ABL275

I came over on a 457 and got made redundant. I also have an Australian wife and applied for an 801/820 Partner visa and it was issued in about 10 days once I got all the paperwork together. I don't remember any of it being conditional on her working.

Sounds good - I'd be interested, keep us posted.

Hi - I'd worked as an independent contractor prior to moving over on a 457 visa and wrote my own resignation letter and reference. Regards your previous employer, you get away with just attaching a note to the application to say that the company closed down, I got the impression that with the 457 visa (and my subsequent 820 partner visa) application that they are looking for an overall weight of evidence. Very few questions will be show stoppers in themselves if you can't answer them completely.

Very similar timescales for me too

My wife and daughter lew back to the UK On Virgin Atlantic last summer and hated it. Main reasons included: - cheap, lightweight seats that didn't provide proper back support and left my wife with a backache for days afterwards - appalling food for the adults and food that was utterly in edible for the youngsters - no snacks or other refreshments provided unless you went and foraged for them yourself Last time I went back I flew Qantas and sat starring at a blank TV screen for 26 hours so none of them seem to be doing very well!

In Canberra everyone seems to have scratched mine anyway, they're bl**dy mindless when it comes to parking too close to other cars and just flinging their doors open.

Some me really good general advice; not sure I'd agree with all of it but each industry is a little different. The only concessions I really made was to spell out some of the common British abbreviations e.g. National Health Service for NHS, add "UK" in front of Government Departments names' to avoid confusion. i also translated budgets into dollars at the approx rate at the time, so a $5m project 12 years ago would be a $15m project not a $9m project as it would be now.

Been here 3 years and all my computer equipment is still on UK plugs and I just use UK multiplying extensions with an Aussie plug on the end. I only really swapped over to Aussie plugs for portable stuff.

Something like 6% of Australians are actual Brits with an Ozzie passport and something like 55% of all Australians have British heritage. Only recently the Sydney Morning Herald ran a story that claimed the recruitment market in NSW had been cornered by the British and Irish. The biggest foriegn ghettos in Australia are in some of the towns south of Perth where over 70% of residents are....British. I think I'd be tempted to keep hold of my $95 and my CV just as it is. My British CV worked just fine getting me a second job here - good luck!

Very amusing (but you are joking - right?)

Really good question and I'm really sorry to say I don't know (useless I know but I've had a glass or two). We came out on a 457 and the way it works is that each state can charge foreigners a percentage of the total cost of putting children through a PUBLIC school education. The total public school cost is about $11k p.a. and NSW charges foreigners about 30% of that (it's 100% in the ACT so smile). Catholic schools are a kind of half-way house to fully private education (actually a 25%-35% house in terms of fees) but they are also subsidised by the state in recognition of the fact that the state could not provide Public education to all kids without them so I really don't know if the NSW government would charge say 30% of the subsidised element of say $7k. However (getting to the punch line) the Aussies are very good at putting everything online so try picking a Catholic school website and digging down into the enrollment/fees sections. Apologies that I can't be more helpful

Just take your UK licence and $38 or thereabouts down to your local CanberraConnect office (one in each 'town centre' except maybe Gunghalin?) and they will give you a nice shiny new ACT licence in about 5 mins.

Hi Snifter, (how do you do that referencing by the way?) I can only really speak about the 457 route as that's all I have experience of, but living in Canberra it was pretty easy to walk into DIAC 'HQ' and get a detailed briefing. Strictly speaking if a 4-year 457 visa is issued by DIAC it won't expire until the end of the 4 years unless DIAC (and only DIAC has the power to do this) decide to cancel it. The visa continues to exist even if the individual for whom it was created, cannot no longer meet it's terms and conditions (it would create too much needless additional bureaucracy to ensure all open visas were still being used and Lord knows, more bureaucracy is the last thing we need in Canberra). The status of Bridging Visas types A-E is an odd one as they don't really seem to really exist on their own, they just affect other visas. As I say, in my case the bridging visa just extended how long I could stay on a 457 without actually working for my sponsor (I was 'let go' unexpectedly but fortunately my wife had dual nationality), from 28 days (now 90 days) to as long as it took to process the Partner visa application. I never received a 'bridging visa' by email or post and my immigration status (I checked on VEVO) just remained '457 visa holder' until the Partner visa was granted (by email) and it changed immediately to '801 visa holder'. I guess I was fortunate in that I submitted the bulk of my application and then submitted the police checks 3 weeks later and my 801 visa was granted 9 working days after that.

