Marisawright

I feel I would get used to the heat, we go to florida and it gets very hot

Florida and Queensland are pretty similar in heat and humidity in summer. If that's too hot, I would look further south.

From your previous posts, it seems that a major part of your motivation is financial - you see yourself being able to afford a bigger house with a pool in a nice suburb, perhaps with more free time. TBH if that's your motivation then you need to rethink. Australia is no longer a cheap place to live.

There are plenty of posters here who are better off in Australia - but check how long they've been here, because most of them arrived when houses were cheaper and opportunities greater. I notice more recent arrivals posting to say they love their new lifestyle in Australia BUT financially they're actually worse off than they were in the UK! So you need to do your sums very carefully.

Your post about running out of goals strikes a chord. The thing is, you're not a corporation - you don't have to keep on achieving bigger and better things every year. It is just possible you've arrived at a plateau of happiness and it's time to sit back and relish it. Maybe your next goal will be an investment property, or a holiday home on the Italian Lakes!

You say you've got an NI number, driver's licence and bank account in the UK already - but I assume that was just on a temporary visa of some kind?

If so, then you're going to have to apply for a spouse visa while you're still in Australia, in order to get back in. It's a straightforward process and fairly quick (my oh's application only took a few weeks) - however you need to meet the financial requirements before you can be considered, and they are fairly substantial.

EITHER you must have a job to go to, with a salary of at least £18,500 a year, OR you must have £62,500 in the bank (which must have been in the bank for a full 12 months, unless it's the proceeds of a house sale).

There are no restrictions on work on a spouse visa. You are also covered by the NHS but you can't claim benefits.

It only costs me around £ 20 to send to Oz but don't want to have to do it day by day because of a low daily limit I have asked at the bank today but got the answer to do a large amount I need to be here as in the branch ! Well I probably won't be so will figure out another way lol

One possibility - you could have the sale proceeds paid directly into your Moneycorp account.

We will probably be back in Australia when our UK house sells Have been into Lloyds who we bank with in the UK and they have said the daily limit is now £100,00.00 can anyone confirm that

i do have the facility to transfer between my UK and Aussie banks via my internet banking just don't want hiccups when it comes to the crunch

Don't transfer direct between banks, you'll pay a fortune. I used Moneycorp and if you join via these forums, they won't charge any fees. They have a pretty good exchange rate too.

Daily limits are set for day-to-day banking. Usually you can arrange a one-off exception for a large amount. I'd suggest asking your bank if that could be done, and if so, how.

Ah thank you sweet. We both knew it was a risk when moving, which is sad to think its coming to an end but....

I'm glad it works for some but unfortunately not for me at least.

And i will vent thou thanks. I hope the forum doesn't mind if i turn the air blue!! xx

Not at all. My only suggestion - if you think the marriage is worth saving - is would your oh consider a move to another state? The NT is very different from the rest of Australia (you'd find getting work a lot easier in any other city, for a start). You might settle a lot better in Brisbane.

What is your goal? If it's just to spend some time studying in Australia, then by all means get student visas. They are expensive, though.

However, a student visa will give you NO right to stay in Australia after the course is finished. So if you're trying to emigrate to Australia, it will just be a very expensive exercise in frustration!

Also, personally for our situation, if you fall in the trap of one person loves it and the other hates it, the chance of going back is like opening a can of satan's worms!

Our marriage is hanging by a thread and we practically hate each other because he loves it and I want to come home but kids are involved etc etc etc....

 

 

I'm so sorry to hear that, @Huntersmummy. You might want to join the private MBTTUK forum so you can have a good vent in private!

Anyone had any luck securing an extension on their permanent residency visa?

25 year old daughter wanting to extend visa for 6 months but has only been out here for 5 months and not the two years to qualify for a resident return visa. Her PR visa will expire in July but she wants to move over in January next year.

Is there a specific department she would need to speak to?

I'm confused. Where is she right now? If she's in Australia, she doesn't need to "extend" her permanent residency, she can just go on living in Oz as long as she wants to. It's only a problem if she wants to leave the country, e.g. for a holiday, in which case she needs to apply for a resident return visa.

Thanks Marisa. I've been considering Brisbane for the exact reasons you say. When researching jobs I've noticed more of a demand and housing is a bit cheaper but then I guess housing is the same everywhere depending on where you look!

 

 

Housing is NOT the same everywhere! Take a look around you in England - does a house in Leeds cost the same as a house in London? Australia is no different!

Sydney is THE most expensive city in Australia for housing. I can't find the latest comparative figures but Canberra, Perth and Melbourne are middling, with Brisbane and Adelaide the cheapest.

Excellent thread! My feeling is that it depends what you left in the UK and what you gained in Australia. If you left a relatively low standard of living in the UK, then you are bound to prefer Australia. Returning to a lower standard of living is always going to be hard.

