Ausvisitor

I have health insurance, it's a no-brainer. The basic cover I have is $3,956 a year, the MLS (read tax) I'd have to pay if I didn't have private cover is over $5,500

So healthcare is actually cheaper than not having it. Add in we get $400 opticians, $1800 dental and $900 other remedies (between us) if we claim everything the insurance is only $800 and saves $5.5k 

You'd have to be a fool in my situation not to take it...

1 hour ago, BendigoBoy said:

Don't do IELTS, mate; that'd be my advice. Do PTE.

As someone who did IELTS, TOEFL and PTE, PTE was far more rounded and true to life than the others.

 

IELTS is just a cash cow for its operators. It isn't unknown for those with Masters degrees in English language/lit to walk away with a 7 in writing despite hitting 9s on all other aspects. It's one for "learn by rote" rather than "actually use in real life" learners.

That happened to me, most annoyed that writing reports for a living and having a masters in English still only got me. 7.5 on IELTS writing

PTE taken the next week after finding out the IELTS result and passed all 90s

On 06/01/2024 at 10:29, Cheery Thistle said:

It’s the same for Sydney and the harbour bridge and opera house - they are synonymous! I don’t think you can really compare the price for the bridge climb and going up the tower. They are totally different . I think we paid about €75 for the 3 of us to go up in April 2022. Waited in a queue for over an hour in interesting weather. Then the whole thing is over pretty quickly. I think it’s quite expensive for what it is, especially if you have a couple of kids. But I think it’s a must-do at least once. I’ve done it so many times because I used to lead annual senior school Paris trips. Have done the climb on foot a few times (to cut waiting times) but wouldn’t do it with the 10 year old. I prefer the Tour Montparnasse. Not as iconic but has better views - you get to actually see the Eiffel Tower lit up from there if you go at night. 
To be honest if I went back to Paris I wouldn’t do the Eiffel Tower again unless I was with someone who hadn’t done it. 
 

Re: Bridge climb - my $, my bucket list, I’m not asking you to pay!! 

I find it interesting that when asked what is Australian the five things that get mentioned (and it's always these five):

1. Kangaroos

2. Koalas

3. Crocodile Dundee

4. Opera House

5. Harbour Bridge

The only place you can see all five in one day is Sydney, yet then people say Sydney isn't really Australia and I wouldn't want to live there... Go figure!

(Of course people can live where they want, I just find it odd that the things that are synonymous with Australia are in the place people say they don't want to be)

Management consultant is one of the more difficult Vetassess categories to satisfy.

They almost always (as Paul Suggested) expect a management consultant to be working with external clients.

Similarly with no actual consulting experience you will struggle to make the proof points needed

There are loads of other similar anzsco codes that would probably be a better fit.

I also find that the biggest test of if someone is actual a management consultant or not is if they are handling their application without help from an agent.

Given an MC is an expert for hire if they can't see the benefits in getting an expert involved they probably aren't very successful as a consultant either

4 hours ago, Marisawright said:

I have to admit, I was the same.  I enjoyed it, but was disappointed with the view.  I imagined it would be spectacular, but actually the top of the bridge isn't very high.  There are countless tall buildings around the city centre, plus the Sydney Tower, which are much higher with far more impressive views.  As you say, it's being able to say you've done it that's the reward. 

The climb is good for the experience, in terms of a view it's probably one of the worst in Sydney, because when you are on the bridge you can't see the bridge

My office is on the top floors (44-47) of the newly built second AMP building, I doubt there is a better Sydney view from anywhere else in the city

Love taronga, can spend days there never gets boring

And you are right a median house price of 1.5m seems cheap now after 2 years getting used to the AUS prices

1 hour ago, Louise1234 said:

Is that ontop of the fee's for the agent? TIA we are also a family of four

 

Yes it is, the agent fees will be around £2,000 on top of the visa fees (well depending on how much/little you get them to do)

You pay for things like language tests and vetassess up front before you apply.

At this point you can submit your EOI

Assuming you get an invite you then pay for the visa processing fee for each visa you need. As the prime applicant you pay full price any accompanying adult is 50% and kids (I think) are 25%. You'll also need to pay for medicals and police checks.

The only fee that is incremental (i.e. you pay in stages) is the fee to your agent (if you have one) who often charges at various milestones in the process

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

I think that's very unfair on Newcastle.  It used to be a boring place, but these days I know several people who much prefer it to Sydney

Newcastle isn't a bad place but saying people prefer it to Sydney is a bit like the fox who lost his tail.

