Ausvisitor

Our agent fees where £2,100 three years ago. That covered three of us (Me, spouse, daughter) and our process was more complicated as it was a 189/190 rather than a relationship visa. I would suspect given your process should be easier you will be looking at about £1,500 plus other fees for visas application and medicals etc

When we paid for our kid to come over (at uni in UK) for Xmas it was $3,200 but obviously in reverse to what you need (i.e. coming to Sydney for Xmas) To put that into perspective we booked flights for July to visit her (and others) in UK this year and paid $3650 for both of us together, so Xmas does appear to be more expensive (That said we got a great deal on our flights they are $2,400 each now if you tried to book them today)

I had remembered it wrong that seems much better

The possible issue though is around the time allowed out of country. In your last year you can only be out 30 days. So if leaving now you would have to be back by early April or else wait another year until you can say you've done 12 continuous months with only 1 out of the country

Or as your signature shows, if you really are old and incompetent move to the US not AUS there is no limit to how far you can rise if you are old and doddering in that country !

I have seen very little ageism in IT in this country and I'm working at the top of that profession with the C suite of salesforce, atlassian and others every day. We all agree that mediocre people use this as an excuse but honestly if you are good you won't have a problem, if you think people are being ageist towards you maybe have a look at your abilities and team working skills, you'll probably find it's your poor skills that make you unemployable not your age. Other industries may vary, but IT (at least big IT) couldn't care less about your age just your ability

Settled well, but the reality is I worked all over anyway. Lived in Toronto, New York and UK and done extended work in Switzerland, France, Italy, Jakarta, Bangkok and Dubai - so used to being "a fish out of water" I know some are saying AUS is an ageist society but that isn't true anymore in the white collar professions in the blue collar trades it is still a thing though

You will certainly need professional advice. Generally a teacher of your age with years of experience would be fine (sometime a long wait but generally it's a when not an if application) Your move out of teaching to industry though is probably going to cause an issue as the skills assessment requires a minimum amount of time in the nominated career in the last few years. Also one key issue for UK teachers is how did you qualify. If you didn't do a 4 year course you don't meet the Australian definition of qualified teacher (so a degree plus PGCE or a specific teaching 4 year degree) you also need to be able to show your training involved a substantial amount of classroom experience and not just lecture room theory. Get a call in with an agent quickly, time isn't on your side and you will be waiting in the process long enough without effectively also waiting now but having no idea if you would be successful or not. We applied when I was 44 (not teaching) we assumed we didn't have a chance given age, called an agent their view was time against us but worth a try, less than 9 months later (and the day before my 45th birthday) I woke up to a shiny visa grant letter in the email inbox

Not guaranteed, they may take a chance on someone with a relatively minor record way in the past on a visa that they know means you'll be here 2 years and can be chucked out if you misbehave. Once they give you a PR you are Australia's problem - it's very hard to deport a PR (the hint is in the word permanent) so they are much more picky about who is let in forever

Worth reminding them that a floor is a perfectly good example of a surface then. So unless you've brought a really crazy amount of stuff there is no excuse not to unwrap it all

Equally as an accountant you should be used to the concept of paying an expert to handle things you can't/don't/won't or aren't interested in understanding Stop dithering and get talking to some agents to see what your options are...

As a teacher you need state licensing as well, and they almost always post new teachers into the rural community rather than the big cities. Given that you might as well accept it and apply for a 491 (or 190) in the state you want to be in, as it will be quicker and either way you'll probably get your first job outside the city anyhow. I'm sure there are other recent teacher migrants or migration agents that can explain this better as I'm only going off anecdotal stories Also teacher shortage is really only in the BIG high profile subjects (maths science) the others have more applicants than vacancies

There was a lot pre Christmas that were fast tracked because they had medical backgrounds and at present the medical profession is desperate for people, for most other careers the wait time seems to have increased. There are also huge amounts of onshore visas where people have applied for a visa after doing 2 years on a Holiday working visa.

The way I read the quota guidance is that out of the 195k visas to be granted, 17k are for 189, 55k for 190/491 state sponsored. So when you consider the average 189 awardee is coming with their partner and on average one child that's 3 of those visas taken up meaning there are effectively 6,000 189 awards available. If you have a career that your chosen state is sponsoring you are far better applying for a sponsored visa - you get more points, and there 3 times as many chances to get an award. Also of importance, the 189 is very much highest points first granted, whereas in the state sponsored they can pick and choose a bit more (I had 70pts with a 190 application and was offered in 24 hours of putting in EOI)

Nothing like London, but I guess closer to London than any other Aussie city, more like a baby-New York. There really isn't anywhere in the world that is like London (and some people would say that's a good thing), ultimately 750 years at the head of modern exploration and empire (whether you like that sort of thing or not) tends to create something unique. You'd love Sydney - if only to be able to say Ive been on the bridge and I've seen a show in the opera house (I only watch comedy in the opera house - Jimmy Carr, Nish Kumar etc - not cultured enough for Opera) And on the subject of being behind, it's totally true, stuff I was doing in the UK 10-12 years ago is considered cutting edge in the finance and utility companies here today. Which of course is great as I just rinse and repeat stuff I know I can already do

