Do we have any chance?

[Sam RP]

11 years ago we instructed an agent and started the PR process with a view to emigrating. My husband was a Software developer but as his degree was in Geography he went through the arduous task of recognition of previous learning, 18 months later the agents hadn't even submitted our application and admitted we'd fallen victim to an errant consultant that they subbed our application out to. We got some money back off them but  by the point we'd totally lost the will to proceed and gave up

 

11 years later we are now 46 and 47 with an 11 year old, a 9 year old and 8 year old. My husband is now as software manager and I've retrained as a hairdresser. My sister has PR (Eastern suburbs of Melbourne) and is married to an Aussie. We'd love to start a new life over there but are we now too old? 

We want to be realists after our first failed start, is migration something worth pursuing? 

Thanks in advance

 

Sam 

[Marisawright]

Sadly, skilled migration is only available to people aged under 45, so you've missed the boat.   

There are temporary visas if you can find an employer to sponsor your husband in a job, but at his age, it's only going to be for 2 to 4 years. 

[Sam RP]

I thought this was probably the case

[wrussell]

You might want to find out about applying to New Zealand, a subject about which I am not qualified to advise.

[Sam RP]

Thanks. We specifically wanted to be near my sister and her husband in Australia. 

[Marisawright]

1 minute ago, Sam RP said:

Thanks. We specifically wanted to be near my sister and her husband in Australia. 

...however, New Zealand to Melbourne is less than 4 hours by plane.  So visits would be an awful lot easier and cheaper than from the UK, so you'd be able to visit each other a lot more often.

Also consider that once you've been in New Zealand long enough to become a citizen, you'd have some rights to live and work in Australia.

[Tulip1]

The big negative about looking at the NZ option is that to successfully emigrate you have to be 100% committed to it and really want it. Even then it often fails so unless you really want to live in NZ it’s got problems before you get there. With the ages of your kids they’d be young adults/teenagers before you got citizenship and you’d all likely be settled (or back in the U.K. because you couldn’t settle). The chances of your family unit all one day living in Oz becomes far more unlikely. I agree that the flight time and cost is far better from NZ than from the UK but I still think you should only consider it if NZ excites you and you’d love to live there. What a shame you are just a year or two too late. If only you’d done this aged 44. 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Tulip1

[Raul Senise]

16 hours ago, Sam RP said:

11 years ago we instructed an agent and started the PR process with a view to emigrating. My husband was a Software developer but as his degree was in Geography he went through the arduous task of recognition of previous learning, 18 months later the agents hadn't even submitted our application and admitted we'd fallen victim to an errant consultant that they subbed our application out to. We got some money back off them but  by the point we'd totally lost the will to proceed and gave up

 

11 years later we are now 46 and 47 with an 11 year old, a 9 year old and 8 year old. My husband is now as software manager and I've retrained as a hairdresser. My sister has PR (Eastern suburbs of Melbourne) and is married to an Aussie. We'd love to start a new life over there but are we now too old? 

We want to be realists after our first failed start, is migration something worth pursuing? 

Thanks in advance

 

Sam 

As you are over 45 it is very difficult.

There may be a small window of opportunity if you were able to obtain employer sponsorship at a high salary, although this would be a long pathway.

Have a look at the subclass 186 and the age exemption available.

[wrussell]

There are age and other exemptions under some Labour Agreements.

[RoEire]

Think it's mostly been covered off above but I'd also add that if you were to consider the NZ option definitely put some solid work your research beforehand. NZ solves the problem of you being closer to your family geographically, but the NZ economy is not the same as the Australian one. I did a lot of research in advance of a potential move down there when it looked like my PR wasn't going to work out here in Australia. The wages in NZ are not close to Australian wages, and rents in cities like Auckland are extremely high. I loved the country, but it did not hold the same benefits as being in Australia did, for me anyway  Best of luck!

[Sam RP]

Thanks everyone.