InnerVoice

Congratulations to you James, that's the post of the day in my opinion. Opportunity knocks only once, so be prepared to open the door!

How can blame them when you work one week on and have one week off, and still earn more money. I'd be doing it myself if I was a few years younger!

I think it's worse at my current school but based on conversations with colleagues at other state high schools, it's a general trend across the state. The QLD teacher crisis has been well-documented in the media. They estimate over 7% of the entire workforce have quit in the last 18 months alone, with the workload being cited as the main reason.

That was true 10 years ago in QLD but not any more. We do far more admin now than I ever did in the UK, although admittedly I only taught there for a year after qualifying. In my subject area I used to have a lot of flexibility in what and how I could teach, particular for junior classes, but at my current school that's gone out of the window in favour of following the Australian Curriculum verbatim (which would be okay if it was any good). Just one of the many factors that has sucked all the joy out of the job in my opinion. Moan over!

We've had a couple of pay rises in the last two years and there's another one due in July, but we're still about $4-5k behind you guys, if you compare like for like.

On the Go Matilda website it states that they offer a free initial consultation without obligation. I'd have thought it would be blatantly obvious to an RMA when someone is trying to pump them for free information, rather than just finding out if there's a pathway available to them. I appreciate that there are a lot of time-wasters out there, but at the same time I don't think anyone wants to pay to be told they don't stand a cat in hells chance of getting in.

The key word here is registered. As Marisa said, they need to be registered with MARA ,and if they are they will have a Migration Agents Registration Number (MARN). Most RMAs will provide a free initial consultation without obligation so I'd stay well clear of anyone asking you for several hundred dollars up front, which I've heard of happening on a couple of occasions recently. And good luck with it all, you sound like a nice lad!

Okay, I'm with you!

Sorry, I hadn't realized the OP was in the UK - when he mentioned he had an Australian girlfriend I just assume he was onshore.

If waxing lyrical was on the skills list you'd be in already. Unfortunately it isn't, and considering there are different options on the table you should seriously consider approaching an RMA for professional advice. If you feel confident about the relationship then a Prospective Marriage Visa might be you best bet. If you like it, put a ring on it. You know it's what Hugh would do!

I did this for a few years back in the early noughties (and loved it), although the cost of living in Australia was relatively inexpensive back then, as were flights to and from. I remember getting Manchester to Sydney returns for £500-600 a couple of times. I used to be back in the UK for my birthday at the start of June, and leave mid September, so it was a 75:25 split in favour of Australia. I worked solidly for the 9 months I was here, so I could afford the other 3 months off. One year I spent that time in Mexico, so I didn't return to the UK for a couple of years. I also had a small UK property which I rented out so when I went back I stayed at my elderly mum's, who was always happy to see me with 9 months of DIY jobs saved up! Logistically it's still doable, but if I was you I'd be planning to spend at least 6 months in Oz. Unless you rent a room (which has its own challenges) or go down the AirBnB route (which would be expensive), the minimum you're going to be able to rent anywhere independently is for 6 months. You'll also find that if you only spent 4 months in Australia each year then won't meet the residency requirement (2 years here in the last 5) when you came to obtain your first Return Residents Visa. Missing the British winter never got old but the transient nature of the lifestyle does after a while, and I also found it hard to develop any lasting friendships in Australia. There's a sell-by date to the lifestyle too, especially when you find yourself in the backpackers in your late 30s whilst looking for the next place to stay - you start to feel like the oldest swinger in town!

I'd be really interest to hear your views about why you think WA offers better opportunities? A couple of recent migrants I know have chosen Perth over the East Coast because the cost of living is lower and they believe salary and working conditions are better.

The OP stated in an earlier post that they are likely to be moving to Queensland, which is why I provided the information about QLD salary scales.

Yes, you can be classed as a tax resident of more than one country at the same time. When you have dual tax residency the relevant double tax agreement (in this case UK-AUS) should determine your country of residence for tax treaty purposes, and which country has taxing rights over certain classes of income. It means that you shouldn't be taxed on the same income twice, but you will likely end up paying the higher amount of tax due (if that makes sense). As mentioned above, find a tax professional who has experience in both the UK and Australian systems for the 2023/24 tax year, after which you're probably going to be solely an Australian resident for tax purposes and it will be more straightforward. If you don't mind me asking, why would you start drawing your UK teacher's pension if you're still working?

Better call Raul! Sorry, I'll get my coat...

Totally agree. I've started using ChatGPT in my job for creating resources and it's absolutely brilliant, but when it comes obtaining factual information it's no match for a human who knows how to use Google properly.

