Marisawright

johngdownunder recommends Marks and Spencer food hall Marisa if you want decent food :cute:

Actually they do have nice fresh produce - for a price. I regularly buy stuff there, but only when it's on special. Their ready meals are really good too - but again, they're pricey, so I only buy when on special.

Anyway, it's silly to compare M&S with Coles and Woollies. M&S is a good cut above ANY supermarket in the UK or Australia. My eldest sister buys all her food from M&S and people regard her as extravagant!

To compare equivalent to equivalent, you'd have to compare Coles and Woollies to Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons.

There is no equivalent to M&S in Australia - in Sydney it would equate to David Jones Food Hall, not sure about elsewhere.

May i ask why everyone on this thread is leaving? looking at moving over is ita bad move??

The only person who can decide that is you! When I migrated 30 years ago, Australia was the place to find "a better life", with cheap housing, great career opportunities and good pay. Today unemployment is actually higher than the UK. Australians work longer hours and have shorter holidays than most Brits in an equivalent job. House prices are high.

That's why so many end up returning - because life in Australia is not necessarily better any more, just different. Finding a job in Oz is more challenging now and once you've got one, life in Australia is pretty much the same treadmill as in the UK, except for what you do with your leisure time. If you're an outdoor/beach kind of person then you'll love your weekends so much it will be worth putting up with a likely drop in salary and distance from family, but only you can judge whether the trade-off is worth it.

My wife and I really enjoy watching 'Wanted Down Under'.... Is it not true then that the lifestyle is more relaxed

@Hitmanfc1000 - no, frankly, it's not! Australia is famous for having longer office hours and shorter holidays than equivalent jobs in the UK. Plus, of course, we don't get the long summer evenings - it's dark by 8pm, so if you don't get out of work till after 6, you don't have long to enjoy the beach! On the other hand, you can sit on the verandah on a balmy evening with a chardonnay, and you've got the whole weekend.

The truth is that life is about the same, if you compare like with like. If you move from London to Sydney, you'll have exactly the same issues about expensive housing, long commutes and long office hours. If you move from London to Perth, you'll find the commutes shorter - but then, you could achieve just the same thing by moving to a smaller city in the UK.

If you really analyse the people on WDU, you'll often find that migrating has kick-started changes they could've made in the UK. I remember one woman who wanted to have "more time with the family" - in the end they stayed in the UK, but she changed her job to one with shorter hours and better pay, so she got her wish without having to move anywhere! But why did it take a failed move to Australia to make her do the obvious?

Also take WDU with a big pinch of salt - a lot of the time, those lovely houses are an unrealistic commute from where they're planning to work. Presumably they don't want to show them houses in a suitable area, because they'd be too expensive and not nearly so impressive!

It's not a tough one at all, it's a no brainer, why would you want to stay in Australia, ?? don't tell me it's the Mayo cause it's real bad, i mean it tastes of LEMONS...duh!

 

and the rest of the food is totally nasty and I mean nasty,

Once again generalising based on your experience in Perth. I'm sitting here in Southampton dreaming of the wonderful "cheap eats" in Sydney - pizza topped with fat succulent prawns and melt-in-the-mouth calamari rings, thick steaks, fresh and flavoursome Thai and Vietnamese dishes. We've virtually given up eating out in South of England, it's been so uniformly disappointing and so expensive.

Here's a thing, your both married (of course) is a relationship not about meeting each other half way.

Yes of course it should be, but did you read the original post? The husband is long-term unemployed, like you - so you'd think he'd be the one keen to go back to the UK but no, he refuses to go because he loves Australia (no doubt because he gets to sit at home all day while she does all the work). She's miserable and worn out from carrying responsibility for the family. Personally I think she's been far too patient up to now!!

Well yes they are (basing it on a typical family). And yes I am (more frugal).

 

They don't know that. Will they listen if I tell them? Or will it be a case of "computer says no".

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Think about it - why should they believe you? The bank doesn't have time to investigate the personal life situation of individual families - of course they have to rely on statistics. Besides, even if they did base the loan on your current circumstances, how do they know you won't decide to send your kids to private school, or buy a bigger car, in later years?

The banks copped a lot of flak for lending too generously in previous years, so now they're erring on the safe side.

Hey guys

 

i don't suppose anybody knows of any campsites that are near public transport for the city? I found one but it's not got good reviews.

 

Other than that if anybody knows of any hostels in Sydney that would have parking for a van? Although we aren't that keen on driving into the actual city

Bearing in mind you weren't that keen on Sydney the first time, how much time do you expect to spend in the actual city?

You could look at a camp site up on the Central Coast somewhere, it's about an hour into the city by train but that's not too bad - and you avoid all the horrible traffic through Sydney, which starts at about Hornsby!

