136 permanent residency visa and schools info
 

We are moving to Australia in Jan 2013, 1 month before our visa expires!!. We have had our visa for 5 years we validated it in 2008. Due to the current global financial crisis we have had a lot of issues, which have taken us a long time to sort out. We have also had another baby so are in the process of waiting for his visa to be granted.
We are really on the last minute, and I am a little worried about the fact that we have not spent 2 years of the 5 residing in Oz, however am I correct in thinking that as long as we spend the next 2 years in Aus we can get a Resident return visa with no hassle and also apply for citizenship.
Can anyone advise please??

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

As long as you establish ties to the country - somewhere to live, kids in school, jobs etc, then you should be able to at least get a short term RRV if you need one without having the 2 out of 5 years residence.
Citizenship will require 4 years residence.

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

Thanks for that. Do you know where I can get advice on schools in Oz. My oldest daughter is 16 and has just done her GCSE exams and left school here in the uk. We are debating whether she is better staying here in the uk to go to college to do A levels or whether she is better coming out with us, we have been told her exam results wont count for much in Australia and she will need to sit more which is concerning as obviously curriculums will be so different.

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=54 - thats the main Aussie forum, lots in there on schools and I think this has come up before. I've got no kids, so can't help I'm afraid!

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

http://www.myschool.edu.au/. Is a good start.

You can also,access the education department pages for each state/territory online depending on where you are planning to live. Also, don't forget the school year here starts in Jan/Feb so you'll need to hit the ground running if you haven't got it sorted before you get here x

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

If your daughter is willing, she can go back to school for grades 11 and 12 which will enable her to get to Uni if she wants. She can go to TAFE from grade 10, equal to end of GCSEs but for the social aspect she'd really be better off going to school. She would be a little bit older than others in her year but wouldn't be the only one and it wouldn't be by that much, they are not so hung up on school year/student age here.

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

What age are pupils in 11-12 grade and is 12 grade the equivalent to 6th form. Thanks in advance

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

Thread moved to the main forum - very few people in the Immi forum have knowledge of schools as mostly they aren't here yet :)

Re: 136 permanent residency visa
 

Grade 11 is 15/16 However depending where the student comes from/goes to being 16/17 wouldn't be an issue. 11/12 are, very simply put, the equivalent. The final qualification will depend on what State/Territory you're going to.

Re: 136 permanent residency visa and schools info
 

Not much to offer but I cant believe it when I read your post. We have our flights booked Oct 12 with visa expires Feb 13 and a 16 yr old just done her GCSE's, our daughter is looking forward to a life in Oz. We are spending 1 month near the quarantine place and then once collected the 2 dogs driving upto to sunshine coast where we are renting holiday place for 5 weeks and hoping to find permanent rent in that time.
I emailed TAFE that daughter wants to go to and they replied she can apply for her course in December (with everyone else) and course starts in Feb.
Where are you moving moving to?

Re: 136 permanent residency visa and schools info
 

we are going to brisbane what about you?

Re: 136 permanent residency visa and schools info
 

How about that then, we are going just of of Brisbane (Sunshine Coast) Mountain Creek area, incidentally we also have a 136 visa. :)

Re: 136 permanent residency visa and schools info
 

oh how weird we are sunshine coast bound too xx looking at mountain creek also. My friend lives in mooloolaba. I hae applied for a job in Nambour, I have a job in the city but I would rather get one on the coast. However if i cant we will go to the city and move up to the coast when we can. There are 5 of us moving me, my husband andy daughter georgia(16) joseph (12) and Samuel (3) we didnt have sam when we got our visa so we are waiting for his visa to be granted which hopefully should be november. nothing like being on the last minute is there!!
:)