Hitmanfc1000

Thanks for the reply. Would that still apply as I passed my test in the UK?! I thought that the green P plates were only required if I took my driving test in Australia? Sent from my SM-G930F using PomsinOz mobile app

Thank you, this is really useful as we arrived only 3 weeks ago. Do you get to keep your UK driving licence when you receive your WA licence? I have only been driving for just over 1 year, so wasn't sure. Sent from my SM-G930F using PomsinOz mobile app

Thanks for all of the replies. That's great DukeNinja We left from Heathrow airport on Monday morning. We left plenty of extra time. We were asked to show our visa by the lady who checked in our baggage (5 suitcases between the 4 of us. We paid for an extra suitcase allowance prior to our flight, but were then charged an extra £108 due to all of our cases being over the allowed 23KG. They were between 26 and 29KG each). We presented our visa grant letters but as expected my wife and sons passports were not linked to our visa. The manager was called who took our passports away for a few minutes, apparently made a phone call, then returned them to the original lady who was dealing with our luggage. She advised that everything should now be OK, which it was. We are really not sure what she did. The rest of our journey was stress free, and we entered Australia successfully. Thanks to all of you who offered advice. I will hopefully post an update of our experience here on a new post in a few months time

I used a migration agent, the Visa Bureau, to obtain our visa, so I haven't logged into an immi account as far as I am aware. I have just checked through my records, and can actually see that I did advise of my son (now 9 years old) and wife's first passport changes back in 2014 to email address: adelaide.gsm.team8@immi.gov.au. I was advised to do this by the Visa Bureau. I emailed across certified copies of both of their new passport ID pages. I did receive a reply ' These details have now been added to the relevant Departmental record. There is no need to have the visa evidenced in the new passport or to have your grant letter re-issued. If your visa has been granted and evidenced and you have subsequently obtained a new passport, your original visa remains valid up to its original validity date. You can carry both your new and your expired passports when traveling to or from Australia and present both for entry clearance. ' After checking our visas online, I can see that our visa is still linked to the original passports, no mention of the new passports. Should I do exactly the same again then? get certified copies of the passports, fill out Form 929, then email across and hope that our records are updated? Then just carry all passports with us anyway. I know I have left it to the last minute, with everything else that we have been organizing it just totally slipped my mind.

Thanks for the reply. Where do I sign up for an 'immi' account? I don't think that I have ever logged into this. Yes definitely, I would be interested to see if it all worked OK. Good luck!

Hi everyone, I would be grateful if anyone would be so kind to offer me some advice? My wife, 2 boys, and myself have a PR visa for Australia. We had all of our belongings loaded onto the lorry to be shipped to Australia last Saturday. We will be traveling to Australia on the 4th September. I thought I would check online last night that our visa entitlement was all OK, and all of our visas were listed. However, both my boys (ages 9 and 5) have both been issued new passports since the visa grant. My wife has changed her passport twice since the visa grant. Once due to an expired passport, then once again to change her name to her married name. According to the online website, their visas are linked to their original passports at the time of the visa grant. My passport is still the original passport that my visa is linked to. My question is, are we going to be OK to travel to Australia on the 4th September? I will be carrying all of the old passports (with the corners cut off). I will also be carrying our marriage certificate as my wife obviously has a completely different surname. Will we be OK? am I worrying over nothing? I guess that I am just after some reassurance Thanks

Thanks for the response, and advice Alan. I appreciate it. Thanks again Frank

Thanks John. I will set an account up, and will definitely contact you in the coming weeks. Thanks again Frank

Thank you for the advice, I will speak with a financial adviser. I thought I had already signed up for a moneycorp account, but it appears I haven't. I will sign up for a free account. Thanks again

Hi everyone I wonder if anyone can provide us with any advice? We are still currently living in the UK, awaiting the sale of our UK house to complete. As soon as we have the funds from this (hopefully 8 weeks) we will be moving to Perth, WA. We also have another property in the UK (father-in laws house), which we recently inherited. This house is currently being renovated, which should be completed in approximately 10 weeks. We will then be listing this house for sale, hoping it will sell fairly quickly. We are going to have to pay inheritance tax in the UK for my father-in laws estate. My question is, will we be subject to any taxes on this property in Australia after we sell the property in the UK? Most of our money from the sale of our UK home, and the money from the sale of my father-in laws house will be left in a UK bank account until we have decided that we definitely want to stay in Australia, and when (if) the exchange rate improves. I would be grateful for any advice. Thanks

Thanks for the tips, I will definitely attempt the more direct approach that you suggested, to see if I have more (any) luck. :smile:

Thanks for your reply. This is really encouraging, and it's great to hear that you made the move, and made it work:smile:

