k8bug79

I wondered about a similar idea myself, where do you find people looking for house sitters?

We can't go before sept really due to finances and kids schooling obviously for the right job we could as finances would be easier. We are not front loaded as want long lead in time. We are working on filing in june, asking them to request meds and pc at last stage, which will be 4_5 months so oct/nov then we have until a year after then to go, can't risk not getting jobs and having financial commitments :-(

Out of interest is it possible to apply for a 457 whilst applying for a spouses visa. Like you I keep missing great jobs that are also few and far between. We are outing my spouse visa in in june but so annoying to see jobs come and go. Admittadly we don't really want to go anywhere untill sept next year but for the right job we would

Could it be Australian institute of Marketing? Just a guess but I thought at first you meant Aim as in Australian Institute of Music so could be similar acronym?????

I am not sure how real this post is, but as someone who works in theatre and is well and truly old at 30+ something, I feel able to give you some advice. Firstly as others have said find a job that you really want to do, there is nothing more soul destroying than doing a job just to survive, You are along time working to not enjoy it. I am currently studying my degree and it is hard work, very worthwhile but def not something that you can just breeze through and as an arts professional I find it somewhat insulting that people think Drama is an easy option. I work very hard in a very tough business to get where I am today, albeit I am not an actor. But I know an awful lot of actors out there who have never worked or done very little hoping their big break will come one day. You tend to find they have the too young/ no experience or too old and not enough experience issue. Australia is really not the best arts climate to be in to break into a theatre /television career, believe me I know I am looking. If it wasn't for my past experience and family situation, I would not be considering taking my career over there. Yes you may get lucky but there are an awful lot of jobbing actors hoping to get lucky. We started talking about moving to Oz about 3 years ago. We though it would never happen and yet here we are 18 months away from going (all being well) and it really has flown by in hind sight and was worth doing it properly. Obviously I can understand that at your age it doesn't feel like that, I remember all to well the impatience that comes with youth but I really think you need to take some time to think about what you really want from life and actually work towards it, not expect it to be handed to you.

If you apply for a tourist visa and it has a no extra stay then you can't lodge a spouses visa and stay whilst it is processed (I believe) obv bummer re the WHV. I think sadly the only option is to file a partners visa over here and then travel back on a tourist visa, you will just have to be out of the county when it is granted but that can literally be a fly in fly out.

You can go on another tourist visa and apply out there. However it is frowned upon and you have to be careful that the tourist visa has a no extra stay provision on it, I believe (again not my area). Could you go on a working Holiday visa are you under 30? Don't know the processing times in that though?

As others have said you don't normally have to check in again, although sometimes you do so worth checking. When we were travelling around in South Africa, we had to check in but our bags were automatically transferred. One of our flights were delayed in and the airline staff took us and ran across the airport to guide us to our next flight as we literally had 5 minutes. After pegging it across the airport that too was delayed lol.

Hello and Welcome, I hope you can find a way to be back together soon, would hate to be separated. The partner visa is for couples that have been in a de facto relationship for 12 months, you will therefore need to prove that you are in a committed relationship and have been for 12 months. That usually means living together but that doesn't mean that has been for the past 12 months (As far as I understand the notes on the visa). You will need to provide evidence of the start of the relationship and the continuation of the relationship and plans for the future etc. The visa is taking about 6 months to complete though and you should be prepared for it to take longer, so you may not get back there quickly (sorry). I am just starting the process so only know from research of the visa notes not experience, I am married and been together for a while so it is "easier2 for me so I haven't paid a lot of attention to the requirements for a de facto but I am sure someone on here asked a similar question and had the same said to them.

I think this pretty much sums it up. pr can return for 5 years then they need a rrv (taken from immi.gov.au) If you migrated to Australia in 1987 or later, your initial visa gives permission to return to Australia for up to five years. After that, if you want to return to Australia as a permanent resident you must hold a valid visa, such as a Resident Return visa (RRV). Permanent residents in Australia should ensure they have a RRV that will allow them to re-enter Australia, before leaving Australia

Thanks can I clarify, do you mean you can leave for up to 5 years or the visa lasts for 5 years and then you are expected to gain citizenship?

