Blazingmonkey

You are completely right. We are in Belfast at the moment but hoping to be out either to Oz or maybe England by the end of next year. My husband works in IT and is very good in his field with 5 years experience. He gets calls a couple of times a month from recruitment agencies but the money over here is so different from the mainland. His wages over here are good at £23k but when he compares it to doing the same job elsewhere its way below. We will miss our family and friends but at the moment its not a great place to be IMO. The house prices are cheap but tend to be cheap in areas you wouldn't wan't to live in or raise a family. But thats just my opinion!

Thats when we are aiming for too. We have done the IELTS and put the skills assessment in 2 weeks ago,have another 10 weeks to go for a decision! Finding the wait hard! We have been talking about going for 6 years and have been getting ready to apply for the past 18 months (We wanted to get married first! ) After all the talking and planning now that we have started its very scary and exciting!!!

I have worn glasses since I was 3 (I think) was born with some eye condition in the left so had surgery when I was 2 or something. I hate wearing glasses but my eyesight is really bad that I can barely see without them. I tried contacts a couple of times but got put off when we where on holiday in Florida and my contacts dried out and fell out!!! We had just got to disney as well so we had to leave as I couldn't see at all and my husband had to lead me the entire way back to the hotel!! I can laugh about it now. Lol. I asked about laser eye surgery but I can't get it as my eyesight is to bad I was too high a risk or something!

Thats great thanks Angie can I ask the name of the place and how much they charged? I couldnt see any NI places on the IMMI website. Thanks

Hey Guys, Sorry for hijacking this thread but I have a quick question for you guys that have already got the visa. We are just waiting on getting the skills assessment back then will be applying for the visa (all being well!) Was wondering where did you go for your medicals? I know there is no where in northern Ireland so did you just go down south or did you have to go over to the mainland? Thanks

We are lucky as we can have both British and Irish passports ( We have both at the minute ) and when we get out to Oz and if we stay we will get an Australian one when the time comes. I agree that its great for our future kids/grandkids as it will give them many more opportunities!

Do you know why this is? I thought that we would pay in dollars then my bank would change it to pounds. It just seems a bit unfair that its near an extra £500. I'm just a bit confused. Thanks

We are getting ready to put our ACS together for my husband. Should be putting it in at the end of July. Fingers crossed!

We have a Ford Fiesta Lx 2004 model with Aircon and 72,000 milies I think over here its worth about £1200 Between $7000-$9000 Its prob not worth it but wanted to check!

We have to pay for bags over here also and all shops on Sunday are only open 1-6! So I'm looking forward to the shops being open longer! Lol

We are getting ready to apply for the ACS for my hubby in a couple of months. We are not in a rush so just want to make sure we have everything in place. He has done his IELTS and got the scores he needed, 9 in listening, 9 in reading, 8.5 in speaking and 8 in writing. I think he did so well as he took his time in preparing everything so we want to do the same with the ACS. So has anyone tips for doing it? We have read all the info the ACS and he has started to get his references in place!

I don't think thats low at all. Im only earning £17,000 a year and my husband who has a really good job is only on £24,000. Maybe thats just where we live thou

I'm 24 and my husband is 29 (near 30 ) and he is the main applicant. My current job isn't skilled at all so doing an open university course at the minute to try and get some qualifications before we come out. I have A levels but just didn't bother with university at the time, wish I had now thou! We where planning on coming out on a WHV about 4 years ago but decided on buying a house as family kept saying that was the best thing to do! Doh!! Starting the Visa process now thou and hoping to be out in Oz by the end of 2014 or start of 2015! Well that's the plan will see if it works out like that!

Wow that is quick! I was looking online and I thought the processing time for a 189 was 12 months and 6 months for the 190? That was the only reason we where going to go for the 190 to get out quicker! lol

I know this has been asked a couple of times so Im sorry but was just wondering which one is the best to go for? I understand the 190 is ss, we are looking at Victoria. My husband is a developer programmer who is doing his Ielts in May and doing his ACS in november (he will have more experience then so want to wait till then). We hopefully would have the following points: Age: 30 (he is 29 atm) English- 20 (hoping to get 8's) Employment- 5 Degree- 15 So if he does well in the IELTS he will have 70 points, even if he gets 7's we will still have 60 points. I know that SS gets us another 5 points so depending on his results 65 (if he goes for SS and gets 7's or 75 points if he gets 8's. So my question is should bother with SS as we have enough points for the 189?

Thanks for the reply. Thats exactly what is concerning me about giving up our jobs to go to an unsure market. We have always wanted to go to Brisbane and have been a bit pig headed thinking that we don't need any help and we can do it on our own! But the more I think about it if we go to Melbourne at least we will have the support if we struggle with work as the Uncle wont kick us out if we don't have jobs but the landlord in melbourne most certainly will! My heart is saying Brisbane but my brain is saying Melbourne!!!

We are in the process of applying for our visa and are trying to decide where would be best for us to settle. To give some back round it is just me, husband and our dog! My husband works in IT at the moment as an Analyst Programer mainly using .Net with about 5 years experience. My job isn't very skilled I work for a bank doing customer service and have done for 5 years also. We originally we def going to move to Brisbane as it looked like the best place for us and looked like there was lots of IT jobs however from reading some threads on here it seems that the IT market is starting to get more difficult? Also as we wont be coming out for approx 18 months to 2 years, could it get better or worse (I know no one can tell the future lol) I am not fussy with my job and Im going to be happy to do anything at all really. We are thinking Melbourne now as my husband has an uncle that lives there and he has offered us a place to stay until settled which would be easier. However have heard melbourne is a lot mor expensive?? Also is the IT market any better in Melbourne??? Sorry for the long post and all the questions just can't decide now!!!! Thanks

Hi Guys, Hoping someone can help. Me and the OH are hopefully coming out to Brisbane within the next year and I was wondering if anyone new any good websites for sorting short term accommodation before we come out. Prob looking for somewhere for a month or so, until we organise are more long term rental. Everywhere I look seems very expensive! :0 Any help would be appreciated!