SallyKay

Thank you SO much! This has made me relax! Thanks for the advice about the book, we will get in it and get revising! Luckily my hubby is a clever clogs unlike me! :biglaugh:

We are in the process, it hasn't been that hard at all, lots of paperwork to begin with but once that's sent off it's just waiting! Got medicals sorted without a hassle and police check was easy! Good Luck with it all!! Where do you plan to settle?

Just wanted to say a MASSIVE thank you to you for posting this! We are awaiting my Partner Visa as I'm a Brit, hubby is Australian but has been here for 22yrs. After reading your post we are now applying for his UK Citizenship before we go as he didn't have it only had PR which after two years away from the UK he loses. We were going to book our flights to go in May just this weekend so had I not have read your post we wouldn't have known! We are in a panic now tho as I'm worried that they may track my Partner Visa application and discover that we are emigrating. Do you think this would affect my husbands UK Citizenship application if they found this out. Can they even find this out I wonder?!?! Sally

Thank you all for the positive vibes, I'm really hoping it is just based on him! I'm not sure if they start questioning your intentions to continue to reside in the UK etc, I don't know the process apart from the Life in the UK test which is going to take some serious revision! I hardly knew the answers!! Unbelievably hard!!

Hi everyone, just to explain a little, I am British and my husband is Australian but he has resided in the UK for 22 years and has PR here. We have been married for 4 years and have 2 children, both born in the UK. We are emigrating to Oz and we are awaiting my Partner Visa grant. We have recently had a panic as we discovered that once my husband has left the UK for longer than 2 years he loses his PR. We are giving Oz a 'try' as I may not settle, you just never know how you will get on until you're there so I want to be assured that we can return to the UK easily if needs be! He can apply for a Resident Return Visa which from what I've read isn't always guaranteed, plus Visa criteria changes over time so wouldn't want to risk that, then there's the UK Spouse Visa but this relies on me earning a certain amount to be able to even sponsor him, currently I am a full time mum and I don't work this will no doubt change but again, it's not an easy option. So, we have decided that he should apply for UK Citizenship, he has every right to it after 22yrs here and it would be daft for him not to get it. My question is will they find out about my Partner Visa application if he applies for UK Citizenship and if so will it stop him getting his Citizenship if they catch wind that we are emigrating? I'm guessing it will affect it but wonder of they can find out we have applied if not? Thanks so much! We are stressing!!:arghh::arghh::arghh::arghh:

Hi everyone, hoping somebody can help with this. My husband has lived in the UK for 22 years and has permanent residency here, however, will he need citizenship to return to leave in the UK if we ever wanted to return if Australia didn't work out for us? I just read something on another post that has worried me that he'd need UK citizenship. Does anybody know I'm in a panic! My husband has been certain he can reside permanently here but does it apply if you have left the country for a duration. Obviously hoping Australia works out for us but I must know we can return if we need to! Thanks so much any advice will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you both so much, really informative. Actually my husband is an Aussie so both my kids are Aussie citizens which I'm hoping may make a bit of difference with funding for support if needed but I'm not sure obviously. He doesn't have 1:1 constantly during the day it's just with a few areas he struggles in but he can be challenging at times and he is behind with his learning, however, we have just discovered that the school has received an inadequate Ofsted report so I should think the school haven't been doing enough for him hence the fact he is so behind! We are in a real 'what to do' situation now as we would like him to continue in mainstream as he is here but if the support isn't there we feel very strongly that to have him in a special class with children that are low functioning will be very difficult for him and I'm worried it would be such a huge change on top of us emigrating as he is so used to mainstream. Such a dilemma! I assumed support would be the same as here! Never just assume! Lesson learnt!

Hi all, I just wondered if anyone has emigrated with a high functioning autistic child who was in normal school with one on one help here in the UK. I have read that there is very little one on one aid available in the schools in Australia and that he may need to go into a special class of which many have low and high functioning mixed in together. I'm finding it all a bit upsetting as I would prefer him in normal school but if the aid isn't there I know he won't cope and neither will they as he is very challenging at times. He has his own special needs assistant at his current school and we are being told he is moderately on the spectrum, firm diagnosis is in November. She is amazing with him, however, he is behind with his learning even with this aid and they still find his behaviours difficult to manage at times but i have been assured he doesn't need to go to a special school here in the UK. I would feel better if I knew the special classes in Australia varied on severity as I'm concerned with him being in a mixed class of low and high functioning autism i'm not sure how he will settle and whether his difficult behaviours may get worse if he is with children with more severe autism as i know they learn a lot through observing others as they struggle so much with social rules. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

I have heard about this regarding taking the kids home if the hubby won't agree or worse still if you separated. I will be looking into this as I have heard many stories of women that become trapped due to this. Thanks all so much! Really helpful info!

This is so helpful, thank you! My husband and I have been together 7 years, married for 3 years, we have a 6 year old and a 3 year old. I had a feeling it was 4 years, we have friends who are claiming after only two years on a working visa they are getting citizenship! Can't be right!! Thank you for the info!!

Hi there, i'm getting a little confused the more I'm reading so I wondered if anyone can give me a definite answer here, if I get my permanent spouse visa granted which I know requires me to be in Oz for two years with my husband am I then able to apply for citizenship and if so how long does this take and for me to apply for an Australian passport? I want to know also, if, once I have my Australian passport if I decide to move back to the UK for any reason I can return at a later date to live in Australia if i wish to? Both my children are Aussie citizens and even if we did move back to the UK if i feel i can't settle in Oz I fear one day my kids may want to come out to live so it would be good to know how long I need to stay in order to be able to come and go if I wanted to to avoid another Visa application. I am sure I will absolutely love it and want to stay forever but you never know so wanted to check! Thank you!

