Ausvisitor

Maybe we ought to change the title of this thread as it certainly isn't a good week to transfer money back to the UK right now at basically 2 dollars per pound (It is a phenomenal time to go the other way though)

Sydney wise, the only places a 20-29 yr old wants to be seen are Kings Cross Darling Hurst Surry Hills Newtown Marrickville Quite possibly the trendiest places in all Australia and with price tags to match. A two bed house in Newtown is going to set you back $2.2 million on average, a 4 bed with off street parking and a postage stamp garden will be north of $4m But then everywhere else is just suburbia and you don't move half way round the world to live in a slightly worse Milton Keynes street.

You can't really live in Sydney without having at least a monthly visit from the cockroach family that lives in your house but generally stays out of the way. If you live in Sydney and say you haven't got cockroaches what you really mean is you haven't seen them yet

According to most glaziers in Sydney it doesn't exist - it's a science fiction that might see sometime in the future

These policies operate in a grey area of the law around dual policies. Firstly there always needs to be a "proper policy" in place on the vehicle so when it is parked etc. It is covered. Now when a person not on the policy drives a vehicle with the owners permission (except when expressly allowed by the insurer) the policy becomes void for that journey, so whilst that uninsured driver is driving there is no policy in place, so they can therefore be covered by one of these "overlay policies" Marmalade is the biggest temporary insurer in the market and is commonly used so parents don't lose their no claims when teaching kids to drive

I can only talk for NSW and VIC but in those states you do not have to surrender a foreign licence when you use it as a credential for getting a local licence (whereas if you swap interstate you do surrender the licence). Whether that foreign licence is still valid is another question though...

Melbourne winters are terrible. Not cold enough to be enjoyable if you are a cold weather lover l, but chilly enough that coats and sometimes gloves are desirable (if not strictly necessary). Syndey on the other hand never really goes below 12c and then only for a few hours. Melbourne does get hot in the summer but only for a day or two at a time

Pre COVID 70 points or even 65 points was enough to get a 190 visa, I'm living proof of it ...

I haven't heard anyone ever saying that they do contact referees, but I'm certain they could... So don't include a reference unless you are sure the person who you named would actually backup what you have submitted

Also Melbourne is cheap compared to Sydney so it's unlikely that Vic prices will crash given the huge immigration expected into Vic over the next 7 years

How old are you? I'm guessing coming close to 45 as otherwise in cyber you'd smash the points requirements Do you have a degree? You almost certainly won't pass the cyber skills test without one (even if you can prove you can easily do the job). Similarly once here cyber is pretty much "sewed up" as a market by the tier 1 and tier 2 consultancies and they won't hire without a degree. We would need a lot more detail about your age/quals to be able to give anything more meaningful I run a practice in one of the big 4 doing cyber stuff so I've got a pretty good handle on the market

Only if you tell them! Given the OPs other half has family in the UK they could just set their settings to email/online only and use the family members address (obviously tell them). So long as you aren't talking about huge amounts of cash being left in the UK no-one will notice

Four day weeks are very much in the new and why think it might work but we won't be the first to give it a go stage in corporate Australia When you move over you will be at the "bottom of the pile" in terms of desirability for roles (as you won't have local references or experience) so whilst after being here 12-24 months you can probably easily get a 4 day week job or heavily WFH with make your own hours, the first couple of years you might be making your search much harder opting for that approach

The simple "work-around" is to use a family UK address as yours. Yes technically it breaks their policy (but policy isn't law) and so if they did find out (and how would they?) the most they could do is close your account and they are doing that anyway so you would only be in the same position. What this all does suggest though is that you certainly shouldn't be switching correspondence addresses to an overseas one with the banks anymore

I'm pretty sure there is no legislation stopping non residents holding a UK bank account. If it was these premium expat accounts would also be impossible to open under the legislation. They do have requirements under AML and KYC to have proof of address and notify HMRC of tax and addresses of account holders. They also need to take tax off interest (if you earn enough) and that's complex when you are non-resident. So from my research I understand that whilst it isn't against the law, the regulations around AML, KYC and HMRC compliance make it complex and expensive to administer these accounts, and so they don't offer them. Like everything once one bank decided not to do it, the others follow suit quickly and that is how we end up with all of them having policies (which are just made up internal rules) banning the opening (and now it appears holding) of a UK account if non resident (unless you are paying enough to make the effort worth their while) NOTE: Australia is just as bad with the non resident banking policies so this isn't just the UK making expat lives difficult

Neither did, it's just a populistic statement to win favour with others. No one is saying that citizens shouldn't get support from their country, they absolutely should, it's when people expect countries that have no obligation to also provide support that it is wrong

Which seems fair enough, it's one thing for a country to support their own citizens but an entirely elevated level of altruism to spend money to support someone who is only a guest in the country. I know it's a tough message, but Australia like any other country has a duty to it's citizens and residents to spend its money wisely and providing NDIS dollars to someone who isn't yet a permanent resident seems too much

There is some part of the process that does though, maybe skills assessment? Or am I completely confused

Our rental journey wasn't straight forward... We moved over without jobs, so no income/contract We didn't rent in the UK and we had paid of our mortgage 6 years earlier so no proof of regular mortgage paying either. In the end we showed the agent proof we had plenty of cash (we had the proceeds from selling a £600k house and a bunch of other stuff in the accounts) and got to know them well. As others have said they want an easy life, someone with the money to pay the rent easily and easy to get on with works for an agent However no amount of buddying-up or cash in the bank will get you over the need to be able to show 100 points of identification and without AUS citizenship that will require you having an AUS driving licence, TFN and bank account before you start applying (coupled with your foreign passport and visa) - so make sure you've got those things setup as immediate things to sort on landing.

Historically the request for medicals (it not pre-supplied) seemed to be around 8 weeks before a grant came through. That was pre-covid though and the world is different now so it might not mean anything at all

Being totally pedantic, the fee is actually higher if applying on shore as GST is applicable - but if applying offshore it isn't (so that's 10% for GST)

The weight won't be an issue unless its causing another issue, and if it is that won't clear up in a few weeks so stop worrying and get on with the medical

You mention you've enjoyed the cosmopolitan lifestyle in London. If that's what you are after the closest will be Sydney or Melbourne, and even they are nowhere near London in that regard. Not having a go at Aussie cities or bigging up London, it's just a fact. There are more 1000+ seater theatres in London than the whole of Australia for instance. Brisbane is more like a crowded Sheffield, nice people, enough to do to keep you busy but it's not a Mecca for culture. That said it is lovely but if you are hoping to switch house but retain lifestyle then I'm not sure that place actually exists over here, but there are great places that are different

Great news. Only thing I would add is set your expectations well and you won't be disappointed. I'm not a teacher but otherwise have a similar sort of storied background to yours in terms of leadership and senior roles. The one thing I noticed moving here (been here 16 months), was that whilst Aussies like to hear about your overseas success, they also have a "it's very different here though" base setting. Once you've shown competence though you get over that, I guess what I'm saying is if you expect to walk into a place and be headteacher (or whatever we call them nowadays) you'll probably be disappointed, if you are willing to show them your abilities then no reason why that role won't be yours 12 months later. I think sometimes this forum does take the doom and gloom too far, but it's usually done with good intentions and the reality is that many people have had that bad experience when coming here, but many more haven't

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.