alicearam

Hi everyone!

I'm looking to move to Melbourne (from London) in May of this year. I'll be moving with my boyfriend who is an Australian citizen currently living in London. As we've been together <1 year, we don't currently qualify for a defacto visa but as I'm 30 I can apply for a Working Holiday Visa with the hope of getting sponsored by the business.

I currently work in Digital Advertising in a management position and have a lot of experience. My understanding from others who have moved over in the same industry is that the EU market is much more advanced than APAC and therefore they are always on the lookout for good talent and therefore the chances of getting sponsored by a business (457 visa) is quite good.

I'm currently on £50,000 in UK which affords me a good lifestyle in London, and was wondering what the equivalent would be in Melbourne?

I have some calls with recruiters scheduled, but would be great to hear from anyone that either works in the same industry, or has been through a similar process. Any help is always appreciated!

Thanks a million,
Alice

Buzzy--Bee

Hi Alice, good pick, Melbourne is an incredible, happening city. May unfortunately is the start of the cooler season but many days will still be fine and sunny and into the low 20s.

£50,000 in the UK would equate to around $110,000 - $120,000 in spending power here. I don't know anything about your industry at all, but I would imagine that in Australia, Melbourne would have more openings in that industry than anywhere else except Sydney.

We moved from London to Melbourne almost 10 years ago and still love it.

Good luck.

alicearam

Thanks for getting back to me. I actually think coming in the cooler season isn't a bad thing for me as it'll slowly help me adapt to the hotter days without coming when it's extremely hot, although I know Melbourne can typically be cooler than a lot of other regions.

Thanks for the feedback on salary. From what I've seen, positions in my industry are anything from $70,000 - $100,000 so it seems I might be taking a slight pay cut, but is this salary liveable for a single with no dependents? My boyfriend will have his income and my rent will likely be low as he is buying a property.

Thanks again!

Buzzy--Bee

Yes, definitely.

alicearam

Great thanks

OzTennis

$50K x $1.67 = $83,500; if you can get a position for $100K that wouldn't be a 'pay cut' (obviously if you got a position for < $83.5K it would be a pay cut)? I know the cost of living has to be taken into account but I assume you are just referring to the salary. One also has to compare the tax rates and other deductions of course with the relevant thing being take home pay. I expect BB will come in and say he uses $2.00 or something else as his 'exchange rate' to take into a/c cost of living. Good luck with the move.

Buzzy--Bee

$2.20 - $2.50 actually.

£50,000 will buy considerably more in the UK than $83,500 will buy in Australia.

You know that.

OzTennis

On cue. You seem to use $2.20 to $2.50 whether the exchange rate is $1.67 or $2+ though. I don't disagree that you can possibly come up with the rough figure to convert real disposable income UK vs Australia.

Buzzy--Bee

I don't see though that the exchange rate of £:$ has any real relevance to purchasing power here, except possibly with imported high value goods such as cars.

If the £ is worth $2, I can go and earn $10 in Australia and buy $10 worth of groceries.
If the £ is worth $3, I can't suddenly buy $15 worth of groceries with my $10 that I have earned in Australia.

A £10 basket of groceries in the UK will still cost $22-$25 of Australian earnings regardless.

The above figures are an example.

OzTennis

We'll agree to disagree on that.

You'll probably enjoy the nice pics of Mordialloc beach (and other things Melbourne ) on this site BB (scroll down for Mordialloc beach):

Melbourne Fresh Daily

And from last month - Mordialloc boats, mouth of M Creek:

https://melbournedaily.blogspot.co.u...loc-boats.html