Advice wanted on what to do!

[Bungo]

Reading this & with hindsight, I would advise anyone coming across on a 457 to get verification in writing that the company will sponsor after 4 years. I would also suggest again requesting in writing that they will pay repatriation expenses if you are made redundant through no fault of your own. My removal expenses were paid to come but refused for the return although company do have a responsibility to pay airfares and even for expenses to find and remove you if you take the Australian "Walkabout" route although this would probably do you no favours.

We believe we have also exhausted all avenues to gain PR. & there is absolutely no assistance or flexibility in the immigration system. They are even determined to twist the knife by taxing superan' at 38% to withdraw as a "None Resident".

 

Having something in writing might be a conversation starter, but it would not be enforceable. Managers move on, companies move on, they change and restructure. Anything could happen in four years. In alll honesty, I don't think many companies are going to go out on a limb to sponsor a 58 year old for a permanent visa, the workplace is sadly still very ageist. Getting full repatriation costs, including pets, furniture etc written into the contract is a good idea though and will take away some pain.

 

Personally, unless I wanted an adventure in my 50s and was quite happy to return home after a few years, I wouldn't set off down this path at all. In OPs case, I stick by my earlier post on the thread, they should cut their losses and go now as they almost certainly will be doing eventually but a delay will get them stuck for international university fees in the UK.

Edited April 7, 2016 by Bungo

[Marisawright]

Reading this & with hindsight, I would advise anyone coming across on a 457 to get verification in writing that the company will sponsor after 4 years. I would also suggest again requesting in writing that they will pay repatriation expenses if you are made redundant through no fault of your own.

 

The idea of having redundancy costs put into the contract is worth a try - but you are never, ever going to get a company to guarantee to sponsor after 4 years.

 

Even if you could get something put in the contract, they would hedge it around with conditions, to cover themselves in case the company restructures or is doing badly or gets taken over or .... all of which will give them a "get out" clause and render the "guarantee" meaningless anyway.

[tea4too]

The general consensus seems to be for the OP to seriously consider a return to the UK sooner rather than later, and while I think the lovely people of PIO have provided the OP with worthwhile and constructive advice I suspect it is the opposite of what was hoped for. Having moved out to Aus early last year and keen to stay, a return to the UK will probably be seen as the last resort, and that in itself may make any move back very hard to come to terms with. Others with much more positive reasons to MBTTUK have struggled only to become pingpongs further down the line. How much more difficult must life be if you move because you have to, rather than choose to.

 

Fwiw I would seriously look at areas other than my hometown if I had to consider a return in those circumstances, planning the next few years as an adventure. I would research the length and breadth of the British Isles, the towns, the cities, the surrounding countryside, the schools, colleges, work opportunities, house prices, access to things we enjoy as a family. Nowhere is too far from extended family if you think of it in the context of Aus, so relocating to Scotland for example and visiting family on the south coast is very manageable if that is something you want or need to do.

 

And, assuming the UK is still a part of the EU, I would have an eye to the future and possibly moving again if the fancy took us in a few years. Returning with a sense of ‘moving back’ is possibly a real hurdle if it’s the last thing you want to do, but it doesn’t have to be a totally negative experience. The UK has a lot going for it if you are in the frame of mind to look for and see it. T x

[LKC]

 

Fwiw I would seriously look at areas other than my hometown if I had to consider a return in those circumstances, planning the next few years as an adventure. I would research the length and breadth of the British Isles, the towns, the cities, the surrounding countryside, the schools, colleges, work opportunities, house prices, access to things we enjoy as a family. Nowhere is too far from extended family if you think of it in the context of Aus, so relocating to Scotland for example and visiting family on the south coast is very manageable if that is something you want or need to do.

 

 

I would think that this would depend on why the OP moved in the first place. I know that some people move so as to get away from the area they are in, but others don't. If we moved back I would have no hesitation in moving back to the lovely area we were from, if we were able to do so. Or maybe we would look at other areas if we had to for work. Our girls were tiny when we moved over, so they had no friends, but the OP's daughter may well have a school that she is familiar with and friends that she knows so returning to the same area might be the better thing to do for her.

[tea4too]

I would think that this would depend on why the OP moved in the first place. I know that some people move so as to get away from the area they are in, but others don't. If we moved back I would have no hesitation in moving back to the lovely area we were from, if we were able to do so. Or maybe we would look at other areas if we had to for work. Our girls were tiny when we moved over, so they had no friends, but the OP's daughter may well have a school that she is familiar with and friends that she knows so returning to the same area might be the better thing to do for her.

 

I agree, but I sensed (perhaps mistakenly) the OP was generally very happy in Aus and only considering a return because circumstances forced the family to do so. In those circumstances a return could easily become an unwelcome backward step, and maybe one way to redress that would be to change it into an opportunity to explore a different life and lifestyle in the UK. For a small country life can be very different depending on where you settle. T x

[Bungo]

I agree, but I sensed (perhaps mistakenly) the OP was generally very happy in Aus and only considering a return because circumstances forced the family to do so. In those circumstances a return could easily become an unwelcome backward step, and maybe one way to redress that would be to change it into an opportunity to explore a different life and lifestyle in the UK. For a small country life can be very different depending on where you settle. T x

 

I get where you are coming from. You mean it might make it feel more like a new adventure rather than returning in unwelcome circumstances with potentially a tail between legs type of feeling. We came back to where we lived before and were happy to do so, we returned with some sadness as we were quite content in Australia, but nevertheless there were no forced circumstances and it was a rational choice for us.

 

I also suspect that you are right that the answers have not been what OP might have hoped. But unless they are willing to risk having to pay international study fees in three years, return seems the only rational choice.

[dxboz]

Regarding your daughter having to pay international fees for going to uni if you return to UK. It depends on how many ties to the UK you have maintained. A friend of mine got free uni after 25 years away!

[VERYSTORMY]

Regarding your daughter having to pay international fees for going to uni if you return to UK. It depends on how many ties to the UK you have maintained. A friend of mine got free uni after 25 years away!

 

Very exceptional though - I tried to get a place at a UK uni after we had only been in Oz a year on a 457 and couldn't get past the international fee issue

[starlight7]

I hope this family are able to stay, especially as the life here suits them. I would look at other states perhaps and try to get sponsorship somewhere else. Probably a high population state like Victoria would be most likely. It is a shame to have to return when the whole family likes it here. I would be poring over the job websites and the Sat papers constantly.

[LKC]

I agree, but I sensed (perhaps mistakenly) the OP was generally very happy in Aus and only considering a return because circumstances forced the family to do so. In those circumstances a return could easily become an unwelcome backward step, and maybe one way to redress that would be to change it into an opportunity to explore a different life and lifestyle in the UK. For a small country life can be very different depending on where you settle. T x

 

I completely understand where you are coming from here. However, I just thought that maybe it would be easier on their daughter if she returned to a familiar stomping ground.

[Bungo]

I hope this family are able to stay, especially as the life here suits them. I would look at other states perhaps and try to get sponsorship somewhere else. Probably a high population state like Victoria would be most likely. It is a shame to have to return when the whole family likes it here. I would be poring over the job websites and the Sat papers constantly.

 

It isn't just getting sponsorship, it is getting sponsorship for four years and then at age 58 hoping and praying that the employer will sponsor for permanent visa. If they won't, it is back to square one, another four years and then hoping at age 62 that the next employer will sponsor for permanent visa.

 

If they want it bad enough, then yes, they have to give it a shot. But they would then also have to be prepared for internatonal university fees.