Moving to Aus (thinking thereof)

You and her could easily get working holiday visas, but you would not be able to be employed for longer than 6 months by the same employer. After 1 year if she is working in midwifery then her employer could offer to sponsor her for a visa.

Most companies that my working visa friends worked for had ways around the 6 month cap. They just re-employed the person under a different legal company entity or got them a job at a sister company.

I'm not sure midwifery would be a job you could expect to get a working holiday job on thou. If they both had the money, they could both go out there on a working holiday and she could interview for midwifery places that are willing to sponsor her immediately. She'd have to do this in England anyway so perhaps she'd stand more chance of getting a role if she had face-to-face interviews - given the large investment the firm would be putting up for visa fees etc.
 
Like I said, you can't compare the money just by converting salaries back to GBP at the current exchange rate. It is significantly more expensive to live out there - $2.80 for a normal - not even KING size - chocolate bar in a supermarket for starters! :p

Yep the exchange rate will not stay the same, I assume with time there will be a overall 20% gain in GBP/Fall in AUD.

I am not that bothered about money, its the quality of life I am looking for, we have a big house and nice car now. I want to move to get out of the uk not because I will get more for my money in another country. san diego is still at the top of my list but it will be a couple of years away as my wife needs to finish her specialisation first.
 
[TW]Fox;19574056 said:
Because as it stands I can't see them saying 'So you are a freshly qualified midwife and your boyfriend is going to stay at home, do the hoovering and 'pick something up'? Welcome to Australia'.

But..but..mr immigration officer, I can surf, I can set up a BBQ and..well..I want it! isn't that enough to qualify for an Australian immigrant visa?!??

You're not suggesting I should actually spend time on reading about it, upskill, get work experience, FIND A JOB THERE FIRST, pay a good sum of money, gather massive amounts of paperwork, apply and wait about a year before I get the visa? That's racist!!! I'm being discriminated against, oh the dramaaaaa.

:D
 
Ignore certain people being their usual negative disparaging selves. Those people are the type to go to Oz on a gap year and come back thinking they're now the leading authority on Australian bureaucracy. Plenty of people that are far bigger ****wits than you make it out to Oz each and every year and it's not as hard as people would make out, as illustrated by megakid.

Whenever there's an 'I'm planning to emigrate' thread, certain people seem to wade in telling them they'll be lucky, it's next to impossible, etc. Ignore them and go for it. With determination and a bit of knowledge of the system, you'll be living the dream in sunny Oz in no time. You only live once so make the most of it and make it happen.

Regarding the missing people thing, it's really not that much of a drama to fly back to the UK a few times a year to catch up with friends and loved ones. Yes there'll be homesickness, but you're only ever £1k and 24hrs on a plane away. Ask the people claiming homesickness how often they actually return to England and the response always seems to be 'well, hardly ever, it's so expensive and I don't have time'.
 
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Ouch I just looked at the exchange rates for Aus Dollars. When I went out there in 2007 is was 2.5 to the £, its 1.5 now. When I was over there cost of living was comparable, some things were a lot cheaper(most food), some things the same/more expensive (beer). I was earning the equivalent of 50K Aus$ temping which was about £20k at the time, that would be £33K now if you only earned the same amount of aussie dollars. So yeah I can see £35k as not being that much over there anymore
 
move over, get her up the duff, have child in aus BINGO. worked for my cousin but she had been there over a year and her and husband are accountants.
 
Daver just stole the point I was going to make. I'm an Aussie and when I was back home switching visa (working holiday to highly skilled) to come back here in 2008, the exchange rate went a bit mental for a few months and was £1 = $2.8AUD.

So just because at the moment $55k (?)AUD is worth 'more'... don't get too excited! This is what I tell myself to keep myself sane that I could be earning a lot more back home than in Britain at the moment. :P

I think you'd struggle to survive on just one income of $55k in one of the larger cities. You'd get by, probably enjoy yourselves, but you might find options more limited than you'd think.
 
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Surely it doesn't matter as much what the AUD is worth in GBP as it matters what you can get for that AUD, i.e. the RPI over that period. It's not like you're going to be harvesting stockpiles of AUDs to convert to GBP when you come home if you're temping on $50k. The purchasing power of the local currency in the local environment is the main thing I'd have thought.
 
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it depends where you want to go, same as here. more job opportunities in london and sydney than the more rural areas = a higher cost of living
 
[TW]Fox;19574332 said:
I would imagine the chances of being offered a midwifery position on a working travel visa are very low - so low that it would be a HUGE gamble to go all the way out there hoping to get that..

I know a lot of people who have gone there on working holiday visas, renewed after a year and been offered employment (oil and gas, pharmaceutical, opticians, health care etc) on their 2nd year visa and been sponsored for the visa after being made an offer of a permanent position.
 
A friend of mine went over for 6 Months and ended up staying the full 2 years allowed on the working holiday visa. He then was offered sponsorship with a company and is currently back home while they sort all the paperwork out.

Personally I'd love to live somewhere like America or Australia however I can't even get a working visa for Australia as I'm over 30. Sucks to be old!
 
Sorry for the bump but I was searching for something and saw this thread. I currently live in Sydney on a 457 Visa and i'm pretty well versed on the visas due to many people around me going through it.

Your girlfried could probably easily get a job with her skills as they need nurses and midwifes desperately. If she got a 457 Visa you could get in on it as well as the defacto. make sure to read up on the requirements for this, it's not easy to get on it - you have to prove a lot such as joint bank accounts for x years, joint rental agreements, etc.

However, that isn't a lot of money for Sydney at all. Let me put it into perspective, my friends girlfriend is a temp, she is currently a PA for a large manufacturer over here. She got the job via an agency and she does PA stuff all day which requires no real training.

She is on $30 an hour which is $62400. Your gf would be on about $52k. Not good is it for a such a well trained, critical resource! A temp beats her salary! Have you had an offer or have you just looked on some job sites?

As people have already said - you get paid more here but things cost more. A schooner of beer (less than a pint) = about $8 (5 GBP), cars are much more expensive, booze is more expensive, cigarettes are much more expensive. You wont be going from a 22k > 35k lifestyle....you'll have the same buying power really.

Getting a working holiday visa is a common way for people to get out here. Make sure to do your 3 months of WWOOF-ing as soon as you land and then you will have the full 2 years. You can only work at a company for about 6 months. I know a lot of people that started off on working holiday and got sponsored.

They are desperate for immigrants again. They stong AU dollar has scared off a lot of people and also meant many expats have taken this as an opportunity to go home while the exchange rate is in their favour. Additionally lots more Aussies are heading abroad because of their stong dollar.

Happy to answer any question, the above is just something i've blurted out in a few minutes.
 
We are moving over to Perth in 16 (!) days and the exchange rate is just depressing at the moment, but at least once we get over there it will cease to be a problem as we will be earning and spending AUD$.
 
I came over to NZ on a working holiday visa. Got sponsored for residency and should get it next month. It's taken a bloody long time though and Immigration are slooow. You need a set number of points and offer of employment so if Oz has a points system too do an online check to see if you have enough.

I didn't find work for a while when I came over as the working holiday visa is a temp worker one but I persevered and found work. Moving away from the main cities helped as skilled workers all flock there! More competition.
 
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