SteveR

I don't know how to close this thread. Given the fantastic advice and insight from some of the posts, we have decided to scrap the trip over in favour of going straight for the 189 application (which was our original plan) to save us £1000's and enable us to take more with us when we get there. I can't thank all who posted enough for taking the time to give me your opinions, we really appreciate it. Cheers

Cheers PomCop. As I mentioned in a few post earlier, it is looking like that is the plan. Emailed GoMatilda to get our application underway so just waiting to hear back from them. I am not too concerned about homesickness for me as I have lived abroad before (in China and in Greece) but I am concerned about my wife and kids. We agreed that we would give it 2 years minimum to see how everyone gets on and we would keep money back in the bank in case it didn't work out to get us home.

Thank you so much Lady Rainicorn, your post and snifter's and Gbye Grey Sky's have helped massively. As I mentioned above, my wife and I are re-thinking our plans and your post has possibly pushed us back toward our original plan of just going for it. Can't thank you all enough for your advice. Steve

Thanks Snifter, really appreciate this. Valuable experience is far better than anything else. We are now re-thinking our plans. Cheers

Gbye Grey Sky, thank you so much for this reply. My wife and I have just been talking about pretty much what you have said just now. As it stands it is looking more and more that we just take the plunge. I have no doubts at all but my wife does (although this is seemingly becoming less and less) and if I had my visa handed to me today I would get going immediately. With all the costs assigned to going for 1,2,3 months etc, it is looking like it will outweigh the cost of the visa app and the flights there. Perhaps after all this we may end up just going on permanent. Thank you again

We always planned to sell the house as we want to leave the town we live in. The extended trip was a by-product of selling up. If we were not successful with the app (which we should be as my job is on the skills shortage list) then we would relocate anyway. I am not looking for a 'try before you buy' visa, I am looking to give us as much time as we need to decide it is what we want.

Thank you for this reply, it is brilliant. I can get in on a 189 so I am comfortable with selling my house. If we are not successful with the app (there is no reason why we wouldnt be) we are looking to leave our own town in any case so the trip to Oz was a by-product of us agreeing to move. We have been given options by the school in regards to work so we can keep up with it if necessary and home-schooling is one of them but something I would rather not do if we can have them educated professionally. The plan is to go straight to Brisbane and look around there for home, school, places of work etc but also have a holiday too, hence the 3-6 month thought. Thanks again

I am a skilled engineer so I qualify for a 189 so would not entertain a .457 at all. Cheers

Surely we can rent before we move to Australia?

Hi Quoll. Thanks for replying. I am in between a rock and a hard place as all of our money is tied up in our house. If we sold the house and rented in the UK until we were ready to go surely that would be proof of residence here in the UK before?

Thank you Sammy for bringing that up. Two of my children are of school age and we would like them to be schooled while we are there. I know some people tend to think that we don't need to go for 3 months to decide where we are going to move to but I disagree as we want to get it right first time. Are you aware of what visa we would need to apply for in order to get them into school please?

Thank you Skani, this is what I was looking for. Thank you Rammygirl.

Hi Bungo Perhaps I wrote my question a little less clearly than it read when I made it. My point is that there are options where you pay, don't pay, can stay without leaving, have to leave every 3 months etc etc. I want to get the right one and don't want to have to pay for flights to leave the country after three months if we decide to stay that long. Ideally I would like a 6 month or 12 month visa so we can decide when to leave. I just need to know if these are free or if you have to pay. I want to make sure I get everything right in advance of my visa app next year. Thanks

Hi All My wife and I decided upon emigrating (subject to successful visa app of course) a while ago. We are now at the stage where we can being planning as our house is almost ready to go on the market. We are planning a 3-6 month trip out there before hand to stay in places we want to look at before we decided where to live when we move there. However, I am getting bamboozled with varying options on the tourist visa side of things. Some people say you don't need to pay, you can stay for 12 months without leaving, you can't stay for 12 months, you need to leave every 3 months, it is free, it is £150 .... the list is endless. I would be hugely grateful if someone could please give me some advice as to what Tourist Visa is recommended for us. We are 2 adults and 4 young children. We want to stay between 3 and 6 months and don't want to have to leave before the end of the trip (ie, after 3 months). Thank you in advance of your help/advice Steve

Thanks for answering. Glad you are happy with the choices you made too. After accidentally staying for 7 more years I can see that it is still the right place to aim for. Thanks again