Sam Summers

Hey bud Thanks for the heads up, I am much like yourself , gonna go for it and see how it goes .worse case scenario is I retrain in another profession. Were probably only have around 20 grand saved to go with its not finding work that is the only real concern fingers crossed it will all work out

Hi Maria I totally get where your coming from it is such a huge deal to pick up the family and just move from everything you have ever known , it's bound to give you bad nerves , it's sounds like your much the same as me in that you have an opportunity to go but your worried in case it all goes wrong , the driving force for me is friends I have over there now that left the UK years ago and absolutely love it there and wouldn't dream of returning to the UK . Its just the worry of finding work , apart from that one issue there is absolutely no reason for us to want to stay in the UK. The problem is its like a tick that won't go away ,I think once you have it in your head that you want to live in oz it never goes away . I think sometimes in life you need to just go for it.which is why for us I think we're going go ahead with the visa application and hope it all works out for us . I hope you both do make it there and it's everything you hoped it would be . And yes it would be great to hear from you in the future on how it's worked out for you both . Good luck Sam

Hi Marisa To be honest that is exactly what I'm thinking of doing , come over on my own and get everything set up before bringing the family .it does make sense to do it that way. I reckon it would be stressful enough without worrying about the wife and kid going through the stress of it all . I personally do prefer the idea of brisbane than Melbourne (for the weather mainly )but then again I would go where ever the work is.

Thanks mate really hope it works out for us

Hi mate , we were originally looking at brisbane areas ,but at the moment my sister is traveling around oz and is looking to try and stay indefinitely as she loves it there and has said she would want to settle in Melbourne after trying both city's, so we are now looking at Melbourne,nothing set in stone yet but it will definitely be between the two

Hi everyone Well after years of thinking and dreaming about moving to oz I am finally in a position to be able to make the dream happen , I am married and have a 4 year old son , I am an level 3 qualified plumber since 2007 and am gas safe registered, I have been talking to Ian harrop associates who have looked over my quals and work experience and have said we have a good chance of making it over on a 189 or 190 visa .so apart from the 20 odd grand we would lile to save to take with us were good to make an initial payment to Ian harrop and get the ball rolling . It's just now it seems like a reality I am now having last minute nerves ,I have done quite a bit of reading up on other people's experiences etc and my only real concern is work , I am panicking a bit about getting work In oz as a plumber , I am aware I need to resit all my quals once arriving and have heard ball park figures of around 4 grand to do them , absolutely fine with that , and I know I can do any kind of work to fill the gap while retraining , I am just a little worried as I have read quite a lot of negative posts about tradesmen finding work in oz (especially in my line of work )and that people are having to return to the UK as they cannot find enough work to stay . I know everyone's situations different and I am not gonna let it put me off applying I think it's just not knowing what to expect if we make it there , obviously money is a big factor ,if we go we need to make it work as we're not in a position to be able to just take a chance and hope for the best , I was just wondering if anyone on here is in a similar situation Many thanks Sam

Ah that's good to know , I just told the wife about there being a decent thai community over there and she's made up , I am not worried as much over the work side of things as I enjoy work and being a tradesman for 20 or so years since leaving school there isn't much I haven't done , and can turn my hand to most things ,I pick things up pretty quick , so it is mainly just the finances in order and being a bit nervous about the big move more than anything, but I know (if we get accepted ) once we're there it will be amazing. Just got to get my head down now and start putting plans in motion ?

That's some good advice , it's what happened last time , I actually got put off by people who tbf were being honest and just giving me there opinion ,but there were quite a few and in the end put me off , the thought of going has never left me though so this time around am in a better frame of mind and are really looking forward to make a go of it

Thanks matey you are right its like sn itch you cant scratch , we need to do it . Mabey see you for a beer . All the best mate

Hi mate Thank you for giving a view from the other side , there are always two sides good and bad, for myself it's been a constent itch that just won't go away, for over ten years now and to be honest came really close to starting the ball rolling a couple of years ago , but did exactly what you mentioned ,and instead of reading all the good stuff about oz I actually came on this site and did read up on the coming back to the uk stuff to try and find what was the main cause of Brits returning back , sure enough it did make me question the whole move and ultimately put me off going . For us our circumstances have changed a bit since then , my wife is a thai national so has no family here (and for her Thailand is closer in oz) so that's all here problems solved in one go lol ,most of my family now do live abroad or have retired and spend a huge amount of time away , my sis at the moment is in oz backpacking and absolutely loves it there and has said her intention is to try and stay in oz indefinitely, the biggest thing for me is weather , I love the uk in the summer and am more than content ,I really struggle with the rest of the seasons , the dull days and overcast makes me bloody miserable, it's not nice spending half a year down in the dumps , so as much as I am a little nervous about the whole thing I do think we need to try , my thoughts are if it doesn't work out we've lost money , but we can always make more money , I think it's got to the point where I need to stop talking about it and do it [emoji1]

I am a plumber and gas safe registered here in the uk , so I am hoping there will be work out there for me in those trades , but I have always been happy to muck in and do other kinds of jobs over the years if needed so definitely not a job snob in thst sense lol , I wouldn't have a problem picking up a paint brush or labouring on a brick layer if that's what I needed to do at the start , it's a massive financial commit for the wife and me so it's almost a case of it has to work and failure is not an option , we're both graters so really hope it will be a desission we don't regret , good heads up on the 6 months up front there and will bear it in mind if we make it over

