can1983

Just a counter point last year we got stung with MLS of 1% of around $200,000 (couple) That's $2000 extra tax You cant get private medical insurance which makes you exempt from the MLS for $1k per person its at least twice or three times that So id say private health cover to avoid MLS only really starts to make sense when the family income is nearly $300k

Can you please stop bagging out my home, if it doesn't suit you move Tassie is wonderful for so many things and I am proud to have my children grow up here. Aurora home plug in kit - never heard of it Next thing you know you'll tell me Tasmanians have two heads and IQ's below 50

sure I see that technically it is but its a rural area not urban or sub urban. I live in Hobart and as a smaller city we have the same the urban area ends and you are very quickly into rural living with horses in paddocks and large acreages. You get a lot more for your buck that's for sure, that's why my estimate was so far wrong.

That explains the price difference the 1 million and 700k. I was referring to Brisbane itself

Yep that's true I had to have an exemption for 5 years signed by the Department Secretary. They could only employ me (with pr) because there were no suitable Australian applicants. The clause was if I failed to get citizenship before 5 years were up I was out of a job.

certainly having children reduces the amount you can borrow, they have a 'default outgoings' calculator which is used to assess likely outgoings unless you can demonstrate it to them for your circumstance. If you are recent migrants probably default values are all you can do. i have family in Brisbane, 1 million is a reasonable budget for a family home in an ok suburb. So id say you are going to be looking at 250-300k pa combined income to borrow 750-800k Someone else might say different but that is what i'd say

agree with inconsistency. Commbank would only lend us $75k

We did the process 5 years ago. It was quite quick to get a mortgage and luckily we only needed to use one income (because the second was contract work and 'less reliable') But since then rates have tripled so I'm not sure how the affordability checks are working now sorry. We borrowed about 3 times one income but i think that was about the limit for a 30 year term. Now i suspect the same loan and salary wouldn't pass the litmus test... We also had a 60% deposit. Whilst $270k is a lot of money, and i wouldn't ever describe it as not being so, in Brisbane i suppose if its a house you are after that's going to be a 20% deposit after all the purchase fees are covered.

My parents are in the UK and both me and my sister moved independently to Australia leaving them with only each other. My view is you have children to raise them to adulthood and hope that they have a long and happy life. If they decide that the country of their birth doesn't offer them the life they want and the opportunity arises to get that life why would you want them to hesitate in pursuing it? I've never found it hard because my parents can see we are happy here and can also appreciate that what we have here we couldn't have achieved in the UK.

I'll throw in our story for happy and successful migrants. Many happy migrants stop posting on here so you tend to get a lot more bias towards those who return. I've continued because i have a very boring job and lots of online time! I was also a failed migrant in the past so i know what both feels like. Worst mistake I made in the past was assuming Australia would solve all my problems and be utopia - it isn;t perfect Housing costs is going to be a challenge, i think everyone needs to be aware of that they're are some amazing and inspirational places to live but that's where everyone wants to live and the prices reflect that

Yep we moved in 2017 for many reasons but financial was one of them. much better standard of living in Australia (even now) for the same job than the uk. Swapped a shoebox in a chav infested inner city area for a family home by the beach.

Yep lovely to visit the sea, less lovely for the sea (and its contents) to visit you. We live 500m from the beach but 50m up. Yep its a hard walk home but the sea isn't going to visit us

By immigration standards these times are breathtakingly quick. Must be really well presented/documented and simple cases. I think i managed 4 months myself in 2017 but thats a world ago now...

Commute to Sydney that's a new one Seriously to do that kind of severely compromised family life it had better be a $500k a year job.

Guess everyone's position is different. The only way I would ever move back to the UK is if most of my children went to live there but even then id say it would be very unlikely. At the moment 90% of my family is here and I consider Australia a better country so very little to gain moving. But it sounds like your circumstances are quite different....

Its not the 27 degree winter days that's the problem its the 30 straight days above 35 in the summer!

I too would make the moved whilst you can But I would not underestimate how hard it is to raise a family away from all grandparents wider family etc. Since we are an "anglo-australian" family we were always going to have to pick one and we opted for Australia. If you are both from the UK with only UK family its going to be hard in my opinion.

option to withdraw (high tax rate though) if you are not a permanent resident or citizen I imagine you probably are though..

you have to 'serve' four years before applying for citizenship. It can also be a long wait from citizenship application until getting a ceremony when you can actually become a citizen. Different state by state council by council. I validated my pr to attend a wedding in March 2017, we moved over properly in September 2017. I applied for citizenship in March 2021 fours years to the day after i validated. The time spent away in 2017 was ok with the 'days away per year rules' I got the piece of paper in July 2021. With the current rules I think that's as fast as it can be done - less than 4 years after moving here (because of the validation trip)

As you're a professional the OP should take your advice, I think it looks bad having gaps though which is a shame because 4 years and a child is more than enough for pr straight away

why not just focus on the last uninterrupted part of 4 years with the child? Its more than enough on its own and the period apart just weakens your application because it could be interpreted as being a sign you are not in an ongoing relationship. You aren't lying by not mentioning you had another relationship in the past with a break, you'd only be lying if you said it was 14 years together.

The climate in Tasmania is nothing like the UK. I've been here 5 years and the coldest its got overnight was -1ºC. In the UK it got to between -5 and -10 every winter sometimes for multiple consecutive nights. Summers are also far warmer. This spring was certainly the worst spring I've experienced here with rain every other day for 3 months but usually its glorious. Far more sunshine/light with less darkness in the winter at the expense of 9pm darkness rather than 10pm you get in the UK. Typical winter days are sunshine and 12 degrees. You problem is going to be finding a house for $600k budget in Hobart....

that info is a couple of years out of date, rarely have to wait more than 20 minutes was there last weekend and its currently peak season

Or at least register you both as living at the same address and spend a significant amount of the week in that house. People work away from home all the time it doesn't mean that if you don't sleep there every night its not where you live. Id say if you are registered at an address and spend half the nights a year at the address that's your home and you are living together. It meets tax office rules! Also as already said joint bank accounts as much in common as possible. Guess you can;t have many joint bills but think of some things you can have jointly - maybe pay for the internet in joint names at your parents house etc. If you aren't comfortable doing things like that then as said before you aren't defacto you're just dating.

I cant believe a parent would voluntarily leave their children somewhere else, even with the other parent. Yes they might be homesick to the point of not functioning day to day but having children is a lifelong commitment. I'm in the 'suck it up' and sacrifice camp on this one.