Hello everyone, I have just registered on PIO to respond to this email. I have been a silent reader of this forum (mainly the migration site) for a few months now, as my daughter and her fiance went to Sydney just over a year ago on a WHV. 14 months later, they are on a bridging visa awaiting the outcome of their 457 business sponsored visa.... so the likelihood is that they will be staying for another 4 years and possibly progress onto a PR visa. I have found this forum to be an absolute mine of information, and it's helped me to get my head around visa applications and other issues that arise when emigrating to Australia. As someone who 'needs to know everything' (or in other words a control freak, as my daughter tells me!) the information I've found on PIO keeps me from badgering my daughter for information on every skype call!
I totally empathise with Bereftmum and all the other mums that remain in the UK (or other home country) it's such a bittersweet situation to be in. As a mum you're so very proud of your child; that they have grown into intelligent and independent young adults, and feel confident in undertaking such a huge step as moving to the other side of the world, but again, as a mum all you want to do is stand there and wrap your arms tightly around them and feel and smell them....and keep them close.
I miss my daughter very very much. She will be 27 in a few months and it will be her 2nd birthday since moving to Australia, I know she and her fiance want to marry (hopefully in the UK) but then there are the grandchildren... well I'll cross the bridge when we get to that one!
Skype and Facebook are fantastic tools. I get to see so many photographs on FB and with Skype we can speak and see each other and chat like she's just sitting across from me drinking tea and eating biscuits...we've even been known to shout and argue at times!
I was extremely lucky to be able to go across for 2 weeks in September. The weirdest thing of all was stepping into their apartment and recognising it so well - it was almost like stepping into the Skype window and into her life in Sydney! It was a bizarre feeling! But, and this really really helped... by visiting them in Australia I was able to familiarise myself with their home, local area - restaurants, bars, shops etc and even went to my daughter's workplace and met her colleagues.... so now, I can see in my mind the places she refers to... and it's made things so much less alien because for me now its real because I've been there....
I've never told my daughter how much I miss her, and I've been careful not to get emotional on skype about being apart from her. The last thing I want to do is give her a guilt trip which might cause her to come back to the UK for the wrong reasons. I know they both have a far better standard of living career wise and financially, than they did have in London.... and every day at the moment I'm waiting for her to tell me the 457 visa has been approved. Not because I want her home, but because I'll be as crushed as them if it gets rejected.
Things change month on month; for now its the right time for our children to spread their wings and explore what the world has to offer, perhaps in a year or two they'll decide it time to come back to the UK. But, if they decide to settle in Australia it's for the right reasons i.e their reasons, and we should all be proud that they can make these decisions...it's not easy for them, and I know that your sons and daughters miss you as much as you miss them.
I'm so glad you posted Bereftmum, perhaps we all should continue to post as mums (and dads) and support each other when we have a wobbly... big hugs to all parents out there xx
Mum of son soon to emigrate
in Aussie Chat
Posted
Hello everyone, I have just registered on PIO to respond to this email. I have been a silent reader of this forum (mainly the migration site) for a few months now, as my daughter and her fiance went to Sydney just over a year ago on a WHV. 14 months later, they are on a bridging visa awaiting the outcome of their 457 business sponsored visa.... so the likelihood is that they will be staying for another 4 years and possibly progress onto a PR visa. I have found this forum to be an absolute mine of information, and it's helped me to get my head around visa applications and other issues that arise when emigrating to Australia. As someone who 'needs to know everything' (or in other words a control freak, as my daughter tells me!) the information I've found on PIO keeps me from badgering my daughter for information on every skype call!
I totally empathise with Bereftmum and all the other mums that remain in the UK (or other home country) it's such a bittersweet situation to be in. As a mum you're so very proud of your child; that they have grown into intelligent and independent young adults, and feel confident in undertaking such a huge step as moving to the other side of the world, but again, as a mum all you want to do is stand there and wrap your arms tightly around them and feel and smell them....and keep them close.
I miss my daughter very very much. She will be 27 in a few months and it will be her 2nd birthday since moving to Australia, I know she and her fiance want to marry (hopefully in the UK) but then there are the grandchildren... well I'll cross the bridge when we get to that one!
Skype and Facebook are fantastic tools. I get to see so many photographs on FB and with Skype we can speak and see each other and chat like she's just sitting across from me drinking tea and eating biscuits...we've even been known to shout and argue at times!
I was extremely lucky to be able to go across for 2 weeks in September. The weirdest thing of all was stepping into their apartment and recognising it so well - it was almost like stepping into the Skype window and into her life in Sydney! It was a bizarre feeling! But, and this really really helped... by visiting them in Australia I was able to familiarise myself with their home, local area - restaurants, bars, shops etc and even went to my daughter's workplace and met her colleagues.... so now, I can see in my mind the places she refers to... and it's made things so much less alien because for me now its real because I've been there....
I've never told my daughter how much I miss her, and I've been careful not to get emotional on skype about being apart from her. The last thing I want to do is give her a guilt trip which might cause her to come back to the UK for the wrong reasons. I know they both have a far better standard of living career wise and financially, than they did have in London.... and every day at the moment I'm waiting for her to tell me the 457 visa has been approved. Not because I want her home, but because I'll be as crushed as them if it gets rejected.
Things change month on month; for now its the right time for our children to spread their wings and explore what the world has to offer, perhaps in a year or two they'll decide it time to come back to the UK. But, if they decide to settle in Australia it's for the right reasons i.e their reasons, and we should all be proud that they can make these decisions...it's not easy for them, and I know that your sons and daughters miss you as much as you miss them.
I'm so glad you posted Bereftmum, perhaps we all should continue to post as mums (and dads) and support each other when we have a wobbly... big hugs to all parents out there xx