Thanks for your reply. My wife and I really enjoy watching 'Wanted Down Under', we have just finished watching the new series, and the revisited episodes LOL. Is it not true then that the lifestyle is more relaxed, and that you have better weather?! The weather was great both times that we visited for holidays. Many of the couples who made the move down under, and who appeared on 'revisited' for an update, appear to be extremely happy, and the decision worked out well for them. We know that the TV series does try to paint a rosy picture of what moving to Australia/New Zealand might be like but we can't help but enjoy watching it. I think it's because we do always think that we would prefer life in Australia (mainly for the better weather, and nicer houses) and when we see families that have successfully made the move, we think 'why can't it work for us also?!':wink:

Hi and thanks for your reply (and the replies of everyone else! I really appreciate it, and value all of your opinions. I'm also sorry to post this on your thread, I should have started my own really). I worked as a Service Desk Analyst, and Desktop Engineer prior to studying Networking Technologies. I really enjoyed those jobs. I have a BSc Hons Degree in Networking, and currently studying for an MSc In Advanced Networking through OU part-time. I also have many valid Cisco Certifications such as various CCNAs and CCNPs, and others such as ITIL foundation etc. As far as I'm aware these are all recognized worldwide, unless anyone can tell me otherwise? It sounds like you have given Australia a good try, and it's been a successful attempt as you are returning to the UK with a higher skill-set than originally left with:wink: My Wife works as contractor within financial markets and apart from taking a few weeks off between contracts, has regular work most of the year due to many years of experience. She does earn the bulk of our income. I work mainly as a permanent employee, but have also worked as a contractor previously. We have both been applying for jobs in Australia from the UK (not much hope I know!). I have applied for hundreds of jobs over the past year, and only received a few direct replies, all from agencies. One agency worker was originally from the UK, who I have stayed in contact with. He advised that I would be able to gain employment in Perth, Australia but only if I was currently living in Perth. He also told me that the job market isn't great currently in WA, but when I arrive to give him a call. My wife has had more luck. She was called late one evening by an agency asking her if she had considered working in Sydney. The job role was similar to her current employment position with a salary of $175k. Unfortunately, my wife was not interested in the position because she made it clear to me that she does not want to live in Sydney. We have been to Australia twice since 2012, 3 weeks each time. We traveled to Perth on both occasions, stayed in Joondalup and Rockingham. The 2nd trip was to validate our visa, open an NAB account and do some research. I think we have really only ever considered Perth as the part of Australia we want to live because we loved it both times we visited. The weather was great, beaches were not overcrowded, houses were amazing etc I would be willing to try other States in Australia, but I don't think my wife would consider it. Also, if we do make the move it will only be me working for the initial period. From the jobs that I have seen advertised, my potential salary could be around $120k for a permanent position. I know that this salary is much lower than our joint salary in the UK. We would look to buy a property for around $700k but would only need a $400k mortgage. Then I would need to pay bills, buy food and everything else. Am I daydreaming by thinking that on a $120k salary we would be able to afford all of this? Should I look at other areas of Australia, or not even think about moving? We spent so much time, and money obtaining the visa, it would be upsetting for us if we never even gave it a good try. I should add that we are not basing our decision on income in the UK vs income in Australia. With my wife taking more of a backseat, we know that we will be worse off financially. We would be going for more of a lifestyle change, more than anything else. Thanks you, and I wish you all the best on your return to the UK:wink:

I'm sorry to hear about your struggle to find work in Perth. I noticed that you said you work within the IT industry, what area do you specialize in? The reason that I ask is that my wife, 2 small children and I plan to make the move to Perth later on in the year and I am worried we will not find work. I work in IT as a Network Engineer (Cisco technologies mainly) and taking advice of others on these forums I look at Seek Australia weekly. My job searches only return around 70 jobs in Perth and surrounding areas. We really want to make the move but we do worry about possibly making a terrible decision. My wife and I do not struggle in the UK, we have a combined annual income of £160K. I am hoping that more job opportunities materialize in WA during the year. Good luck with your move back home:wink:

Thanks, it was extremely easy to apply for an NAB account as you stated. Kind regards Frank

Thanks Peter. I called the number that you provided, but unfortunately you were out of the office. I spoke with your colleague Liz, who was most helpful, and have completed the online application for an Australian bank account. Thanks again for the quick response. Kind regards Frank

Hi Peter My family and I (Girlfriend and 3 young children) were recently granted our PR visa for Australia. We are traveling for a 3 week holiday at the end of November 2014. We plan to visit job agencies, companies, and view properties but don't think we will be in a position to relocate permanently for some time (possibly another couple of years or so). Is it worth us opening bank accounts in Australia? can we even do this at this time? Or should we just wait until we are clearer of a date when we are likely to move from the UK to Australia? Kind regards Frank