Alaska

Great news emperor! I wonder if there are different "queues" for Direct Stream and Transition Stream? Does anyone know. Ours was submitted on 27 March and have had no word at all. I am slightly nervous as our MA was completely useless and we had to correct her on numerous things. Just hope she submitted everything correctly.

We had only been here about 15 months when I needed to get DS's countersigned. I just explained on the form that we had only been here 15 months and a teacher friend of mine did it. It came back fine.

I am not talking about you at all, but I know your statement isn't true for others. Our "registered migration agent" has known very little, made numerous mistakes and given us lots of wrong advice. People on this forum have known far more. I hasten to add that we didn't choose her, she was employed by DH's company

If your DH's employer is willing to sponsor then the ENS (186) is a good option. Over 2 years and you can do the transition stream which means he doesn't need a skills assessment. We have applied for that one and it's been 13 weeks processing so far but hopefully not much longer. It was something around $7000 for a family of 4 so would be a little less for you. All the information is on the Immigration website if you want to get details about prices etc. I would think it would be a migration agent that you would need, not a solicitor or lawyer. I have had dealings with Go Matilda who have always been very good and honest so would definitely recommend them from everything I have experienced.

I thought PR was only "valid" for 5 years then you need to apply for a RRV which is dependant on a number of factors and if you haven't spent time in Oz, it may be an issue. I would make sure you are fully aware of the implications if you are going back. Good luck with the decision and doing what makes you happy - just make sure you have all the information for your future. x

That explains why things seem to have slowed down. Just hope nothing changes on 1 July that affects us!

Yes, it is a bit random it seems. We haven't heard anything yet either.

In an ideal world I agree but for a single parent especially, it may be difficult to get back from the city at that kind of time. I am lucky and work in a school and am back by 3.30pm but not everyone is that fortunate.

I find it odd that our OSH closes at 6pm and we are out in the outer suburbs of Brisbane. Must be a real rush for parents who work in the city to get back.

All the shipping companies told us that customs don't like rust so we did leave a few things behind for that reason. Jeyes fluid on everything else and it all got through fine.

Hopefully although there may be one or two things they want additional information about. Realised it actually went in 27 March so it may not be long until we hear something.

I am very surprised by the people I have met, since moving here, who have no idea of what a 457 is and that it isn't an automatic gateway to PR. I think here, on the forums, people are much better educated about the risks. I guess warnings are fruitless for some as they won't be seen by the people who don't do the research I am the spouse of a 457 holder and haven't found work an issue. They just wanted to know that I had rights to work and took a copy of the visa. Must depend on your field. For some people taking the PR route isn't an option, and this was the case for us, so we felt it was a risk worth taking. Our PR application (ENS transition stream) is with immigration now so really hoping the risk will soon pay off!

That's good news Huttu. Hope the rest comes through quickly. All our paperwork went in on the 29 March so hoping we hear something in the next week or two!

Car rego is around $600 a year for a normal car My car insurance (through Coles) is about $450 a year. Contents insurance (through youii) is about $300 but that really varies depending on risk factors. If your property is water efficient, then you will pay for water. Ours is about $50 a month from memory. Not sure what you are factoring in for health insurance as they are all different but the people I have spoken to pay around $500 a month for good cover. Don't forget to factor in doctors visits (unless bulk billing), all prescriptions we have to pay for and the dentist. I recently paid around $500 for check up, clean, small filling and 2 fissure seals to give you an idea. We budget with food and probably spend around $700 a month which is the main shop at Aldi, meat at a butcher and fruit and veg at a market. Also don't forget about school stuff. We pay around $150 a year for book pack, probably another $100 on uniforms and probably another $100 on trips, donations, fundraising etc. Mobiles - I brought my own and pay $30 a month with Telstra (same as pay as you go) which does me well. You will need to service the car (well should do anyway!) but no MOT to pay for obviously. If the kids want to do any sports then they are often pretty pricey - often around $15 a session. You do get some short courses of things like AFL, cricket that come into the schools which are reasonable prices. We use the PCYC which have great prices. Rent is obviously very dependant on area. We pay $2000 a month for a basic house in a good area. Hope that helps. x

Congrats Petrova! Must be a great feeling. I wonder why yours took a bit longer. Which country are you from? Ours went in 10 weeks ago this coming Thursday, so really hoping we hear something in the next few weeks.