Good to hear about the hay fever, myself and my son suffer terribly. It makes perfect sense that we will be subject to new strains but good to hear that some of you have found that after this initial period things settle down!:wink:

This is really great to hear! Thank you!

Yeah I expect it through the winter months I think it just seems to extend to spring and autumn here now as the weather is so much worse in the last 6 years. I'm hoping as we had the heat wave this year it may have killed a few viruses off so we may have a better Autumn although having said that my kids already have colds after two weeks back at school! Ha ha! Thanks for your replies, I guess even if they continue to get sick the sun will at least be out! :-) x

Hi there, Just wondering how often your kids get sick in Australia compared to the UK. I'm hoping a lot less as all through Autumn to Spring my kids seem to get one thing after another. My kids are healthy and don't seem to be ill anymore than anyone else's I know but it seems there are just so many germs here during these months. I'm hoping when we emigrate next year due to the different climate a smaller population we won't have as much??

Thank you all for your helpful comments and Helen it would be lovely to keep in contact! LKC, we are pretty sure Joshua has Aspergers but we will see. He is a quirky little character too and can be highly anxious, likes things looking right, symmetrical etc and has his little habits. I've found the lead up to diagnosis so hard as people make judgements and his behaviour can be very extreme at times. He's in normal school also but has his ' moments' and he has a quiet space he goes to. His anger can be extreme and this is one thing I find hard to deal with. I think once I gave diagnosis I will feel relief too, it's been going on since he was 3 years now! Be lovely to keep in touch also. Thanks again! X

Fantastic, than you so much! I shall begin ASAP, I think i was just thinking it would be one less thing to organise before we went hence me asking the question. I appreciate your quick responses, thank you.

Hi all, We are due to go out to Australia next September to try it for one year to see if we like it. We are selling our house as we had planned to move anyway and want to have the money in our pockets so that in a year if we want to stay we can just buy without having to worry about selling our place back home. My husband is Australian and both my kids are registered Australian citizens it's just me left to sort my Spouse Visa. I have read the wait is around 9 months and I just wondered whether you'd recommend that I apply here or go out on a visitor visa next September and just apply out there? Which way is easiest and is one quicker than the other? I know that where you apply is where you need to be when the Visa is granted. We have so much to sort out on the lead up to next September I'd rather do it out in Australia really but if it's easier done here then I'll do it here and also my concern would be that if it did take longer than 9 months to be granted my visitor visa may have run out if i apply out there so what would happen then? I'm assuming I'd have to return to the UK?! I think I'm almost answering my own question here! Do it in the UK! Lol! Anyone that has done either, any advice would be really appreciated? Thank you!

Thank you all so much it's so good to hear positive stories and especially that they're not as large as the photos you see, I'm sure there are some that are huge but I'm hoping those are a rare find! After googling far too many photos and stories to try and 'prepare' myself I ended up scaring myself to death! I guess people love to tell a horror story no matter what the subject! Feeling much more positive, thank you all so much! Xx

Thank you all and especially Lady Rainicorn, this is exactly what I was worried about and thank you for the link! i will not spray the house and learn to live with them! ;-) xx

Hi all, we are due to emigrate near to Sydney next year and as many people have also posted, I am a bit worried about the spiders. The huntsman due to their size does worry me most as I know they come into the house. My question is, how effective is spraying the inside and outside of your house? I've heard the huntsman still come in?! Also just wanting to know how safe it is to spray inside as it's obviously chemicals, I know they'll say it's safe but I have kids and am concerned about the chemicals and what they are inhaling. Thanks so much! Can't wait to come and join you all down under!! Xx

Thanks NicF, yes I'm sure it depends where you are. We have two schools near where we'd like to settle. One has around 1000 pupils and the other has around 500. My son cones from a very small school of around 200 so thinking a jump to 1000 may be too much for him. This other school that has 500 pupils also has a special needs department so i have read and although my son is high functioning I felt having a school with this facility would be good. His current school I have been pleased with although on their recent Ofsted they have received 'Inadequate' in nearly every area! Shocked us silly but on the plus side it will give more hope for his next school, things can only get better so they say! x

Thank you so much Rupert I appreciate your time and moving my thread on to a more suitable forum. Xx

Hi all, Does anyone in this area have a child with an ASD? We plan to emigrate next September with my 3 year old and 6 year old, my husband is Australian and we have already sorted the children's citizenship. We are in the process of having our 6 year old boy diagnosed here ( taking forever as things do in the UK!) as the school suspects he is on the spectrum, mild to moderately, although you'd never know to meet him! I'm a little worried as to how he will cope with the change and also I'd like to know how the schools are in comparison to here with dealing with these disorders. Just as well I'm sure but any advice would be greatly appreciated and anyone living in the area, i would love to keep in contact for meet ups etc once we are out! Thank you! Sally xx

Hi all! Not sure if this thread is still running but myself ( British ) and my husband ( Aussie ) are moving to Umina/ Ettalong next September! All very exciting but very scary! I will have a 3 year old and a 7 year old when the time comes, it would be lovely to have some contacts for coffee mornings etc! Saschamartini, we have just been to Umina/ Ettalong for 5 weeks. My husbands mother lives near by. It's a beautiful area with two great schools. One of his cousins has worked at Umina school and says it's a great school. Umina is slightly larger than Ettalong but both are in easy walking distance from each other. Umina has a stunning beach, two large supermarkets and a fantastic kids playground. I loved it! Keep in touch if you end up in the area! :-) Good luck with your move! Sally. Xx