Those who say it's better are basically trying to convince themselves

I know of no one who (if they could afford the same house in both places) prefers Newcastle to Sydney, what people mean to say when they say they prefer Newcastle is that they can afford Newcastle and in Sydney they can only afford a shoebox 

Not retired but a quick Google

Nine highest UK providers with more than 10,000 students for the proportion of private school students with Imperial in 5th at 32.4% (behind Durham, St Andrews, Edinburgh and Exeter) followed by UCL (32.4%), Oxford (31.4%), LSE (30.4%) and Cambridge (30.0%)

I'm not saying it's right (if anything I'm agreeing with you that it's a bit disagreeable).

However all the top law firms and the elite consultancies are paying over £50k starting salaries this year plus £5-£10k signing bonuses. (the magic circle law firms are the biggest offenders at around £120k for some graduates - mainly Oxbridge)

I agree that there is a price to entry but I don't think it always comes in the form of cash or the bank of Mummy and Daddy.

I went to Oxford, it's bloody hard work, I was doing 5 times the work of my brother (who went to York) to walk out with (on paper) the same degree. But I got interviews and he got many less.

We both went to one of the worst state schools in the country, one where less than 10% went on to do more education after 16 (yes I'm old enough for 16+ study to be optional). Neither of us had a penny from our parents when we were at uni (they didn't have anything to give us), so I get a bit annoyed when people say Oxford grads are just entitled rich kids.

That said it was private schools all the way when it came to educating my kids, they aren't going to have to grasp the bottom of the rung and haul themselves up like I had to if I can help them get on at the 10th floor just by using my own money.

2 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Public housing in Australia isn't managed by councils.  In each state, it's looked after by a Housing Commission that manages the whole state.  Here's the info for Queensland:

https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/public-community-housing

Public housing is rare in Australia.  There's only 50,000 dwellings in the whole of Queensland.   I'm sure she'll have transferable skills though.

In the UK there is one social house for every 16 people (based on 4.4m social houses and 67.3m people).

I'm QLD there is one social house for every 110 people (50k houses and almost 6m people)

That means that QLD has (per capita) nearly 10 times less social housing than the UK so the need for management will be lower.

Basically QLD has 1% of the social housing of the UK, so think about how many people are employed managing that and get rid of 99 out of every 100 employees, that's how many staff QLD needs to manage its stock 

13 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Wee bit of a reality check as to what the ‘average’ salary is in the UK I think. 
This is nabbed from my LinkedIn and is only about Scotland but gives a good snapshot on the tax take and brackets (which reflects earnings).
£57k is almost double the national average salary. 

 

Median salary is a better indicator than average (average includes people (like young teens) who just work 4 hours a week in the supermarket for pocket money)

That said the median is £34,900 so still well below what many top graduates will earn straight out of university this year

On 30/12/2023 at 16:27, The Gees said:

I have a 491 and am planning to arrive in Australia by May 24. Just looking at teaching jobs on Seek and various agencies. Can anyone offer me insight into what is a respectable wage? I have been teaching 20 years (secondary) with management / subject leadership and also act as subject lead tutor for a university accredited teacher training provider. Current salary is roughly £49k here in the UK and obviously I’d be very happy to improve on that in terms of disposable income in Australia !

I’ve seen a post advertised at 130k AUD - any feedback on that salary?  

Also interested in thoughts on teaching in public vs private sector as we currently have a child in private so would like to maintain that for them.. . (though open minded - will go with what is best fit for them). Do teachers get reduction on fees or places for children? 
 I understand the school year starts in January and I may therefore have to do supply / relief for a while if we are arriving mid- year. 

Flipping heck I thought teachers were paid more than £49k with your level of experience

We have graduates joining the UK office of the company I work for on £57k with absolutely no prior work experience

The world has gone mad...

5 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Hmm yeah I don’t really want to get into it but I’m not really ‘feeling’ any politicians at the moment. As you age you start to realise that none of them seem to have made things much better for the average person. SNP are making a huge mess just now. It’s definitely a case of choose your poison at the moment! 
I can’t quite put into words how bad Glasgow has got, especially if (like me) you remember how it was 20 years ago. It’s not just the shops, it’s the social problems too. They may have always been there, just more diluted but I do think that has also got worse. I can’t really see how it will recover, but I hope it does. 

The social problems have always been just under the surface in Glasgow, the huge amounts of money spent on the Glasgow infrastructure in the 1990s and 2000s (and the relative feel-good economy) meant they could be "papered-over", but they were arguably worse then because they were under the radar.

