Hi all,
Hubby and I have had a discussion every year about moving to Aus but we've always put it to the back of the head and got on with life in the UK. Nothing wrong with that but we are working to live and the weather here is dire (South East, 40 min from London) Hubby is a trades and we hope to get in on his original qualification of Painting & Decorating, even though he now does loft conversions and Plasters (solid) I've contact the TRA and they want $1000 to asses his certificate, however they can't tell me if the City & Guilds qualifcation is acceptable until I've paid the fee (I have asked them again to look at this) He has to have his trade assessed as when I took the Express an Interest questionnaire on the Aus immigration site they said they wouldn't invite us at this time as skills not assessed!! Has anyone else had this happen and what did they do??
Could any one say wheres best to move also? We have 3 children 8 weeks, 3yrs and 9yrs and if we made the move I'd really like to do it before the eldest goes to Secondary school.
I've been googling (best friend atm) and the house prices in Fraser Island look good and we've be able to buy or have a better chance of buying given their prices.
I've trying to look at the pros and cons of moving to Aus and after looking at the Moving back to UK part on this site I'm now undecided. I know and understand there are going to be down sides, but why are 40% of brits moving back from Aus????
Also I work for the government in benefits, no qualifications. Does the Aus benefit system vary much to ours??
Whilst in NZ I obtained my Bar managers licence (expired now) and have a NZQA in Food and Beverages, will this help me find work in Aus if government don't need me??
What is Childcare like? IS the cost of living really as high as my price comparision chart tells me??
Would Hubby be able to find work easy ?? He use to work for Carillion but they are no more in Aus and he also has his PTS (Personal Track Safety) as does building maintence on the rail stations. Will this help for work?
One last thing, how many of you did the whole process on your own and how many used an Immigration agency? Were they any good and how much did they charge and did you get in quicker with them and were any of you regreted even though you used an agency?
Any info you have would be great - Good or Bad
Cheers