There are some reasonably priced cinemas around the city but I can't remember the name of the chain! Also Tuesday is usually half price day for other cinemas.

At the end of the day the health insurance companies are in it to make a large profit. To me this shows that the vast majority of people won't get their "money's worth". There often seems to be fairly large gaps too so you end up paying a lot on top of the premiums. As Blossom says - you end up paying a lot more for things like having a baby, than you would in the public system. I think that, if we had enough spare, I would do what Quoll suggests and put a dedicated amount into an account each month so that if I needed to go private I would have a good sum waiting if the public waits are too long.

I don't know for sure, but I don't see why it would change the date of submission as you are only uploading additional information - you aren't resubmitting the whole application.

I am not sure of the process for the EOI but we made a mistake on the actual visa form (it was something we didn't have knowledge of when we submitted the application). We had to fill in a form to say there was an incorrect answer.

I think a lot of it is finding "similar" people to yourself. I count myself as very fortunate as I hooked up with a group of people from different nationalities who all had small children and we met on a regular basis in parks. This was from joining a Facebook group that I heard about from someone on here. It wasn't just for expats or people who have moved to Brisbane but it pretty much ended up being that as we are the people that are all in the same situation. The first time I went to one of the meets I felt really down and also kind of disloyal to my good friends in the UK. I felt that I had great friends and that I didn't want to have to put myself out there, at this point of my life. I'm glad I stuck with it though as I have formed some very solid friendships from it. I also was fortunate to be a stay at home mum when we got here so I was able to be at school drop off and pick up and I introduced myself to everyone and explained that we had just moved here. I realised that people aren't magically have any idea that you have just moved and know no one. I have some great friends from that class, and 2 years later, a group of 5 of us go out for meals regularly and meet up with and without the kids. I met another good friend, at an event and heard she was from the UK and we hit it off. I even walked into a Poms in Oz meet knowing no one and met some lovely people I am still in contact with (and saw last night actually ) I understand people who say "do what you are happy with" but it seems that it isn't making you happy. I really think it is worth coming out of your comfort zone. I am pretty comfortable in my own skin and don't need to be around people all the time, but I recognised that this was a unique situation and I had to put myself out there. For the first time in my life, I was the one going out of my way to talk to people. It really has paid off and I definitely have a better social life now that when I was in the UK - that is largely because most of my good friends were dotted around the country there and we lived in a separate area to where I grew up. It may take time and some people really are too busy for new friends but don't take it personally. Good luck. xx

Great news PL. Ours went in on 29 March so maybe we will hear something in the next few weeks. Hope so.

A lot of the reason that the pay seems low is because it is a short day - mine is 5 hours and also you are doing a 40 week year. It's not quite that simple though as I do extra time per day (unpaid at the time) which then covers the holidays.

I am a specialist TA in QLD and I don't really agree with what some of what has been written here. My pay is virtually identical to in the UK - it is 2.25 times more per hour in Australia in terms of £ to $. I do have a degree but no one has ever asked about it. I got my job by doing voluntary work which led to casual and now I am on a contract. I am in a high school (and sometimes a primary school) whereas I was in post 16 education in the UK so can't comment about responsibility differences but it seems to be broadly the same. In general we are well respected by the teachers and given quite a lot of responsibility.

We are in Brisbane and had a lot initially (mainly smaller ones) due to having trees and bushes around the house. We cut back the bushes and also used an outdoor Mortein barrier spray. Seems to have done the trick and not had that many recently.

If you get the Childcare rebate then I think Childcare is way cheaper here. My local nursery cost £42 a day (going back 7 years). Here our local one is $72 before the rebate which works out so much cheaper.