Your first concern should be do either of them have a career/job on the skills list - as Marisa says, if they don't it's pretty much a dead in the water case. Let's assume they do... How much do they really want to move. The process is pretty intrusive nowadays - generally at least a year of paper shuffling before you get the green light (if you do) and by then with fees, agents, exams assesments, medical and police checks, a family of 4 will easily be in the hole to about $15k Once they get here (unless you have room for them to live) it's basically another $5k a month in short term rentals and living costs (unless they can get a job straightaway). Migration isn't a cheap thing anymore and if their only impetus is the "UK ain't what it used to be" that probably won't be enough to make them feel the huge outlay was worth it. That said AUS is a great place to bring up kids (as our adult kid who was brought up in the UK keep telling us) and she went to the very best private schools and had an idyllic childhood compared to mine, so maybe it will be worth it for the OP after all...

I get my work clothes tailor made (always have). Years ago working in Bangkok got fitted. Now I just look at the current styles online, call up a few weeks in advance and then jump on a long weekend to Bangkok to pick up the freshly made items. Did it when I lived in the UK, still do it now. Even adding in the airfare and hotels it is many times cheaper than comparable onshore quality items (in the UK or AUS)

I just don't see things being expensive here, they seem to be give it take exactly the same as they were in the UK. Certainly not enough to make hiring a container something I want to do (we've moved international many times before and always used a container and so it was a conscious decision rather than a naive first timer)

I disagree, we sold absolutely everything before we came over. We travelled with Qantas, one 30kg suitcase each and 10kg of hand luggage. So 80kg between us. Basically clothes, laptops, important docs and some sentimental things. Never been happier, we had a 5-bed house chock full of stuff before, we now rattle round the new place because we don't have any clutter Best thing we ever did to hit "full-reset" when we made the move

I don't know why specifically - but I can guess based on other SLA driven businesses You are already way "overdue", getting your case of the books still looks bad in terms of processing times and if they let you languish maybe you will withdraw which makes their stats look better (they only report on time to grant/deny and time in queue - they don't have to report on voluntary exits) So it's better for their numbers that they process a newer case (as it keeps the overall cases in breach of SLA down) and hope you voluntarily walk away. Not fair but you get the behaviour you measure and so that's why customer service is so rubbish

I missed this one when it was posted original. The most important thing to note from a logistics point of view is that iGCSE have a different syllabus content to GCSE and for those that have coursework element the UK GCSE equivalent won't be relevant. You could try sitting the iGCSE (but it would be as a private candidate and the entry fees are around £80 each time plus the fee to sit the exam in whatever centre you attend - this is not legislated so could be anything) If you really are staying in OZ long term it really isn't worth bothering with GCSEs

Nothing wrong with it in general. Pretty rubbish commute into the city, but most shire dwellers are wealthy enough that their public transport commutes are over and their drivers can just take the strain of the Sydney traffic. Of course to a Brit, Sydney is upside down. northern suburbs are 50 K out of London, so is the shire. 50k north of London is Peterborough and 50k south is Farnham and the rest of the leafy southern home counties. You wouldn't be surprised to see Farnham doubly the price of Peterborough, the same is true here (but North is the new South)

Thanks Take what you read with a pinch of salt. I read every day that prices are dropping in Sydney, yet each week we look at places to buy and they are going up still. There are more people turning up to auctions than any I saw last year, and interest rates well... They reckon there will be another 3 rises (at least) and even then the rates are still historically low. You might catch a bargain in the next six months, but the combined wisdom at the moment is prices will begin rapidly rising again by Christmas (but interest rates will still be roughly were that are today). Put simply the Australian negative gearing tax system makes it very profitable for people who have money to borrow to rent-out. (And don't forget Brissie has the Olympics in 9 years - there has never been an Olympics host city that didn't see stratospheric house price rises in the decade long run up to the event)

Can give you a little glimpse of our rental journey. We arrived in AUS exactly a year ago (well it will be in 2 hours anyway). Sydney (so not quite the same as BRI) We moved into our rental on the 1st April (so about 7 weeks in temp accom). We had really simple needs, one-bed within 45 minutes if circular quay and clean. (We knew we would buy within the year so had no interest in paying loads for something we would only "pass-through") In the end we had a long chat with the agent showing the flat, explained our cash status and employment plans and got them to position use with the landlord. Ultimately if you go for a place that someone with AUS employment history and AUS rental history, 99 times out of 100 the property will go to them, so be prepared for an arduous process (Also the viewing process of open houses once a week - or sometimes twice - makes Saturdays a day to dread)

I will have been non resident for the whole of the 2022/23 UK tax year. How do I let HMRc know not to expect a tax return this year? Thanks