a less emotional way? The widow make feel like she is not able to make minor requests of you, where as a close friend may be able to mention such things to you. Depending on how how emotional the widow and kids are, especially being so far from home, you could get a doctors' advice with regards to something to help them sleep etc. You give employers a good name with the assistance you have already offered!

It costs LOADS Kate. And it is a serious consideration when interviewing. We currently have a temporary foreign recruitment freeze because we have had 3 families we have sponsored (In the last 8 months) mess us around so much. We have sent people back - but we are out of pocket to the tune of about $30k per family. We had one couple with a young child come over - we paid for flights, including a full seat for the toddler under 2, extra luggage allowance, full container of furniture, 3 months furnished accommodation, 2 months car hire, gave extra leave days for sorting out drivers' licences and looking for a rental etc. They decided they didn't like it here (after 3 months) - didn't tell us - realised we wanted refunding for any relocation costs, so instead pushed us to fire him. Really unpleasant and lead to big morale issues with other staff. We paid for their return flights - cheapest going, and no seat for the toddler, no extra luggage, no container. Unfortunately, we lose all round - we are out of pocket for the relocation, and we are still understaffed and so need to pay more to recruit to replace them. Difficult to sell the idea of recruiting more people from the UK to management tho - when you read sites like PIO and you know how much some people would trade for an opportunity like the one these people threw away, and you know how it is influencing the company you work for in whether they should try to recruit from the UK again, it makes you pretty angry!!!!

Hi Kate and Russ, Yes, as far as I understand it, your company is obligated to pay for your flights if they sponsored your 457. The company I work for sponsors people regularly. Be sure that you are not committed to repay any costs in your contract if you leave within a certain period - standard where I work is you need to repay 100% of relocation costs if you leave in the first 12 months, and 50% if you leave in the first 24 months. That is full relocation costs - any flights, plus cost of containers, help with accommodation on arrival etc. Also - if the company paid for your family and possessions to move out to Aus, I do not believe they are obligated to pay for the same on return. If you were to leave the company I work for, you would be asked to repay the relocation costs incurred (again - this would depend what is in your contract) We would then accept your written resignation, and ask for a written request to organise flights on a suitable date within 28 days of your last working day - you would get budget flights on dates as close as possible to your requested dates - we would have nothing to do with moving your effects back to the UK. Speaking as someone who has seen quite a few people move here and not like it and want to return - to be honest, a lot depends on how badly you play up at work - if you are the type to create problems and it creates other issues at work, we would likely let you go sooner rather than later without pushing the issue of relocation costs. Legally you cannot be pursued for the costs once you are back in the UK anyway - and we have let trouble causers go without repaying costs. Obviously it can come back to bite when it comes to references, so keep that in mind. Have you considered talking to your employers about your situation, and asking what the minimum time is that you could stay and then leave on good terms? Good luck with whatever you choose to do

Lake Mackenzie - Fraser island Whale watching on the Gold Coast Mad people at the MCG Bolte Bridge in Melbourne at night Mt Buller

Mark, what you are feeling is natural and pretty much what we went through. The way we looked at it was, we were in new and unfamiliar surroundings - the only way to find out if we would settle was to make the unfamiliar familiar, if that makes sense. It's going to take a while for Melbourne to feel like home - but get out there and see it - the more you see, the more familiar it will become, and THEN you can decide whether you have done the right thing or not. You don't have to make the decision as to whether or not it is for you yet - the nerves could be because you are putting yourself under pressure to make an instant decision that you "should immediately" love Melbourne because you have moved all the way there. There's no rule book that says you have to! If I was in Melbs, I would be up for a coffee, but unfortunately it's a bit far for me - why don't you go and take you your family for a coffee. I see you are in the Park Royal - I think that is by the airport? I'm sure there are buses that go into the city? Or trains? Grab one! Go to the Victoria Market. Go find Lygon Street - best Italian food and coffee shops EVER. Cocoa Black - AMAZING hot chocolate. Try it ALL!!! Have a walk up and down the Yarra near Southbank. I felt totally overwhelmed when we got to Melbourne - now I am desperate to go back for a long weekend to see everything again! There is so much there that we miss - and once you find it, you might just love it too!! Good luck!! Jules

Actually because of his "South African" accent he was offered it in Afrikaans. He laughed and queried it - and was told he could take the test in pretty much whatever language he wanted to.

