...Well specifically Melbourne... I am being 'dragged' there by my Aussie other half once my Subclass 309 visa (Fingers crossed!) is approved.
Happy to keep this thread updated as we progress by the way (If people are interested).
I have some questions below and would be really interested to hear how other people who have emigrated to Australia (Or anywhere really) have gotten on, what advice they could give, or what they would do differently if they were doing it again? I've been to Australia quite a few times (I worked in Sydney for a number of months) and know Melbourne reasonably well, so I am across a lot of the basics, but have lots of questions about some more specific points around life there.
I have put together a few bullets on where we are with the main areas -
As of EO October 2020:
Happy to keep this thread updated as we progress by the way (If people are interested).
I have some questions below and would be really interested to hear how other people who have emigrated to Australia (Or anywhere really) have gotten on, what advice they could give, or what they would do differently if they were doing it again? I've been to Australia quite a few times (I worked in Sydney for a number of months) and know Melbourne reasonably well, so I am across a lot of the basics, but have lots of questions about some more specific points around life there.
I have put together a few bullets on where we are with the main areas -
As of EO October 2020:
- Work - I am trying to line up a role I can start here and continue there - I think this part is more-or-less sorted but the company is being VERY slow on finalising things. I have some other business interests I can fall back on too.
- Visa - this is extremely slow-going... My 309 application was lodged a while ago but I understand there are huge delays in processing at the moment so who knows when this will come through.
- The dog - We are taking our dog with us and have a local vet who is taking care of his rabies, blood tests, etc. but cannot really book flights or sort his export docs at this stage for obvious reasons
- Accommodation - Potentially my other half will stay with family a couple of hours out of Melbourne and I will commute/ work between her parents' place and the city until we find something in town. Other half really wants to buy a family home in Northcote or around that area.
- Moving our stuff - Not even looked at this or selling our house here in London yet. Too early to sell and sort moving things across.
- Moving dates - Unknown. Maybe mid-2021 if my visa is sorted?
- Where did you go? Where are you now? Do you like it?
- How often are you back in the UK to visit friends and family? I like to think I will do it once every 6 months but that seems wildly optimistic
- How did you make new friends in Aus or wherever you ended up?
- I rarely hear of anyone regretting moving to Australia, or even other countries with similar quality-of-life like Canada, Singapore, etc. for that matter. Anyone here regret the move or end up coming back after making a serious attempt to emigrate and sticking at it for a few years?
- In regards to taxation, how do you find Australia compared to the UK? I believe the tax situation is more complex as you pay a higher rate, then claim more back, and pretty much everyone has an accountant. Would you say overall taxation as a percentage of income is similar to the UK? My understanding is that it is comparable.
- How do you find doing business and so on? I work in the SAAS world and already I can see the market over in Australia is more heavily centred around Sydney and for the whole of ANZ seems to be dwarfed by that in London (I am going by spending lots of time looking on LinkedIn at different companies, where their offices are, roles, the size of private groups and so on). This isn't really a concern as I have things reasonably well lined up in terms of income sources, but just interested to hear experiences.
- We have one child (Who is 2 months old) so we are miles off thinking about this seriously, but has anyone in Australia with kids gone private? state school? (My other half's family are big on private schooling) - any regrets or tips?
- How much of your stuff did you get shipped across vs buying new? I'm thinking things like furniture, kids stuff, clothing, etc. How difficult was it to do all of this? was it hugely expensive? any regrets? We have some high-ish value items like some collectable mid-century furniture, a Vispring bed and so on which we would ideally take (and in the case of the bed has little resale value) but I really don't know if its worth the cost or not.
- Any tips in regards to taking a dog? We are planning on sorting out the rabies and so- on vaccinations & vet paperwork ourselves and then getting his export paperwork and flights handled by an agency.
- How was buying a house? Do things generally go for the asking price or is the market still so hot that frequent bidding wars erupt? How much % over do properties generally go for? Is the process similar to the UK?
- Generally any tips, lessons learned, or regrets - as above anything along these lines would be hugely appreciated!
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