menb

I was in the same position as you 3 years ago. Personally, I would definitely get the citizenship as it's always good to have options (especially or the sake of just one Christmas!). If the move back to the UK doesn't work out then you have a route back.It's really hard finding work over here at the moment so I would say that you should try to secure a role first back here. As I see it let's consider the workst case scenario, you cme back to the UK, after an initial honeymoon period you regret it (as impossible as that might sound to you now), you then have no citizenship to return and no job to return to. I'm sure your return to the UK will be fine but if it isnt it would be good to have a return strategy.

I didn't need a mortgage as we bought a terrace so were able to do that from our savings. I think if you have a job and a decent deposit then you should be okay based on what other people have posted over time here but don't quote me on that. I have to say that being able to stay with family whilst sorting things out has been a god send. Hopefully you guys are in a similar position as it makes life so much easier to have that support.

Have you thought about interviewing over Skype? If you go back without a job you might feel additional pressure being out of work. I actually tried this a couple of years ago and ended up aborting the attempt and returning back to Oz. I went back to the UK without a job and stupidly hooked up with friends before I found my feet then felt under a lot of pressure being the out-of-work-no-house guy. Ironically as soon as I went back to Oz cv requests and interviews from the UK started to hit my mail box but by then it was too late. I had to basically start in Oz again, called the shipping company to send all my stuff back to Oz on arrival in the UK, find a place to live, new job, a car, transferring of money, it wasn't easy so think it through to avoid making the mistakes I made. If you think there's a chance this could happen to you then maybe you should stick your stuff in storage in Oz until you're sure, that way it's just the cost of flights (no shipping) whilst you work things out. This time around I found a job first in the UK and it made life a whole lot easier (took the pressure off). I've also kept quiet and am slowly contacting friends as I build in confidence about the move back. Baby steps.

Hi - We've just been through this for mostly the same reasons as yourself. We were in Melbourne for 7 years 3 months with our two children being born in Australia. The distance / cost of flying to see family was a concern going forward as was the lack of decent affordable housing in good school zones, anecdotal evidence regarding education standards and diminishing job opportunities. Despite this, making the decision was really tough because Australia is such a beautiful country. The decision was tough because we felt that to stay (in Oz) would deny the grandparents and my brother from knowing and loving our kids, probably never being able to afford a house for the kids (without commuting for hours and in so doing denying them a father) but to leave Oz meant taking the sun away from the kids. Family, education and opportunity are more important than weather to us but that's not the same for everyone and that's okay, we're all different. Regarding the decision and actually leaving I personally found it helped to trick my mind by telling myself I'd try the return for 2 years in the UK and that many people smarter than me have returned and are happy. I can tell you that it was the right decision to move back. I'd forgotten how beautiful the UK is (even in January). My mind is no longer split by the whole "should we go, the weather's bad and we have no family here, no let's stay it's a beautiful warm day and the kids are running about on the beach, no let's go the schools are no good and we can't afford a house" routine. It grinds you down after a while. Only been back for a few weeks but it's so good to see the family again. We've just bought a house in a village not far from family with a decent sized garden and have registered with the local primary. A life that we struggled to achieve after living in Melbourne for years came together in a matter of weeks in the UK including a good stable job. You have citizenship so you can always go back if on returning you think it was a mistake. Yes, there's a financial overhead but at the end of the day you can keep the move costs down if you plan, emigrating is like an expensive holiday. Finally nothing is for ever so don't feel like you're ever making an irreversible decision whether it's coming back to the UK or going to Oz. For me I think that's where the difficulty in making the decision came from, quite literally life is suddenly at a crossroads and both forks lead to different and equally desirable futures. Of course that's not the case, it's instead a change of location for an unspecified amount of time with an option to change tack if it's not working out (although I hope we don't go back to Oz!). Good luck with decision.

I thought the Australian house buying situation was bad but it's going to get worse courtesy of a new Australian visa type coming into force on July 1st. Trying to find a house in a catchment area of a good state school is challenging to say the least as it is now but it's going to get worse. For those unfamiliar with the house buying in Australia most house viewing inspections take place on Saturday. I've spent over a year looking for a place. I'm not picky but the quality of Australian housing is appalling with the vast majority of houses being wooden structures with a thin veneer of brick cladding. No central heating (it gets cold in Melbourne in the winter), no double glazing (it is definitely needed in Melbourne) and no city wall insulation. I also doubt they are built on concrete foundations as I have seen the most unbelievable cracks and patch jobs that are clearly structural and most likely caused by movement and in new builds as well. A freshly rendered house always makes the alarm bells ring as I'm sure they're hiding cracks. If that isn't bad enough under-quoting is rife. I've asked several agents, "what does it mean when the price says 600+" and the answer is "the + means + 10%"! So you spend time looking at houses, visit them on your day off and then they're clearly out of your range. Add into the the stamp duty costs here, stamp duty on a 600K place (which doesn't get you much here now) is a whopping $32,553 or over 16K GBP. The housing situation here is REALLY bad. It's going to get even worse as a result of the following visa coming into effect in July: http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2016/06/turnbull-opens-new-student-migration-scam-floodgate/ I feel fortunate to be able to return to raise my kids in the UK because I wan't my little girl and boy to have a bedroom of their own like I had but that's just not possible here. Yes, you can get work but housing is out of reach unless you are willing to take on a big mortgage debt and frankly it's just not worth it. What do other people think about housing here? Australia touts itself as being "Family friendly" but how can that be the case if home ownership is out of reach for migrant families that don't have boomer parents to help them out? It's hard enough migrating to another country and made harder by not being able to put down roots. Honestly, having lived here for several years now it's quite clear to me that migration is big business here. I don't think it's intended for most of us to settle, as long as we drop cash on the way in and way out then Australia seems to be happy with that. If there's one thing Australia excels at it's marketing. The brochures (and stats) look great but the reality of life here is quite a different matter. And to think that Melbourne is the most liveable city. I can only attribute that to some dishonesty. It all makes sense now. Why do they keep banging out about "integrity" here, it's clear now, because this is a nation built on lies. If one word encapsulates Australia it's this: FACADE.