 

My employer paid for my family and I to emigrate out here (I still own and rent my house out in Milton Keynes). However, having rented in KuRingGai for a year, we have already made the decision to return to the UK around August 2017

Do bear in mind that permanent residency doesn't equal a permanent right to return to Australia. You can get a RRV before you leave, but that's only going to give you a right of return for 5 years. Once that expires, you may or may not get another one. Citizenship is the only way to ensure you can always go back.

Spot on about the larger choice of employers and more opportunities for the kids in the UK/Europe - it always mystifies me when I see people emigrating "for their kids' future".

Hi how long did you spend in oz? how long have you been back in the UK? my god if anything happened to my mum I would move back in a heartbeat no contest. so you moved back for family? find everyones experience's very interesting

It's one of the big risks of emigrating. If you're young and single, you can say to yourself "I'm going to enjoy life in Oz but if Mum starts to get old and infirm, I'll move back and care for her." But then time goes by - what happens if you meet and marry an Aussie? What happens when Mum takes ill and HE doesn't want to leave HIS aging Mum either? What happens if you have Aussie kids who are at a crucial point in their education? What will you do, go home alone and leave your family to cope on its own? What if your Mum's illness drags on for years and years?

I know a lot of people will dismiss that as worrying about something that may never happen - but everyone gets old one day, and although we're all living longer, most people still spend the last few years of life in poor health. So it will happen at some point and it's silly to pretend otherwise.

Yes that's the concern. I have a good job in that it enables me to work pt financially, dream home for us

 

It was the dream 10 years ago and now we have achieved the home ect there is that part of me that says what if? and our last chance I guess due to me turning 40 next year (losing out on points) and hubby will be 47.

 

As you say and rightly so its a lot to throw away!

 

We will take the time but I thank everyone for your responses as with research as well and your experiences we are more aware of risks, concerns and also good points, sadly less of the latter.

 

Thanks

I hope we haven't been too negative about Australia. The thing is that both Australia and the UK are good countries to live in, both have advantages and disadvantages, and which ones suits you is a very personal thing because everyone is different.

A good example is a friend of mine who came for a recce to Sydney and was ready to go back on the first plane after she had a close encounter with a flying cockroach (Sydney is infested with them)! The creepy-crawlies would be a trivial irritation for most people but a deal-breaker for her.

Like I said, the heat bothers some people but not others. And let's face it, there's air conditioning everywhere so in the summer, it is possible to go from your air-conditioned house to the air-conditioned mall to the air-conditioned restaurant. If you struggle with the heat, you'll just be hibernating in Dec/Jan/Feb to escape the heat in the same way you hibernated in the UK to escape the cold. You've still got lots of fine weather to enjoy the rest of the year. It just always felt weird to me, to be stuck indoors when the sun was blazing outside - when you've grown up conditioned not to "waste" a sunny day, it goes against the grain!

It sounds like a good plan would be to have a short recce at the hottest time of the year, you might find you don't mind it as much as you think.

I would say Brisbane is a better bet than either in the short term. If you're single, then I'd definitely start in Brisbane then be prepared to move on if/when the building boom crashes.

I think its a word of caution to all those moving here hoping their parents to follow them in the future. If you choose to migrate the other side of the world, you need to be prepared for the possible consequences - this sort of thing is not a given, nor should it be. Don't bank on your parents, siblings or anyone else being able to join you.

Couldn't have said it better.

Hi

 

My husband and I have are looking to apply for permanent residency in the NT, we are currently still in the UK. However we have to provide evidence that we have researched the cost of living , food and transport and utilities without copying from the internet!!

What do they mean by "copying from the internet" ? I'm thinking they want evidence that you've done the actual research rather than just copying staistics from Wikipedia.

So you'd do things like:

- research the cost of housing on domain.com.au and realestate.com.au (i.e. looking up actual houses you could afford, not just copying stats);

- fill a shopping cart on coles.com.au or woolworths.com.au and compare what it costs with the same cart at your local supermarket;

- see if you can find a furniture shop in Darwin with an online store and "buy" your furniture.

I'd say definitely Brisbane over Perth, because with the downturn in mining, a lot of people seem to be struggling to find work in Perth and it will probably get worse. Brisbane is a lot more affordable too!

How does your wife cope with hot weather? Some people love it but some people don't cope that well, so that's a consideration when moving to Brissie. It's a good idea to go January/February so you see it at its hottest - if you love it then, you'll be fine!

If weather is likely to be an issue then you could consider Melbourne instead, housing is more expensive but being a bigger city there's more work too - and it's not as humid. Some migrants find the changeable weather is a disappointment if they're expecting constant sunshine though.

