Leighbee98

24 minutes ago, CeltInCaulfield said:

Fire me a PM after you get your visa sorted and I'll put you in touch with the decent IT recruiters in Melbourne, by all means 

That would be very welcomed and kind of you. Im going to have a list of folks ill owe favours to at this rate.

3 hours ago, CeltInCaulfield said:

Not being able to communicate accurately and succinctly with your colleagues, especially in a fast paced environment, puts people at a great disadvantage.

I'd sooner hire someone who needs a lot of skilling, who can communicate clearly with me, than someone who might be 'awesome' but can't communicate or get on with the team.

Got a job?  ha ha. Ive always enjoyed the SQL scripting and back in the day basic programming. As a school kid I was the one in the school teachers turned to for help, I practically ran the IT element of my business studies class... got to laugh..

4 minutes ago, CeltInCaulfield said:

If you're looking for quality, Australia's the wrong country, bro!

Of 27 devs in my place, only three of us speak English fluently...

But would this put me head and shoulders above other applicants? if employers are looking for quality that is

32 minutes ago, starlight7 said:

We certainly need good IT people and also people able to help fix the mess the NBN is creating!

Ah... we have crappy ISP's (internet service providers) I supply businesses here in the UK with good quality connections (Fibre to the cabinet)

For example my customer here in Devon has never had a drop in internet since the service was installed. IT should be simple, reliable and appropiate

5 minutes ago, CeltInCaulfield said:

Unfortunately, the vast majority of 189 / 190 holders I've come across who also work as software engineers are extremely, and very sadly, lacking in ability.

It's not a problem unique to Australia: just notice it a hell of a lot more since I moved here.

Edited to add: But a definite benefit for progression if you know what you're doing! 

It shocks me to see the quality of IT when I travel for business. Ive seen multi million dollar businesses with domestic switches hanging in riser cupboards, domestic routers and awful network performance.

I just want to rip it all out and put it back in simply, propperly

Unfortunately I cant really program only SQL, but ill make a company's ERP system produce real numbers and work well.

1 minute ago, The Pom Queen said:

Have you had a chat with @Alan Collett re Visas, as he is a registered Migration Agent as well as a guru in accounting.

Sure have..

We have so far asked 3 agents from here, so we can compare and hopefully make a choice.

We are going to supply all the information in detail for what they ask and try to judge the right way to go for us to proceed. All three have been prompt and helpful so far.

(I have also made contact with some accountancy firms in NSW too, dont ask dont get)

So Wifey sends me a message whilst im at work!!

Heart stops, as I think what why when how...... eeeeek

Then she tells me it was regarding one of our customers...wanted to confirm details...   

She panicked too!!! ha ha

3 minutes ago, dxboz said:

excuse spelling!

 

Speling excusd

Photos. Thank you, lovely.  (top reply so far)

I imagine there would be plenty to see and do to keep me busy for years and years to come.

Singapore $129..wow i will have no excuse to not go see friends

Fiji? Cook Islands? French Polynesia? anyone been

(I have family in the cook islands im told!!)

1 minute ago, ali said:

I didn't get that memo

To the OP - Since migrating, (haven't fancied Bali) -  we've been to Melbourne and Tasmania, Hawaii, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and the States a couple of times. 

Certainly would be nice to go back to Singapore (see friends) Kuala Lumpur (friends there too)

1 minute ago, Samson said:

If you land in Perth you holiday in Bali and No where else ;-) 

That really appeals to me, paradise (I assume)

I was just wondering (important subject)

Once you have migrated to the sunshine from the UK where do you go on holiday?

Here in the UK we tend to look at the sunshine hours per day, temp and things to do, see and taste. When there is an abundance of sun on your doorstep then what?

1 hour ago, Alan Collett said:

I sold my interest in an accounting practice in the UK to move to Australia back in 2000, so I understand the drivers.

But that was a very different time - accountants were in demand back then, as GST had just been introduced in Australia - those of us brought up on the rigours of VAT reporting were seen as able to help Australian businesses cope with the new regime.

And £1 bought close to A$3 ...

Good luck!

It seems were are very similar in situation just 18 years behind you.

We have to do something now...or never after all my Wife is getting no younger!! (hide)

My IT skills would hopefully be in demand, Ive pretty much worked for myself for the last 15 years with a role as CIO in the middle there. After all no computer behaves itself all the time... leigh can fix it.

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

I confess it's just a general impression from posts on here. From what I recall, mid-last year they weren't inviting accountants unless they had over 80 points. Now from what I've read, they need 75 points.  That's in contrast to many other occupations which only need 70 points (in case you're not aware, you don't need 70 points to be eligible to apply for a visa - but there are so many applicants with 70+ points, no one else is getting a look-in at the moment).  

Thats fair enough, and I must say ive seen in the posts what you mean. Ill see what the agent suggests.  Ive been pretty surprised how quick it has been for some on here, we dont need to rush at all as we will have so much to tie up here (if it happens). I have seen folks suggest do it sooner rather than later just in case something changes so id take that advice (even if we had to activate a visa before hand with a trip..... all a bit pie in the sky at the moment but worth keeping it all in mind)

17 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

The trouble is, accountants are not getting invited right now.

At all?

Where does this information come from?

