Alaska

Go Matilda have a very good reputation so they would be a good agency to contact to see your options. They were very upfront with us about our (limited at that point) options, so I would trust their opinion.

I didn't use them for visas as DH's company employed someone different unfortunately but they have been the source of a lot of priceless information for us over the years - in fact even when the agents we were using had no clue, Alan was very helpful with information. We have used their tax company - GM Tax - this last year as we had a very complicated situation with selling 2 houses in the UK and getting PR, and they have been very knowledgeable and it's gone very well.

Just to point out I am not a "cat hater" or the like. I am definitely a cat person and would love one, but I have changed my mind about the benefit of owning one here. Yes ticks as well. I look for the article in a second but remember reading that they think feral cats destroy 75 million native animals a night! That's a lot of native animals! I certainly don't have an agenda here as I would love one but I am just not convinced about it any more. Here we are; http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/feral-cats-re-write-the-australian-story/5802204

Off topic a little but, but related. I had ideas that we might get a cat over here as I grew up with cats and love them but since living here I have changed my mind. I have had friends' and neighbours' cats get stuck down the big drains and been bitten by snakes, and the damage they do to the local wildlife is immense. Australia has an absolutely massive wild cat problem these days. The other alternative is to keep the cat indoors all the time of course, but I wouldn't have been happy doing that. It's a personal decision, but we decided that having a cat in Australia wasn't right for us.

Good luck. Please make sure they are MARA registered agents! There are unfortunately some cowboys out there.

If your wife isn't keen then chances are it wouldn't work out anyway. You don't mention extended family but if she is close to them then the chances of it failing (with her not being keen anyway) are extremely high. It's normal for people to have doubts before coming but it depends how deep hers run. Also, what is it that makes you think Australia is for you? We love it here but were very realistic about the pros and cons and potential pitfalls (which were huge for us as we were on a 457 visa for the first 2 years). If you do come, then you have a lot to work out first as there could be a lot of resentment down the line if she feels she was pressured.

Yes - that's right. I remember it explicitly said that you can't update the address if you live abroad (I went to change it when we left) so you shouldn't have to worry about fines.

I am not sure if this question was aimed at me? If so, I'm really not sure. We got our PR last year and sold our properties soon afterwards. It is all a bit complicated as one we bought to renovate and sell and went into negative equity, the other we lived in until we left in 2009. I have always done our taxes ourselves even living here and renting out in the UK, but this was a step too far for me, hence employing GMTax for this one. Alan especially has always been really helpful with advice on here so I figured we would be in good hands.

That is currently being sorted out by Alan's company GMTax :notworthy:

We sold two properties last year after receiving our PR. It was very straightforward. We didn't do anything regarding PoA (in fact I only just heard about it on this thread!) and didn't have any issues at all.

I find it's all down to the individual that is dealing with your account rather than the company. When we first let out years ago, I had a few around. One woman really impressed me - had been there for ages, really thorough and knew her stuff. Agreed the deal. She left the next week and never saw her again! The person who took over was appalling. When we emigrated we went with a small company who were known to us. They were generally fantastic and a much much better and more personal service than the larger company we had previously dealt with (who overpaid us, underpaid us, did no inspections, sent us the wrong statements, renewed a lease without asking us (!!!!) etc). The other thing is to make sure you arrange your mortgage so you can let out. Our lender did a "consent to let" which we could have until the end of the fixed term at the same rate (with a small set up charge). It's also worth doing the taxes yourself and doing the paperwork to do this so the agent doesn't take out the percentage automatically. We found it much better to do it ourselves financialy. Good luck.

There has been some examples quoted on here especially if under a certain threshold so worth doing a search. Good luck.

True that you don't "need" anything. I did ask for some copies of consultant letters and think I paid about £3 altogether for them to cover printing costs.

I think it's all to do with the insulation. Our brick rental was really cold in winter and really hot in summer (basically it was always several degrees warmer than the outside temp). Only advantage is that it cooled down quickly when the sun went down. The brick house we bought it much better insulated and it doesn't get as hot or as cold. The only disadvantage is that it doesn't cool down as quickly at night so the summer nights stay hotter.

There is a good checklist on the immigration website if you have a google. x

We are using GM Tax for this year's returns. We have always done it ourselves but with selling 2 properties and gaining PR it is very complicated. We have talked to them previously and always been very impressed with their information and response times.

I agree. She has to go to the police however difficult it is. Chances are he will do the same and worse to the next girl.

It is my understanding that you will be charged local fees also. I haven't heard anything to contradict that. We were on a 457 but went state here in QLD (no fees).

Stacey - as soon as you can just do it. I think there will always be reasons not to but I think you will regret it if you don't. If you wait too long something else will crop up that makes it more difficult. I am going back a good few years now, but I did my WHV the year after finishing Uni. I had £400 so landed and just went around all the agencies within the first few days and was doing call centre work within the week. Nothing at all glamorous but between that work and bar work I always found something. The other thing I did a lot was shifts at hostels for free accommodation - so manning the front desk in the evenings mainly. Honestly it was the best thing I ever did. It made me in a lot of ways - gave me confidence and the realisation that I could achieve things on my own. It wasn't always easy and I didn't like all the jobs I did, but needs must. It, along with travelling I did afterwards, opened my eyes to so many things and experiences. I really impressed myself on so many levels. I think just do it!

Exactly that. We cancelled and just used Medicare after getting here without any dramas. However I have a friend who was turned down for vital surgery as she was told the code wasn't covered on reciprocal Medicare on her 457, fortunately she had private too so was covered.

We had a similar situation to you - we were well set up in the UK, young kids etc. Nothing was wrong but we both felt like that life was short and we wanted to experience different things. It was an incredibly difficult decision and I wasn't 100% about it to be honest. However I am really glad we did it and have been very fortunate with setting up new friendships etc. That's not to say that this is forever, but it's been a great experience. We decided that we would regret it more if we didn't give it a try and always wondered "what if". The only thing I would make things better would be being able to afford to go back to the UK every year or two as there are some people I miss incredibly.

Just as an aside - that's great to hear that you have 3 passports. I have been told by 4 people (two of which got the information directly from Oz immigration) that you can only hold 2 passports including Australian here. From my research the confusion might be that the term "dual" is used when it's interchangeable with "multiple". Hopefully 3 is ok as DH already has USA and UK.

Yes! One of my closest friends, I met on this site as we were moving to the same area. Also have another good friend from here. Actually another 2 who I meet up with about once a month who I met via a meet up on here. I guess real life takes over and actually I forget that I met them on here originally.

The problem is though that you are appointed a person within the company to deal with. So we rented the same house for 3 years and had some great ones and some appalling ones. Luckily at check-out time the person was very reasonable and sensible and we had no issues at all, others we dealt with during the 3 years were awful so were fortunate we didn't have to deal with them.

If it will make you feel more confident and comfortable and isn't too expensive then there isn't any harm in it. When I arrived in Sydney (this was before everything could be done on the internet mind!) we paid for the first few nights to be sorted out, airport pick up, tour of the city etc. Just took a bit of the stress out of it for us. These days all the information is easily accessible via the net so shouldn't be too difficult. Just do whatever will make you enjoy the start of your amazing trip.