wolvesaussie

Hi some opinions please. We live in one bed part furnished flat in Birmingham UK (rented) We own $400 worth of Ikea office furniture. $500 worth of ikea books shelves , Entertainment units $200 Coat stand $500 wardrobe (im aware most houses have bir) Plus personal clothes, books bits and bobs. Do we buy up Sofas/Dinning furniture/white goods/Bed etc and ship a container.... or sell what we have and just take boxes? moving in 11 months so will need to not own up to new stuff.

I have been to down under live (birmingham) and one run by national australia bank. both simular but the NAB one was free. They usless for jobs. about 12mths ago i was in melb on holiday went to one at Crown Casino which was million times better. Speakers from lots of different states and regions. There were two reps who said they could get my gf a job starting next week (science teacher).... seemed a lot better for jobs. I like the live down under thing as a way to get free advice off migration agents

i work public sector, council IT department, no pay rise in 4 years while price of everything goes up. Now we actually getting a 20% pay cut...last straw for me im off home in aus

What do u think i shd aim for then...my 35k in brum worth 45k in London say how much in melb?

Its also possible to ask questions of Grant Williams immigration blog, he is an agent, answers questions for free as long as u keep it short and simple. Very helpful.. or you can go to the Move to Australia exhibitions, there has been 3 that i know of in Birmingham in the last 18months, agents come to those and answer your questions.

We did it ourselves for a partner visa... just submitted last week. I think for a partner visa its very easy but maybe you have a more complex situation. Hi JennyandPete fellow Birmingham people.

You cant front load partner visas anymore, you cant do the medical until you have the ehealth number which comes when you get a CO. Also as said above its not wise to front load the police check either because processing time is now so long that there is a risk they will expire before its granted (as only valid for 12 mths) or if it doesnt expire only leave you a limited time between the grant date and the expiry date. We just submitted our partner off shore last week told everything in order visa will be granted in July 2013 but dont get the medical done until Feb.

Hello, are you in any rush? I am an IT developer as well, living in the UK with my British Girlfriend. We have just lodged an off shore partner visa in London, it will be granted in July next year. If you are in no rush just do that.. Lodging off shore is the cheapest way to go, it costs more to lodge it in Australia

Ha ha, yeah I defo think Victoria Australia will be nicer than here to bring up my future family.. just hope my girlfriend can settle ok and doesnt miss home to much. I have been in the UK for 8 years or so now and honestly tho I love my family, I do not miss them, im happy with a chat on the phone once a week or skype.... and the visit every 18mths... hope she can be the same.

$30 an hour sounds more than reasonable to me, isnt that like $60,000 a year. guess i need to do some research into cost of living... have no idea what i need to earn to maintain my life style. in Birmingham I earn £35,000 a year in IT. I have a fancy city centre flat and in the last two years have been to Kenya, Borneo, Australia and about 6 or 7 European holidays. I was thinking looking at jobs $60,000 and up... is $60,000 reallly not much?

My mum works in a Bank, on $55,000 a year assessing and approving home loans.

Why do so many Brits go to Perth?, when I used to live in Melbourne it was Perth that had the reputation as being full of poms and this was before the mining boom. Melbourne is the most european of the Australian cities I am suprised its not the fav destination. What is the draw with Perth? Is it just because its that little bit closer to home? Is it the even hotter weather? Surely that would just give people something else to moan about

Thanks for the welcome, sorry moirclan it was a massive culture shock to me the day i arrived back in the UK and went to Telford Town Centre tho girls with prams everywhere .. My 2 Telford raised cousins have 13 kids between them and have never worked, not joking. Ironbridge is nice though.. I have signed up to live in victoria as well Petals thanks.

Melbourne is a great place to live. I live in the UK and am going home to Victoria in about a year, I have heard people say the job market is slowing down yet unemployment is a lot lower than it is here in the West Midlands UK... I think once you get there you will be ok.. An employer would have to be desperate in my opinion to sponsor someone to come from overseas. They are obviously not desperate at the moment, doesnt mean they dont want staff and it doensnt mean you are not the best person for the job if you were already in Australia and turned up for an interview... Good luck.

