fluxsta

457 served it's purpose for us, and we are now residents. Nowt wrong with the visa, make it work for you........

No offence but why the fascination with North Lakes? So many people on this forum loooove North Lakes, if you want to live in a rabbit hutch, enjoy. Sorry rant over.......

Rain and flood risk? It is Queensland, it floods inland as well, and in low lying areas?

Each to their own but North Lakes is congested, confined and too populated for my tastes, but what the hell, loads of poms seem to like it there so who am i to judge.. Would avoid it like the plague.....

This has good reports this school: http://www.livingfaith.qld.edu.au/s/ and is down Brays Rd, just off Anzac Avenue, 5 mins from North Lakes/Mango Hill. And also 3 minutes from my house. A note of warning......there is NO train line built yet and it appears nothing is on the horizon. This is QLD ok? :-) living in North Lakes....a car is a MUST

G'day all, not been on here for a while, living the dream north of Brisbane right now. Anyone on here had experience of being a fly in fly out nurse? Mental health working specifically?

Hi lovely PIO member,s we are moving, live north of brisbane CBD and need boxes for our stuff, having thrown them all out like fools a while ago! So, anyone have any willing to collect whenever suits you. North or south of Brisbane CBD? Cheers

Northern suburbs? less traffic if commuting, we are near Petrie, less built up, we like it.............south of the city always seems busier?

Still need a skills assessment, but a cheaper one. Seems nuts as I am already AHPRA registered? p.s. found sausages but there not like UK ones and not from Tescos......might start a thread about it... ;-) :biggrin::jimlad:

Thanks for confirming. We fit into the positive skills assessment category then. I have to wait 6 months to approach my employer then, and in meantime pay ANMAC the $300 for a modified skills assessment. The position has to be available for 3 years at least, not a 3 year contract, just available? e.g. hospitals always need nurses right? many thanks

Hi forum, been a while since I have looked on here. brisbane is treating us well, and been 3 months so far! my question is posted toward anyone with the experience really, but maybe a migration agent can answer on here? We came on 457, I am a nurse who is 4 years qualified. My contract runs for 2 years and we wish to go for PR ENS. Immigration site states that if you have 3 years experience and you have your skills assessed then you can apply for PR. However, there seems to be a general feeling that you have to be working in Oz for 2 years before applying for PR. This would mean getting another 457 with my employer and then applying for PR immediately. The immigration does state if you can do 'one of the following'....and that is A. 2 years work on 457 and at least 12 months with one employer B. Hold a qualfiying visa (e.g. 457) C. Have held your profession for 3 years and had skills assessed. Any feedback people? My company welcome suggestions for PR ENS after 6 months, so if we can get the ball rolling then it would be great....... Missed this forum BTW, good to be touching base (even if it is for advice again!) Been spending too much time eating SAUSAGES

You need the IELTS test period........ good luck!

Have PM'ed you.....good luck!

It is awesome!! Towels free if staying in hotel......do it, well worth it and cheap as well. We loved it, shower etc Enjoy

Dear fellow PIO's, Through our journey we found lots of conflicting information about IELTS test and whether it is needed or not. So, please, a bug bear of mine on here. Why not take it from the organ grinder and not the monkey and look at this link that FINALLY clears up all the misinformation and personal opinion that bounds around here about this wretched IELTS test...... http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov.au/News/2011-08-29-New-English-Language-Skills-Registration-Standard.aspx PERIOD, END OF STORY, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO IELTS IF YOU ARE A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER!!!!!!!!! Stop listening to gossip..... Thanks for my rant, but I have found this forum very very helpful, but also sometimes a little frustrated about the misinformation that has been communicated to people and leading them up the garden path.....this moving toOz stuff is stressful enough... Thanks :mad: :biggrin:

I think as far as AHPRA states then yes they are correct in saying that there is a period of time to do it and then you have to start from scratch. Please PM me if you wish to correspond as I don't pick up notifications unless you quote a post and i dont' use this site much anymore! Look forward to hearing from you. Cheers!

Kev, Your the business mate......still chuffed we can hang out Nige and the brood

Second IMAN......great service, changed to monthly payment once we got here

Congrats!! Had my first day today, nursing seems very different here mate. Right, lets clear this up. You WILL need proof of private health insurance to satisfy 457 visa requirement, period. Secondly, visit local medicare centre when here, fill out small form, show passport. They give you temporary card, and proper one is posted out to you. We are keeping private health in place, even with medicare as you will need it for dental plan. Good luck and well done on getting job!!

Ok, 1.Send ALL documents to AHPRA 2. They send 'letter of eligibility' 3. Attend AHPRA office, show ID and proof of visa. 4. Your name appears on register. They will e-mail you to tell you it was doen. Took me five days for name to show up. Voila, I have just done it and am now in Brisbane.....very very simple. If you are unsure of anything call AHPRA and avoid all the hearsay and gossip...... Good luck!!

What is this based on? Sounds like your on the wind up? Bet you got back pain from that chip.......

The transit hotel is located within the airport and is there if you wish to pay for it and have a long layover between flights. the stopover is merely the time between flights, the transit hotel is not part of any booked flight. Link below: http://athmg.com/ We used it to have a shower etc, block book in 6 hour periods and you can then pay by the hour. Cost us around £60 for 7-8 hours.....beats sitting around the terminal. If you search the forums there is a long thread started by siamsusie with all the info about Singapore airport.

