Going under?

Thanks for the advice. Its kind of what we were thinking, but needed to hear it from others. If I the job offer does come through I will likely take it. We are not an extravegent family. As long as we have a decent house and things to do we are fine. Hopefully the job offer comes through and we'll be back in the autumn. Qld will become the medium term plan....

Hi everybody, Hopefully with the collective knowledge on this site you will be able to help me out? We used to live in FNQ and loved it, but had to return to the UK. After a couple of years back home, we want to head back down under. For good or bad I have a good chance of landing a decent job in North Sydney. Bad because we would prefer to head back to Queensland; good because it's a job I'd really love to do with a (seemingly) good salary. However where does one live that is affordable, a decent area for a family and commutable (ideally no longer than hour)? Any suburb that fits this criteria is massively expensive. With a potential salary in the region of $120k in addition to any bonus, I thought I would be sorted (my partner could expect to earn $80k). But it appears even $200k won't allow a decent quality of life. I don't want to be saddled with a massive mortgage or rent. In my mind I wouldn't want to be spending over $800k on a house, but that doesn't go very far in Sydney. Any advice on this? The head is saying wait for a Queensland job for better house prices. The heart however loves the opportunity being offered in respect to both the job and a route back to Oz. Thanks for your time.

I'm assuming this link explains it: https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.afr.com/news/politics/pplates-for-migrants-in-peter-duttons-visa-overhaul-20170731-gxmddv

Thanks for the reply. I'm hoping not to use an agent as my case is fairly straight forward. If I can get the IELTS pass I can get 65 points, so paying an agent to effectively haggle over 5 points isn't worth it. Especially noting that the invites are down to 65 after the last round. However if I fail the IELTS and need the 5 points to get to 60, then that is another matter.

Goid Evening All, I hope some of the vastly more experienced and knowledgeable folks on this forum can help with my query as I start the long process of a visa application? I am at the very early stage and am getting everything together for the EOI (Skills Assesment & IELTS). I am hoping for a 189 visa, though I may see about a 190 for the extra points. I obviously want as many points as possible, I can hopefully get to 65 (assiming a decent IELTs result!) but have an outside chance to bump this up to 70 (or 60 if my IELTS is slightly disappointing) if I can account for Australian work experience. My background to seeing if I can claim this experience (and the events that gave us the taste for the Aussie life) is that I am about to retire from the UK military after 20 years service . In this time I was fortunate to be assigned on an exchange posting, in Qld, with the Australian Defence Force 2013-2016. We loved life Down Under and are itching to get back, hence the decision start the process. -Can I claim 5 points for This Australian work experience even though I was still paid for by the UK MoD and as such not employed by the ADF? -If I can, what would I need to do to prove It? A letter from my Australian CO?? -I don't want to lateral transfer to the ADF, I loved the ADF, but 20 years military service in one countries militrary is enough. It's time to see my kids grow up. Hence why I want to go down the 189 route. Thanks for your help in this. This site is a goldmine of info and has been extremely useful the many times I've lurked around it. Now I'm going max chat for a visa, I thought it was about time to actually write something. GU