(thats not meant to sound rude, your comments are very helpful I was just wondering if there was somewhere I could see some data on this)

20 minutes ago, starlight7 said:

Do it if you feel the urge to- I would have thought being financially secure would be a help for you.  See whether you prefer the Perth lifestyle or Melbourne and maybe even check out Brisbane whilst you are at ti.  All quite different in feel.  Read some of the old posts on here about these different cities.

Such a vast country with all the will in the world we could only scratch the surface, these cities are certainly on the visit list.

Its also important to us to integrate and give something back to a community that welcomes us, so we will have to look out for these opportunities too.

I am reading through the posts here as much as I can, some great stories and very informative seeing others who have gone through the process before us (RavenBlue's Posts have been very helpful)

You never know we might gain friends here and be able to visit them.... (they might say naff off too ha)

2 hours ago, can1983 said:

Where are you looking to move to? If you can buy for cash it frees up time and allows you to do the outdoors stuff you want to do so that's great.

we have been in Tasmania for 6 months and have found we've been able to do lots more outdoors than at home. But that is mainly because weather is more consistent over summer and getting to nice bush or coastal areas even during peak holiday periods is convenient (takes the same time any time of day or year). Having to leave at 6am to beat the bank holiday getaway gets tiring after a while in the UK.

We also have more than 50% of our family in Australia so never have the 'belonging' draw some people have to the UK

But in Sydney or Melbourne you are pretty much left with the same traffic problems at peak times which affects your ability to 'do things' - try booking Lorne over Christmas less than 1 year in advance!!

We dont know yet to be honest, hopefully we will know more once we research and visit. We initially want to hear back from the migration agent before taking the next step.

Ideally somewhere with space, local feel, just enough local amenities and a reasonable travel to work and entertainment. The wife would like a beach withing a reasonable distance (5 to 15 mins drive) and fresh fish!  Weird I know but we miss a good local fish mongers. Lets see...

We do have family here in the UK but they would jump at the chance to come visit, we could return too (if we wanted to) and then there is an array of decent video conferencing options so we dont feel that would be too problematic (as long as they dont mind having a chat in the middle of the night... ha ha).

I will google Lorne now..

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

Which part of Australia are you looking at?   Prices vary enormously.   What you can buy for $700,000 in a nice area of Hobart will cost you 1.5 million in an equivalent Melbourne suburb and over $2 million in Sydney, for instance.

Ive looked at property listings outside Sydney and Perth at the moment, we plan on taking a 4 week holiday soon to visit a few places (once we have researched and gathered feedback from the migration agent)

Luckily we live in a area of the UK where house prices have rocketed over the last 10 years so we have decent equity.

2 hours ago, Raj1 said:

Why don't you apply as the primary applicant? It is probably much easier to get picked for an IT profession (provided you fit in an ANZSCO code and have sufficient experience for ACS assessment) than an accountant.

I will run that past the agent we choose just in case thats an option. Im not sure i will get enough points as im a little older than wifey (42) and all my IT skills are based on experience (IT Support, Installations, IT Director then CIO) rather than formal qualifications. I have 20 years in the game.

4 hours ago, can1983 said:

Why do you want to come and live here? its going to be hard (not impossible) to get a visa and having your own business etc its a lot to give up

Thats a fair question.

It would appear that we have enough equity in our UK home to buy a property in Australia outright (according to the listings we have looked at) this would mean we would'nt need to work quite so much.

We would like to live a more outdoors life, unfortunately you can only do that in the UK very briefly in the summer months unless you dont mind the cold and wet.

We also have friends and family in Oz, (family not close enough to help on the visa front...doh) we love seeing their day to day and they keep saying "you should do it"

And.. my wife and I like a change. We are just a bit bored with the same old day to day here, we fancy a new adventure. Our business is very saleable and could also bring us in some "early retirement" cash too.

So whilst we would apply based on my Wifes qualification its not essential she finds work immediately, and then after a while a small local business working part time would be ideal. I could hopefully find work in what I do (IT) but again.. no rush.

1 hour ago, VERYSTORMY said:

It will to some extent depend on points as accountants need very high points to stand any chance of an invite. At the moment I don't think accountants are getting invited for 189 visas at all and the occupation has again been flagged for removal from the list. 

A 190 may have a better chance of success if a state is sponsoring it, though you would need to be aware a number of states now routinely refuse 190 and offer 489 instead which isn't as good a visa and comes with a catch. 

Employer sponsored visas are best avoided as they are temporary visas and come with a lot of issues. Not least the fact they are what they say a temp visa. 

There are a number of good agents that post regularly on the forum. Try calling Go Matilda or look up Wrussel

Thank you for the reply. Oh dear that isn't good news, and limits our options.

Good morning all

My Wife and I are just starting to look at the possibility of emigrating to Australia. We expect a long road ahead of us.

My Wife is a qualified Accountant (a fellow of the ACCA) so we wondered what was the best visa to look at. I have searched so many pages online and it would seem either a 190 or 189 skilled visa, but which has the best chances of success? Or do we scrub that and seek an employment offer first?

We have emailed an agent in the uk (first on google) but the response has been very copy and paste and im not feeling this company are giving the impression that they are taking any time to see whats really best for us.

We have our own accountancy practice here in the UK with a practising certificate from the ACCA so im sure there will be no issue in proving 8-10 years experience post qualification... we just want as many points as possible to help.

Oh and holiday to Oz will be booked once we know where to visit.

Eeeek