Ausvisitor

Cool, should be fine then. The mortgage lending rules seem to be a little different in AUS to the UK 3/4/5 times salary, they take much more notice of deposit amount and committed outgoings then the UK (although the UK is going that way to).

Your other issue may be getting a mortgage (big enough to require $3000 a month repayments) with those salaries (base don what you propse your repayments will be) unless you have a decent deposit. If you have $150 AUD as a deposit NAB would allow you to borrow $525K (based on $115 income and $2900 expenses a month) which is only $2,000 in repayments (but limits your house purchase price to $650K) - remember stamp duty and fees also need to paid (on a $650k house this would be nearly $20K) If you have $250K AUD as a deposit they let you borrow more - up to $800K (and this is $3000 a month in repayments) however now stamp duty etc would be $35k on the maximum $1m house price Of course other banks have other products, but this gives you an idea of what might be possible depending on how much your deposit can be. https://www.nab.com.au/personal/home-loans/calculators/borrowing-calculator

Unless you are both going to be living in walking distance of your employment your fuel will be more than $200 a month (especially if running two cars and/or one on public transport) You also don't have car payments in that list, so unless you are planning to buy a car outright (and hence it won't be in your monthly outgoings) you will need to add that (maybe twice if you need two cars)

You can live and work anywhere in NSW deemed "rural" as that is what the 491 is designed to address (vacancies in the rural markets). The problem with Sydney is that it is vast and most of it (if not all of it) is not classified as rural. However you may find that there is a rural NSW area within easy driving distance of your family. The other thing to consider is that you have to live and work in a rural area (so central Sydney / Parramatta are out for jobs on a 491)

340 George Street NSW 2000

So we get to Sydney (finally) on Feb 12th. Just been offered a job on George Street, where would be the best place to rent?

I'm sure it will be warmer than the UK which was -4c in my area last night

I'd live in Newcastle in a hearbeat, it's a lovely place, but I am "stuck" with Sydney because of what I do, those roles just don't exist outside of Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth. If my skills would allow me to work outside a metropolis, I would in a heartbeat as wonderful as Sydney is, the traffic, people and noise get to you after a while. I love London, but I prefer the Cotswolds, the difference is in the UK you can commute London - Cotswolds in a decent amount of time, not the same case in Sydney

I guess the cost thing depends on if the employer is just sponsoring the visa or sponsoring the move. If they are footing the bill for the visa, flights, shipping and housing deposits then the cost to move is minimal. However these roles are rare nowadays

I'd agree with most of Marissa's comment, except for the "Don't go to Sydney" bit. Sydney is a fantastic city and by far the best place to live in NSW if you can afford it. So it depends on the funds you are bringing and the salary you can command. If you sell your UK house for £500k (and it is all equity) you are starting with $950k as a deposit, if you can then earn $250k in salary (between the family) then properties in the $2.5M range are achievable. Plenty of nice family homes within 45 minutes commute the absolute centre of Sydney. Also Sydney property is essentially a liquid asset, when you want to sell it will sell in days, so whilst it costs more than say Alice Springs to buy property, when you want to move on it is easier to release those funds, and more likely the value has been retained or grown.

What are his plans after qualifying? Stay in Wales/England or go back to Australia? Whilst Australia does now recognise an English/Welsh law degree (it's a bit different with a Scots Law degree) it still has a number of (as the law society puts it) "structural issues" with the fact the person was qualified in a different location and so may not have covered some key case law/statutes (or worse conflicting ones) If he really intends to just get a law degree and then practice in Melbourne (for instance) it might be worth reconsidering is the UK the best place (if he was doing Law at OX/CAM/Durham/Edinburgh this is less of an issue as they are international law schools and recognised everywhere on the planet, but Cardiff is not in the same catchment)

As a British citizen (passport holder) he needs no further visa/permission to be able to reside in the UK and take up work/education. He will need to apply for a National Insurance number, but thats just paperwork and somethign that anyone in the UK needs. He will need to apply for healthcare with a GP - As a citizen he is covered for this from day one of being able to prove residency in the UK, some elective treatements have longer qualifyign times but so long as he isn't planning to have major elective plastic surgery on day one he should be fine! The main issue is that as a student you aren't entitled to many/any benefits anyway, and as he wasn't in the UK as a resident for 3 years before startign the course he will always be payign overseas fees, and ineligible for a UK student loan to cover these fees or living costs Other than the finance bit, he would be identical to any other British citizen that (for instance) had lived in Cardiff since birth

And if your son goes back to the UK for the start of sixth form he won't have been resident long enough in the UK to qualify for "home-school" status when (if) he goes to Univeristy, but will have been out of Australia long enough to not get any help from Canberra for studying in the UK either. This would be very expensive... Overseas fees in UK unis are typically £25k a year and there are no loans to cover them (and he wouldn't qualify for a loan for living either until he had been in the UK for 3 years, and then only if he hasn't already started the course)

The prices seem to have gone up massively since I last looked at them (I am seeing similar prices) thankfully we are moving with just airline baggage so don't have to deal with this

I'm wondering if there are any city events (like an open-air music down at the harbour or in one of the parks) or something like that? After 2 years of sitting on our grant waiting for COVID to subside (and 2 failed attempts at flying) it now looks like we are finally getting that plane, we should (fingers-crossed) be in Sydney by Feb 13th and one Lateral Flow Test later, taking a sip of well deserved australian wine in the summer sun...