Timing things

[excitedbutterrified]

Apologies in advance,  I'm certain this will have been covered in some other thread, but I seem to have zero skill with the search function.

Our background

We are a family with 2 primary school age kids, both parents working (wife doctor, myself engineer) we both fell in love with oz years before we met on our separate travels, and have been backwards and forwards between the UK and Australia too many times to mention. 

We most recently spent almost 3 years from 2015 to march this year living and working in Melbourne, and left Australia to return to the UK for a few different reasons, primarily because my wife was offered her first consultant job back in the UK - also coinciding with me being asked to return to my old job, but also family pressures etc... (the usual)  

The Plan

Our outline plan is to move back to Australia permanently in about 4 / 5 years time, essentially enough time for my wife to become established in the new role, and have enough experience to apply for jobs in oz. The previous time, we were under a 457 visa, and honestly we wouldn't do this again, even as a stepping stone to PR. So we want to independently apply for a PR visa  - 189 or 190 - whilst we are in the UK.

My question is : is there an ideal timeline to start the ball rolling with applying for PR? 

What we desperately want to avoid is leaving it so late that we are too old to apply, but at the same time, we don't want to have the visa issued too soon that it rushes our move, as I know they run out 5 years after being granted.

It may be that we decide not to move in the end, but we are painfully aware that we aren't getting any younger and the opportunity will disappear at some point.

We wouldn't be able to move without my wife having a guaranteed job, so that would be the decisive factor, but we want to line up all the various requirements in advance. So when would be the sweet spot to start putting in EOIs targeting a move in 2022 / 2023?

Thanks in advance!

[Amber Snowball]

Now I am definitely no expert in this, but you could start your prep now I would have thought. Getting skills assessed, english tests etc all take time and then possibly waiting for an invite depending on how many points you havein comparison with other applicants . You then have 5 years to make the move permanently, on a 189 at least. Just need a visit to activate the visa within the required time frame.

What I would say is that if your wife is the main applicant Australia is on course to not only produce enough of its own doctors but to have an excess so they are starting to remove some medic roles from the skills lists. They may eventually take them all off. Might be a good enough reason not to delay. No idea about engineers.

 I don’t know a great deal about the intricacies of the visa process these days and even less about the 190, but I’m sure someone else will be along with more solid advice. 

Good luck.

[rammygirl]

It’s all about points. Who can accumulate the most points as main applicant. 

Also be aware of losing points because of age if you wait too long. 

Start now by identifying ANZCO codes and working out points for each of you. If someone is reaching an age milestone in terms of points take that into account. Also if you might gain more experience points by waiting.......