Nerak123

THanks all for your responses. Petals that's very useful to hear of your experience. I'm keen not to ping pom so hoping to get it right this time.

Not taking the bait on that one!

I'm posting this just so know one gets royally ripped off in the same way as us with shipping. We recently shipped back to UK - but the same would apply to move over to oz. Essentially we paid to have our stuff delivered to within 30 mile radius of London as we didn't know where we would be settling when we moved back. As it turned out we ended up in Hampshire and when we notified the shipping company they advised there would be an additional charge of $672 - as that was their price for Hampshire. When I checked on the map and did the maths it turned out we were exactly 35 miles from London so only 5 miles outside the permitted radius. We had quite an argument about what constituted a "radius" as the shipping company argued that it meant travel time! Eventually, and after a huge amount of hassle, I got them to reduce this price but we still ended up paying an extortionate amount of money for an additional 5 miles travelled. When you are moving country you have so many things to think about but this shipping company were not at all transparent about their additional charges and I hope by posting this others can avoid the same problem.

Hi, thanks. We lived in London for 13 years before moving out. I'm hoping Melbourne will have something of the bars and restaurants and theatre of London, the sandy beaches or Brisbane but without being unaffordable...don't want much do I? I wish we'd tried another city before moving back to the UK.

Hello, the only thing I would add is don't feel that if you have an agent do the app for you that this is necessarily the safest route. I went to many expos before doing my visa my husbands visa and later a child visa - I heard a lot of agents talking about taking the 'risk' of doing it yourself. I found no end of help both on sites like this and from the officials . If you are organised and ok with paperwork there's no reason you can't do it yourself.

Thanks, it's more about the lifestyle than anything else which I'm worried about.

Thanks, I'm a solicitor. I specialise in financial services so Brisbane not great but I know Melbourne and Sydney would be ok for me. Our visas are based in my husbands job which is in demand in oz. I was on maternity leave whilst we were in Brisbane so it wasn't so much an issue but I would like to know I could go back to work again when the time arises - I have just had a baby girl so it won't be for another year.

Hi, Some advice please! We recently returned from Brisbane after a year and a bit. I liked many aspects of Brisbane life but it wasn't great for my work and I found myself getting a bit tired of it as it felt like a country town. Although beautiful beaches etc of course but I felt like my world had shrunk to the gympie road the chermside mall! I have been wondering whether somewhere a bit more cosmopolitan would suit us better like Melbourne but I'm worried about property prices and whether it would be as family - friendly as Brisbane ? I have two young children. A perspective on Melbourne (or Sydney) vs Brisbane would be very much appreciated.

Thanks guys!

Hello, We are moving back and I'm getting quotes from three companies Crown, OSS and Grace. Has anyone had any experience of these companies? We had a bad experience with another company so I'm keen to avoid another bad company and the quotes are coming in at the same sort of level. If anyone has any feedback positive or negative could you let me know? Or pm me if more appropriate!! Many thanks.

Hello all, I think sometimes you need to have the debate - if your not having out loud or in a forum then guaranteed youll be having it in the back of your mind - is it right to go? Right to stay? There's no right answer but we all look for it anyway. Truth is there's nothing wrong with Australia (except it he sausages which are crap) but whether it suits you, whether you love it or hate it is such a personal thing no amount of pro- oz or ant- Brit analysis will help. That's my thought on it.

Hello, i would work through your visa options in the Australian government immigration website, see how many points you need and whether you or your husband would be the best applicant. I can't say whether you will find it easy or not to get a job over here but I suspect a lot will depend on the area you intend to move to. Your husband' s family may be able to sponsor but I would work through your visa options, or speak to a migration agent to find your best visa route.

Hello, to be honest there is limited data sharing in Europe let alone between the uk and Australia so you should be ok but you may find it helpful to bring a tenancy reference with you from the uk. It's very difficult to track people cross border. If you are worried about the tenancy thing we brought a 'to whom it may concern' type letter from our last landlord - just to show a previous good history of renting- and this seemed to go down well - if you are worried.

