nickp99 Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hi All We are just starting out on the process of moving lock, stock and barrel to Australia and are looking for a bit of advice. My wife is a qualified social worker in child protection and currently a practice manager in the UK. I have spoken to Global Visas and they ran through their points system and said that we qualify under my wife's job and we scored 65 points. However, I have since read that this may not be the best company to go with and that their points system has no bearing on an application, hence the reason we need a bit of honest advice. So here are our questions. 1. Is it best to go through an immigration agent to obtain our visa's, (2 x adult 38 & 39, 3 x children) if not which visa do we apply for and how do we go about it? 2. We are looking at either Perth or Brisbane so looking for recommendations on family orientated areas. I appreciate there are many more questions that will come up, however wanted to make the start. Oh and we are looking to make the move in July 2015 as our eldest finishes his GCSE's. Thanks in advance. Nick, Clare and Family (not forgetting the dog). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac2011 Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hi Nick and Family! I'm sorry I cant give you advice regarding your visa but wanted to say hello... I am hoping to emigrate with my husband and 3 children to either Perth or Brisbane (job dependant of course) in Spring 2015 (realistically will probably end up being summer but for my countdown I will say spring). My eldest finishes primary school that summer too. Iv been researching the areas for a long time and whilst I'm still no expert you've chosen some lovely areas. Depending on where I can get a job (QLD health are on a recruitment freeze) we are prepared to live outside the city possibly an hour away from Perth or Brisbane. There are some lovely areas. If you go on realestate.com.au you can eye up some lovely areas and then there is a mortgage calculator on there that you could use to give you an indication of what kind of mortgage you can get. The Visa process currently baffles me but I refuse to pay £,000's to someone for forms I can fill in myself. If you read the forums on this site 'do a search of social workers' I am sure you find loads of valuable advice. Immi.com also has loads of info and points calculators you can fill in to give you an idea of points etc. It may take a few hours to take in but just keep at it. Over the coming months, Im planning on putting together a spreadsheet with family based locations when I see somewhere on this site recommended. Then I can keep note for nearer the time. If you or your wife want to keep in touch regarding the journey let me know, Id be happy to have someone to count down with! Julie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del70 Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Hello! Social Worker is on the SOL, so I suppose which Visa you go for depends on how many points you can obtain. She will need to get her skills assessed by AASW. I'd have a look at the link below, and see which Visa suits, and calculate how many points you can achieve through age, qualifications etc. Best of luck! http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjbchris Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 We did it alone.. If you can fill out forms then it's fairly straightforward.. First step is to have your wifes skills assessed and then take it from there... check out here about Social Worker skills assessment - http://www.aasw.asn.au/whatwedo/international-qualifications Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted May 4, 2013 Share Posted May 4, 2013 To your questions, it is a matter of personal choice regarding whether to use a migration agent. Some do, some do not, if you think you might have "problems" with your application e.g. health, character issues or if your experience is not clear cut, then maybe an agent is a good idea. Otherwise many people do it all themselves. Perth and Brisbane both have families living there happily. I think that to make the decision over location you need to focus on what is different and generally that will not include things like "good for families" or "good schools", because you will find families everywhere and there are good and bad schools everywhere. Things that can differ between cities would include climate, job opportunity, house prices.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickp99 Posted May 7, 2013 Author Share Posted May 7, 2013 Hi All Many thanks for the responses so far, they have helped a great deal. My wife has checked out a couple of the recommended links and has established what information she needs to gather. So onwards and upwards and let's get this party started. Regards Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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