As others have mentioned, I'd bring them if there's room in your container. You'll need to change the plugs but you can use an UK/AUS adapter in the short term. The people we bought our current house off kindly left us all their white goods (they were moving overseas too, but weren't taking a container) and because theirs were in better nick we just sold off the UK ones. The one thing we still have from the UK is a SMEG dishwasher which I bought new, and is still going strong 17 years later. Another consideration is that if you don't ship them then you'll need to dispose/sell them before you leave your UK home, so you may be without those appliances for a short time before you move - unless the buyer of your house agrees to include them in the sale.

Let's hope he still has a job. No doubt after that phone call he was severely reprimanded by his line manager for making decisions 'well above his pay grade'.

I remember the statements now you mention it. Mine was easy but my wife couldn't read or write English at the time, so I wrote hers too. It was obvious it was written by me, so to make it more authentic she copied what I'd written. It only took us 10 or 15 attempts to get something legible! I'd forgotten all about it, but that's probably the reason why.

That's exactly what I did for my wife's citizenship application and it was so much easier, not to mention no longer having to queue down at the shopping centre to get a JP to sign everything. Come to think of it I haven't seen too many of them around recently - maybe now everything's online it's made them redundant!

That's true. However, ISA providers are not permitted to allow UK non-residents to open ISAs, so there isn't a requirement for them to capture dual-tax reporting information. If you have an ISA it's going to be pretty much invisible to the ATO, unless you tell them. I'm not suggesting anyone evades tax, of course - I pay all my taxes like a good little fishy.

It's not hard as in 'rocket science hard' but I remember there being a number of questions which I found quite ambiguous, and back then there was nowhere near as much information online as there is these days. In fact I don't think it was possible to submit the application online because I remember completing all the paper forms. I paid for a consultation with an RMA to establish what evidence was required and he was very helpful. He even showed me one of his completed applications and he had a tonne of evidence compared with mine, but then you can't just make up stuff so I had to roll with what I had - and fortunately it was enough.

That's excellent advice, and the only thing I might add is keep your UK mobile service active so that once you arrive in Australia you will still be able to access your UK bank accounts, and other UK services that require 2FA. If you cancel your UK mobile service before you leave then you'll not be able to receive any authentication SMSs to update your details to your Australian number. I appreciate that many banks have now moved over to app-based authentication, but there's still a lot of organisations using the older method.

Having done one myself I would say they're both hard and complicated. Let's put it this way, if I ever get divorced and remarried I'll not be doing another!

I can't add too much more than what @Quoll and @Marisawright have said given that my experience in Australia is based entirely within the state school system, although I've had a couple of interviews in Catholic schools and I can confirm how much better their facilities are. Having worked in a very good state school in the UK for a while I can say with confidence that the academic rigour was significantly higher than it is in QLD state schools, but I think our schools are more holistic and students don't feel quite as pressured. As you've mentioned your daughter is quite arty, plays piano and is into swimming, so I think she would be served well by the state system - just as long as it's a good school. The list that Quoll posted is an excellent resource and even the state schools towards the bottom of the list have a good reputation. In fact I know teachers who have taught in the bottom two, Ferny Grove and Wynnum SHS, and both said they enjoyed working there. My advice would be once you've decided where you're going to live, have a look at the school website for the SHS in that catchment area. Scroll down to the bottom of the home page and open the Annual Report. Most state schools would love to bury this deep within their website, but they can't - it has to be on the home page. Open the report and scroll down to Table 5: Staff Survey. We complete this every year and it's completely anonymous, so we don't hold any punches. In fact staff who work in crappy schools rather look forward to giving them both barrels! The following table is for Wynnum SHS, and I've highlighted the 3 most important fields in my opinion. If any of those values are less than 90% then I'd have some concerns, and if they're less than 80% then I'd start to question if I wanted to send my child to that school. As you might expect, there's a strong correlation between how well behaviour is managed at the school and staff moral. Another section of the report I'd pay particular attention to is the 'rap sheet' (next table down). I would be concerned if there aren't any exclusions because that means they have a touchy-feely principal who's all about inclusion at any price (or can't be bothered to do the paperwork), and won't exclude a student regardless of what they've done. It doesn't take long for them to work out that they'll never be kicked out, so they can do more or less what they like. These kids don't care about suspensions as that's another holiday in front of the X-Box to them, so bring it on. I wouldn't support kids being turfed out willy-nilly, but if every now and then someone's head rolls then they know there are major consequences and it keeps them in line. Given your that private education has never been part of your ethos and what you've mentioned about your daughter's needs, I'd be looking at state schools initially, and if the school in your catchment area looks poor then consider the Catholic system. I know a lot of teachers in a various state schools, so if you'd like info about a specific one then please feel free to PM me. WSHS_annual_report_2022.pdf