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It might depend on when she was born. If before 1983 then being born in the uk may be enough to claim nationality however if born in the UK after 1983, simply being born there does not entitle one to automatic citizenship.

We've recently moved to Melbourne and both my kids have just finished the catch up immunisations, Hep B and chicken pox. Schools and child care centres will accept the kids if they are on a catch up schedule or if you don't wish to have them vaccinated then you just need get a conscientious objection form signed by a GP. When you move you will need to take the kids red books to your local council and they will set the kids and their immunisations up on the Australian immunisation register. It is from this register that you can get the proof of immunisation that schools require for enrolment.

Our childcare hours are 7am to 6pm. I cant bear to drop them before 8. Alternate between drop off and pick up. So someone might get in to work a bit late but can stay a bit longer in the evening because the other one does pick up. Also sometimes you can negotiate 1 or 2 working from home days per week into your contract so that takes the pressure off with drop off and pick up as you don't have the commute.

Yep agree, no savings on that level (particularly with a family) and probably regularly dipping into nest egg you have brought with you.

Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) - so I would say it''s in progress

I would say you would need at least double that.

Ha ha, agree! We are well in to winter and I put a coat on for the first time just today.

We lived in London and now live in an equivalent area in Melbourne. I would say Melbourne is more expensive and the salaries less than London rates. Perhaps your rent would get you a bigger place here.

Clean it and bring it all. Save the expense to replace things over here. dont go too crazy on the Jeyes fluid. The items just need to be clean. One shipping company told us the customs inspectors hate opening a container and almost passing out from the Jeyes fumes. I used diluted Dettol that didn't leave a smell and all our stuff got through fine.

In a recent survey Melbourne and Sydney came in the top 10 most expensive cities to live in the world. London isn't even in the top 10. I don't know where you are currently but we had a much more comfortable life in London. We came here to be with our families but if not for that I would be in London. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-03-05/sydney-and-melbourne-among-worlds-most-expensive-cities/5298818

Yep both working full time. In the UK one of us worked part time. Holding out for something better but who knows really, the Australian economy is not what it once was.

We are in a similar situation with 2 kids and are only breaking even each month sometimes not even. We could perhaps save some money on rent if we moved further out but then you have to weigh up the travel time versus time at home with kids, etc and feeling isolated, etc.

You can keep money in the UK when you move and leave it there or bring it over as you need it or as the exchange rate improves. You don't need to bring it all over at at once.

As soon as you are not resident in the UK, your ISA will simply become a normal account and you will be required to declare the interest in Australia and pay tax on it. You can only receive the tax benefits an ISA allows if you are a uK resident for tax purposes. You can however complete a form so the bank will pay you the interest gross so you can pay the required tax in Australia.

We moved to Melbourne last year. I am very familiar with looking for a job in financial services in Melbourne. The market is just so small and everyone likes to see Australian experience on the CV too you need to be prepared to put in a lot of hard work looking for work and it could take well over 12 months. A recruitment consultant put in this perspective, the Market in Melbourne (in financial services) is 10% of Sydney and Sydney is 10% of London. Also as the market is so small here, it moves very slowly with very few positions opening up, even less at the more senior levels. People seem to get work through personal recommendation and their networks. Also as a previous poster has mentioned there is a lot of restructuring going on with the banks outsourcing to Asia.

I agree with previous posters, if your husband is convinced it will be 'a better life' then he should go ahead and establish himself and get everything set up for you and the kids to come over. Having recently moved back to Australia (I'm Australian but lived in London for many years), I can only reiterate how tough it has been, my husband still hasn't got stable employment, etc. we have all our family here to support us and it's still been tough. We have discussed what to do in another 6-12 months if he still hasn't got a job and if it is a move to another country then he would go first and get set up rather than us unsettle the kids and haemorrhage all the cash that you go through each time you move. I won't even tell you how much of our savings we have lost since we moved here in September as it's very depressing. I wouldn't move again without having jobs to go to.

I would have thought you be fine on that level of income depending on where you want to live, some suburbs are more affordable than others. We pay $110 a day for childcare for our 3 yr old and $115 for the 18 month old. We do get the 50% rebate from the government which covers up to a maximum of $7,500 per child per year.

Really? I submitted the application online one weekend, attended the family assistance office the following week to produce the documents and had the letter in my hand the following week saying my claim had been approved. Perhaps I was just lucky it went so smoothly and haven't experienced the painful process, etc that so many of you have. :smile:

Is Oz really all that? Well….No. Both countries are amazing in their own ways and offer great things. I am Australian, left Oz at 22 to travel and ended up living in the UK for 14 years. I have recently returned with husband and 2 young children. In the Uk i could work part time, we had a great work life balance and a really good life. Main reason to come back was because we wanted to spend time with our families again and for our kids to know their grandparents and cousins, etc. However, we both have to work full time here for much less money than we made in the UK. We are here because our family is and we are determined to give it a good go but without the family aspect of it I think we would be making plans to leave pretty soon. I think once upon a time Australia was the promised land and it did turn people's lives around but now in 2014 I don't think it's the case anymore. I have heard so many stories of the reality not living up to the fantasy people built up over the years it took to go through the visa process. It has been (still actually is) a stressful and financially draining experience for us but it's worth it when I see how much my kids love playing with their cousins and grandparents, etc.

I just did it all online. Created a centre link account, completed the online form, submitted it. You take a note of the application reference number and the system tells you what documents to take to Centrelink. All we needed was passports for us and the kids birth certificates. I then just went to our local Medicare/family assistance office, waited for about 5mins to be seen. They took the application reference number, copied the docs and then sent them to Centrelink for me. It was easy. I had previously done the Medicare piece so perhaps that's why it was more straight forward. one thing to note is that your child will need to have and maintain an up to date immunisation status in order to receive any eligible payments. You will get a letter confirming within 2 weeks and it will state your CRN numbers which the childcare centre will need, then once Centrelink receives confirmation of your child's attendance (automatically done by the childcare centre) you will get any payments you are eligible for via the method you chose to receive them in the application.

As pp mentioned, the benefit is means tested but the rebate is not. You need to apply for the benefit and be assessed, if you aren't entitled to the benefit you may still get the rebate provided both you and your partner meet the working requirements. The rebate if entitled will cover 50% of childcare costs per child up to a maximum of $7,500 each per year. We pay $115 per day for our 18 month old.

Just received a letter to say that my almost 18 month old will receive a new vaccine containing MMR and chicken pox vaccine in one. So they now are doing it all in one! One less injection to deal with at least.