What version of Acrobe Reader do you have? You can type on that 888 form, you just can not save it... So you can type out and then print it out, thats what are our 888 people did, we just emailed them the link then they filled it out printed it off and posted it back to us.

Had good new this afternoon already, our CO has told us visa will be approved as long as nthing negative in the police or health checks of my girlfriend. Pretty good going with only a week of waiting... still have to wait 9 months for it to be issued tho

noworriesmate, I had heard that, that it was cheaper buying the flights from this (UK) end, do all airlines let you pick the return date a year in advance, can you ever extend it past that time? or change the date once you have booked

my girlfriend had an email from CO this afternoon. It says subject to her staying in her relationship with me and no problems raised in Health or Police checks she WILL be granted the visa Nine months from the day we applied... Looks like its job done sit back and relax

I have just applied for a defacto for my girlfriend, I have the same worry but am going to risk it. Neither of us have ever been unemployed not for one day since leaving education we have jobs we both like in the UK but are going to have to pack them in to move to Australia, It would be great to line something up before going but I dont think its really possible unless you are prepared to move to the bush were they are desperately short of people. It does worry me sometimes that we could both have no jobs for a long period of time but its just the risk you have to take. I wouldnt mind 6 months of no work actually

If you lived in Australia for so many years wouldnt you have an Australia passport?

Easter is a nice time to visit Melbourne, weather is nice, not too hot in April. Drive down the great ocean road to Apollo bay or further onto the 12 appolses , go to Phillip Island and see the Penguins

I grew up around the preston area, living in the UK now for 8 years, heard its one of the "rising stars" and house prices have gone up a lot in the area. I have been looking and a none furnished place with nothing included seems to be about 450 a week so your offer seems reasonable enough i guess. Though it makes me Cry how expensive houses have become in the last ten years, think I will be renting for life when I move back. Im in IT as well, Mainly Database and Web Programming tho I do a bit of everything as work in a medium sized IT department at a local council. I did have a friend who worked at Preson Council in the IT department but he left a few years ago.

Hi, I am pretty sure yes she can. I am living in the UK but am an Australian, I will be sponsoring my girlfriend to move, we both have jobs here in the UK we will have to leave to move. All the research I have done tells me that it doesnt matter I wont have a job or a house to go to in Australia. I have got my mum and dad in australia to write a statement saying we can live with them while we find jobs etc. Not sure if its different or not coming from India. I have been to India twice, I have friends in Hyderbad and Bombay, its great there. Good luck

Hi everyone first post for me. My parents moved from Telford to Australia when i was a baby, I grew up in Melbourne and loved it. After Uni I went off to travel the world and managed to get stuck in the UK for 8 years (its so handy to be able to fly off to Europe for a long weekend and I have loved the pub scene). Anyway I have met a girl I am serious about who I have been with for three years and I have decided it is time to move home, as much as I have enjoyed my time here I think my childhood years in Australia were much better than growing up in England and we have turned out a lot better than our Telford raised cousins . I would like to start my family in Australia. Last week we submitted a defacto partner visa for her, she is exicited and worried at the same time, worried she will miss her mum too much. We already have CO assigned and our relationship evidance returned so hopefully thats a good sign. I work in IT, Database and Web programming and my girlfriend is a Secondary Science Teacher, any other teachers out there that can guide her a bit in what she needs to do to register and find a job? We are thinking of moving to Geelong, Victoria as my family is from Melbourne but house prices have gone crazy in the years I have been away.

Hi guys, just want to say hello and add my update. Im Australian, Girlfriend is British we are from the Wolverhampton/Birmingham area. We just submitted a defacto visa application for her offshore in London last week, we already have case officer and have already had all our stuff returned to us. Hopefully that means they have enough information? The letter we got back said it would be at least 8-9 months and we shouldnt get the medical done until Feb so it doesnt expire while we are waiting. These time frames are ok for us, however my girlfriend is a teacher she needs to resign by end of May 2013 otherwise these is not another window until it will be too late to get a job in Australia for the new school year. We hope to move in September next year give her time to settle and look for work. Will we be able to get an indication that our visa will be approved but we just have to wait our turn? If so she can resign, she is understandably nervous about quiting before the visa comes in in case it is rejected. Also any secondary teachers on here able to advise her about how to go about getting a job? THanks