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I am also looking into this. moneymaxim.co.uk seems to have an option for Aus licence holders with Sterling Insurance

Having worked in disability services in regional areas, depending on your child's level of need, I would be careful about the location you choose. There can be a serious shortage of services in regional towns eg occupational therapy and so long waiting lists. When you move to smaller towns (which I would class as less than 100,000) this also means there are usually only a couple of providers of support services and so if you aren't happy with services often there is no alternative to choose from. I worked with families who often ended up moving back to larger towns and cities so that they could get access to the supports their children needed.

I find when you travel with a young child you always get moved to the front of the queue when waiting so often arrive early to the gate. Only issue is, can you carry the child whilst walking if they won't or will there be pushchairs available to use. When I was at Singapore airport last year they had pushchairs to use for children within the terminal.

I think the most important thing with teenagers is that they need to feel they were consulted and part of the decision making process even if the ultimate decision is made by the parents. Have you sat down as a family and discussed the current difficulties (in an age appropriate way) and explained that her dad may need to go back to Australia for medical treatment. Also have you discussed with your son in Australia your plans? It would be a shame to return and think you are reuniting the family to then find he is moving to another part of Australia or elsewhere? Also I noted you said your daughter still had friends in Australia, so letting her know as far in advance about a potential move would also be good as she could then make sure she continued to maintain those relationships online so that she still felt she had a connection with those friends when you return. This is presuming you are returning to the same area. Would one option be for your husband to have the surgery then once he is recovered to make the final decision then? It may be easier to make a big decision if his health was improved? I think it has been noted he could consider other options in UK or possibly abroad. Not sure if that is possible or if he is planning on using public or private health services but worth considering. Public waiting lists here can be as long as the UK, depending where you live.

I applied for both British and Australian passport's for my son when he was born, and they both took a similar length of time to arrive and neither application was difficult. You need to apply for the Austrian Citizenship certificate first before you can apply for the Australian passport. This was also an easy process. (Unless you are already an Australian Citizen yourself.) As has already been posted by Inner Voice you will need the UK passport if planning on living in UK. I would however ensure you get the Australian citizenship certificate before leaving Australia even if you don't decide to get the Australian passport.

Lomandra I am the same age as you and had a baby in NSW at age 38 through IVF, despite a smooth pregnancy I was classed as high risk. Not sure if you are registered with a midwife yet, but I would explain your plans to any midwife / doctor and see if there are any implications with your pregnancy which mean you are classed as high risk and whether this means you would need to travel earlier in the pregnancy if flying long haul. It may be good to speak to HR at your work and find out the earliest date you would be allowed to take maternity leave from. Also do you have the option of staying with family once you arrive back in the UK, I am also currently looking at possibly moving back and it seems there are a lot of things that you won't be able to set up until back on the ground. Best wishes, and I hope it all works out for you.

Does anyone have experience of flying with Sri Lankan airlines and / or having a short stopover there? Flying Melbourne to London Heathrow, mainly interested as the flights are 9.5/10 hours and 10.5 hours so more evenly split. It will be 2 adults travelling with a 4 year old. We went with Singapore airlines last year, which was good but their prices really seem to have gone up a lot this year. Thanks

Thanks for all the replies. That pretty much confirms what I was thinking.

Has anyone booked flights to UK for Christmas in the last couple of years? I know it will be a lot more expensive than other times of the year, but wondering when the best time to book is? Are they at their cheapest now and just likely to continue to increase in price from now? Any advice would be welcome.

I am living in Melbourne and was looking at apartment options for a family of 3. You will find a 2 bed apartment within that price range the issue for me is that the living areas are usually very small, especially in the newer apartments. I have been looking around Kensington, Ascot Vale, Moonee Ponds, Brunswick, Carlton, Abbotsford basically all around the inner north. I am now looking at townhouses which you will get for around $900k, which once your wife is working should be achievable for you. I was shocked at how much money the bank was prepared to lend us, when I spoke to them a couple of months ago. If you are prepared to live in an apartment then I don't think there will be any issue with you managing on one salary for 6 months. Depending on your wife's profession it could take a while to find a job so best to start look early once you arrive.

I was just emailed this today : Child Protection Worker or Field Worker. job with Government of Western Australia | 1401720765 (communitycare.co.uk)

Based on your description of your experience I would expect it to be fairly easy for you to find a job, but maybe not specifically in adoption. Social worker Child Welfare, Youth & Family Services, Psychology, Counselling & Social Work Jobs in All Perth WA - SEEK https://search.jobs.wa.gov.au/page.php?pageID=215&windowUID=0#report

Yes that is what I thought. However when you go through to submit the visa it asks you to attach documents and then a drop down menu had options to attach as I mention above. It said you can submit with no documents but you are at risk of it not being accepted? Bit confused but think we will do a Stat dec stating has committed no further offences, then submit and hope for the best.

Just to update for those interested in a timeline, my husbands UK passport has now been posted to us and due to arrive 21st June. Hopefully it will keep close to that timeline if so then will have taken under 2 months as originally applied and post from Australia on 30th April.

