Dreambig1

Hi there all

weve just moved over and are finishing quarantine soon! we will be looking to rent but have no jobs or rental references as we owned in the uk. We do have a healthy savings account and could pay 6 months rent up front with evidence of up to a years savings for rent . Would this be sufficient for a landlord ?? With no rental references , would we need a guarantor?

many thanks for any help

hi all

we are relocating back to oz and trying to organise everything in this chaos which is Covid- I’m looking for one way travel insurance just for the duration of our flight- particularly with cover if we test positive to Covid in the days leading up to flight any recommendations? 
many thanks 

Hi everyone 

I was wondering if anyone has a recommendation for removal company from uk to Melbourne... my first quote for 20 ft container was £5000... does that seem about right ?

Good luck for your flight and getting home quickly x 

So glad- will keep fingers crossed- can I ask how many weeks before your scheduled flight did you ship your belongings?? Do you think the fact you had shipped everything bumped you up the dfat list....

5 minutes ago, ADM21 said:

Hi there! We ended up getting seats on a repat flight so we're officially in Australia. Still very pricey even to get seats on that flight but we really didn't want to risk our flight getting bumped as had shipped all our stuff and wrapped up everything in the UK. 

If you haven't registered with DFAT I highly recommend that you do! We received an email a few days after we registered with 2 flight dates and luckily we managed to book quickly but most seats were gone so you need to be fast and keep an eye out on your emails so you can book straight away. 

Hopefully the situation is better in August but for us the DFAT flight was most reliable. Only thing is everything had to be done at the last minute as they don't give you much notice! 

Hoping everything goes well for you! 

Congratulations what a relief! How much notice did u have between the flight dates and the actual flight? I hadn’t thought to register as we are emigrating so don’t consider ourselves in a dire situation just frustrating! We r planning to ship out stuff six weeks before we are due to fly and remain in our house with go air beds etc.... just pray we don’t get bumped weeks and weeks !  

On 21/03/2021 at 10:30, bicek said:

We have just booked our flights with Singapore Airlines for a bit later in the year,but flying into Sydney. The non transit flights are only listed up to end of May. I guess they are scheduling like this on the basis they may not need to make them non transit after that time period. So for any flights booked for dates after May, passengers will need to double and triple check their booking accordingly to make sure it is converted to a non transit flight if that is still needed at that time. My feeling is that UK might not be under the same restrictions by Singapore at that time. Hard to say but I will keep my eye on it. 

 

Really sorry your flight got bumped. Did you have to pay £1500 extra per person or for a group? There is a flight schedule floating around the Facebook groups which shows all Singapore Airlines non transit flights listed until end of May. For anyone who wants to fly before then. I can post it to the forum if that helps, I have saved the image somewhere... 

I’m assuming if I booked a flight in august which turned out not to be same plane transit- I could change my dates to a same transit plane once SA publish their sixty day advanced schedule? 

Adm

On 15/02/2021 at 17:19, ADM21 said:

Hi all, 

I'm relocating from London back home to Australia with my family in April and I'm keen to understand whether people are actually getting back home on the first flight they've booked?

We have a flight booked with Qatar in April but want to know how reliable the flights are and are people going to Aus needing to re-book?

Any insight would be really appreciated!

Hi there I was wondering how your relocation is going.... we aren’t planning on gonib to august but are so worried our house will be packed on a ship and we will be stuck here with cancelled flights.... did u have personal belongings to ship out ... how many weeks before your flight did you send your things.... so many ifs and buts at the moment- truly hope not goes well for you 

Thanks so much for your thoughtful replies. I know without doubt my siblings will support my choice ( they’ve seen the impact living in the uk has had on my husbands mental health )  and I fully anticipate my parents encouraging me to go still - in fact they’ve prob held off tellin me so as not to disrupt my plans however things at the weekend meant we had to call them out on dads condition ... my DH’s Father was diagnosed with cancer two months after we moved to uk in 2005 and he spent fours years talking to him every day and travelling home 2-3 times a year. His biggest regret is not returning to oz to care for him and now doesn’t want to go through it again if/ when his mother gets sick . I know he’d never demand I stick to our plans but I just can’t see how I can wave everyone off to go and live my best life by the beach when I know 10000 miles away my dear dad is slipping away.. I feel a sad and unbelievably torn 

Please help I’m so terribly confused and have spent the day so distressed.

After years of planning and waiting for the right time, we finally applied and received my partner visa a couple of months ago ( hubby is Aussie). Two months ago we plucked up courage to tell my parents who were nothing short of amazing although naturally heartbroken. So with balls in motion, things starting to look like they’ll happen in July, I’ve found out dad has a form of dementia. I’m devastated that my gorgoeus dad has such a cruel illness and have spent much of the day wondering how to move forward now. 
 

my Aussie husband has been homesick for over ten years and has been nothing but patient and supportive of finding the “right time”  he was finally getting excited and has even told his mates back in oz the move was on.... obviously he’s gutted for my parents but I can see he is crushed as his dream of finally going home now hang in the balance.

im so very torn. I feel whatever i do will be tinged with regret. Regret if I go and regret for my children’s future and our dreams if we don’t. My husband is nearly 50 and daughter on cusp of high school so staying and waiting a few years not really an option if he needs a job... I have two brothers and a sister within ten miles of my parents who I know will support and care for them 100% but surely that’s my job too.

please help... I knew they’d get sick one day but always figured I would’ve made the decision and be in oz already happy and settled. To make the choice to walk away now is excruciating .... but so will staying ... any advice much appreciated

I’m also interested in this question and keen to hear opinions- we have our visas and hope to leave end of July . We have to travel with Emirates as we have a travel voucher from cancelled flights from last yr.... with a house packed up and loaded onto a ship - a cancelled flight is the last thing anyone would want! 

