Monkey2645

Is he still in a relationship with his wife? Under australian law you and he are not married but you may be considered de facto. We are currently completing the forms for a spouse visa and there are a lot of points regarding committed relationship (I can't remember if it specifies monogamous as well but I know we blathered on about that a lot as it certainly fit the criteria they were asking for) so I think they would have an issue with your de facto status if he actively has two partners. if you have lived together for a full 12 months and merged your lives (joint accounts. Joint mortgage/rent etc) you can be considered for de facto. They will ask if he has sponsored before but saying yes does not preclude sponsoring again - they will likely just investigate the case more fully to make sure he's only sponsoring legitimately, especially if it was some years ago. I highly doubt he would be imprisoned for having 2 wives - after all it is legal under Islamic law. But I am positive they would not recognise you as his wife. If he tried to then marry you under Australian law that would be bigamy and yes jail would be a concern! Also his first wife is presumably either a permanent resident or a citizen by now, so not 'under' his sponsorship any more. However, this is all just from me reading the details for our own application, which should be very straitforward - I suggest you read the details on http://www.immi.gov.au for the partner visa and get a proper immigration consultant as the one he's spoken to doesn't sound the full shilling.

My mum and dad were £10 poms in the late 60s. Went, with an 18 mo and another on the way, out on a boat. Had a good life in the UK just fancied a change. Returned to the UK later but then fancied going again in the early 80s with two tweenies and a toddler, no job to go to - it was Nissan huts for us. We had such a good time over the years can't wait to go back next year, maybe for good, with my own young children. I just wish it still cost only £10 ;-) ftr I've never considered Pom an offensive term - just similar to Aussie. As with many such terms it's context, and modifiers, that might change this.

The negative information doesn't have the slightest impact on my desire to move to Australia (although it does sometimes give interesting 'bear that in mind' information). Mind you, neither does the positive stuff. I think a lot of people seem happy as they made the move 'at the right time' and have benefited financially but you could say the same about people in the uk who bought their houses before the bubble grew. We can't all be in the right place at the right time there wouldn't be room. We'll just carry on having a go making our own luck.

Salloo - who is the online provider? Nottingham and Sunderland both over international pgce's, which include in classroom assessment as part of the qualification. However, you should be aware that you will not get QTS from any international PGCE - you must do your post PGCE teaching in a British school (not just curriculum) to get QTS - and as far as I know Oz will not recognise uk teaching qualifications without QTS (though my info isn't up to date on that). You can get QTS recognised based on experience - requires a min of 2 british curriculum schools and lots of evidence paperwork.

I think it's fantastic that the course is such great vfm - the OU in uk has increased its fees in line with the revised maximum fees introduced by the Government and it now costs £5k pa fte. They will see such a massive drop in students as at that cost people will no longer study just for the joy of learning or even just to improve their prospects without a guaranteed payout. I got in just in time so my BA on the old rates. It's hard work motivating oneself but very satisfying. I am now trying to decide whether to do my teaching masters with OU Aus or a bricks and mortar, so any information you are putting here is very helpful.

I moved from Oz to uk when I was 8 - the kids loved my accent and were always getting me to repeat words (and asking what was going to happen next in Neighbours!) - I'd lost the accent within a few months but bonus was I think it prevented me from getting a strong regional accent so means I spoke 'well' as a teen, which can be very helpful. My sister's kids were about 7 and 11 when they moved to uk and had also lost the accent very quickly.