Then you can stop into the Entrance to feed the pelicans, go to the Forest of Tranquility to see the king parrots and wallabies, and try the fresh seafood at Woy Woy Fishermen's Wharf.

http://www.terrigal.org/accommodation/camping_1.html

http://www.forestoftranquility.com/

Could be lights at Moore Park, Sydney Football Stadium

Yes, the big floodlights - that would be my guess

There seems to be a massive difference just by adding on wife + 2 kids to the application.

 

 

Well duh, obviously there would be, since they're taking into account the living costs of four people people instead of just one. They are also basing their calculations on a typical family - perhaps you are more frugal than the typical Aussie family but how do they know that?

Thanks for the advice everyone, we have an initial consultation with immigration2oz, if we don't get answer from them we will go George Lombard

Immigration2oz is MARA registered so I'm sure they're a good agent - the point is that they do NOT specialise in medical cases. So they will give you an answer, but it may not be based on actual experience. I'd suggest going straight to one of the specialists.

As others have said, your big hurdle is that Immigration will look at what someone with MS would typically cost the Australian taxpayer over your remaining lifetime. They have a threshold that they set - if the cost is over that threshold, you will be denied.

Well even then, with the money I'm not spending on uni (if i get residency on the permanent de facto visa before), that will cover my mums visa easily. Also she'll have just over 5 years to save. The cost of that is fine. I'm just wondering if my plan I posted a few minutes ago sounds good?

You say you're in a hurry to finish your studies but your plan (going to TAFE first, then waiting for residency then going to uni) doesn't sound like a fast-track to me.

I'd say a far more sensible plan would be to apply for a WHV (working holiday visa). It's super-easy to get (takes about a day to get approved) and you'll be able to work full-time (up to six months with each employer) for the whole year. Many people do treat it as a holiday, do bar work etc - but it's equally possible to treat it as work experience, and you'll find plenty of work through temp agencies. Don't think of it as a waste of time - in Australia, employers really value local work experience, and a lot of jobs are found through "who you know". So the experience you gain, and especially the contacts you make, will be very useful after you qualify. You may even find an employer willing to take you on and support your study.

Living with your boyfriend during your WHV year will give you the evidence you need to apply for a partner visa.

The money you save doing full-time work during your WHV year will be useful to fund your eventual university study and your mum's migration.

Also, if we do make the move it will only be me working for the initial period. From the jobs that I have seen advertised, my potential salary could be around $120k for a permanent position. I know that this salary is much lower than our joint salary in the UK. We would look to buy a property for around $700k but would only need a $400k mortgage. Then I would need to pay bills, buy food and everything else. Am I daydreaming by thinking that on a $120k salary we would be able to afford all of this?

A couple could live very comfortably on $120k anywhere in Australia, except inner Sydney. I think the concern is more about whether you would actually realise that salary.

I think the important thing is to budget for 9 months without work when you first arrive. If you've got that money in the bank and are prepared to spend it to get settled, then you'll be fine IMO.

how much it will hurt me, will it effect my future immigration lodgements. and will police punish me too ???

Why would the police punish you because someone else has stolen money from you? It will have no effect on you.

Have actually got both my jobs I've had here through seek but only ever bothered applying for companies advertising for themselves. Jobs through agent a waste of time, if they exist at all.

There really isn't an alternative to Seek, unfortunately - and yes, some agencies do play games. However I have found jobs through agency ads on Seek so it's not all a waste of time.

there is more to life than Perth,

I'm sure you've noticed by now, that there are lots of Aussies from Sydney and Melbourne (including me) who wouldn't dream of living in Perth either.

My niece spent a year in Sydney with me, adored it and was desperate to move to Australia. She got a chance to transfer with her company, came out to work on a project in Perth and Brisbane for a few months - hated it, went home. On the other hand, I know two families that weren't happy in Sydney, moved to Perth and are happy as pigs in mud. It just goes to show, different places suit different people, each to their own.

The point is, Perth is as different to Sydney or Melbourne as Dundee is to London - and you wouldn't say "I'm over the whole British thing" if you didn't like Dundee, would you?.

...my wife, 2 small children and I plan to make the move to Perth later on in the year and I am worried we will not find work.... We really want to make the move but we do worry about possibly making a terrible decision. My wife and I do not struggle in the UK, we have a combined annual income of £160K.

 

I would advise you to analyse why you "really want to make the move", and then perhaps create your own thread on these forums to sanity-check that your reasons are sound.

When I moved to Australia over 30 years ago, it was definitely a land of opportunity with cheap housing, high wages, and so many skills shortages that it was easy to get a job and progress very quickly. All that has changed. It's still a great place to live IMO, but it's not a better place than any other developed country - it's just different. It has pro's and con's like any other country.

