Ausvisitor

I have transferred over $500k in the last 3 months with WISE. Better rates than anubfx broker or mainstream bank I talked to. It's all here, and very quick. Transferred to WISE from both Nationwide and Santander accounts so it is certainly possible from a good UK bank.

@Waz05 has painted a pretty good picture. I think they may have underplayed the cost of migration by the time you add in skills assessment, language tests, medicals, police checks and visa fees, for a family of 4 it's going to be nearer 8-10k That isn't the expensive but though, it's the other stuff. Flights, temp accommodation for 6-8 weeks and living expenses. By the time I got my first paycheck in Oz (which was 2 months after landing) we had spent nearly £15k on all that stuff over and above just getting the visa. (We also bought a car and deposits for rental property but I haven't included those costs in the figure) One qualification point, was your degree 4 years with classroom time (or 3 plus year long PGCE)? Australia doesn't recognise the "on-the-job" entry to teaching that the UK does so if you don't have 4 years at uni and classroom teaching experience as part of those 4 years you won't pass the skills and registration bodies tests

Having read your response and the shade you cast on some members, I think it's safe to say your user name is 50% dead on accurate and 50% a work of fiction.

You don't need the Spanish consulate, you need the Spanish police service. Google them and search their website for criminal background check. Speaking Spanish will help you here.

Ultimately it sounds like the OP has a decent life and has a lot of ties to the UK (his partner more than him but still many ties) If one of you isn't up for the move it will always be an issue, I guess it depends on are you unhappy in the UK ? @Marisawright often comments that in reality the UK and AUS are both first world countries with pros and cons, AUS is not the land of opportunity it was in the 1960s for affluent UK people anymore. It's a tough decision, however given you have kids and your partner sounds like she might be a Brit I'd be tempted to get over to AUS while the kids are young and wait out the time for your other half to get her citizenship in AUS, that way you get to trial living in AUS and if you do decide to return to the UK, you will all have AUS citizenship and UK citizenship to be able to move at will....

You do realise that governments spend tax take don't you... You probably also realise that tax take is the amount they charge their citizens (customers) for being in the country (the product) It would be abhorrent if products had differing prices based on how much cash you had in your pocket, why is tax seen as different? And whilst government spending isn't the same as a household budget, the money they spend it money they've taken from actual people, so they do in fact spend my money so I am paying for it (I get no choice on what they spend it on but it still your and my money they are spending)

You say your wife is a contractor and working for UK companies while in TAS. Is she doing that through an AUS employment/business model or through a UK limited company. Because if she is still invoicing through her UK company she won't be classed by the bank as working in AUS and so that 12 months will drag on and on

I guess my issue is that people are very keen to have equality with money they haven't earned. It's easy to say the government should spend on "this or that" if in reality you are not the one paying for it

What on earth could be fairer than treating people the same? Surely that is absolute definition of fairness Equally someone with half a brain should be able to separate a taxation system from a misguided sense of entitlement (your statement about assault), the fact you conflate the two, well I'll leave you to consider what that might mean !

In the UK a few (not many at all) credit cards do something called a super balance transfer, this basically allows you to draw the money down to a bank account rather than pay off another credit card. There are minimum amounts you can do and you can only do it once per card but it goes on as a balance transfer rate not a cash advance. They are rare though and I don't know if Australia has anything similar

I suppose some might do it that way, we won't we will leave the homes "ready to return to" and just lock up and leave. Family could use the holiday property in Europe but there is no way we are renting out houses on airbnb

We will have to disagree, but I do respect your viewpoint I just don't think the same.

They almost certainly won't scrap the tax cuts - it would open them up to lots of criticism I could see them introducing some new levy (or change to some other existing tax/charge) that effectively gave with one hand and took with the other

Why should someone contribute more because they earn more? The fairer option would be everyone gets $50k tax free and every cent above that gets taxed at 35% No one can say that approach is unfair and it delivers more cash to the lower paid than the current system but works out about the same on overall tax take

But that money only exists to be taxed because I want it. If someone else wants it they could also work as hard as I do.