Thanks for the reassurance Marisawright - she is an indoor cat as is chilled / as good as gold. Is it a case of just renting and keeping quiet about it (and hiding the cat when there are property inspections or viewings)?

I've read elsewhere that newer houses are more likely to be anti-cat because the decor is new etc.

I am considering telephoning a few rental agencies tonight in Surry Hills (the start of the Oz working day) tonight to ask them their opinions on what we should do.

Don't ask the rental agencies, if you even SUGGEST you're going to keep quiet about it, they'll blacklist you!

Newer blocks are more likely to have the new strata laws which allow pets as standard, and some won't have bothered to change that. Older blocks would be the opposite - they would've originally had a "no pets" clause and are likely to have kept that.

TBH, a lot of people keep cats in apartments in Sydney and just don't tell the landlord! Of course it has to be an indoors cat for that to work, you're unlikely to have trouble unless a neighbour complains and since cats don't bark, you're pretty right.

As you say, the default position is now that pets are allowed so it's not mentioned in ads so much any more - the newer the block, the more likely is that pets are OK anyway.

No. Because you are not dependent on her. You have a husband and you have your own incomes.

Isn't there any kind of ancestry visa for Australia?

Correct. I have no issues with Perth or Australia the reasons I left were nothing to do with that.

I think that comment was referring to the OP, or are you the same person with two different usernames?

From my own experience I wouldn't head off there without your wife and child. If this is going to be a new life and adventure for the family then you all need to go and experience it together. ...

 

In 2004 my ex (notice he's now an ex!) travelled out to Oz 3 months ahead of me and our young son. He had a job offer and wanted to take it up straight away. ... He chose the new house and the furniture to go in it, bought a car, and then when we followed 3 months later I had to fit in with what he'd already made. He already had a group of friends to go out with and I was then left to find my own friends by myself.

 

... Within a very short period of time I realised I didn't actually want to be there after all as it was all about me and our son having to fit in with what he'd put in place.

If the OP had a job offer in place, none of us would be suggesting he go alone! We're suggesting it because there is no job offer, so he may take several weeks to find a job - or he may find he can't get one at a level he's happy with, or he may have to move states to get one. Obviously while all that is going on, he'd be staying in hostels or boarding houses, not buying houses!

I would also not expect him to go buying a house before the family arrived - the sensible next step would be to arrange a six-month lease somewhere to give the family time to arrive, learn about the areas and choose the right house for their long-term future.

I understand what you mean by it feeling like "his" house and you just had to fit in - I got very stressed when my oh and I moved into our first home together - not because he'd chosen it, but because he had loads of existing furniture, books etc and I had virtually none, so I felt as if he'd taken over the whole house! I think that will always be an issue between us because he's a bit of a hoarder and I'm a minimalist, but we've found strategies to cope with it!

I think that's the key really - our relationship has a lot of challenges but we care about each other enough to give and take. Your oh could've made an effort to help you settle in (not "leaving you to find your own friends" for instance - and not refusing to leave Oz when you were so desperate you couldn't stay!), but he didn't: that speaks volumes to me about his regard for you. Maybe it's just as well you found out early in your marriage as I suspect that lack of consideration would've caused a breakup eventually anyway.

I found this thread which might offer some information:

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/migration-issues/77462-gas-fitters-watch-out-3.html

As I read this I recall all the times on holiday when ive wished it to rain and the heat has been unbearable

The medical side is a concern and something I have not looked at yet.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the medical side. Yes, you do pay upfront then claim it back for some services - but the point is, you DO claim it back (in some cases all of it, in other cases part). So although it can be a drain on the purse at first, it's just a case of managing the cash flow.

Where were you on holiday when you found the heat unbearable? People react differently to heat. My sister loves it, it can't get hot enough for her, and she's dragging out her winter duvet at the first hint of cooler weather - whereas I have sweat dripping off the end of my nose when the thermometer hits 30 degrees - and feel positively ill by the time it gets to 35, which is very limiting when you live in a hot country!

Hi,

 

I am hoping someone could help me as I'm new to all this.

 

My Mum & Sister live in Brisbane and have done for 7 years, they are now permanent residents. I would love to move out there and be with them but I have no clue which visa I have to apply for. I'm 27 with good health and a full time job in a solicitors. My partner of 9 years is 30 years old, fully qualified electrician but has Crohn's disease. Please can anyone advise what we would have to do to live and work in Oz?

 

Your partner should be OK, the bigger question is whether one of you could qualify for a visa in the first place. A consultation with a MARA registered agent would be a sensible first step.

Even though my heart says take her....my head says it's for our not her benefit. Hmmmmm.....

That's the right attitude I think. I see owners posting that they couldn't possibly leave their pet behind because the PET would be devastated, but in many cases the pet would adapt if there is a loving home that would take them. If you truly love someone then you do what's best for them, not what's best for you.