I do agree though I had many a good day (and night) on good old Sauchiehall Street (or as our US friends would say saucyhall street)

8 hours ago, BendigoBoy said:

Heartbreaking, in a way. I used to spend a fair bit of time on Sauchiehall Street, 20 years ago.

Maybe if there hadn't been that last minute swing after that lying sod Cameron told them the only way to stay in the EU was to stay in the UK back in 2014, it might be different. Doubt it, though. The SNP haven't exactly shown strong credentials in honesty and good economic governance.

They've made their bed over the years. They'll just have to lie in it.

Just glad my bed is Down Under.

You might not like Dave, but he didn't lie about Scotland and Europe.

The European union came out at the time and said as a "new" nation Scotland would have to apply for admittance to the EU.

Look at how long that is taking, they are about to admit two new members but they applied before the 2014 referendum so Scotland would still be waiting, and guess what based on Scotland's GDP and the debt they would have taken as their share of UK debt on independence they would almost certainly have failed the financial stress test.

But the truth isn't as much fun as having a go at a politician is it???

I'm in the UK for XMAS this year and can't wait to get back on the plane.

It's wet, cold, depressing and just not as nice as Australia.

I know others say no matter how long they spend in Oz they know they are home when they get back to England, I can see what they mean, I know I'm home I also know that with every fibre in my being I'd rather be elsewhere

Happy New Year all

On 26/12/2023 at 10:18, Cheery Thistle said:

Lenders are also funny about you renting to family members so you’d want to think about that. 

First thanks everyone who has given advice, lots to think about.

Bit of clarity in my ask.

The properties in the UK are all owned outright at the moment. Due to the pull of London for our about to graduate kid, they will be living in London.

We are about £100k short of buying something in London outright, and thought we could remortgage one of the already let properties to release that £100k.

Can then gift the cash to the kid to buy outright in London (it would be easier to get a mortgage on the new property but as it will be in their name not ours we can't do that - and as they are not yet even employed {have job to go to but haven't graduated yet} they can't get one in their name either)

The rent on the exiting property would more than cover the repayments and we realise we would have to live 7 years or there might be some fun & games on tax due on the cash gift (but not planning on checking out anytime soon)

As rammygirl says, I would look for other career codes that more correctly reflect your experience and the role you will be doing.

The ICT Manager career codes is a very technology hands-on role and it sounds like the role you are looking to do isn't that.

It's to release cash to buy in the UK for family member still over there. Otherwise I'd agree on it makes more sense here

Ok looking for a bit of advice on where to start looking (as a Google search always says - of course we can - right up until you've filled out the form!)

So we have some properties in the UK (owned outright - no mortgage or other finance on them).

We want to raise about £100k from one of them (it's worth about £190k).

Who would entertain a buy to let mortgage application from an Aussie resident based on the rental return? (For clarity the person owning the property has no income other than rental income, whereas the other partner - who isn't on the deed - has the job)

(Realise this is probably in the specialist advice needed category, but looking for where to start which could be talking to the right person)

29 minutes ago, InnerVoice said:

Oooh... shots fired!

And returned, it's quite easy when the first salvo fired was blanks rather than real ammo!

2 hours ago, Cheery Thistle said:

Good for you. You’d think such high fliers would be able to do a less than 5 item list accurately! Mwahahaha

I mean if you check and read my post carefully (actually it doesn't need much careful reading it's all there in back and white) you will see there are indeed 3 points in it (and they are numbered).

If you can't discern that from reading the text that isn't my fault, maybe have a word with your school teachers

Oh we care about your degree class, unless you've got cast iron global experience going back 15+ years you aren't getting into the company I work with without a first, and we check. 

Think big 4, and you'll have a 25% chance of being correct (although they all have the same rules and they all employ background checkers to make sure)

2 hours ago, DrDougster said:

We didn't have a probationary period. They were happy with just a couple of months payslips to demonstrate income.

The bank (it was NAB) was happy with a contract and payslip for the smaller amount but once the 6 months, or the period mentioned in your contract of employment if different,(most Aussie corporates are 6 months) passed they became more generous

In the end we found something we liked and bought it in cash without a mortgage so didn't need to actually go through with the full application 

51 minutes ago, InnerVoice said:

That would be well above the 28/36 rule unless the borrower had absolutely no other debt, and wouldn't leave then much disposable income.

On the bright side, interest rates are more likely to fall than rise in the foreseeable future so at least their repayments should fall.

It was CBA that was offering that on their calculator - I mean I guess that is no guarantee they'd actually let you borrow that much though