Corrina

25 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

I would  just say that Paul is an experienced agent who has been very generous in handing out free advice to PomsinOz members.  Choosing an agent who lives in WA won't give you any advantage whatsoever - it's a matter of complete irrelevance where they're based.  I'm sure Susan knows lots of agents on a professional level, but personally I'd choose one of the agents who have shown their generosity and knowledge by supporting all of us on these forums.  Paul is one.  There's also GoMatilda and SunCoast Migration.

Good luck.

Noted, and appreciated. Thank you. 

10 hours ago, Susan from Moneycorp said:

Corinna, Perth is wonderful!
(As are Fremantle and Rottnest - two of my favourite places in all my travels)

Please feel free to drop me a line at the office: susan.watts@moneycorp.com and I'll be glad to help further  
 

Hi Susan, thank you so much for your reply. I've done so much research into states, cities and suburbs, I feel like I could be a tour guide!! But yes, Perth just feels like the right and best place for us. Best out of everywhere we have considered (QLD, Adelaide, NSW, Canada, NZ and France)!... But thank you I will make contact with you tomorrow. 

10 hours ago, paulhand said:

Many agents do specialise in certain types of application, as some application types are highly specialised. There are a few that narrow this even further to specific roles.

WA has a very short skills list for overseas migrants, so options may be limited.

Please do get in touch - details below ...

Hi Paul. Thanks so much for your reply and info. I will certainly be in touch asap. Perth was our first choice, although I'm sure that social worker was on the WA list, we'd also consider Adelaide or QLD. 

7 hours ago, Susan from Moneycorp said:

Hello Corinna  

I work closely with agents both here in Sydney and around the Perth area of WA - let me know which area you may have chosen to relocate to and I'll be glad to introduce you personally ~

Good luck!

Sue ~

 

Susan Watts
Director of Business

TTT Moneycorp PTY Ltd Australia

 

T: +61 414 838586

  

Level 6, 201 Kent Street, Sydney NSW  2000

 

 

 

 

Hi Sue, 

Thanks for replying. We are aiming for Perth. 

5 hours ago, WelderGuy5 said:

GoMatilda highly recommended. Plenty of references can be found here.

Thank you that's great. 

8 hours ago, Alan Collett said:

Can you ping a quick message to me with your name and email address so I can find you in my inbox?

Thanks!

Best regards.

Hi Alan, 

Thanks for replying. Sure, I'll email you now. 

1 hour ago, CharleyP said:

Alan Collett from Go Matilda has been great for me - after a chat about options he was very clear about exact costs and broke it down into what you pay for rather than giving just one large total amount. 

Thanks Charley. I have briefly looked at Gomatilda on somebody's recommendation on here. I'll definitely relook now. Thanks 

56 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

My agent was great, but doesn't do the job anymore. 

You can of course do it yourself, thousands do every year but I always work on the principle that when making such a big investment (money, time and life) it's best to get some proper advice as that will hopefully save heartache later.

In terms of advice I've had some great help from @paulhand @Alan Collett @Raul Senise to questions I've posted on here in the past, if they are that good when they aren't being paid I imagine they are pretty great when they are "on the clock"

That's great, thanks so much. Hopefully they might see this then, and won't mind suggesting. Thank you. 

Hi, 

I have been looking for a migration agent (UK family of 4) and have had an unexpected flood of emails from various agents, all quoting very different costs! It's thrown me. 

I'm wondering if anyone can advise, did you use an agent? Can this be completed without using one? If you used one, what did they do for you? How much did you pay and were there any hidden costs? 

My husband and I are both social workers. Are there any specific agents for certain roles/job skills or does this not matter? 

Lastly, and apologies for a list of questions, but could you please recommend an agent you used? Positives/negatives?... I'd much prefer to go with word of mouth. 

Thanks so much.

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Yes, Sunshine Coast is one of the regional spots I was thinking of, but I don't know it well enough to recommend specific towns, so thanks.

Of course there are nice Sydney suburbs - you'll notice I said "often" not "always".  Stay within a 5km radius of the city and you'll find lots of lively suburbs full of pubs, cafés and restaurants.  However at over 2 million for a tiny terrace house, it's not cheap to own a home there.  You'll also find plenty of little gems further out - Sydney is a huge sprawl, after all - but they're the minority not the majority, and of course they're more expensive.  

Thanks. Yeah we're not really considering NSW and prices like that are way over our budget  

7 hours ago, Bobj said:

I would not consider Armidale, NSW, especially in winter. The town is in a hollow and gets enormous frosts and fogs along with woodsmoke from a few thousand wood stoves that quite often settle until late morning. During 2018, there was quite a controvercy regards wood smoke and carcinogens. The airport often gets 'socked in' due to the heavy fogs.

I lived in Glen Innes and often had to go there for work seminars.

Cheers, Bobj.

Thanks for the info Bobj. We wouldn't like that at all. 

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

I find Australian suburbs are very different from British ones.  British suburbs often have their own personalities - perhaps because so many of them were originally villages or hamlets that got swallowed up by the big city.  A British suburb will have its own pub and high street and a sense of community.  Australian suburbs didn't grow from villages - they were created by urban sprawl, and they are often faceless "dormitory suburbs" with no personality and  not much sense of community.  In Sydney especially, they'll often have no pub, no cafés and almost no shops (everyone drives to the nearest mall).  

As a social worker, you've got an opportunity office workers don't have - your work is just as in demand in regional centres.  If you'd like your daughter to stay at home while she's at uni, you'll need to consider where the universities are, of course - but the regional universities are a good choice, because they are smaller and more personal while still having good reputations.  In a regional city, you'll have the advantage of much cheaper house prices, all the amenities of a city, but a quieter lifestyle with a community focus. 

Newcastle is worth looking at - close enough for visits to Sydney friends, a manageable drive to Brisbane for your friends there, great beaches and on the edge of wine country.  Armidale is also worth considering.  Though a small town, it's charming, with a lively cultural life because of the university and the two large private schools.  It's attractive to me because it has a cooler climate (I'm not good with humidity) but that may not suit you - but you could live in Coffs Harbour and your daughter could stay on campus and come home on weekends (no doubt invading the house with university friends who want to go to the beach, so that may not be something you'd wish for....)

Fabulous advice, thank you. I'm much the same regarding humidity. Or rather my hair doesn't cope well with it! Warm, sunny, dry, breezy weather is perfect for us. Cooler evenings too and it'd be perfect....but thanks, I will do some research on those you have mentioned. 

22 minutes ago, Quoll said:

The showers are good - I love my shower! The car parking spaces are wider and our local malls have indicator lights which tell you where the spaces are! They’re definite positives! The wine’s not bad either. But the sausages are genuinely crap (lol - always a bone of contention here)
You might be lucky with the mozzies - interestingly my DH never gets bitten here in Aus, but in U.K. he was forever being bitten and itched for days whereas Pommie mozzies ignored me but the Aussie ones bite as soon as I stick my nose out of the door. So if the Pommie ones love you, chances are the Aussie ones won’t. 

I hope you like birds too - got swooped for the first time this season a couple of days ago - being dive bombed my a magpie is certainly an experience you’ll never get in England!  Not only that I also got swooped by a mynah the other day too - he definitely had an identity crisis, must have been modelling on the maggies. 

Hope for the best, expect the worst and take what comes with an adventure, I reckon. If you do that you won’t be disappointed. 

Love it. Love that. Thank you

1 hour ago, ali said:

The easiest way for you to prove her dependence at time of visa grant is for her to be in education.

Thanks. She will be remaining in education until she decides to head to uni. 

1 hour ago, Ausvisitor said:

The problem you are going to have here, is whilst anyone who gets PR automatically qualifies for AUS home fees as a uni student it isn't the case in the UK.

Most people assume if you are UK you get to pay UK fees, that isn't the case you need to live in the UK full-time for the three years preceding the first day of the course otherwise you are classed as an international student.

So let's say you go to Oz next year (she is 17 and you go on a 190/189 so you are PR)

At 18 (uni year) she decides to have a year off

During that year you all decide to move home so she starts what could have been uni year 2 in the UK

Except now she has to wait 3 years or pay UK international fees (general rule £20k+ per year instead of £9k and no loan to pay for it either)

Think carefully about moving a child nearing UNI age as you could be locking them into having to stay in AUS even if they hate it there or having to put their life on hold for 3 years

Thank you. We have all thought very long and hard about it all and weighed up lots of options. 

3 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

@Corrina it’s a leap of faith at the end of the day. If you really want to do it then bite the bullet and do it. Just accept it might not be what you thought and if it’s not then hopefully all you lose is money. I am genuinely pleased when I moved in 2005 I didn’t know half of what is talked about on here as I may not have moved at all. I really didn’t think very hard at all tbh.....possibly not the recommended approach. 
You are doing your research, accept there’s a risk, start the process. The visa process isn’t quick so best crack on if that’s what you really want to do otherwise the opportunity may pass. 
Migration is expensive. Australia is expensive in my opinion. Each family is different with different needs, expectations and earning capacity so it’s hard to pin down an exact comparison and also Australia is huge and each state is different. For every person that loves Australia there’ll be another that hates it.  
The forum is full of information and people willing to share experiences and opinions but ultimately you need to decide. Flip a coin, heads you stay, tails you leave. If you flip heads and say best of 3 you have your answer.

Spot on Amber, thank you. 

We're absolutely under no illusion. We've talked as a family how difficult the first year would be and why. Thanks again for your honesty. 

3 hours ago, Amber Snowball said:

I think the £50K is a possibility if you are 6 months + out of work. It can and does take people a while to find work. Not sure what sort of SW you do or what the vacancy rates are in each state but if it looks like you are struggling to find work in the area you want I suspect you’ll do what you’d do here in the uk and take a less than perfect job in order to pay the bills.

Thanks Amber. Yeah I guess it could add up to a figure like that over time, but it wouldn't be all within a lump sum. So it's still doable. There are lots of places willing to do interviews via Skype or at their base in the UK. So we aim for at least one of us to have a job to go to before we get there. But absolutely, as you say, we'd take a less than perfect job to get by, if we had to

4 hours ago, calNgary said:

They are pretty much the reasons we moved and so far all is good and many of those boxes ticked. In a couple of months we will have been here 14 years., its scary how time flies but we have no regrets . From reading your posts it sounds like you have done your research ,which is good and its even better to hear you have friends who have already made the move so no doubt they can give you a heads up of any pitfalls. Although more expensive at the beginning a PR visa gives you way more 'perks' (for want of a better word) once you have arrived, so with kids id definately be going that over a sponsored visa if you can.

Costs do add up and its normally silly things like a driving licence, some sort of work licence, school charges etc that you sometimes forget to budget for but remember these things are over time, its not like you step off the plane and are hit with a $20k bill. I read you did an online shop which would have given you a good idea of what things costs,just remember to buy when items are on offer (especially at supermarkets) they have different offers each week so you soon get used to buying a little more when its cheaper / half price and storing it, over the year it certainly saves you a few dollars. Coles do Flybys and Woolworths do reward points, i use the reward points to get $10 off my shop every 3 or 4 weeks and 4 cents a litre off fuel whenever i fuel up, again another good saving if calculated across the year. 

 Lots of luck with everything

   Cal x

Hi Cal. Thank you so much. Such a lovely and positive response. I needed to hear that  

Thanks for the heads up re money saving tips. My husband doesn't go a day without a deal searching and finding. He loves it. So he'll be chuffed to read this x

5 hours ago, vickyplum said:

Hi @Corrina, have been reading this thread with interest and trying to think back to our actual costs when we moved in 2015.  Not that it will help you reduce your costs, but may give you a realistic idea about setting up a home and $$ associated with that.

Roughly we spent $4500 setting up home - ie, pretty much purchasing everything from scratch, apart from sofa, fridge, TV and a spare bed (gifted from family and since replaced with new - apart from the sofa which is on it's way out soon!!).  This was buying nothing more fancy than Ikea - lots of Kmart, Target, Ikea, local Asian shops etc.  Think iron, cutlery, clothes pegs, crockery, cleaning products, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, cooking pots and pans/utensils, kettle, toaster, beds/bedding, dining table/chairs, a few other bits of furniture and so on - all the things you would need to function in your home.  Since then, we've replace some items with better quality, but this is what it was at the time.

We rent, so had to put down a deposit of $3k ish.

Moving costs of:  visa GBP 2k  for application, medical, police checks,  etc /flights $3k ish / Move Cube for shipping of personal items $700 plus possible some extra $$ for actual delivery of the boxes to our door.

So that's well over $10k with nothing special included. We stayed with relatives when we first arrived, didn't buy a car and I was working within a few weeks - so didn't have to fall back on other funds (just as well because we didn't really have any!!).

However you cut it, migrating here isn't cheap, and being here isn't that cheap either - depending on how you live and what choices you make, will vary that of course.

For reference, I'm in Sydney (from London before that, and Oxfordshire before that!).

Hi Vicky, thanks so much for your reply. Very honest and real. Just what I needed. I have rough figures in my head for things and I'd say yours is fair comparison given the time difference. Thank you. 

We live in Monmouthshire, South Wales and considering Perth, Adelaide or The east coast. Have friends in Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, NSW and Darwin. 

5 hours ago, Quoll said:

Only thing I can agree with here is the adventure - that is the one reason why you might think of moving.

Higher salaries (but dont go on straight comparisons, compare as a percentage of the local average salary), yes, but higher living costs too - I shudder at my weekly grocery shop here and for relatively little it seems.  Better climate - for some maybe, and for others not so good - personally I hate the incessant heat, having to get out at 6am so I can walk without burning to a crisp in summer, lurching from air conditioned car to air conditioned mall and back (hopefully this year) to our air conditioned house and a week of hot sweaty nights is wrist slitting territory.  Our houses (Canberra) arent built for the cold either so this winter has been a shock to my system after 8+years in UK - we've gone through over a tonne of wood just to keep warm.  Outdoor lifestyle - lovely if you like mozzies and flies and various other creepy crawlies; I am much less inclined to be outside (in summer especially) than I ever was in UK, no sitting on the grass having picnics that's for sure (no real grass, just couch grass which is most bare skin unfriendly although I think they might have real grass down in Vic and Tas). I know a lot of people on here are beach people but after a while I am of the "seen one beach, seen them all" persuasion - it's all personal choice. Laid back approach - nice joke. Longer working week, fewer vacation days and a CV driven need to climb the greasy pole and meanwhile keep step with the Joneses.  Most families I know are dual income because they cant afford to live on one income (yes, Canberra is expensive).   If you also choose to budget for trips "home" to keep in touch with family, that's one holiday a year gone and a lot of money in the process.  If you have no family left to visit then you are quids in but dont expect people to come out and visit you either - it's expensive, it takes up a big chunk of their holidays and the older you get the less appealing is the 24 hours flying.

Canberra used to do  a lot of social work sponsorship and usually within the first couple of years, 90% of them would have moved on, mostly moving home because of the burn out.  Had a chat with a lot of them and whilst we in the associated fields really loved their approach, the management would clamp down so hard on them that they would give up in despair at not being able to do a proper job.  Hopefully that may have changed by now. Someone even wrote a semi autobiographical novel about her SW experiences here before she headed home, it was very amusing but I suspect it took her a while to recover.

You mentioned living about an hour away from the City - an hour away from the centre of the big cities means you are still in the Big City - the suburbs go on boringly for hours.  You may mean one of the smaller country towns and they generally have a nicer sense of community, but they will generally be some hours from the major capital cities (Canberra is the exception however, we are a nice size and although the suburbs are spreading like cancer they're nowhere like in the Sydney Melbourne league)

WDU is one step removed from H&A I suspect - sugary viewing and bearing little resemblance to the reality. Have the salt pot ready when you watch it.

However, as I said, if you are only in it for the adventure then go for it and to hell with the pennies.

Hi Quoll...wow, you've painted the most depressing picture of life in Oz I do like your style of writing, but cheer it up a bit please mate...Is there Anything positive out there at all? Thank god I love flies, mosquitos, crap dried grass and avoiding the scorching sun!.... You have made me smile this Sunday morning (UK) though. And I get that everywhere in the world has its good and bad points, and of course, we all experience things differently. Moving isn't just for an adventure for us. We have many reasons. And we need to hear the good, bad and the ugly. Thank you. If I could buy you a beer to cheer you up, I would

Just now, ramot said:

Not necessarily better, but different. Neither of my sons would swap where they live, both equally happy.

OK yes, different ... And bigger! 

2 minutes ago, ramot said:

Everyone keeps going on about how high the cost of housing is here. Yes of course Sydney and Melbourne are very high, but it must depend on where you move from in UK to where you end up living here.

For instance my old village In Nottingham the median house price is 355, 305 uk pds equals $644,125

Good schools and fair number of council houses. 20/30 minutes to Nottingham, better public transport.

Median house price Sunshine Coast in my suburb just under $600, 000

slightly higher population here. Good schools much better sporting facilities here. Fairly poor public transport. Better shopping facilities here. 1 hr 15 to Brisbane 

My son lives in a Brisbane suburb, fairly large detached 4 bed house, large block. Valued approx $600, 500

My UK son lives in a suburb in Bristol, 3 bed 30’s semi, with loft extension 4th bedroom Valued 600 500 UK pds nearly double

Similar equivalent incomes.

Obviously these examples are random but they are genuine comparisons 

Hi Ramot. Thanks for your reply. I couldn't agree more. It totally depends on the area you live and which you migrate to. What we have been looking at would offer us a much bigger house, more space, a pool and within half an hour to a beach. And for much much less than what we have here. (which is still lovely here, but Australia is better). 

19 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Well, even Wanted Down Under mentions that about half of all migrants end up going home (it's a statistic that's difficult to check BTW so not sure if it's accurate).  

Have you checked whether you would, in fact, be earning higher salaries?  I've never heard of anyone getting double their UK salary or anywhere close to it, after taking into account the cost of housing/living.   For many occupations, it works out much the same, and you just have to accept those initial costs are the price you pay for the lifestyle you prefer.  I have no idea how social work pay compares but perhaps someone else can advise. 

Work/life balance - I don't know why people quote this so often. You'll be working the same hours as you do in the UK (office hours in Australia now are often 8.30 to 5.30, and everyone gets 4 weeks leave and 10 days paid sick leave). Employers are no more laid-back in their attitudes than in the UK.  So, the balance will be much the same - the only difference is how you spend your free time.  If you're able to get a job in a coastal city away from the capitals, you may be able to afford a home near the beach - in the capitals, beachside real estate is for the wealthy.  Home and Away is filmed in a part of Sydney where homes cost several million each.

I agree with you. I think it would be naive to assume that work life would be so different. In our line of work particularly. I have friends who have moved to Australia over the years. Most of them social workers, and I've asked them lots of questions believe me. 

We don't want to live in a city. Perhaps an hour or so away. We prefer more quiet, community orientated suburbs.

2 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Well, even Wanted Down Under mentions that about half of all migrants end up going home (it's a statistic that's difficult to check BTW so not sure if it's accurate).  

Have you checked whether you would, in fact, be earning higher salaries, after taking into account the cost of housing/living?   For many occupations, it works out much the same, and you just have to accept those initial costs are the price you pay for the lifestyle you prefer.  I have no idea how social work pay compares but perhaps someone else can advise. 

I have checked, as much as I can and some states are different to others. It can be similar pay or much higher. But its always higher. And more still if management roles are your path. I have experience in both public and private sectors and I know what I want and what we need as a family. We wouldn't be considering it otherwise.

I have looked into state statistics, property prices, utilities, crime rates, fuel, leisure, Internet access, flights out.... Oooh so many more things. But I do know we'd be better off financially there, but absolutely that's not the main reason for the move. We'd be happy to stay on parr with current earnings if needed....But I think this is going a tad  off topic. 

1 minute ago, Marisawright said:

I think you're misunderstanding - I'm not complaining that we had it tough, because we didn't.  I'm saying that in the past, most migrants were as you described - migrating because they weren't doing well financially in the UK.  Naturally enough, even though we were better off in Australia, it took time to build up to the kind of lifestyle where we could afford - or wanted to afford - expensive holidays every year. 

Today's migrants who fly home every year are not people who weren't doing well financially in the UK.  They are professionals who were already comfortably-off in the UK.  Sometimes I wonder why such people want to migrate to Australia at all, TBH!   

Yeah, I get you. But for the same jobs and same pressures, Australia generally offers higher salaries (often doubled), and a much better climate. It appears to have a far more laid back approach to life which, in the UK can sadly be missing... A lot! A more outdoorsy lifestyle is also very appealing...we'd up sticks and move there for this even if the salaries were lower. And the thought of being at the other side of the world and closer to even more amazing countries to see and hopefully explore in time, is well worth the upheaval. 

We love the idea of a family adventure. Seeing new things we've only seen in books, learning another countries history and culture, meeting new people... Stepping right out of our comfort zone....and ultimately showing our children the world it couldn't be better.