Ausvisitor

Busy first weekday today...

Sorted bank accounts

Switched drivers licence

Tax registration done

Medic application done

Probably found a rental - further checks tomorrow

Two job "drinks interviews" one in an hour and one at 7pm 

7 hours ago, DukeNinja said:

Woohoo! Welcome mate. Not a bad time of year to touch down (at least in Qld).

Day one in my escape from the UK wet weather, got drowned by a downpour at circular quay looking at the opera House... 

Particularly like this new, get off the plane, go to accomodation take a rapid test, if negative get on with life approach, certainly beats the 14 day quarantine we had been expecting when we planned to go

As of 19:00 tonight I am no longer Ausvisitor I am now Ausresident.

Now how do I update my forum name? Surely that takes precedence over mundane stuff like medical, tax, driving licence and banks???

Thanks for all the great ideas, just 12 hours to the flight take off now, I expect sleep tonight will be like a five year old trying to stay up to see Santa on Christmas Eve

3 hours ago, RyanDoris said:

No not yet and unsure when or if I will as I score 75 and the minimum points required for the last round of invitations in my field were 90. I don't think there are any other areas I can increase my points without having Australian work experience.

Is your ANZSCO code not available for a 190 visa anywhere? 75 was enough for many of us to get that visa type

The requirement is that it is no more than six months with any one employer. Other than that pretty much anything goes

It really depends on if the date change is possibly fraudulent (by that I mean does it make the child look like they are 16 when really they are 26)

If it's just a simple typo or swapping day and month then I doubt there will be any issue, and it will all get cleared up when you provide copies of birth cert and passport etc. It might add in a little delay while they update but it shouldn't be anything considerable

3 hours ago, skyeman said:

I think i'd give Qantas the keys to my house for the flight over now haha Kids are asking me every flipping day when we can go and they don't understand that I really cant answer that

I remember those days, everyone asking when you will go, but not having any idea even if it will be possible.

It's a little like when the "future" grandparents call every couple of hours to ask if the baby has been born yet. If it had do you think I wouldn't have already told you....

How old are the kids? Ours is in year 2 at Uni so is going to do a split personality for the next year and a half, term time in UK, holidays in Oz before settling over full time at end of course

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

What's your budget though?  Can you afford a decent house in a nice area of Sydney?  Our old 2-bedroom townhouse (what you would call a maisonette, I think) in a nice outer suburb is now worth $2 million.

It's true that prices are going up fast outside Sydney, but they are starting from a much lower base.   For instance, a house in Newcastle is still half the price of an equivalent property in an equivalent location in Sydney, even with the price increases.  And everywhere else in NSW is the same.  

I'd say if you're worried about property values, then look at Newcastle.   The sea-changers leaving Sydney are going to smaller, laidback coastal towns (like Lennox Head), not a big city like Newcastle (which is about the same size as Bristol).  So when people do start drifting back to Sydney, it's unlikely to affect Newcastle much.  

Also, let's look at whether the Sydney market realy is depressed at the moment.  One problem with real estate reporting in Australia is that much of it is based on press releases handed out by the Real Estate Institute, which represents real estate agents.  They're always spinning the news to encourage people to buy - either it's "prices are surging, get in fast before you miss out" or "prices are low, it's the perfect time to buy".  

 

Edit:  @Ausvisitor, I recall that you've got a job in Sydney, so obviously that's where you'll need to live.  If you're coming from London you probably won't find the prices too eye-watering.

Not coming from London, but we sold our 5 bed in another UK hotspot so whilst I would prefer to not spend 1.6m we could. With the job we could get a mortgage as well if we really loved the house.

Just now, 31Hillbury said:

Can’t help but think your just being obnoxious! 
congratulations on your visa grant and upcoming trip. Some of us are just waiting for our time to come also! Except without the attitude you seem to always manage to display! 

Honestly mate I can't wait for the day you get your grant, I've watched you wait for ages and I know it must be agony (it was hard enough waiting for mine and it was granted before COVID - just).

I'm not trying to be obnoxious, but I don't subscribe to the "be nice and say what people want to hear" mantra that seems to pervade internet forums, it's far better (in my view) to get the answer you need completely devoid of emotion (but that's just me and I get others are different)

Anyway fingers crossed you will be giving Qantas an obnoxious amount of cash (it really was eye watering) soon to fly to Australia and join us out here!

10 hours ago, nomadiccarpenter said:

Assume you mean 2020, which is still a long time to wait. To answer more politely than others, yes there isn't much you can do to complain as we've all been getting the same generic responses by contacting Home Affairs or political leaders. The good news is, this problem is coming to light more in the news, especially as borders re-open. Seems every week there's good news so I truly believe we're on the other side of this, even if that means we all still may have long wait with the backlog.