Unfortunately they’ll only now get citizenship by conferral 

Hi there

I was just wondering if anyone has any experience supply teaching in Victoria....is it relatively high demand like here in the UK? I’m. A qualified primary teacher (20 years) and supplied since the birth of my children 8 years ago. When we move I hope to do the same, adhoc work - any tips gratefully received!

Hi there

I was just wondering if anyone has any experience supply teaching in Victoria....is it relatively high demand like here in the UK? I’m. A qualified primary teacher (20 years) and supplied since the birth of my children 8 years ago. When we move I hope to do the same, adhoc work - any tips gratefully received!

Just an update in case anyone else finds themselves looking for the same answer...

having contacted the Vic education dept, it was clear I would be required to pay fees for both my children - up to $24000 dollars a year....I was surprised by this given their dads citizenship but it is based on the child’s visa status.

we have now lodged an off shore application ....our agent said wait times are reduced due to lots of other visa processing being suspended so fingers crossed 

Thank you so much for taking the time to find this out for me really appreciate it 

So the bridging visa over rides the fact the father is a citizen... 

Many thanks- I did email them but got an automated response back sending me to various sites which didn’t answer the question unfortunately 

I’ve spent hours and hours today trying to confirm whether children of an Australian citizen are exempt from school fees- there’s so many contradictory reports- I’d be on a bva able to work but my consultant said they’d have to pay for school until the 820 is issued... is anyo e able to Add to this ? I’m going maaaad! 

Unfortunately we can’t get citizenship by descent- we tried a few yr ago and to our shock found out he’d unknowingly relinquished his citizenship when he applied for Irish passport 1997... worryingly he continued to be issued an Aussie passport for another 20 y- so as a pilot travelling the world on what we now.know was an illegal passport for 20 y that’s an alarming gap in administration! Anyway we can now only get citizenship by conferral. 
 

we would apply off shore but are Waiting to see if his job is flexible with sabbatical start date... if they insist on a given date , we will need to leave in order to make the most of the 18 months and apply onshore - just waiting for hr to confirm

If we apply onshore for a spouse visa, am I right in thinking our children will not be entitled to go to school unless we pay school fees? If so, does anyone have an idea how much this would be?

many many thanks 

10 hours ago, Marisawright said:

As Quoll says, it’s a shame you didn’t apply for your visa a while ago then you’d be sitting pretty.  There's no advantage in applying onshore - processing times are much longer and if you want to work, you'll find it hard to get a job while on the bridging visa (you'll be able to work but employers are hesitant because they don't understand the visa).  

Your big problem right now is that if you apply onshore, you'll have to pop over to NZ and return to validate the visa - and with Covid, you may not be able to.  We have a few members in that situation right now, stuck on their bridging visa because no one is getting permission to make a short trip like that.  The Prime Mnister has made it clear the travel restrictions won't ease until at least June next year. 

Have their bridging visas been extended ? The reason I haven’t applied off shore yet is we are waiting for husbands 2 year sabbatical to be authorised.... once authorised, would your advice  be to lodge application offshore and then travel over whilst waiting for it to be validated. ( not sure what visa I would travel with in the meantime as no e visas ?? ) Many thanks for your help 

Many thanks for your replies. My husband is currently here on an Irish passport bit I guess with brexit that’ll be now harder for him to return. Thank you for your advice. 
 

4 hours ago, Lavers said:

Hiya

We went with qatar airways and went via doha.

I had to show my visa paperwork at Manchester but nothing after that.

Just had to do the declaration card to hand in at Australia.

I’ve been following your post and am so glad you made it. Congratulations . We are at the beginning of the planning process but hope to be there by the end of the year. My husband is an Australian. Did you travel on visas or citizens? Did you have to state compelling reasons to travel during this time - my only compelling reason is that for many personal reasons the time is right for the end of the year - not sure this constitutes compelling reason! Any advice you can give me going throug the process would be appreciated 

Good evening everyone.

hoping I can get some advise on here about plans to migrate. My husband is Australian and we have made the. Decision to take the plunge and move down under with our two children. We are hoping to arrive at the end of the. Year. We’ve mulled. It over for many years and looked into it several times. It was always our intention to apply for the visas once we were in Australia. We are confident after 13 years of marriage visa approval won’t be a problem. We were anxious to apply out of Australia as we would need to be out of Australia when granted.it just seemed a better option to apply once there. Given COVID, are tourist visas still being issued as I’m curious what visa I would need to travel there. Also, it says on the request to travel form said I need to state compelling reasons why I need to travel. The compelling reason being the time is right for lots of personal here. Any advice on the correct application process or how to travel during lockdown and closed border greatly received