Hi Peanuts, i sympathise as its another up front cost you just don't need. Mothercare australia/ target / Bubs website will give you an idea of the cost of a car seat over here but we got $100 off our maxi cosi air by shopping around (cost $200 in the end). We transferred our 8 month old from his rear facing capsule to this seat when we arrived. I would recommend buying a seat as opposed to hiring as from my experience the hire ones are dreadful and expensive and beware if someone offers you one as there was a bad case here recently with a hand-me-down seat. Also worth checking out some of the costs of other baby essentials - I wish I'd stuffed a load of sleeping bags (a gro bag over here is about $70) and sangenic refills in my shipping container! Clarke children's shoes are expensive too.

Thanks guys!

Hello, Sorry if this is answered elsewhere but I can see plenty about uk car seats not being legal in the OZ....but what about Australian car seats in the UK? We dutifully bought a new Australian car seat when we moved over here (giving away a lovely uk isofix) so now I'm wondering if we can bring this seat back with us..

I wondered if anyone could recommend some good baby shops in Brisbane? I have been to Mothercare in chermside and there are some of the other chain shops there too but are there any other independent shops people can recommend?

Thats really useful. I moved Brisbane a few months ago while on mat leave (from an in-house job with a bank) I haven't started looking for work yet as getting settled and my son into nursery has taken a while. You said it took you a year to get qualified in Australia, is it essential to do so? I'm thinking of all the Australian and New Zealand qualified lawyers I worked with in London.

North lakes is supposed to be teeming with Brits i hope you enjoy the move to Brisbane. I'm in Sandgate and my baby boy is only 1 so not much help otherwise I'm afraid. Wish I was that organised before moving over!

I am not aware of any (others might) but you are in a slightly different situation as your visas aren't granted yet so may be worth having a word with your current case officer to see if there is anything they can suggest....I don't not know either what the situation would be if you actually had the baby in Australia.

Hello I did these forms for my son, we already had our 175 visas when these were granted. The forms are straightforward but weren't an easy fit for our circumstance, the approach we took was to explain the answers we gave. I can't recall whether I used a separate note or not or if there was a space on the actual form. Either way i recall putting "for question x we have included x information because...etc etc" For 40ch we put we were permanent resident as that was the status of our visa even though we were outside oz and we put the date we validated our visa for that question (but explained it). For 20 - basically you are "sponsoring" your child (this is a visa app in its own right not an add-on) so it's about showing that you will support them etc. (of course you will) I attached a statement about my husband having a job in oz and that we had savings etc. I attached some evidence of both of these. Q30. Seems right to me. 47CH - I put details of a child isa thing we had but it had very little in it. I think provided you can show you can support the child then there is less onus on you also showing they have their own means.

Hello, I was in the same boat we had 175 visas but then I became pregnant and my son was born in August last year. You can't "add" a child to your 175 as such you need to apply for a child visa. Look at form 40CH There is another one too but I can't remember the number. The child migrant visa is very easy to do but if you are thinking of going soon then chances are you will have to do 2 applications; 1 a child migrant visa which is about £1300 and 2. a tourist visa ( £75 ) while your waiting for the child migrant visa to be granted ( it takes about 8 months) so you will need a 6 or 12 month tourist visa in the meantime. Tourist visa is also very easy. I found it best to get a case officer in place for the migrant visa and then I spoke to that case officer about the tourist visa. Our tourist visa was granted in a week or so. Hope this helps.

Well there you go a variety of differing opinions, some differing advice and a few people having an argument about trolls or something. Bet your glad you asked the question now! This forum is great for sharing experiences and some help with the form filling but anything more serious in nature.. probably not.

Hello, sorry to hear about your dilemma, one question - who is your credit card with? It's perfectly possible to chase a debt out of jurisdiction and possibly fairly easy for them to trace you in the uk too if the bonds haven't been long broken ( and your ex is forthcoming with your address) It is however more costly for them to chase you than if you were an Oz resident but obviously if they are an international institution it may make their life easier.

Thanks for that, possibly we should ditch the ikea furniture....