My hubbie actually had to take the test in the UK - guess what was the first question they asked him when he phoned to book the test???? What language do you want to take it in????!!!! For the record - I failed. And I even read OHs books when he did the test :embarrassed:

Hey there, Am ACMA and applied for accreditation with CPA - was in exactly the same position with not wanting to let work know. I did a stat dec with my work experience instead, and explained that I was doing the stat dec due to my situation at work and not wanting to jeopardise my future with the company as a visa is never guaranteed to be granted. No problems - PR granted. Good luck! Cheers Jules

:hug: Sorry to hear your news!! :hug: Dogs are real rascals, they have a way of worming themselves deep into our hearts.

Hey there, I also work for a Global Company. I had a holiday planned shortly after my first phone interview - they told me to take that time to be sure about the move and get back in touch when we got back to the UK. Back in the UK in mid November, signed contract first week of December, 457 granted between Christmas and New Year, started work in Melbourne mid February. We packed up, arranged to rent out the house and had a week in Aus before starting work. It can be done quickly - our view was that it was going to be a manic time anyway, the sooner we got it over with the better. One thing tho - my company did try and convince me to cancel my PR application that we already had lodged and to just accept their 457 offer. We didn't - meant we lost out on LAFHA, but our PR came through after 6 months in Aus - just made us that little bit less reliant on the company. Good luck with whatever you choose to do!!

Might give it a go. Have gone off gardening a little after this afternoon - both of us were out weeding and of course, I end up finding the snake :arghh:

Am gonna give it a go - was mowing yesterday and got a big case of the green eyed monster as "his" looks so nice and "he" doesn't seem to work very hard at it. Have figured out that *maybe* he does work at it, and just not at the same time as me :embarrassed:

Might have to go back to Bunnings and have another look. Might have to give the buffalo grass another go. Am worried I will put weed and feed on it and kill the lot!!:chatterbox: The buffalo grass does look nice and green, but it just grows SO fast. I went and had a proper nosey at Mr's garden next door (I was weeding by the fence:rolleyes:) and it actually looks like he has buffalo grass in his as well - maybe it's just my edges that make mine look scruffy. Will have to get out with the strimmer. All I ever catch is sun!

My neighbour has the most amazing grass - and no matter what I do, mine always looks messy by comparison.:cry::cry: He has the thin grass, and it is weed free and seems a lot easier to maintain. On the other hand, we have a hotch potch garden - we have the finer grass, but there are big patches of the thicker grass (I've always known it as buffalo grass) as well as the patches of weeds. And my living does it grow up here - mowed on Tuesday, by Friday it looked naf again - well the thicker grass does. We are renting, so I am loathed to spend a lot of money on this to make it look nice, especially when they would only give us a 6 month lease. At the same time, I would prefer it to look nice, but don't know how where to start??:wacko: I have looked at the weed and feed at Bunnings, but they all seem to have big warnings against using it on the thicker bladed grass. Is there a cheap way of getting rid of the thick grass and the weeds?

Hi Chris, We were told to go to Melbournes Cheapest Cars - http://melbournescheapestcars.com.au/ I did have a job, and I think we put down a $2k deposit, and they organised all the finance that we wanted. The finance is NOT the cheapest BUT - it gets you on your feet and once you are on your feet, you can go to a bank and get a better deal and refinance. Only bugger is they don't register the vehicle for you (Well - they do, but they charge you about $500 - it is easy to do it yourself, and they do tell you what you need to do) Good luck Jules

Tried it and highly recommend it!! Works well with a can of coke too if you have a BBQ type spice / marinade with the chicken.

Love it! :notworthy:

We were tempted to leave half full buckets of water all round the house as if there were leaks in the roof :wink:

Yes. :yes: Before I left the UK, I went to the Doc and explained I was immigrating - she checked my BP and gave me a prescription for 12 months worth of pills. I brought them over in my luggage, declared them at customs on arrival and had no problems.