LadyCroft

Our visas were granted back in 2008 but due to our house not selling until recently we were unable to make the move until now. As a result we have all needed our passports renewed but were advised you do not need a new visa label - just take the new passport, have it linked to the visa and also carry the old passport containing the original visa label. We are flying out via Dubai and starting to worry about not having the physical visa label in the new passport. Has anyone else got first hand experience of doing this and if so was it easy enough to fly with the old passport containing the visa label as long as the new passport is linked to the visa? Thanks!

I just wanted to add that I am panicking because the first time we went to Melbourne was on a Working Holiday Visa and I booked 2 weeks in a "cheap" hotel thinking we would get a rental no problem. Needless to say even though we had bank statements to show we could pay 3 months rent up front, we ended up with nowhere to stay at the end of the 2 weeks, the hotel had no rooms left due to the Open and we ended up wandering around the streets with our massive suitcases until my suitcase wheels fell off and I sat down in the street and cried. We found a hostel where we stayed until we got a short term furnished rental that ate up all our savings back then. That was without dragging the little ones with us so I really want to be more organised this time but can't afford much longer in a holiday let plus it will be heading towards Christmas and we have to have somewhere to live more permanently before then.

We are flying out to Melbourne first week in November and are going to book a holiday let for 4 weeks so that we can get set up, hubby can start his job (not sure exactly where he will be yet - he's a carpenter/joiner) and look for a long term rental in Mentone/Cheltenham/Seaford area. Well... this is the plan for now. I have NO idea how feasible this is as I have started looking at how long it takes to get a long term rental and the criteria to meet etc which is scaring the poop out of me. I am scared that we will arrive at the holiday let, get nowhere in the 4 weeks and end up either panicking and renting somewhere long term that is unsuitable or end up having to shell out for a short term furnished rental which negates the purpose of the 4 week holiday let since it will just be a huge waste of money. Also, if we end up in a short term furnished let, does this mean my child would not be able to start at the local school until we have a long term rental???? Argh! Questions, questions. Thanks for any help and to anyone who has read this far :wacko:

We have found a good 2 bed apartment for our first 4 weeks in Melbourne through Nicki at Espresso Apartments. We are taking a 4 week holiday let so we can attempt to secure a long term rental rather than end up in a short term rental and then have to move again plus we need to get our little boy into school. :arghh: Panicking! Has anyone used this company before and can you recommend them or advise against them? Their option is much cheaper than the serviced apartments we were looking at in the CBD. Thanks :biggrin:

We are heading out to Melbourne at the start of November and have a short term furnished apartment for 4 weeks so we can buy a car and look for a long term rental. Any advice on what to do to make sure we get the rental we want? I have seen people talking about registering online first but I am not sure what they are talking about. ALso, should we make sure we take along a bank statement showing that we have enough money to rent the place or what do we need? We have no experience of securing a long term rental - only short terms when we were there in 2005 where paying a big deposit would help us out back then. Any advice on the process and how to successfully get long term rental would be fab thanks

3-5 days! That is quick. What company are you using if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks. I am not sure if the extra baggage allowance is worth a monthly charge to have a bank account. Thanks. NAB is looking good again now!

I am at the stage of getting quotes from companies and am wondering about excess-baggage.com... Anyone used them and if so how did you get on?

Sorry to hijack but I am wondering about all this too... What is the best thing to do about insurance? What kind of insurance package do you go for and what should I be looking out for so I don't get caught out? Thanks

Sorry if this is answered already but I can't seem to use the right search words to find what I am looking for. We had an account with ANZ back in 2005 when we were on WHV but closed it when we returned to the UK. They charged us a few dollars a month to have the account so I am just wondering if this is still the case or have most of the banks decided not to charge to have an account these days? Thanks for any advice with this. I am asking because we have heard that ANZ account holders get 50kg luggage allowance through Emirates and this is who we are going to fly out with. Thanks

Hi! It's hard trying to decide what to get rid of isn't it? There is stuff we found in the loft that we had completely forgotten about but now I have seen it again I am getting all sentimental and wanting to keep loads!!! If we took it with us it would probs just end up at the back of the cupboard wherever we end up anyway ha ha! Thanks for the info. Who are you using to ship your stuff? Are you sending some by air as well? We had looked at that website where you can send a suitcase full of clothes or whatever by air but it was pretty expensive. Suppose it depends on how quick you need your stuff I suppose. Will have to have a think...

We have decided not to ship our furniture but to buy when we get a long term rental as all our stuff is needing replaced anyway and is worth less than the cost to ship it. As a result we now have a load of bits n pieces we need to ship like tools, clothes, favourite toys etc so would likely have around 8 large packing boxes full. What is the best thing to do when getting these shipped as we want to ship them soon so they arrive not long after we do. Does the shipping company come and pack the boxes even if it's not a full containers worth? Or do we pack the boxes and leave them open to be checked with an inventory we do ourselves? Any help would be fab on this one.

Thanks for the replies. Fine. I will be keeping him in his current school until the day we fly out. Keeping to his routine and all that although I don't thinkhe really understands what is going on and that he thinks we are just going on holiday. He is still very young but I don't want him getting upset at all over this so thank you for your advice.

