claireg

We lodged in Feb. Test in July. I got my approval in August and my partner got his this week. Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

I think we applied late February too. Good luck hopefully you will get yr letter soon too Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

My partner had his letter of approval today. [emoji4] We both had our test on 25th July and I got my letter of approval a week later but we have had to wait til today for his. Hopefully we will get the ceremony this year. We are in Perth. Sent from my iPhone using PomsinOz

Got my approval letter in post today dated 26th July, 1 day after my interview & test. Approval letter came from ACT. Wasn't expecting it so quick after seeing how long people are waiting . Says to allow 6 months for invitation to ceremony. I think my local council have them every 2-3 months.

Updated Timeline: 1. Date Applied: 21st February 2017 2. City/Council Area: Shire of Kalamunda, WA 3. Online / Paper: Online 4. Date Received the Acknowledgement Email: Never received one 5. Date Received the Citizenship Test Email: 3rd March 2017 6. Date of the Citizenship Test: 25th July 2017 (Passed) 7. Approval letter: tba 8. Date of ceremony: tba

Interesting that you got your acknowledgement email same day. We lodged online yesterday and nothing yet so assume it is not an automatic email you receive? Ta Claire

Hi all We applied yesterday for Citizenship so will add my timeline here and see how it goes 1. Date Applied: 21/02/2017 2. City/Council Area: Shire of Kalamunda, WA 3. Online / Paper: Online 4. Date Received the Acknowledgement Email: tba 5. Date Received the Citizenship Test Email: tba 6. Date of the Citizenship Test: tba 7. Approval letter: tba 8. Date of ceremony: tba ta Claire

Thanks guys, in for a bit of a wait then. I'll keep an eye on the other thread too. Ta Claire

Hi all, not been on here for a long, long time. Today we submitted our citizenship app online so my question is, does anyone know how long it takes from online submission to the ceremony, etc. ? We are in the Shire of Kalamunda, in Perth. Thanks Claire

Sorry if this has been asked before, just wanting to get a feel of how easy / difficult it is to secure spaces at childcare centres in Perth. Are there huge waiting lists and so on and what are peoples' experiences of the quality of childcare centres, any good ones to recommed? My children are 2 years old and nearly 4, our nearly 4 year old will be starting school next Feb though so if we are lucky may get into Kindy depending on where we rent until then. Just wondering should I start putting names down now or wait til we arrive (July). We are going to be in the Hills or SOR, around Canning Vale, Leeming, Willeton areas. Thanks for any advice. Cheers Claire

Hello Looking for recommendations for an interstate move (Canberra to Perth). I have already had Crowne Relocations over to do an assessment and am waiting on their quote. Have already contacted Allied Pickfords and Grace and waiting for call-backs. Any other companies people have used and recommend or ones which you would not recommend. Thanks Claire

So you think rentals are on the increase then and rent negotiable? We are moving over in July from Canberra, rentals have been hard to come by is all i have heard over the past 6 months and it takes approx 4 weeks at least to secure. Just out of interest did you rent NOR or SOR Cheers Claire

Thanks all for responding. The rentals does seem to be a bit of a challenge in some areas we have found so after our reccie week we have a good number of suburbs we are thinking of renting in. Looks like it will be July 2013 when we move now too.

Hi Paul Thanks for the kind offer, your house sounds lovely. We have just been in Perth the last week and just got back. After lots of suburb research I think we are either going to be settling in either the Hills or SOR. My brother lives in the Hills so will be staying with him initially until we find a rental. Also I now think it will be July when we move as my partner has just had his contract extended for work til end of June now. Have a great world trip.

oh and you can also try these too http://www.canberrafurnished.com.au/ We found our short term accomm on stayz and booked months in advance.

Try having a look on stayz.com.au, allhomes.com.au, and you could also give gumtree and the canberra times a go for private short term rentals. Good Luck.

Hi We are thinking of moving to Perth April 2013. Is there a best time or worst time of year to secure a 3/4 bed rental? Thanks

That's a shame Shelli that they are not flexible. Thanks for clarifying the hours too, I wasn't sure when it changed. Thanks Claire

Hi The cut-off date for school in WA is 30 June i'm afraid and they do have to have turned 4 by then to start Kindy in that year. We are in Canberra at the moment and thinking of moving to WA next year, we also have a 3 year old so have been looking into the school system in WA recently too. In Canberra the cut-off is 30 April and if we stay here our daughter would miss out on Preschool (as it is called here) next year if we were staying in Canberra as her bd is in May. I do not know how strict WA are on this cut-off date but I do know in Canberra it is non-negotiable unless you think you have a gifted & talented child and then you can pay for them to do tests, etc. but, in NSW their cut-off is 30 July and i think they are more flexible with allowing children to go early or be held back a year. The hours in WA are 12 hours a week but I think recently schools are trying to adopt a 15 hr week across all states, so check with the school itself as not all may be now on the 15 hours a week schedule. So if your 3 year old is 4 in early July I would definitely call the school you are thinking of and find out how flexible they are, they may be more relaxed about it and let your child start Kindy 2013. If they are not flexible and your child has to wait until 2014 then try and find out if there are any Playschools. Playschools in Canberra allow your child to start when they are 3. When our daughter turned 3 in May she started playschool in week 3 of Term 2. She goes 2 mornings a week but you do have to pay but it is not too expensive. Not sure if WA have a similar thing but worth looking into. There is some info on the WA education site too http://www.det.wa.edu.au/schoolsandyou/detcms/navigation/category.jsp?categoryID=12799924 good luck and hope you can get your child in next year. Claire

That is what we intending to do and soon, maybe October, must let my brother know!! I need to see the suburbs that we have been researching and see if they would suit us and what the rentals are like in those areas.

