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Hubby is a carpenter but is looking initially for work in a packing firm, making crates etc for shipping. Will he need to get a white card? If so, how long does it take to get? Melbourne Victoria. Does he need any other paperwork apart from his visa to start work? Thanks

Go Matilda, definitely. Good luck with your move to Aus

Any tips for preparation? Our house is due to be packed by Doree Bonner in 2 weeks and I really don't know where to start! To what extent do you need to prepare the house? We will be dismantling beds, tables etc and I have disinfected the shoes, bike wheels etc. Do the packers really just come in and pack the house as it stands in every day life?! I feel I should be doing more preparation.:laugh:

Uk to Melbourne

Hi, I have a home made canvas, my daughter made with untreated wood. Is it possible to ship this if I paint the bare edges, that aren't covered with the fabric, with paint? Or would customs still have a problem with it? thanks

Got £500 off lowest quote on a half container by telling the companies I wanted a price match on a quote from a competitor. Just went with the one I liked best - which was Doree Bonner. Got insurance through letton percival

Why is Australia worse than Uk if you have no money then?!

So sorry, you did indeed. Many thanks to you too :hug:

Thanks for a very informative response Petals. Very much appreciate a direct answer to the question. As my Uncle says....I would rather be skint in Oz than in the Uk! We are not after a free ride, just some assurance. We have always worked hard and will continue to do so. We are moving to Australia despite the negative comments, who knows, maybe our hard work will pay off, either way, we will try. I could rant for a week about how we have been screwed over recently with companies going into liquidation owing us money then setting up again the following week in another name, or the fact that we had to sell our house due to bad advice from a mortgage lender and the fixed high rates etc etc, I could go on with more but hey, positive mental attitude is what it takes to keep going and we will try our best as always because that is us!!!!!!

Sleeping on the beach sounds like a good option, lol!! We have validated PR independent visas. Moving to outskirts of Melbourne. Hubby going over in 6 weeks and rest of us going end of September. Hubby will be staying with family so will be able to save some money up. He is a qualified and very experienced carpenter who is doing a menial job to try and make ends meet here after his business was knocked for £30,000 and sent us under. Hopefully he will get a decent job for decent money in Australia but I wanted to research all avenues, as I always do! Just in case his wages aren't what he was expecting initially. We are well researched in most areas, but the rental help is something that is not easy to guess (same in this country), there doesn't seem to be anyway of gauging in advance so I guess we will have to wait and see what happens if we do need it. Good to know that you don't get penalized for having a spare bedroom though! We are not looking at renting a mansion and have set ourselves a $370 a week limit so hopefully we will be self sufficient.

Hi, could anyone please tell me any useful details about the Australian equivalent of housing benefit, I cannot find out much about it online. Do they have the same rules about squeezing 3 children of the same gender in the same room or penalize you money? We get approx £500 of the £750 paid in Uk as we only have £63 a day coming in after tax, any idea of the equivalent scenario in Australia? We have 3 daughters: 18, 7 and 4. Any facts and figures would be very helpful, thanks

We are moving to Aus on an independent skilled PR visa and will have to apply for a vic driving licence. What happens about our uk driving licences? Are they automatically cancelled when you move out of uk? If we move back to Uk will we have to just phone for a new issue or do we have to take another test etc?

Some helpful advice possibly.....give CCCS a ring - charitable organisation to manage debt. We are in a similar boat to you but we sold our house, still have lots of debt left over. We went to CAB first and got some atrocious info from them - one chap just said forget about the debt and just move!!!CAB indeed!! We didn't qualify for a debt relief order (similar to bankruptcy but for under £15,000) our debts are just over this. We have set up a debt management plan through CCCS and they have been brilliant. They write to the credit card companies and get them to freeze interest on cards (though not all are willing, but most did) and they negotiate a repayment amount that is comfortable for you by taking into consideration your monthly outgoings and your wages etc. They are very knowledgeable people at CCCS and it is all done over the phone, you just have to email or post proof of wages to them and they sort the rest. Nobody likes to have debt hanging over them and the sooner you get sorted the sooner you can start again. We didn't want to burn our bridges in case we want to return to uk in the future. This was the best option for us but give them a ring, they are free, take no money from you what so ever and they know their stuff.

Can you get away with shipping new stuff like shoes and clothes or do you have to declare it and get taxed on it? I have about 15 pairs of new shoes for the kids that will be going to Melbourne in a container. Also am I allowed to ship suncream.....I know there is a lot of chat on here about it but when we went to Melbourne last March there was no such thing as kids factor 50! Mad I know, my aunt who lives there had never heard of it!! So just wondered if it is allowed in a container? Also make up? ​Thanks :wink:

Been wondering this myself. Also if it would be best to get medical insurance to cover this. At the moment I usually have a scale and polish every 3 months and a check up every six months, wondered how much that normally costs? Hope someone out there can answer all these questions :cute:

Our monthly outgoings for family of 6 is £2500 including £750 rent and £125 council tax, this includes £200 a week on travel. Food is about £150 a week, hope this helps

Sounds good, can you also tell me if the skype facility on the hd version will work in Oz? Thank you all for your replies

will my kindle work in Australia? Do they have amazon yet? thanks

going to watch for answers on here, very interested to know myself

Thanks, i thought it was a common sense test but it's the not knowing for sure that was doing me in!!

Does anyone know what's involved in obtaining a White Card in Victoria. Is it test based and is there a revision guide?

my other half did the practical test which took about 8 hours in Preston and then had a questions and answers session which comprised of mostly health and safety questions - lots of common sense things and also safety concepts specifically about Oz like bush fire hazards etc. Don't know if this is much help to you though as he didn't do the technical test. Best of luck with your application :biggrin:

is this part of the skills assessment?

Don't forget to haggle, got £500 knocked off our total

Thank you Ozinoz, what a very kind post xxxx