Even in good times, the job market in Australia is much smaller - it's a small population, after all. Also, many companies have their head offices or regional hubs in the UK, the States or Asia and their IT is managed from there - so moving up the career ladder can often mean transferring to Hong Kong or Singapore. Even the Australian-based firms are likely to have their main data centres in Sydney or Melbourne not Perth.

Training for a skill won't work unless you have years of post qualification experience. It would seem that you don't have many options other than to wait for another recruitment drive.

Not all occupations need a lot of post-qualification experience. Most trades do need it, so I certainly wouldn't recommend retraining as an electrician or other trade, but there are other occupations.

Prison Officer is here and seems to only need a year's experience.

https://www.anzscosearch.com/442111

It looks like he would have to go to the Northern Territory but he wouldn't have to stay there forever - it would be a means to an end.

Beats me why migrants find it so different. It's over 10,000 miles away from the UK. Of course it's different. It's a foreign country on the other side of the world. Just so happens it's an English speaking country. You wouldn't expect South America or India to be the same as the UK so why does it surprise people so much when they find Australia is different? .

I think it's because they know that historically, Australia was mainly populated by British migrants. What they don't understand is how the huge influx of European migrants transformed Melbourne and Sydney after WWII (Melbourne has a larger Greek population than any city in the world, except Athens and Thessaloniki). The arrival of thousands of Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam war and all the other Chinese migrants since then, have also had a major impact on the culture.

I believe Perth got less of those migrants (strange, considering it was the first stop for so many of them arriving by boat) and I've always felt it has kept of an "Anglo" flavour, but I've never lived there, only visited.

Is there anyway you would recommend that is closer to beaches/coast, I don't mind being a little further away from the city at all, thanks in advance

Everyone in Australia wants to live near the beaches - in every city in every state, those are the most expensive suburbs. The reality is that most Australians can't afford the beachfront lifestyle - in Sydney or Melbourne, the average Aussie lives an hour's drive from the nearest beach. As you'll be starting out on low wages, it's unrealistic to expect otherwise right now - if you do well in future years, it's something you can aspire to.

I am definitely missing the British culture as well - wasn't expecting it to be quite so different here

 

This is a sentence that should be framed and emblazoned across the top of the PomsinOz forums! Australia is a foreign country that just happens to speak English - I've been reminded of that forcefully since I've returned to the UK. It's a pity more migrants don't understand that before they migrate.

On the question of whether it's possible to bring over the pension from Ireland in cash - that depends on Irish pension regulations, so your best bet is to ring up your Irish pension fund and ask them. They will know whether you can withdraw the money or not, and they'll also tell you how.

However you may be in for a nasty shock, even if you are able to get your hands on the cash. As you're now resident in Australia, you'll be liable for tax on the lump sum, and it could be a substantial percentage. So get some tax advice before you do it.

I agree with consulting a good agent - they don't have to be a lawyer, the important thing is that they are MARA registered.

I know it's frustrating - the average person would think you had every chance of migrating, but as you're discovering, it's not that simple.

If you do want to retrain, have you thought about the prison system? I believe Prison Officer is on the CSOL. You would need to check what licence and experience you need, but as a police officer I'd have thought you'd be welcomed into the system and perhaps get your study funded by an employer.

Remember, once you get to Australia, you don't have to stay in that profession forever, you can go back into the police force if you want.

Is it feasible to live on the central coast but work in Sydney? Thanks

Depends what you mean by Central Coast - it's quite a big area. Umina Beach seems to be popular with Brits and it takes just over an hour to commute from there by train. Go further north and the commute gets longer, obviously.

Take a look at the train timetable to work out what's feasible.

http://www.sydneytrains.info/timetables/timetables_by_line.htm?line=nc#landingPoint

Commuting by car is totally impractical.

where & how.

 

how much it will effect me ?

If he was a migration agent who was registered with MARA, then report him to MARA. However I suspect he probably was not - in that case, report him to the police. It will not affect your visa application, unless you are currently in Australia illegally.

"The taxation office gave me a coding without a hitch"

Yes that's what I'm saying, the tax office's definition of residency is totally separate from the DWP.

I still don't believe you had to "apply for" or "claim" residency - I think what you had to do was pass the "habitual resident's test", which everyone has to pass before they are granted benefits (the rates rebate is a benefit).

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/coming-from-abroad-and-claiming-benefits-the-habitual-residence-test/british-and-irish-citizens-claiming-benefits/

In your case, I'm guessing that having most of your family still in Australia, and a bank account (and presumably superannuation/pension) in Australia, and that you returned to care for a relative rather than choosing to return because you wanted to live in the UK, were factors in their original decision.

I'm glad for your sake that they changed their mind but you have to admit, in the end they've been proved right as you are now planning to go back to Australia.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/21/britons-travelling-studying-abroad-forced-jobcentre-residency-test