Thank you for this encouraging post. We are thinking about moving over from Canberra next year. Claire

Hello Just want to say hello and introduce ourselves and get a little bit of advice. We are currently living in Canberra and we are coming up to a year living here and in Oz. Our plans were to originally go to Perth via a family sponsored visa but with all the visa changes in 2009/10 we ended up going down the state sponsorship route and got a visa for ACT instead. We love living in Canberra, more so than we thought we would, we think is a a great place for the kids, easy for commuting to work and to get around, met some brilliant people and made great friends butour dream was always Perth and by the sea plus we have family there too which is a big draw for us. And, Canberra is sooo cold in the winter. We have had such cold mornings and overnight but on the plus side we have lots of sun and the afternoons are generally sunny, Autumn was lovely too. We have 2 daughters aged 1 & 3 so moving would not affect their schooling. In fact, our eldest would get to go to school a year earlier as the cut-off date is end of June rather than April here in Canberra. Before we got here the plan was always to go to Perth after 2 years thinking that we would not like Canberra, but we do like Canberra and that is the issue. I think we are a bit scared now to make the move in case we don't like Perth!! The negatives i hear alot about Perth from this side of Oz and from people who are going to move from Canberra eventually to somewhere else is that it is isolated, there is nowhere to go outside of Perth. But for those living there I am sure you feel so different about that statement and that you hear is so often from those on the East coast. My family often go to Busselton, Albany, Margaret River and so on. Living in Canberra is also isolated in a way, we are 3 hr drive to Sydney and you don't do that every week as your life is in and around Canberra with friends, work, kids stuff, etc. We have been to Sydney a few times, to the south coast, driven to Brisbane. We would like to fly from Canberra to other parts of Oz but the connections via air are rubbish and very expensive, so any flying we have to drive 3 hr to Sydney. I feel that if we really wanted to visit other parts of Oz from Perth for a hol then the flights connections form Perth would be better and cheaper. I am not to sure what I am asking here really other than probably to feel encouraged about the move and that I am worrying about nothing? And we are still not 100% sure that we are going to do the move. PS - we have been to Perth twice, once in 2008 for 2 weeks and last christmas for 10 days, both times we stayed with Family in the hills area. Sorry for the waffle. Cheers Claire, Pete & family.

thanks everyone for the replies, info, tips and advice. I have replied a few times now but for some reason PIO keeps removing my posts, very strange.

Hi Did anyone ever fly with China Southern? Am looking for flights back to the UK next June for 2 adults and 2 children and the main airlines (Singapore, Qantas, Virgin, Emirates, etc.) are all quoting around $9.5 to $10K return. Whereas China Southern from Sydney-China-Paris-Manchester around $6.5K. I know they are a basic airline but interested to hear in anyone's personal experience. Thanks Claire

I know a few people who have settled in Woden / Weston / Tuggeranopng and are happy down there. I couldn't give you any info on the schools in those areas as I am in Macgregor in West Belconnen and my two girls are only 1 & 3 so not yet at school but, the myschool webiste http://www.myschool.com.au/ will give you info on all of the schools so you can look at the results to get an idea of the better schools. Also this website gives you info on the better schools in canberra (both private and public). http://bettereducation.com.au/school/Primary/act/canberra_top_primary_schools.aspxWhere you live to many also depend on work. If you were going to work in Gungahlin, then living in Tuggeranong may not be the best choice but, Canberra is a small place and you can get from Tuggeranong to Gungahlin in about 30-40 minutes. May be more in the mornings, unsure. Or if you worked in Civic then anywhere is not that far to get into Civic for work. It takes us 20 minutes to get to Civic from West Belconnen driving. The south is hilly and scenic and there are also hilly areas up north too. Rent in Woden would be more than rent in Weston or Tuggeranong too but you have to shop around on allhomes.com.au to see what is out there for when you arrive. The new builds in Gungahlin are nice but they do have smaller gardens. If it is gardens and space you want then perhaps go for an older property but if you go for an older property I would recommend getting one with heating as it gets very cold here in winter. We are in a new build and the garden is a fair size. Plenty of room for kids to run about. There are also older properties in Gungahlin too, with bigger gardens in the more established suburbs like Nicholls, Palmerston, Ngunnawal. It is the really new suburbs which you will find have the smaller gardens. Have a good drive around when you get here to get a good feel for the place both north and south, and, see where the shops are in relation to where you live and/or parks. If you are only going to use one car, then this may become important to you. Look out for the meetups too which are posted on here. I am sure more will be popping up when spring and summer arrives. Good luck with it all Claire