Hi Hoping someone can assist with this query. I am just in the process of applying for RRV for myself and husband as we are travelling outside of Australia for a holiday in August. We have been in Australia for 5 years, and have only left once for a 2 week holiday in 2019. I completed the application for myself and it just requested proof of change of name - marriage certificate. For my husbands application it is asking for documents to be attached related to "character" options are court documents, Police check overseas, Police check Australia, Statement of Events, Statutory declaration. Does anyone have experience of this and how many of these documents are needed? The advice / information is just general for any visa application nothing specific to RRV. Obviously when we applied for our original visa we provided all details of my husbands only criminal offence which is over 25 years old and there have been no further offences committed since then. Do we need to request a new Police check from UK and Australia to submit, hoping not? Many Thanks

Thanks for the replies. We applied at end April, passport arrived at Durham office on 12th May but still only showing as passport received. So they will have had it a month next week, hopefully there will be some action then.

Just wondering did you apply for the emergency travel document, and was this an easy process? We may be in the same position soon as husband's passport is with office in Durham. Still have 8 weeks but getting nervous.

Which area of Social Work do you currently work in? I can point you in the right direction if you let me know. I am a Social Worker currently in Melbourne but I was working in NSW for nearly 3 years. You need to get a certificate to say you eligible for membership of AASW but don't actually need to have membership for some jobs. It is fairly straight forward to get your skills assessed if you completed the degree in UK or Ireland. NSW Health are a large employer, they have jobs not just in hospital SW but also some Child Protection related jobs, family violence and also drug and alcohol. I worked for them for 18 months and found them to be a good employer, conditions are good compared to UK despite the complaints of some if my Australian colleagues. NSW Health Careers - Jobs I think if you have 2 years experience then generally it is easier to find a job. I found I had to go in at a slightly lower level initially but once I got some Australian experience quickly moved up.

I was planning on applying soon, so also interested on realistic timeline.

Kensington 3031. Close to CBD 2 train lines, tram and bus, nice cafes and a couple of restaurants, but pretty quiet.

BeachBabe2022 I lived in Bathurst and worked in Orange for nearly 2 years, just moved back to Melbourne at the end of 2021. Everyone I worked with in Orange loved it there and never wanted to leave, it is a nice community and for a small town there is a lot to do lots of nice cafes, bars and festivals. (When no Covid lockdowns!) I would say there are no more issues with drugs than in any other town, and having worked at the health service I should know. If you like small town country living then it's a good choice. If you work in health there are a lot of job opportunities in the Western NSW region, also mining and some education jobs. Personally for me I hated being so far from the coast, very little breeze during the summer, so many flies, although we were there during one of the hottest summers 2019/2020. I didn't find the winters too bad, it does get down to minus temperatures over night but usually warmed up during the day. Just make sure your house has heating! After a while I found the distance to any larger town with more things to do annoying, driving to Sydney for weekends seems like a good idea initially but I found we went a lot less than we thought we would. Also it made me realise that I am a city person, which is why we have now moved back to Melbourne and won't be moving again!

You don't have to get a buy to let mortgage in order to rent the property out in the UK. When we moved to Australia we weren't able to sell our house, so just requested permission to rent it out from our mortgage provider. When the fixed term rate was coming to an end I was able to just start a new fixed term option through my online banking. We are still renting it out and on the same mortgage 4.5 years later. Completing the UK tax return and then being taxed in Australia on the income is a bit of a pain, but you get used to doing and is rarely easy as the income is usually the same each year. We don't actually pay any tax on it in the UK as the income is under the threshold. Good option if you are not 100% sure on buying in Australia or if you can't sell your house.

Ruth1 I lived in Port Macquarie for a year 2018-end 2019. Positives - it is a beautiful location, you can live very close to the beach for a reasonable price (I was renting), lots of nice cafes. It was a nice community and the people were quite friendly a made a few friends through work. I think it is what a British person would think a typical Australian lifestyle is relaxed beach side living. I actually really enjoyed the winter there, coming from the UK you will still think it is warm. Negatives - the distance from any significantly larger town, for example I was pregnant at the time and there are limited health services locally so had to go to Newcastle which is a 3 hour drive for some appointments due to complications. Locally there is a limited range of shops and you can't always get things like furniture delivered due to the distance from Sydney. There are also limited jobs locally so if a partner is coming with you, they may find it difficult to find work depending what they do. I enjoyed my time there but my husbands work contract did not get renewed so we moved on, I could have happily stayed another couple of years but I think long term it would have been too remote for me.

I don't know the answer but I am also very interested in this, as may return to UK. Which state are you in? My son is only 2.5 years old but just found out he won't start school here in Melbourne until he is coming up to 6 yo as he is a May birthday.

Hi I am presuming that you will be doing shift work so may not have to worry to much about rush hour traffic. You will be going against the traffic out of town anyway so may not be too bad. I lived in Kensington which is just west of centre of Melbourne, some areas in the west which I think are nice are Williamstown, Yarraville, Newport, Seddon. It is depend on your budget.