Next week we move in with my Dad and get ourselves ready to book the flights, ship our stuff and all the actual leaving stuff. :arghh: At the moment we are thinking of just keeping our little one at his primary school and driving to and fro instead of moving him to the local school near my Dad's (providing his current Primary school are OK with this) since we should only be in the UK for the next 6-8 weeks. Anyone else in this situation or can anyone else tell me when are you taking the kids out of school? Days before flying out or the week before or... I don't know what to do about this now. These are the issues coming up now! Thanks

Excellent, thanks. Great to know. Our account is an online account anyway so hopefully should not be a problem. I will get in touch with the bank as soon as we decide when we are leaving. Thanks!

I know this has been asked before but I can not find the thread and I don't remember exactly what the situation is. When we move to Melbourne we are transferring over the majority of our savings but want to keep our UK account open for a while. How long can you keep your UK account open, what does it involve (eg are there tax issues) and can I keep some savings in there and transfer them once (fingers crossed) the AUD-GBP exchange rate gets a bit better at the start of next year. Thanks for ANY help with this one. I have no clue :wacko:

Sorry to kind of hijack the thread but can I ask what you need to bring from the UK in order to register with Medicare? We are in our 30's so have a yellow NHS card and the kids have the red book and a printed yellow form with their GP practise details but that is all I have.

14 months!!!! :shocked: Well, we are just trying to decide whether to hold off heading over to Oz in case the child visa is granted next month because that would mean we wouldn't have to get a visitor visa for the baby or leave and return to Australia when the child visa is granted. Maybe the CHild Visa 101 is not one that people really ask about much compared to all the other main visas so thanks for replying.

I know the answer to this depends on each application but I am just wondering. We applied for our child visa 101 at the start of April 2013 and were told 6-7 months at the moment. Our visas expire in December this year so I am just wondering if anyone else has had their child visa granted and what their timescale was. Thanks :biggrin:

Brilliant thanks. I will find our old TFN's then :smile:

Hi everyone We went to Melbourne as a couple in 2005 on Working Holiday Visa and got a TFN at the time. We then returned to UK and applied for 176 permanent visa which was granted 2008. Now it is time to finally return - we are state sponsored by Victorian govt so will be heading back to Melbourne but the question is do we need to get a new Tax File Number or do we use the ones we were given when we were on the Working Holiday Visa back in 05? I am thinking we need a new TFN as the permanent visa makes us residents rather than the holiday visa being a temporary one so I assume the TFN was a temp one too... Thanks for any help! :-)

Thanks - I have not heard of the subclass 157 actually so thanks for that! Great to know. The problem I potentially have is that our visas run out at the start of December and our Case Officer told us the child visa is likely to be granted in November/December at the earliest so it might be the case that we get visitor visa for the baby, arrive in Oz and the Child Visa 101 is granted in December after our visas run out. That would mean we would have a problem flying out of Australia and back in so the baby's visa is stamped on return to Australia. I guess we could apply for the 157 and hopefully myself or other half will get the visa so even one of us could go away for a couple of days with the baby and return to get the visa validated. Thanks for replying. Great info :yes:

OK. So, we have JUST managed to sell our house after the last few years of static house sales here and we are planning on making The Move to Melbourne in October/November. Our issue is that we stupidly left it late to apply for our baby's Child Visa 101 and didn't take into account that the processing time would be 7 months. Our case officer said we can take our baby on a visitor visa then they will let us know when the visa is to be granted and we can take the baby offshore then return and the visa will be validated when we arrive back through Oz immigration. I am worried that the visa might not be granted until December after our visas expire. What would happen in that case? Would it be likely that we could get a RRV in order to take baby to New Zealand and return to Oz for validation of the child visa? THanks :arghh:

Aaaaaah thank you, thank you, thank you for all the positivity. I actually feel a bit better now. I had STUPIDLY posted on a totally different kind of message board website saying the same kind of thing and the people on there were like "What do you think you are doing? YES you are mad" so I got a bit dejected and started overthinking it all. It is such a rollercoaster. YES I am excited. The thought of walking along the banks of the Yarra again after all these years wishing to be back there... Botanic Gardens, Fed Square! All the silly little things too that I have started to remember are making my stomach flip over thinking that we might actually get to see all this again.... very soon! You are right. We might spend a load of £££s to realise it is not for us but what if we do really settle in and love it? That is too good to think about. Maybe that is why I am driving myself mad looking at all the negatives... Thanks again for the replies. I just needed to hear someone say what you just said. :twitcy: :laugh:

We had the house on the market for soooooooo long we took it off and kind of gave up on the whole idea of emigrating. Visas expire in December so one last chance and the house only bloomin well sold... Now I am brickin it cos we will actually, really, for real have to give this a good go. I have booked a hoiday rental for 1 month and hope to use this time to book a short term rental where we will snoop around lookng for long term plus decent primary school for our little one who is due to start when we arrive in Oz... AAAAAAAAARGH! I feel like I am going INSANE and that I am about to make a HUGE mistake... but on the other hand I can't live the rest of my life thinking I was to blame for saying "Nope! Not going" and we will all be wondering what if for ever. My mind is going! Seriously how do you keep your sanity?!?!?! The rent in Mordiallloc has sky rocketed since we were living in Melbourne 7 years ago and I am worried we just won't make it. Hubby is saying why not look at it as going to Oz on a holiday rental, looking for work and a place to rent long term as soon as we arrive and if it all goes **** up then it was just a lovely, well deserved holiday and probably good bye to Melbourne.... Anyone have any words of wisdom? Hubby is a carpenter/joiner/project manager by the way... Thanks for your help if you want to reply :wink: but I truly feel like I am going :arghh: We have 2 little kids too... :arghh::arghh::arghh: Help! Am I MAD????????????????????????????? My friends here in the UK say YES I am...