KC24

Sorry LawyerAbroad, just spotted your post too. Thanks again. I think I might need to speak to my employer now, we could be two years away in getting our visa granted so it's a tricky one!

Thanks for this Libbyella, this is very useful. You were really up against it, so glad it all worked out for you. All the best for the move - we're hoping to move to Brisbane too, although I suspect we might be a year or two behind you!

Hi selfhelp, just wondering if you'd heard back from the admissions board (and which admissions board you applied to)? Now that our visa application has been submitted (we went the spouse visa route), time to get the ball rolling with this! I've managed to track down all my course outlines (some more detailed than others) and I've drafted a detailed statement going through each of the 11 academic subjects. I see that the Uniform Principles require that if you're looking for any exemptions you need documentary evidence which is "corroborated by evidence from the applicant's employer, or other persons with whom the applicant has been associated with in practice". What did you/LawyerAbroad do for this? I can get a supporting statement from former colleagues at my previous two firms, but obviously my current employer isn't yet aware of my plans. My former managing partner would be the best person to speak to both my experience and ability (if that's what they're even corroborating) but unfortunately my husband still works at that firm and I don't want to cause any issues for him while we wait for our visa (which could be up to 2 years away from being granted). Thanks!

Hi I was wondering if someone can help us. I'm applying for the 461 visa offshore from UK and I see that Form 147 asks our intended date of arrival in Australia (and that if I'm already in Australia, mark this as N/A). Our intended date in Australia very much depends on when this visa is granted, so I can't see how we can answer this. However, I'm nervous about putting this as "N/A" in case it causes any confusion on whether this is an offshore application. Equally, I don't want to leave it blank and then my application immediately goes to the bottom of the pile (if that's even how it works). Do we put the date we'd like to be in Australia? Everything else is ready to go this is the last question I've left blank and I'm not sure how to answer! Any help greatly appreciated!

All the best selfhelp! Looking forward to hearing how it goes. This was a top tip. My university are helpfully looking out course materials and I'm going to start pulling together materials over the next few weeks. Thanks again!

Hi Loopylu - you’re right, it’s a long wait and we’re using that time to save to cover exactly that situation. I’m trying to get as much information as possible on cost of living to try estimate (i) how much to save to sustain us until we find work (then add some!) and (ii) how much of a salary we need at least initially to make this whole thing feasible. This is obviously subject to change in the intervening period but we’re looking at ballpark numbers at the moment. Thanks for all your help!

Thanks Ramot, you're right that's pretty reasonable particularly given house prices in Edinburgh right now!

Thanks Loopylu, that’s hugely helpful. We’ve been trying to look into the job market in Brisbane but struggling to find information - the few recruitment agencies who have been in touch have painted a rather bleak picture of our chances of finding qualified legal work as an overseas lawyer (particularly in house roles) but recruitment websites such as Seek seem to indicate that there are a lot of both qualified and paralegal roles going. I’m not really sure how else to research into this to be honest, any tips/advice would be greatly appreciated! I’d be going out there on a 461 visa so the easiest path to PR seems to be a 189 visa which would require requalifying in QLD. I like law but it wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me if I couldn’t do it out there, I’m fairly flexible on what I ultimately do - which is why now is a good time to be thinking about this from my perspective at least! My background is corporate law but I’ve been working in house at an investment management firm for a couple of years now. My husband’s background is litigation doing a lot of work with public sector clients - he’s probably a bit more set on staying in law than I am, but is also keeping an open mind. We’ve spoken a lot about lifestyle and our expectations as we know we wouldn’t be able to command the same salaries as we currently do and we’re aware that it won’t be a matter of copy pasting our current life in Australia. This is part of the attraction to be honest! However, I just wanted a steer from the Forum on what is a liveable salary in Brisbane because we don’t want to uproot to the other side of the world to be struggling to make ends meet. (I’d picked $60k because my brother in law (who lives in Australia) advised 60-70k might be a realistic salary to achieve). (I’ve also just realised I could have responded to all the posts in one post, sorry to spam everyone!)

Thanks Marisa - we've been looking at these websites and you're right, the biggest differential looks like it's going to be monthly rent! At this stage we've got no idea what kind of areas we want to live but budgeting for $700pw seems to be sensible (appreciate there are cheaper places) - does this match with your experience in practice? I've pulled together a very rough and ready budget from various websites and advice from my brother in law (who lives in Wellington Point), but it would be a great help to get some advice on what is a kind of minimum liveable salary in Brisbane from people who have actually lived out there!

Haha no not lavish at all, just enough to live in a nice suburb not too far out, have the odd dinner out and have enough to put away towards buying a place. That’s comforting to hear, everything I read talks about the high cost of living in Australia!

Hi there - I'm new to this site so apologies if there is another more appropriate thread for this. My husband and I are looking to move to Brisbane. We're both qualified solicitors in Scotland and have quite a comfortable lifestyle here, but we know we won't be able to get the same kind of salary in Australia as we need to re-qualify and gain some Australian legal experience first. The plan is to get a paralegal/legal secretary type job and work on getting admitted in QLD part-time. We're not particularly fussed on the type of work we do while we work towards re-qualifying (although a legal job would help us get some experience), but in order to know if this is feasible at all it would be great if anyone had any advice on the minimum salary we'd need for a relatively comfortable lifestyle in Brisbane. Is $120k total household income reasonable to sustain the two of us (or realistic to expect to get)? There are so many variables I know but even a completely ballpark idea would be a huge help! Thanks in advance!

Hi LawyerAbroad This is so helpful I cannot thank you enough. Thank you for taking the time to provide such a detailed response, it’s greatly appreciated. As we’re both full time private practice it’s looking likely that we’ll wait until we’re in Australia to start any study, but use the time we’re still in the UK to prepare a full response to the assessment application. I’m kicking myself slightly for being so ruthless in throwing out my course materials but I’m sure I could track down a friend who has a bit more nostalgia and loft space. Thank you again for your help, congratulations on your visa and all the best with your move!

Thank you so much LawyerAbroad, I've been hunting everywhere for more information on this process and couldn't find anything! My husband and I are looking to move to Australia and re-qualify in QLD. We are in a slightly different position in that my husband is a NZ citizen and we're doing the spouse visa route (largely because of the hassle of the 189 - looking at your post this was the right choice!), but as we're in for a long wait for my visa anyway I was hoping to get the ball rolling with re-qualification in the meantime. We may end up getting the assessment while still in the UK and study part-time while already in Australia. Having trawled through the Uniform Principles, I was starting to think we might be able to satisfy some of the "Experienced Practitioner" requirements by providing evidence of our experience to date - is this what you did? I've managed to track down detailed course descriptions for most of my courses which, on my reading of the Principles, covers many of the requirements but upon reading your posts it seems the relevant Board is looking for more information. I appreciate each application is subject to its own assessment and depends on the individual's experience not just PQE, but with your 10 years at the bar vs our 5yr PQE in private practice, I'm not filled with much hope for any exemption! What advice would you give in terms of evidence to support our experience? I'd be interested to know your response to selfhelp's question above? I know we won't get away without any study (we're Scottish qualified so will definitely need to study Equity & Trusts). Were you free to pick any Australian university for the studies, or were you restricted to the state you were looking to get admitted to? The QLD LPAB guidance lists about 6-7 universities and I'm finding it difficult to find fees for single-course study, so your spreadsheet was very useful even as an indicator. Bond University was the only university with published fees and it's looking like $5k per course - as Scottish solicitors we could be studying up to 5 courses each so that's $50k right there! Might just re-train to be an accountant.