Yes - I did this in January 2013. Very scary at the time but it all worked out well and very quickly (in fact I skipped the 820 visa and was awarded an 801 visa straight away). So first things; a quick lesson on terminology (and bear with me as someone else is bound to quote this at you anyway): You can't cancel a 457 visa. DIAC issue the 457 visa and only DIAC can cancel this. Employers can ask DIAC to cancel it but almost always don't as DIAC then asks questions about why they applied for it in the first place. Once you have applied for an 820 you automatically 'receive' a bridging visa (you won't get any paper on even an email it just has the effect of extending your existing visa even though you would otherwise not be allowed to stay in Australia on the basis of it) i.e. ordinarily, a 457 visa allows you to work in Australia for a named employer (only) and once you cease to work for that employer you will have 3 months (it used to be 28 days until recently) to find another employer willing to sponsor the existing 457 visa or you will have to leave the country. The bridging visa will extend that 3 months for whatever period is required for DIAC to decide to give you the 820 visa or not, but here comes the crunch, you can only work for the employer sponsoring the 457 until DIAC make their decision. If you quit your job, you will not be able to work for anyone else and nor can you leave the country. Consequently timing can be very important as DIAC quoted (in Jan 13) that partner (i.e. 820/801) visa processing times can be up to 14 months, so things to consider include: - your bridging visa starts as soon as your application is received by DIAC (in Brisbane) but you can submit an application part completed. In my case I had to wait an additional 2-3 records to have up to date police checks in the UK and Australia. - the 820 visa application is a hefty brute to complete and may take a week or so just to gather all the documentation and evidence together - Despite the warning of 14 months processing times my visa (in line with several other PIO members) came through in about 10 days. I'm guessing, that if the application and supporting documents are all in English and you and your partner are married and have been so for a while then it's really easy for DIAC to process and so it goes through quickly. If the documentation requires verified translations and/or your relationship with your partner is not obviously long term (to a Public Servant sitting in Brisbane) then it may take longer. I suggest it would be best to stick with the job while you can and go through the 820 visa application process first before quitting, otherwise if you quit now and your application is not straight forward you would be prevented from working for quite some time. Good luck and let us know how you get on,

Hi - welcome abooard! If you're looking for a cheap car then wait until Saturday morning; people take their cars for sale down to their nearest main road intersection and just park them on the grass with a priceand telephone number in the windscreen - some good bargains to be had. :biggrin:

Fellow Scousers........ With a pub............ In Canberra......... Do you know which one?

No problem. Just two other thoughts which you may already have addressed; if you have school-aged children you'll need to contribute towards their schooling (I think for NSW it's 30% of the nominal annual cost which currently seems to be around $10,000-$11,000 per child so it may cost you 30% x $11k x no. of children) - but your visa may stipulate a contribution waiver; and, many employers used to bridge the exchange rate gap a little by saying you'd be better off because of LAFHA (living away from home allowance where you could claim your rent and a subsistence allowance tax-free) but LAFHA is now restricted to Australians living in Australia so hopefully no-one will try and offer you that. Good luck!

Thanks for leaving such a heartfelt post, I'm sure it's just the sort of info snd thoughts that potential emigrants will find most useful. We live in Canberra and have had a few ups and downs but by and large I think we're happier here; I guess everyone's story and situation is very different so good luck back in the UK, I really hope you find happiness back home - and please don't be a stranger here, it would be great to know how you get on.

For what it's worth, in our experience, we've rented twice and while all the forms look really officious, if you turn up to a open house looking neat, tidy, we'll dressed and can demonstrate that you've got a decent job and background then the agents tend not to bother too much with the rest of the tests and checks. As Australia has so much net immigration, most agencies understand the challenges that can be involved and will make allowances accordingly (half the agents are probably British anyway!)

I don't think there was ever an original source, many people (including myself) just worked the numbers and a great many seem to have come back to around the 2.1-2.2 mark in recent years. The simple answer is that for many years the dollar to pound exchange rate hovered around 2.2 (prior to that it had been around 2.8 for many years), but the feeling was that 2.2 was the recent long term exchange rate and even though Australia recently experienced a mining boom which pushed the exchange rate down to 1.8 (or even below 1.5 about a year ago), retail prices in Australia didn't just suddenly drop accordingly and were assumed to still be priced at an equivalent of 2.2 dollars per pound or thereabouts. If over the next few years the rate stays at about 1.8 such that prices in Australia rise only slowly in the next few years, then 1.8 will become the new long term exchange rate, but the signs are that it is creeping back up bit by bit. Of course you could also list out your monthly expenses or weekly shopping and do a comparison of each in dollars and pounds.

....but your original post starts "Everyone...." Maybe be it should have started "For people in my state, on my visa, in my situation....."?

Having recently been been through this with my daughter and walked a friend through it, these ARE NOT PRIVATE SCHOOL FEES. The figures quoted by Wrussel are the costs of sending children through the PUBLIC school system. However, it's the extent to which these costs are met by the state or individuals that is the question. For Australian citizens, permanent residents and certain visa holders almost all these costs are met by the state (there are residual voluntary contributions and other contributions that may be charged as noted by rosiew). Non-resident foreigners are generally required to meet a portion of these costs and that portion varies by state; for most states/territories the contribution level is indeed 0% but in NSW (which has high numbers of foreign visitors) you have to pay 30% of the total costs stated by Wrussell; in the ACT which has very large numbers of foreign diplomats, lobbyists etc, the contribution level is set at 100% (figures correct at 2012-13 and may have changed slightly but the concept hasn't changed significantly). Furthermore, in the ACT at least, you had to pay the whole annual amount (plus an 'administration fee' of $400 per child) up front before the child could apply to a school and there was no refund if your circumstances changed during the year. As we live in the ACT, we decided it was actually cheaper to send our daughter to a very good private school than to a public school which just shows, as in the UK, how state-provided education is far more expensive than private education! Hope this helps to clarify things,

Hi Mathix, have a look at Breezer's thread on the Liverpool FCC supporters' club as he's already done a lot of legwork on this. I'm a big Liverpool fan; I'd have limited ability to get out to see games (work, family etc.) but would certainly be keen to see some of the World Cup games - see what you can arrange.