Too much negativity on PIO mate. Feel it is my duty to post our experiences thus far. After all, it is hopefully a positive move, and if not I also like to read the posts from people where it hasn't worked out. Good vibes breed more good vibes my friend! :biggrin:

20 month old twin girls and 4 year old girl.......our experience so far is yes it is more tolerant to kids. Can only speak for Brisbane where we live.Child friendly restaurants, play parks everywhere, indoor ones in shopping centres (free) and even one in the medical centre and also at Bunnings hardware (B+Q equivalent) store. Schools we have seen have great facilities and S P A C E for kids to play

We landed 12th August via a good flight with 9 hours to potter at Chiangi, Singapore having booked into the transit hotel, use the rooftop pool, free foot massagers and look into the stifling butterfly garden. Our 3 girls (20month old twins and a 4 year old) were absolute angels bar a few breakdowns. We arrived Brisbane airport at 09:30 and tried in the process to leave our now unlawful car seat by a rubbish bin, only to be met by two police officers who politely reminded us that we had ‘left it behind’ and forgotten it. This was later thrown into a skip at the car hire, but we were able with the use of the internet and Gumtree to source 3 second hand car seats for $70! Touch! A friend I had met on PIO met us at the airport and took our luggage to our short term accommodation for 3 nights. This was Scarborough Holiday Village. Very clean, compact but useful for 3 nights. We then moved on to a short term furnished property. The whole process of the first few days was tiring and our brains went into meltdown with information overload! I struggle to remember what we did, saw etc. I do know that first impressions were great and as soon as we landed we felt at home, and everyone we spoke to was friendly, approachable etc. After 5 or so days we got stuck in to finding a rental longer term and after viewing one place in Bray Park, we settled on a place in Joyner in northern suburbs. After reading so much on PIO we found it easy to get a rental. I believe that is because we got out there, spoke with people, made ourselves available and took action! Not once have we compared or griped about the UK, although I have had some productive conversations (all instigated by Aussies!) about the UK. After a few days I met up with ‘itcouldbeworse’ from the forums and my oh my what a source of info Kev proved to be. We were welcomed with open arms into his home and out of all the support on the forums; his has been the most genuine and objective. Before leaving siamsusie, itcouldbeworse and a select few others have been able to give of themselves and without their experience we would have just been another group of Poms trying to wing it alone. From what we have experienced those who do not take part in Australia 100% are going to fail. We have been taken places, shown around, lent stuff, helped with moving furniture in the pouring rain. THIS is what the forum has given us, so I thank all those members who have provided help. And also, without being too much of a bitch pour scorn on those who gripe, are ego-centric, force themselves on others and generally are not here to help but merely to cause trouble. They exist on ALL internet forums, this is not a reflection of PIO in general. Aside from all the usual stuff, TRN number, Medicare, work, getting rental, mobiles, learning about food specials and where to shop our experiences so far have been very positive. Without blowing our own trumpets this has been because we have taken action, not done it alone, sifted out the BS from the forum and begged and borrowed for stuff. We have found sites such as Gumtree, Freecycle and E Bay etc to be invaluable sources of help in getting cheap furniture. E.G. I e-mailed a lady on Freecycle who was getting rid of some books, turned up at her house and left with 5 bookcases and a TV stand FOR FREE! Pleasant lady, and also friends we met on a Facebook site pointed us in the direction of an elderly couple who had twin grandchildren and a host of toys they were selling and we got 4 kids bikes for $50!! If you have loads of money to do the move to Oz and want to buy brand new, good luck to you. We have bought some stuff new and also bought stuff cheap via aforementioned sites and spent I estimate £7-10,000 while we have been here. That includes car hire, new TV, new BBQ, stuff from garage sale, two sofas, fridge freezer, outside table and chairs, some furniture etc. The rest has been lent to us from people such as Kev. My 4 year old has a ballet class she is attending, the schools we have viewed so far seem amazing and the facilities fantastic. Food prices are the same. END OF STORY! No more futile UK vs. Oz debates, we are starting to buy meat in bulk from markets and looking at junk mail that comes through the door, as it contains who is selling things cheaply that week. In the UK we just slung it out! Aldi is also very good. It doesn’t mean that the UK shops are bad, or Oz is bad. It is just a new experience shopping at a few places. Of course we may well miss the convenience of shopping in one place. I tell you; once you taste the un-pumped with water chicken breast here then you won’t want Tesco chicken. Full of flavour. So, our experience has been that food is roughly the same, petrol prices fluctuate during the week but we have filled up when it has been cheaper. We have eaten out once and the price was similar to a Harvester, but because of the kids we have been eating at home. Everywhere is set up for kids, and they aren’t a hassle here, and there is a playground within each square mile I swear! I feel myself waffling, so to summarise it has been busy and we feel full of adrenaline but so pleased that we hit the ground running. Got mobiles, internet dongle, and roof over our head and people to help and the common sense to take action, ask for help and just keep an open mind. I start work next Monday so things should settle into a routine, and the kids are settling more now. When the temp is 23 degrees and you are looking out over the sea at the Sunshine Coast as we were today then life doesn’t seem so bad. My only tip is keeping an open mind, take part and accept help from others. Satisfied customers thus far and thanks you to all those who keep it real on the pages of PIO, we hope to offer objective advice based on experiences in the near future to anyone who needs it...........