louise7981

Agree with drumbeat - from what I've seen driving through the area there are some nice houses but the area itself seems a little rough. My friend is a teacher in the neighbouring suburb of Hillman and she tells me that's also pretty run down. If you're looking to rent initially you can get some great deals in Rockingham at the moment in much nicer areas. The areas to the south side of the foreshore are lovely, as are palm beach estate and the anchorage estate. You can pick up a nice modern unit which is a 5 minute walk to the beach for around 350 a week

Are you looking to rent or buy there? I live nearby. To be honest I'm not sure what it's like as never really venture there myself and don't know anyone else that lives in that area. It's close to the hospital and train station. What do you want to know and I can try to answer your questions. Also what are your circumstances? Where do u live now? What would be te ideal situation when u relocate? Close to work? Outdoors? Good schools? Beach? City life?

Thank you all - I am trying to submit it electronically so not sure if if will be difficult to omit these details. I will try again today and may need to give immigration a call if any issues. I will post again later to update. Hopefully we won't have any delays.

Should say passport details - I can provide all other details they are looking for.

Any ideas what happens if you're unable to provide details on parents - eg I can't provide my mothers details as she is deceased, as is my father in law.

Thank you - makes sense!

I have just started my citizenship application and wondered why they ask for details of my parents and their passport details? Not a problem to provide them but just curious why they want them?

Also could try contacting the registrar for a copy of her birth certificate?

Maybe contact immigration to discuss? Or the Australian embassy to see if they can provide a document to show at customs. Good luck

Would be interested in any information on this also. I did see that there are companies that specialise in expat mortgages - I've not gone as far as to look into it yet but might be somewhere to start. Anyone any experience using such companies? Would be interested to see if it would be worthwhile organising from Australia or better to just head back then get a mortgage organised once settled.

*st Kilda not kinda lol

There's an elephant and wheelbarrow in st kinda too. Charles dickens tavern in the cbd is also British style and shows football. Not British style but I would also recommend the European bier cafe if your mate was feeling adventurous lol.

It depends on how straightforward your application is. I done mine without an agent but mine was easy - only had to prove 3 years employment with the same employer, English test, skills assessment. You can start the ball rolling with the skills assessment - find out who would do your assessment (for me I used the AASW for social work - there's different ones - google it to see if you can find out). Have a look to see what you need to provide to have your skills assessed and see if you can get the info together. You can sit the IELTS test before applying but beware that it's then only valid for 2 years so check processing times. I would advise that you do some preparation for this to familiarise yourself with the tests before you sit it. As the previous poster indicates - 60 points is enough for an application but may mean it will take longer for them to process - worth checking this out to see if you need to aim for a higher score in the English test. You don't mention if you are applying for just you or a partner and/or children - you will also need to provide evidence of your relationship for each additional person on your application. Hope this helps a little - it's been a while since I done my application. At the time I applied with 65 points and was processed and completed within 5 months. Not sure of current processing times. Good luck!

Have a look at this website and see if you can find any meet ups in your local area https://www.meetup.com/en-AU/cities/au/sydney/?country=au&zipstatecity=sydney&state=&radius=25

We rented in balaclava when we were in Melbourne. There's a train station there to get to the city, 10 minute walk to St Kilda and 15mins walk to Chapel Street.