Hi there thanks for the advice, we're currently living in Birmingham so may find it a little more expensive in brisbane compared to where we are now , but it's the lifestyle were looking for more so than any financial gain so we're prepared to swap being a little worse off for a better quality of life , but who knows what kind of work I will fall into once we get there , how did you find getting a job ? I've been told different story's , some have gotten a job within the 1st week of arriving ,others have really struggled , I guess for us at the moment it's the fear of the great unknown lol

That's good to know . Thanks for taking the time to reply . Many thanks

Ah that's good to know , I've heard oz is expensive so was thinking would it be enough , it's sounding promising ☺, I have heard that I would need to get certified in my trade once getting there so is something I'm definitely going to look into ,but at the same time I'm pretty happy doing anything in the beginning just to get established, and a change of work sometimes for a short time can be a good thing , I know I'm not going to earn as much as I do in the uk for a little bit while we settle ,but I think it's going to be worth it in the end. We are definitely looking forward to a lifestyle change and a fresh start so fingers crossed we will make it ☺ .

Thank you for the advice guys . I was hoping I was in the right ball park with 30 k as gonna struggle to get much more than that together , we're looking at brisbane to settle , I've heard that there is quite a bit of work there from the research I've done so far . Gonna get the ball rolling as think we're about done with the British weather for now .

HI all . I was just wondering how much making the move costs , I know everyone's case is different so really just looking at a rough guide , Our situation is currently renting so no house to sale , I am a plumber /gas fitter so looking to go down the route of a trade visa , my wife works but doesn't have a trade to speak of , and we have a 4 year old son , we have no pets so no problem with taking any to oz and apart from my tools and a few small other bits and pieces woukd not need to spend much on transportation of furniture etc. I can be a bit of a worrier and the thought of running out of cash over there and still not having a job terrifies me ,so I've thought around 30000 pounds , my thinking is roughly 10000 to complete visas etc , then 20000 pound to take ,for setting up and to keep us going while looking for work , Is this a realistic figure ? I know the more you take is always going to be better but is there an minimum amount your expected to have in your bank after payment of visas and flights etc . ? Any advice on this woukd be really apreciated Thsnks guys

Hey mate , always wanted to give Australia a good go as always been the dream . Hearing the negatives of what can potentially happen ,plus the amount of Brits coming home has been a bit of a blow , it's seriously put the wife off, we were told we would need around 8 thousand pounds to complete visa .plus need 20000 pound in the bank . It's a lot of money to risk on potentially not getting a job and coming home in 2 years no further foward and having to start again .. I wish we were doing this 10 years ago as we're both 35 now it's gonna be harder to start again if it was to go wrong . Will see what the future holds cause even after what we have read there is still that thought of really wanting to go

Lol business class is expensive whoever you fly with . But as far as economy goes you will have a pleasant flight with ethiad. Have a good trip ☝

I fly with them all the time . I highly recommend them . In fact I always book eitihd now whenever I fly . Very good airline ☺

Hey there thanks for letting me know about your experiences, yours and the other comments have made me and the wife decide to put oz on hold for a little bit and really give it some more thought . We really do wanna try living in oz , but are very cautious about the move and leaving family behind etc . Financially were not in a postion to just take a risk and would put everything we had into going ,so can't really afford to risk it all going wrong in the future . Might be that we decide to stay in UK for now and mabey look to move abroad in our layer years ☺. Thank you

Hey dan It sounds like we are where you were at before you went to oz . We have no reason to go other than the fact we want to go . UK feels a bit stale to us lately, and although there is nothing bad here in the UK we just fancy the change . Financially were in a good position here in UK (good job etc ) but have listened to the tales of earning a fortune in oz while also having the weather . Basically the dream lifestyle. Easy to get carried away I guess . But after really researching oz and listening to other people's experiences were now realising it's not all fairytale endings and a lot of people have struggled with living there . Saying that I've read more positives than negatives so am still keen to at least spend some more time looking into going . The leaving family behind would be pretty hard and I think that will be the main thing that stops us leaving the UK . Thanks mate its good to hear it from guys like yourself who are already there and hearing your thoughts on going. Cheers sam

That's been a great help , thanks for the advise guys , been told to go down the 187 state nomination visa , will get the TRA booked and get cracking.

Hi cal Thanks, that's good to know, I would definitely look to do whatever reconigition licences are required to give us the best chance , to be honest we were very positive until very recently where we read quite a few horror storys about plumbers that had gone over and not found any wrk at all and ended coming back to the UK 20 grand lighter , it worried us enough to re think going , but it's something we really want to do. Fingers crossed we will make it over , we're also concerned as to weather one wage coming in would be enough for us to survive on as my wife doesn't hAve any skills and our son is 3 so would be a while before she could work full time , Something else we will need to look into

Hi bungo It's more the last minute nerves kicking in I think , fear of costs involved and having a young family but not being able to find work , I guess if you want it enough you will make it work Many thanks

thank you for the heads up what you have mentioned about my experience as a plumber not being in huge demand is my real concern, certainly need to do more research on what would be available to me work wise if we decided to make the move . Always good to hear it from someone that's already made the move Thanks again