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Hi All Just sort of looking for some advice re the issue of returning home. We have a 175 visa and have been here almost 2 years now. What are the implications for the visa if we return home? Can we come back to Australia again? How long away from Australia would the visa de activate? I am just finding out the practical advice required. What happens re Super, Tax etc. We have been toying with the idea of wife and kids returning home first and then myself at a later date.. Finding it difficult without the family support network and having 3 young kids. Any advice would be much appreciated and thank you all in advance Regards:wink:

Hi all my brother arrived in oz 4 weeks ago on a WHV. He has Crohn's disease which has flared up. He had minor emergency surgery and seen a specialist today. He needs a relatively major bowel operation. My questions are does this surgery be covered under the Medicare reciprocal health care agreement with Ireland? If he decides to return home to have the surgery there can he freeze the WHV until he returns?? If not would immigration not consider it under exceptional circumstances?? i thank you all in advance for your help

Hi all I am asking this on behalf of a friend. He has arrived on a 1 year WHV which expires in January 2013. He has a wife and 2 kids at home in Ireland and had to sign a statement witnessed by the solicitor saying his family wouldn't visit him. Is this true? Can they not visit on a tourist visa. A visa agent whom he visited here told him his wife could visit on a tourist visa. His wife is a primary teacher and if she were to visit she would have a look at possible job opportunities. Any advice anyone??

Hi There thanks for swift reply. They came under the husbands trade as it was in demand here and the wife does not want to return. So she can definitely stay??

Hi All Looking for some expert advice on this one. Our friends came here on a 176 Visa. Due to some problems they have hit a rocky patch and the main applicant is now returning home. The partner who came here under the main applicants visa does not want to return. Does she have any options as regards staying or do they also have to return? There is also a teenager involved here and the teenager would also like to stay. Any advice much appreciated. Thanks

We are living in Butler, beautiful area loads of parks and lakes etc... Oldest boy goes to Butler primary, the YMCA after school care is based on site at the school so the two days he goes there the YMCA girl just walks over to his classroom and takes him to the YMCA room, this costs 25 a day but we get about half of this paid. It goes on to 6 pm but i normally collect him around 5 or 5.30. They play games watch tv do different activities, he loves it. Youngest child goes to daycare in Quinns. Absolutely brilliant place, so well organised and managed. the staff are so good and friendly. This is 70 per day but with the help we get we only pay about 30-35 so its really good. Please visit http://www.centrelink.gov.au and read it and download the guides. Read them over and over again because the system can be confusing but the more you read it the more sense it starts to make.

To be honest Gumtree is a good starting point. The bigger car yards don't really do cheap second hand cars because what they do is when someone trades in their older car the bigger car yards sell these on to the smaller yards. just be careful cos it is the one thing that shocked me was the price of the second hand cars. Just get talking to someone who will know a mechanic who will take a look at it for you.

Hi All check out my 2 months in perth report which i have posted in reccie and arrival reports:biggrin:

Ok so we are now here 8 weeks so wanted to wait before posting this as we know where we are at now and some of the good things and bad things. So here goes. Trying to give as much info as possible so sorry if it seems long winded. Rentals We got the first house we applied for. Had read on here that we should do a rental pack i.e a letter for the owner/rental agent giving a intro about us and why we came here etc, included all references we had and also stuck in a copoy of our police checks to show our good character etc, viewed the house applied and agent rang to ask do we want to offer any money up front( this is what happens) said well 2 months is all we can afford up front, got a call 10 mins later to say house is ours. In the end we didnt have to give the rent up front! Make sure to read your lease etc and you will get a property condition report which shows anything that is wrong with the house before you move in i.e marks on walls etc etc, go through it and fill in anything you notice because if there is any damage it will be taken from your bond at end of rental. Schools and Childcare Once you live in a the boundaries of a primary school you are entitled to enrol in that school. If your outside boundaries its up to the principal if you get accepted. Enrolling is so easy and the staff are so friendly. Loads of activities art music etc etc and sport. Our oldest is 10 and he loves it. After school he goes to YMCA which is like older kids daycare 2 days a week and this costs $25 per day. But centrelink pay some of this so not sure how much of this 25 dollars we have to pay yet. Daycare for younger kids is expensive $70 per day but with family tax benefit etc from centrelink this means we only pay $30 of that so this is good. It's hard getting daycare we found in our area as all the good places have few places however we took the only day available first and this has now gone up to 2 days and yesterday they called to say they could offer full time from next month. Do your research and talk to other families who will point you to the good places in your area. Centrelink Register the day after you arrive as any payments are backdated to that date you arrive in to them. Perserve and read it online, it can be confusing but ask questions. Basically we get like childrens allowance and you can also be entitled to rent assistance and as i mentioned erarlier the reduced childcare fees, it takes few weeks to get all sorted but keep a record of everything and you will find it ok. Transport Second hand cars are a minefield and you need your head screwed on. My advice is to buy a run around, we ought one at 3 grand and we have been driving that until we can now go and get finance etc for a better one. Finance applications you need employer letters etc and visa letters. If you know people here then they will know a good mechanic who will take a quick look at the car before you purchase, Killarney autos in Wangara(Irish Guy) had a look at ours and gave it a once over before we bought, he never charged us and said if we just give him some business of servicing it in the future so ask people here and they will point you in right direction. As Regards Drivers License you just go to the local Driver and Vehicle Licensing authority and fill in some forms. Only snag we had is that immigration did not print a label and stick it in our passports when we arrived so we had to travel in to the city and get this done and then we got our licenses changed over. Cost of Living Yes its expensive but the golden rule as i had read here many times, dont convert back to your old currency, once you start earning dollars you will see what i mean. Food is expensive but learn the places to go, we go to waneroo farmers market every 2 weeks on a sat and this place is great for fruit veg and meat. we have saved a fortune going here, sign p to all the rewards programmmes in the big supermarkets, shop around for food and once on your feet here you will learn what places are cheap for certain items. Households goods and electrical items are dirt cheap here i find, we didnt bring anything as regards furniture and we furnished our 4 bed rental with second hand stuff from gumtree afor about $1900 and its real quality stuff. Gumtree is a way of life here so get used to using it. Internet costs 88 a month with telstra. Beware of signing contracts for phones and internet plans, make sure its the right one for you and has good coverage. Telstra have the best coverage of anyone and the easiest thing to do is when you move in to your rental ask your neighbours who they are with and this will be a pretty good guide. Also have foxtel for TV which is same as sky and works the exact same as regard costs etc Havent really had any household bills yet so cant really advise only to say you have gas, electric and water usage bills. General Thoughts Take time and relax and do as much research as you can Bring copies of all your paper work and try to set up a google account and have google docs( Google this if you dont know what it is!) so you can scan your originals on there. That way no matter where you are you have access to them as long as you have internet. They love their paper work and you will need to fill in a form for everything so get used to that Work wise dont tell Aussies what way to do things, they dont like that and just fit in with the way they do it. Before long you will shine through. Go to as many things you are invited to as its a good way of meeting people. This is the hardest bit but so many people say it and I am repeating it. Everyone here you meet has done what you have done and know what you are going through so don’t be afraid to ask questions and ask for help. We have already made some really good friends and there are loads of groups etc who meet up and all that stuff so keep your ear to the ground. Hope this has been a help and look forward to hopefully meeting you all. :cool:

Hi All. Arrived Perth Last night so just wanted to post here and give some thoughts. will do a full report next week but here are some thoughts. flew with singapore airlines, absolutely outstanding service couldnt praise them enough, so so helpful especially with the kids, food drink etc was very good, only downside was we had to rush to catch the connecting flight at singapore and they forgot to transfer our baby stroller on to the perth flight. we got one to borrow at perth airport and ours will be couriered tomorrow weather was really warm this morn but then became quite cold, gets dark really early. went into the city on the train, costs $9.30 for an adult day rider ticket and $3.70 for kids, can travel all day on train for that and then on sat and sundays it costs $9.30 for the entire family people are very helpful and all you have to do is ask, everything very clean. driving is just the same as home. we done a big shop today and it does seem expensive but once we start earning here it will be fine. other than that i will just post a big report next week but just wanted to let you all know those first initial thoughts. chat soon, hoping to meet you all out here soon:biggrin::biggrin:

I have rented a car for a week as soon as i arrive. The price covers comprehensive car insurance for 2 people over the age of 25. Make sure you take your proof of no claims bonus with you and as far as I know the Rego which is like our Car Tax here Includes Third Party Insurance, obviously most of us want comprehensive insurance which we take out with any of the companies over there same as here. Google Australian Insurance companies and most of them allow you to obtain a quote over the Internet.:biggrin:

Hi, again sorry for late reply. It's personal preference. Our wee boy is 13 months. We chose the flight leaving London at 10PM, leaves Dublin at 7PM and arrives London 8PM so we hope as this would be his bedtime he will sleep through the flight to singapore. We also got seated in a Bassinet Position which is the little sort of cot(if you Google Bassinet Seat Images) which is attached to the wall in front. Is it really worth paying for your 2 year old, he is prob going to want to get up and explore:biggrin: Any questions give me a shout:cool:

Sorry for late reply, been away all weekend:biggrin: Ok all we had to do was email a copy of the Visa Grant letter to their office in Dublin. The Dublin Office is 016710722. Once i emailed this i then had to pay €35 per person to get the extra baggage allowance put on the tickets. The dublin office then email your tickets to you, they told me to check your bags in to Aer Lingus Flight in Dublin and ask them to check them the whole way for you so that when we get to London we dont have to worry about re checking our bags in. They never mentioned this to us about extra baggage on Aer Lingus cos it shows on the tickets the extra baggage allowance. I would also reccomend you google Seatguru. This will show the singapore airlines planes and it will help you look at the best seat and help you pick what seats you want. Any questions just shout:wink:

hi There, I am going on 28th August and we are flying with Singapore. Leaves Dublin at 7PM goes to London, then to singapore and then perth. They are an absolute pleasure to deal with. Plus you get the 40 kg Baggage Allowance if your travelling on a 175 or 176 Visa. they have an office in Dublin who will answer any queries. we got the flights for €2,000 approx. Thats 2 adults , 1 child and an Infant although we didnt book a seat for him we have a bassinet seat. To get the extra baggage allowance all you have to do is book your tickets and then just send them a copy of your visa grant notice and they change the tickets at their dublin office. Be aware though that it costs 35 euro per passenger to change this, a cost that can't be avoided but it is well worth it. Any questions about the process just shout? :biggrin:

Caz, i have sent you a PM there with my email address so we can stay in touch. I am a plasterer myself and my wife is a Beautician/Make-Up Artist. If you want to PM your email I'll send you all the contacts about car hire etc and everything we have done. regards Baz:biggrin: