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Has anyone had any luck getting their 3 year teaching degree recognised? I have a BA (Hons) Professional Studies in Primary Education with QTS which is classed as a three year degree although it has the same content as a 4 year degree. The whole degree is in primary education and a requirement of undertaking it was that you already had two years experience of working in a primary school as a TA. Teaching Australia have said if I can prove it has same content they will consider (I'm not sure it will be as easy as this! and this they will still say no) Most universities in the UK now offer this type of degree and it's quite frustrating that although I now work as a qualified teacher in the UK that I will not be able to in Australia. Any help/advice will be appreciated. We cannot get into Australia any other way as my husbands trade (Asphalt Supervisor) is not recognised on trade list, I have an Auntie who would also be willing to sponsor me but if my degree cannot be recognised is that our hopes of emigrating to Australia dashed!:unsure::arghh:

Hi All I recently got deported from australia for breaking the rules of my visa. I was on a tourist visa and did a few days work as i was a bit short of cash and a friend needed help to finish a job and asked if i would help him out and he gave me some money for groceries in return. Im in a commited relationship with an australian citizen and we have been dating for over 12 months but have only been living together for 10 as i had to previously return home for 3 months when my dad got sick. Due to breaking my visa I have been given the 3 year exclusion ban however the guys in the immigration department were fairly confident that i would be able to get the ban waived if i was to return on a more permanent basis such as a partner visa. Has anyone been through the same experience and what do i need to do to get the exclusion waived? Is it a case of sending off an appeal or do i just have to hope they waive if i apply for another visa? Have me and my partner been together long enough to get a partner visa? We have got evidence of shared bills, joint credit card, recently went on our 1st holiday together, numerous photos and joint invitations to events such as birthdays wedding etc? If not then we will probably have to look at the prospective marriage visa, although we are not engaged i had planned to do it next year after we had already sorted out our defacto visa. Its a lot of questions but im after as much advice as i can possibly find. Thanks Carl

Hi there, Just wondering what people's thoughts are on the best time of the year to move back to Blighty. Our target is October. sunni :wubclub:

Hello, can anyone help to clarify the Teaching degree situation for me. I have been told that my 3 year BA (Hons) degree in primary education will not be recognised in Australia and that i need to have done 4 years and have a PGCE. I have QTS in the uk and have taught for 5 years full time. Thanks Ruth

Can anyone recommend a good accountant in the Mornington area? This is our first year to do the tax thing and I have 2 kids and lots of receipts!!:biggrin: Cheers x

Hiya, just hoping for a bit of advice. We're currently in the process of applying for a Spouse Visa for my OH and estimate it will be processed mid Oct to mid Nov. I am also pregnant and this wait for the visa means that I will probably have to give birth here in December (as we would need to put notice in at work, arrange shipping etc.), then travel over when the baby is about three months old. Has anyone flown with a baby this young? I know they are all different but I'm hoping that he/she will sleep through, leaving both myself and my OH free to handle the temper tantrums of our toddler! Has anyone had any experience of this? (I won't even go into the migraine I get when I think about looking for a rental/jobs/sorting out all the red tape with two young ones...) Any advice very welcome!!

Hey! My names Kirsty, I'm 15, and I'm making the move to Melbourne sometime next year and I'm very very scared about meeting new people and stuff, anyone want to help me pwease?

Hi can anyone help? I was granted PR (subclass 175) as I am a nurse. Lived in Australia with my family from 2004 - 2006 a total of 18mths. Came back to the UK as a very close family member was very sick and has since passed away. Our PR visa's don't expire until May 2009, but our 17 year old son in middle of A level's and does not want to come back to Australia to live with us. He has no close family in London and we don't feel we can uproot him Realistically, we can't go before summer 2010. I was told by 3 people (including the Australian Immigration dept in London) that I may be able to apply for a 5 year RRV on the grounds of 'compassionate and compelling' reasons. I was told today by case worker there that my application will fail as I am not entitled to apply on these grounds. I can only apply if I have substantial ties to Oz (ie a family member there) or cultural, or other strong reasons. The case worker did 'hint' very heavily that if I were to apply in Australia where I don't need to complete an application but just turn up at a migration department I am quite likely to get a 5 year RRV issued. He couldn't give me a definite and was very careful with the words he used, but that was definetly the message he was giving me. Has anyone applied for a 5 year RRV inside Australia having spent less than the 2 out of the last 5 years in Australia. I am quite willing to go to Australia to do this but would like to know if I stand a chance. I am unable to call the Brisbane branch as calls can only me made from Oz!! Thanks Sam

Finally WA falls into line with the rest of Australia link here

Hi all, Sorry it has taken me so long to get around to this post, life gets in the way sometimes! Well where do I even start, we have been reflecting on our journey over the past year and wow what an adventure! One year ago, we left England to embark on the biggest adventure of our lives, the goodbyes were sad but ahead we had a sense of excitement and anticipation. I remember when we landed in Melbourne on the 5th September 2011 thinking - wow, we are really here! For the first 5 weeks we stayed in serviced apartments provided by my husbands company, it was right by the beach so we enjoyed that novelty! We then moved to a suburb near my husbands work called Berwick, we love it here, it is very family focused, only 40 mins from the CBD, 25 mins to the beach and 20 mins to the mountains, lots of bars, cafes, restaurants, parklands etc :-) The first few weeks were (we can look back and laugh) somewhat challenging, we managed to meet a few people and their generosity will never be forgotten, our first night in new rental we ate our first meal off a cardboard box and watched a tv the size of a laptop (with only 3 channels) that we borrowed from friends ha ha, but lets not be ungrateful, we were essentially starting again! The children have been our saving grace, whenever we felt down or like things werent going our way, we would look at them and see happy faces, enjoying playing in the fresh aussie air and things felt, I dont know, right I guess. The last year has been totally amazing, we have seen and done more things than in our entire lives in the UK, I guess looking back we didnt make as much effort so maybe that's our bad but a fresh start was what we needed! The best part of all is most of the things are readily available to us, within 30-45 min drive - we have Australian beauty on our doorstep, how lucky are we! Australia has more than exceeded my expectations, it is clean, vibrant, beautiful, the food is fresh and in abundance, the people are (mostly) friendly and cannot do enough for you! In fact I sometimes dread going some shops when I am in a hurry because they make such a fuss of you and conversations are plentiful! For those of you that like to complain about how 'expensive' Australia is, please remember these things - The roads are big, spacious and clean - yes the car tax is expensive but then look around you! You get tax back every year you work, that for us is a new novelty and what a bonus! You get super annuation (pension) if you are employed, between myself and my husband we get 19% pension paid by our companies. Food is more expensive yes, but it is fresher and lasts longer so you throw a lot less away, so is it more expensive in the long run? Outdoor life - pack a picnic, fill up your petrol tank and you have a cheap day out, anywhere you fancy, and unless you go to the city or somewhere very touristy, parking is FREE! All parks whether they be in the city, mountains or coast, there are bbqs everywhere, they are free and readily available to use, I love this! in the summer we drive to the beach pack a few sausages and rolls, let the kids play, enjoy a paddle or walk along the beach, have a drink and a hotdog and then go home, awesome! Trains are cheap as chips here, in fact on Sundays they are almost nothing so take a train into the city, walk along the yarra river, have a drink and cake and come home - cheap trip out! Petrol prices match the uk but dollar to pound therefore cheaper! The weather, well Melbourne is the state of all seasons but certainly the sun shines way more here which we love. In the right trade you get paid well here, both my husband and I earn 2.5 times our wages in England :-) I could go on and I know that everyones situations are different but these are our reasons as to why we want to live and bring up our children here :-) The things we miss about the UK - Obviously friends and family Bisto - we get this sent out!! Galaxy - we also get this sent! Clothing - I still shop online at Dorothy Perkins, Next and River Island who all ship to Oz but this works out because I shop in the seasonal sales! CURRY! But fortunately I have a husband that cooks an awesome curry, phew :-) We have so many exciting things to look forward to here most weekends, we spend more time together as a family and love the great outdoors, we work hard and play hard, our kids are the happiest I have seen them and hardly ever watch tv anymore :-) As a family moving to Australia there are hurdles you will come across and problems you will face, its not paradise but in my opinion close enough! Moving anywhere whether is be Australia or Scotland you will always have difficulties to face but you HAVE to put yourself out there, when we first moved here we got ourselves out there and met people and now have a great circle of friends. You have to make an effort to meet people and network yourself - especially if you have children, they are the best networking tool of all! I dont know why there is so much negativity on this forum, people are very quick to talk about the bad stuff but rarely take the time to talk about the good. So my advice to anyone thinking of moving to Australia, do your research, plan, network and enjoy! You only live once so take a chance! I am happy to try and help if anyone wants to know anything - anyway must go, off to the top of a sunny mountain for a free childrens fun day :jiggy: Thanks all, will update at 18 months xx

Just chucking it out there... I've just put my entry in for one of the little warm-up events - the Sun Run in February: http://sunrun.com.au/default.asp?PageID=20952 and wondered if there were any other runners on here? I've joined a running club up where I'm living and they seem like good guys - running at 0630 in the morning is a bonus, no issues with heat and humidity then Anyone else planning on running the City to Surf next winter? Or any other events?

Hi guys, i am moving to gold coast in 3 weeks and if you want to chat about oz and stuff and you are roughly the same age and are in or moving to gold coast then pm me and i will give you my email address. Thanks, Harrison..

hello, im shaun. I have just move to Brisbane form Scotland. Im staying in the New Farm area at the moment, near southbank. Looking to see if anyone else is around this area and looking to make friends ? anyone thats moved to Brisbane recently or moved a while ago i would appreciate it, hope to hear from someone , Shaun :wink:xxx

Hi! I am currently holding an RSMS visa with employee sponsorship. My contract of employment was signed and commenced on 18th January 2010 so therefore i have been contracted to the employer in the nominated position for 20 months. I have been told that the 2 year obligation however begins from the date the visa was granted which in my case was 17th June 2010. In researching this on immi.gov.au i have found the below paragraph: "The visa may be cancelled if the employee does not comply with these obligations to complete the two year contract with the employer." From reading this paragraph i am led to believe that i am only obliged to fulfil a 2 year contract with the nominated employer (This was the contract that was sent to immigration and was the basis on which my application was granted.) Please can anyone help me out with this! Thanks

Hi all Well we’ve been here 1 year already and its flown by. We emigrated from the UK to Brisbane on 8 February 2010. Our family consists of me (Sam) Martyn and 2 children Katie and Kyle who are 9 years and 4 ½ years old. We had all the usual ups and downs before moving wondering if we were doing the right thing etc, sold house car etc then started looking at houses again in UK wondering if we were doing the right thing. My hair started falling out and also started having palpitations all through stress. It was unreal the amount of stress you go through so can sympathise with anyone who is making the move now. Husband handled it differently by retreating to the bedroom playing computer games in any spare time he had just to stop thinking about everything we had to do which sometimes seemed insurmountable. We flew with Singapore airlines and they were brilliant. It is a very long flight though and we have 2 children who were kept entertained with all the films and games so didn’t need the pull along trolley that we’d stuffed with loads of toys/games to keep them occupied. We stopped over at Singapore airport for 3 hours and its an amazing airport very clean, seemed to me like 5 star hotel, free massage chairs as well which is very welcome after hours on plane. If you stop there check out the butterfly house and the koi pond (all of which are free) as well. Upon arriving in Brisbane we collected the hire car from the airport and found our short stay accommodation with the use of GPS. I would like to say this was a nice place to stay but it wasn’t really as it was an ensuite bedroom purpose built onto someone’s house. It was also February as well which was really hot with no aircon and no air flow going through. Anyone who lives in Qld will realise you need a property that has good airflow at this time of year as its extremely hot and humid. The people weren’t very helpful either and after a 24 hour journey we were met with a hello, were given the key and then was told “I’m off to bed” no help to bring in our 7 suitcases or anything with 2 extremely tired children. I wouldn’t recommend the place and found they weren’t very helpful at all but I wont mention the place on this forum. We had a hire car for 3 weeks, visited our bank (Commonwealth) to sign the paperwork after having opened this account from England. We moved our money with Moneycorp and the money was transferred in time for our move here. We sorted Medicare, Martyn found a job via Hays Accountancy and started 11 days after arriving here and its a very good company and he’s still there enjoying his work. We also registered with Medicare, organised a Qld driving licence which was just a matter of completing a form and having a picture taken – too easy as they say here. We also registered with Centrelink and because we were permanent residents found we could claim family assistance payments. We also found a rental and received rent assistance through Centrelink. During this 3 week period we also purchased a used car. In our first few weeks we made contact with Kev (itcouldbeworse) on this forum and he offered to show us around his suburb (Bracken Ridge) as doing the research on the internet is not the same as someone who had lived there for 15 years telling you what the area is like, where the local schools were, where to shop etc etc. His help and advice proved to be invaluable and helped us greatly and for that we will always be grateful. It really is difficult landing in a country and not knowing a soul. He also invited us round to a bbq to meet his lovely family and even put us all up for a week in the period before we could take up our rental accommodation as we just had to get out of that tiny room we had initially rented as we were going stir crazy in there. We are now friends with him and his family and have even spent some of christmas day with them which was lovely. They have become like our family here in oz. He still gives us advice too when we need it We decided to rent in Bracken Ridge as it seemed like a nice area to start a life. We enrolled our eldest child, Katie, in the local state school (Norris Road State School) she really did not want to go to a new school. Katie didn’t want to emigrate as well and we were really worried about what impact all this upheaval would have on her, but 1 year on she is a happy and well balanced girl with lots of friends, and though she still misses England and her family and friends she is happy. Our youngest Kyle wasn’t old enough to start school. I had initially decided to take 3 months off work to settle him in nursery but it ended up being a year. There is no free nursery as such here which I found a shock. They have a kindergarten (kindy) system here which you have to pay for and the fee for a full day is $60. They wont let you register for ½ days or anything like that as you still have to pay the full fee regardless of the hours they stay there. I enrolled Kyle in the local kindy but they only had 1 day available per week which was no good to me. I then looked at another kindy who also only had odd days so it meant I would have had to use 2 or even 3 different childcare places if I was to find a full time job. I decided I didn’t want to do that as it would have been confusing for Kyle to go to lots of different places so took time out from work to stay home with him and settle Katie into school etc. Kyle has now started prep school which is full time and I’m now looking for work. You can organise child care from England but you need to focus on which area you are going to live to them register your child. You would then need to make contact to put your child on a wait list and usually pay a holding fee, sometimes $10. I tried to do this in England but wasn’t sure what area we were going for and the kindies I did make contact where miles away from where we ended up renting. In the time we have been here we’ve experienced so much. We’ve done lots of sightseeing which is exciting. We’ve visited Mount Coot-tha lookout, picnicked at Slaughter Falls, visited lots and lots of beaches, Redcliffe and the manmade lagoon there, Mooloolaba, Bribie Island, Australia Zoo (6 times as bought a yearly pass) been to Dreamworld and Gold Coast for days out. We’ve been to various beaches along the sunshine coast including Noosa, went to Eumundi market which is a great day out, Yandina Ginger factory, we’ve been to an Ekka Day (Brisbane Festival held once a year) visited Montville a beautiful place with unusual shops and a lookout point and so much more too many things to mention. In all this time I’ve seen one lot of wild kangaroos and one wild koala. I kind of imagined Crocodile Dundee types everywhere and tumble weed blowing in the wind with kangas bouncing everywhere and koalas in all the trees but its not like that at all. It is a very clean and beautiful country with lots of local wildlife such as ants, frogs, dragonflies, bush turkeys, crazy looking spiders and the odd snake. Here its so clean and bright and its a pleasure to be here. The parks are clean and well maintained. You regularly see the grass being cut in parks and the equipment being tested by council workers. I’ve found the people to be pleasant and helpful. The aussies are quite forthright and say what they mean and sometimes I’ve found some of them rude but they were only saying what they thought and its quite refreshing really. One example would be I went to a butcher shop that I hadn’t been to before to buy some chicken and it was quite expensive $5 more expensive per kilo compared to my usual shop so when the guy came up to me I said “oh its a bit more expensive than what I normally pay” and the guy said “well you’d better go to where you usually go then hadn’t you” to which I replied “yes I think I will” and walked out the door embarrassed at how rude I thought he’d been, which he wasn’t really that’s just his price and I would have probably said the same if it was my shop. Not sure if this thread will be helpful to anyone making the move. I can answer individual questions if it will help anyone making the move such as where to look for rentals etc? I will say that its a more positive lifestyle, the air is cleaner the skies are brighter, its a lush green landscape. Our quality of life has improved because of such things like: More things are free, eg great parks and the weather is great Kids are not treated as a nuisance like they were in England We can take picnics out and just relax The beaches are beautiful so had lots of beach days out We have made friends in the time we have been here, friends that are more sociable such as inviting us round for drinks/bbq/days out to explore – our weekends are packed most of the time. I will say it does take time though so even though it is extremely lonely when you arrive it will get better. Kev lets us use his pool (a big plus in summertime) More laid back lifestyle News isn’t all doom and gloom – it has a positive vibe to it (I think) People are more accepting of you, it doesn’t seem to matter as much as to what job you do or what car you drive its about you and you as a person. Friends tend to make the effort to keep in touch. You may think this is a strange one to put but I’ve had lifelong friends in UK who haven’t really bothered to keep in touch since we moved and we find 99% of the time its us making the contact, this goes for some family members too. Financial things now: We brought £10k out with us and went through this in very little time. It worked out at $17,500 with the exchange rate at the time. It was a good job my hubby found a job so quickly. When you factor into this: Buying a car $5,000 its quite difficult to find a reliable(ish) car for less than this, rental bond $1640, 2 weeks rent up front $820, car hire, cant remember but it was hundreds of dollars for 3 weeks rental, buying a GPS, buying food and things you need such as pots pans utensils until your container arrives, bought a fridge freezer and a washer, cost of driving licences as well, petrol as you drive everywhere when you first arrive looking at areas etc. School uniform and book lists even though its a state school you still need to find this money as well think it was about $150. These are just some costs off the top of my head but it is an expensive time. We do have a friend who came out with less than this but they were helped greatly by a friend of theirs who let them rent cheaply and didn’t have to pay bond and got a bargain price on a second hand car so it can be done with less I would say. I find the cost of buying a property to be expensive. We haven’t bought yet but I do worry how we are going to be able to afford to buy. Average cost, I find, in Bracken Ridge for 4 bed property is about $450k for something nice, not too nice tho even at this cost. Rentals are expensive for us at $1640 a month when there is only one wage. I would say that its a good job we receive Centrelink and rent assistance otherwise would really struggle as husband on an average salary here. I find that when it comes to food shopping its wise to shop around. I tend to go to the butchers, to the fruit and veg markets and then maybe Aldi or Woolworths for my other shopping needs. It is more time consuming if you are busy working but I find this the best way for us to save money. Will say to end the thread that its awful when you say goodbyes and if I were to have any regrets at all its that we are so far away from family as really miss them and this feeling is still here after 1 year. Sometimes get tearful and sad and then another day comes and you perk yourself up and try to think why you did this in the first place. My mum visited in October and stayed for 3 months and really enjoyed her time here, so much so that she would like to come live here so looking into making this possible now. My mum has seen the quality of lifestyle here for us and the children and says we must be mad if we went back to the UK now but it still doesnt make it easier saying goodbye and knowing you're miles away again. We're going to have 3 more lots of visitors this year and hope to have a brilliant time with them and after will start saving like mad to go visit them. Sam

Hi my 14 year old daughter and 15 year old son are visiting me us in Baldivis over Xmas and then again at Easter before they emigrate permanently. My daughter is into Dancing, playing keyboards, is learning Japanese and loves anything Japanese related, is a member of the Guides, and is heavily into anything Twilight related! My son is into music, playing guitar, Xbox, BMX and skateboarding. My daughter has an account on here set up, but she forgot to activate it so just waiting for that to be done then I'm sure she'll post her own messages. So if anybody is around and would like to meet up teens and parents then please give me a shout. Want to also get the low down on some of the schools in the area from both teens and parents points of view. Thanks Jayne

some good news for cat 4.:jiggy: 23rd May 2011 Iscah News EXTRA We just had attended a presentation by DIAC in Perth and the following interesting titbits were discussed. Company visas A discussion paper will be out in June 2011 for a possible June 2012 implementation. It will hopefully lead to simpler second stage (ENS and RSMS) processing. New 1st July 2011 Skilled Points Test - Passmark still expected to be 65 points - Some of the work experience may be gained in a longer period (up to 10 years now although the slides don’t seem to reflect what is currently on DIACs website) - The IELTS regime of having to have results at the time of decision (rather than application) will likely remain the status quo. - Skills assessing bodies will be responsible for assessing whether a person’s work was at the required level DIAC require (this is a very big change). - DIAC expect to finalise all Priority 2, all Priority 3, and some (around 10,000) Priority 4 cases in the 2011/2012 program year. These priority 4 cases will start with the oldest first, which are likely to be pre September 2007 onshore skilled visas - The 485 visa is likely to remain in its current format - Any fraudulent document or deliberately misleading information presented with an application can lead to a 3 year ban on any other visa, including for family members. More information as we get it Cheers and enjoy the week Steven Iscah Migration www.iscah.com MARN 9687267

Hey, my names Alex and I'm a 15 year old guy, me and my parents are moving to either townsville or melboune (depends who aphra picks!) in June, I'm quite nervous about this and know no one there. Would appreciate some people to talk to, from melb/townsville or not! Just wanna get to know some people and learn about life in australia. Thanks for reading and hope to talk to you soon.

Hello everyone! :rolleyes: My name is Blake and I am 8. I am Totsy(aka.Tiana)'s brother! My family have the visa already, we are hopefully moving there later this year.I will be going to Queensland when I go there. I would like a boy my age to talk to! :jiggy: Beepster :jiggy:

Hey all! I am Sam. I am moving to Brisbane in February. I cant wait!! :jiggy: Any advice? I would really like a pen-pal. If anyone has already moved can you tell me what it's like - I have never been to Oz :unsure: Sam x

Hi there, I am 30 yrs old and have been in Melbourne for 1 year and am always keen to meet new female friends who are up for spontaneous drinks/coffees/theatre/cinema and generally enjoying all that life in lovely Melbourne offers! If anyone can point me in the direction of any upcoming meet-ups that would be great equally would love to meet individuals/arrange a girlie group meet-up depending on numbers. Home-sick central today am normally more fun, promise! :tongue:

Hi Everyone, I am going to be heading over to Oz next August on a WHV, I am from the uk and am currently 29 years of age. I will be 30 in May next year, so once I arrive will be 30, I was wondering - is it possible for me to land and go straight into doing 3 months harvest work to obtain my 2nd year visa? Am I correct in saying I can do this and get it granted as I am 30 years of age and still under 31. So even though my first year ends once I am 31 in 2013 - I can then stay a 2nd as my 2nd year has been approved whilst I was still 30. Please let me know if poss, I may do this asap as an option to then get that granted so If I truly love the place I have the option of staying a 2nd year. Thanks for the help, Nick :jiggy:

Im in a bit of a dilemna and was wondering if anyone out there could help me. A bit of background - we have had our 175 PR visa now for 21 months, was due to go last year but eldest daughter (who wasnt coming with us anyway) fell pregnant. I wanted to be here for the birth of my first grandchild who is one in a couple of weeks. We did our reccie to Sydney 12 months ago and loved Oz. My dilemna is: I have 15 year old triplets who are about to start Year 11 here in the UK in September. We have always said that we will wait for them to finish their education (GCSEs) here in the UK and then look to move over. A few days ago my husband was contacted by his company in Oz (he met up with them on our reccie last year) and they have a number of vacancies but are desparate for him to move over now. What do we do because im worried that if we dont like it in oz or dont settle then what do my other children do about their education if we return to the UK. Just wondering if anyone has been in this situation and possibly returned, does the oz education have any resemblance over here or would they need to go onto further education back in england before trying to get into uni. I know I might sound like im negative, I really dont want to have to return to the UK but you do hear a lot of people doing this so im just being very cautious. Look forward to any views. Debbie xxx

Hi, Im living in Lakeside, Pakenham and have a 10 year old boy who is nearly 11. He is begining to be a little lonely on weekends! I have met loads of people here who are turning out to be great friends but everyone seems to have younger children - less than 5 years!! Which is find for my youngest daughter. He is having enough with youngers boys/girls so if there is anyone out there who has a boy around the same age would love to meet up. He is making friends at school but I am stuggling to get hold of the parents as all the kids walk themselves to school and back home again! Have tried sending messages home but they dont seem to answer the messages! Thanks

State Sponsored Migration List (SSML) - 2011-2012 program year 28 New Positions Added. http://www.immigration.sa.gov.au/applyonline/skilled/planning_level_status.php Regards IrisStew