This confuses me, so if I get a permanent spouses visa how long can I be out of the country before it expires? Not that I am thinking we'll leave before we get citizenship, but would be good to know.

That's good to know. I did have a look at the map where we intend to be living and there is lots of national parks so figured there may be plenty of opportunity. Fancy buying a Ute (just to get in the true cliché of Oz) and being able to take bikes wherever. Shall I take of the rose tinted glasses yet lol

Hello, I have done all functional research now (that I can think of for now) and I want to look at what thing we are likely to do as a family out there when we arrive! My kids are still quite young but last year we took them in a cycling trip and we all had a great day. It is something that I would like us to do more of. I am aware that it may be too hot to enjoy it for some pats of the year but I'd rather it was that way round than too cold for most of the year!!! Also I have always wanted to learn to sail and have my own boat. My husband can sail basically but even so I would like us to get some proper lessons before embarking on a trip!! He and my son like the idea of fishing and maybe the girls will like it too. My questions are re the cycling, are there good trails and spots for cycling as families, any good websites, groups etc for any of you that do this? Re the sailing. Where do we start? What is the cost and requirements of owning a boat out there, presuming we kept it out of the water where do you launch it, what do you think the costs is monthly? Any tips re owning, sailing etc gratefully received.

Thanks for the tip. Thankfully I did reprint them the other day. How typical though, best laid plans and all but by the children were in bed and we were ready to start it was 9.30 and too late to think about it properly, so I guess as always is the case it will be delayed again. Might try this evening, but I have an assignment to do so may have to do it in a coupl eo fweeks. As long as it's before July I guess that is all that matters

Hope the wait isn't too long

Well today is the day that we have set aside to work on my application for a spouses visa. Sorry bit of a pointless post and not exactly a remarkable event but even so the last few days have held mixed emotion. I have had the application forms kicking around for a couple of years, even filled one in 2 years ago. But after waiting for permission from my ex to take my eldest and for money, we are now ready to start getting the real application going. We are still not intending to file it until June as I have an exam then that I want to concentrate on before giving all my attention to the final check of the visa and submitting before any July price hikes. Whilst this isn't exactly the first step for us. OH started that by claiming citizen by descent, but I think this is probably the first time it has felt real and right now I am not really sure how I feel about that. :wub:

Will ask when we book though. trouble is he is going on ahead and I will be travelling with 3 children. Don't think I can manage 120kgs by myself lol so was hoping he could load up and I'd take less

Balls

yeah def better to have a web based email. You can get things like outlook or in the case of Hotmail windows live to manage your email in a similar way to the main providers software and def better when you decide to change providers or move countries lol

Hi, my OH is a Oz citizen by descent but never been to Australia. I hear a lot abut how with an unvalidated visa you can get 40KG luggage allowance, and that this is usually applied when you check in. However will my husband be able to get this? I know we can probably ask the airline company at the time of booking but just wanted to know if anyone else had been through a similar circumstance?

By the sounds of it Gracie your son will stay in the equivalent school year. My son was 5 in dec and is in reception if moved next jan he would go into year 1 only repeating the bit beteen sept and jan. But fully expecting it not to be 'repeating' as it's a different curriculum

I was getting confused about it but actually its very easy. THe school years are the same as ours except they are different names. Their school year starts in January as opposed to our September. I think the only difference is that where as our school year is selected by the birthdays 1 sept to 31 Aug. They go 1st July to 30th June. Except NSW (there may be others) that take birthdays 1 Aug to 31st July. So if you son's birthday is in July/ Aug he may be effected but otherwise he'll just shift where the academic year is, not the actual year.

It is always worth having travel insurance. We went to the canaries, which of course has a reciprocal agreement as part of Europe, with my son when he was 5 weeks old. He became ill with Bronchiolitis and pneumonia and was critically ill. To start with we were sent to a private hospital on our medical insurance, but were quickly transferred to state once they realized how ill he was. Although his care was mainly on NHS Reciprocal agreement, he was airlifted to another island, this was not covered. Neither would our accommodation and flights to join him. We ended up spending 10 extra days out there and it would have cost us thousands. For the very small amount it costs (£17 in our case if I remember rightly) it is definitely worth it.

Thanks Peach, sorry i didn't respond sooner I didn't realise anyone had responded to my question. Thats good to know