There was nothing impolite about my reply, devoid of emotion and purely factual maybe but that isn't impolite 

However, your suggestion that I was impolite is very impolite...

2 hours ago, ramot said:

I honestly don’t want to put you off, I’m one of the posters who loves living here. My niece and young family live in Lennox Head and its a really nice area, but house prices have soared, as people have moved from Sydney as they can work from home and fly  to Sydney from Ballina when needed. 

Good luck with your decision 

Right now I'm hearing that the place to buy is Sydney, the market is depressed (still going up but not at the rate of places like Lennox Head) but of course in the next two years people will get tired of commuting and offices will want people back in (even if they are saying they won't at the moment) ...

Yes, we actually move on Friday, scared the COVID test is positive, equally scared it comes back negative and we have to do it...

Either way we are leaving with 3 suitcases and starting again, having sold up completely (from a 5 bed) including all furniture and cars etc.

1 hour ago, 31Hillbury said:

Helpful as always! 🥱

Its alright for those sat where some of us are dreaming of being! 

What exactly wasn't helpful? Show any point in the post that wasn't 100% factual and correct?

You won't be able to because it is completely true, it might not be what you want to hear, but it is true.

Equally I'm not in Australia yet either! But by Friday, Yay!!

You can't really complain about the time, it isn't a promise it is a process, it takes as long as it takes.

If you wanted a timeline promise they could do it, but it would be something like "if you haven't had a grant in 6 months it's an automatic fail".

Would you prefer that?

43 minutes ago, Burnsy100 said:

This is for the benefit of others who are perhaps like me, reaching out for advice. 

I don't think anyone has been deliberately down on you, I think just the answers you've received aren't what you wanted to hear.

So I'll tell you what you want to hear. Legally there is nothing to stop you taking a job in a different state, your legal visa only restricts you to a rural location (this you can't get around so no Sydney, Melbourne, Perth etc.)

The word of warning is though that you have agreed to stay in the state that sponsored you and have a moral undertaking to do so.

Now what no one knows is if breaking that moral promise will have any future negative issues for you, they (the authorities) are sabre rattling and saying it might by an issue in the future - but only you know if you are willing to take that risk...

Good luck in whatever you decide, a solid job offer with relocation is hard to turn down though.

There is no real guidance on the first part.

You submit an "I'm interested" application, the state then decides what they want to sponsor that round and looks for matching candidates, when they see one (maybe you) they look at your application and decide whether to offer an opportunity to apply for sponsorship or just out you back into the pile for another day.

They have no obligation to ever look at your application, they could look at it a hundred times and "pass over" it each time, or you could be selected on day one after submitting your application. There is no rules or process it is purely in their gift to offer sponsorship to whoever they choose.

Assuming you can get a mortgage for the property without jobs (or an address in Australia), I would still be apprehensive about buying a house "unseen". 

Pictures only tell some of the story and whilst you could ask a relative to take a look, that is a huge responsibility to ask someone to undertake if you then find out it has problems.

Only a very rich person would buy property without seeing it, as they could afford the loss if it turned out to be a "lemon".

I'm pretty sure experience pre-qualification does not count, but it is better to ask a registered agent rather than rely on my amateur understanding of the process

7 hours ago, james9hunt said:

Thankyou Paul, appreciated.

 

On another note, my 21 year old son qualified for a 1 year which ran out in January 2021. He managed to get another in Jan 2022 for 1 year even though he technically did not qualify but was unable to get over due to Covid. The same applies this year, although Qld now are letting people in without quarantine. Do you think on this basis he will get another RRV?

There is absolutely no reason why he can't go to Australia this year. All airlines are flying and seats on the plane are easy to come by.

Now he might prefer to wait but that is personal choice not a result of COVID 

He would be best placed getting on a plane very soon and doing his two years in country so he qualifies for a 5 year by default in 2024

thanks everyone

19 hours ago, JJJ89 said:

thank you all, I opted for "any" as my points you can see it is very low.

You did it the wrong way around, if your points were "very high" then opting for any might not be an issue, as you would be very attractive as a sponsorship applicant.

However your points are low and you have then made it feel to the people selecting applicants that you aren't very keen on their specific region, so they will just jump over you

31 minutes ago, Burnsy100 said:

And the implications of this? 

Is it enforcible if peoples situations change? 

Legally nothing, however it doesn't show good moral fibre which will be questioned if you later apply for PR, as your sponsoring state will be able to provide their input into the decision

Regardless of the answer, if you have a regional application open for more than one location you are unlikely to have either of them want to offer you a place, as it is very apparent you aren't totally committed to going to that area if you are applying to multiple