sarkyd

over the past few years my oh has expressed a desire to live in many corners of the world, germany,france,new zealand, italy to keep her happy ive always said yes honey look into it and we'll see where it goes.At one point she was quite adamant that italy was the place to be, so in my spare time i started learning italiano only for her to change her mind a few months later. This was to become a trend until now.
Earlier this year the love of my life mentioned moving to oz i gave the usual "yeh honey sounds great, look into it ive heard good things"expecting that to be the last i heard of it ! wrong!! so very wrong!!!! Apparently working away like a busy little bee in the background keeping me informed at every turn "of course i'm listening babe,its a rubbish match anyway"my better half has not only got herself a job and visa sorted but has a start date three months from now.
Now dont get me wrong, the idea of spending a few years in oz sounds better than fantastic, but i do not have a clue what to expect.
Anybody with any relevant info they would like to pass my way ?
You might think my approach to immigration irresponsible and to a point your right, but this is the situation expecting to stay for two years and then take a view on returning to uk, if you can help with any of the following questions please please do ;
I have a house here in the uk (should rent it out or put in the hands of a property mgt company to rent on my behalf)
Regards housing in oz(sidney area) guess its best to rent, but are there properties to renovate, what state is the housing market over there in?
What goods are worth taking, if any (household,electricals,tools ect)
Two german shepherds (coming no question- how do i get them there)
Jabs and injections- anything needed
banking how do i set up accounts, do i have to be there?
Things/people/places to steer clear of?
Work- now heres a biggy, I am a qualified chef,who went on to mange restaurants then hotels then bars and then decided earlier this year to have a change and retrained to become a plumber-city and guilds 6129 nvq 6089 bpec tickets for unvented systems,water regs and energy efficiency and enviromental awareness (i took the crash course root-12 weeks as opposed to the 3 year apprentership - not viewed in a good light by the time served but everyone has an opinion) having read through some of the threads on this site guys with all the experience in the world are struggling to work on arrival, would i be better off focusing on the customer service experience i have, there does seem to be a fair amount of red tape and legislation attached to the plumbing industry and i do lack experience,
im not lucking to get rich but would rather stay out of soup kichens and have a little time to enjoy the place.
I am not looking for definitive ansewrs so please feel free to post anything you feel may be of use to me.
I thank you for your time if you able to post
(i have just to come to learn how expensive a commodity time really is)

vicki t

sorry cant help with most of your questons but regards your dogs it will take at least 6 months to get them ready for the pet passport scheme. we have a quote of around £1,500 for our two cats so dogs will be more expensive to take. speak to your vet to gets things started. we got a quote from airpets for the transportation but their are others around.

good luck!

Janna and Nick

A very interesting and funny post! You had me laughing out loud.

I don't know much about the plumbing or food industry but certainly for the licensed trades there does appear to be a lot of hoop jumping and money/paperwork involved. The electrician side of thing is also licenced (my OH is a sparks) and it takes a few months once in Oz to "qualify" and get a license that allows you to work on you own.


I think there are also issues with experience when you apply for a license as you need to prove how long you have worked for etc. You may find that being a chef is easier to do from a "red tape" perspective and I have read post which say that in some parts plumbers are struggling to find work. Not sure about chefs though.

As for the other things....
renting your house out - I know someone here in the UK who rents out his house himself and finds it relatively painless. However, consider things such as if something does go wrong eg. house needs a new boiler then that is something you'll have to arrange from Oz. A management company will get paid to do all those things for you and you just foot the bill. So I suppose you have to way up cost and convenience.

Housing in Oz - the market in places does seem to slowing and a drop in prices is predicted by many. Some places have already fallen. Long terms plans really.... may be cheaper to rent in the first instance and then once you've decided to stay or go... look into buying?

Tools are definitely worth taking if you are going to do a trade. Probably will be more expensive to replace than ship. As for other household goods, do a search on here as this has been discussed many times over. Cost of shipping versus cost of buying new. There is certainly nothing wrong with taking your items. Cost, convenience and home comforts play a part. Things like plants, wood ornaments and christmas decorations are a "no no" and other items such as garden furniture or a lawnmower etc must be stripped and completely cleaned to get through customs.

Your dogs - You will have to speak to a pet export company. Flights can be expensive for animals not to mention all the stuff the otherside such as quaratine. www.aqis.gov.au try this website for all info on export/import of animals.

Jabs/Injections - nothing extra required I don't think. Not something I have looked into but pretty sure you won't need a special jab.

Some banks offer an immigration service. Westpac and HSBC are just two of the banks I know about. If you have an HSBC bank account here you can go into them and they can send all the info to Oz and get the account open for you. Westpac have an immigration service where you can open an account beforehand. Do a search in google for banks in Oz and have a read.

The places/people and things to steer clear of... I haven't got a clue. Leave that up to somebody local to respond on!

Best of luck. Most people wishing to immigrate have to wait an agonising amount of time to finally get to Oz (sometimes years) so consider yourself lucky and enjoy!

All the best

johnknight001

plumbing is going to be your big issue, i am a plumber now in the process, i have had to get my skills recognised for immigration purposes, this will only allow me a provisional licence to work, not quit sure how you will fair without this, one question, did you do all them courses in 12 weeks? (not being pissy just interested).
john

Hotton

Try http://www.safe4all.org/resource-list/view/10729

As it seems your OH is not aware of your comments.


good luck

Sonn

LOL...Cant really help, but its a good post...Made me laugh out loud too..GOOD LUCK

MarkMC

Dogs will need import permits, microchips, the usual vaccines (not lepto one, that can interfered with blood tests) and 1 month in quarantine.

2 mid to large size dogs are costing us £4200 (includes the import permits)

seanshellluke

Hi
We have two german shepherds and a cat and its about £5000 in total for all three to get them to oz

sarkyd

Gday mate
(just trying to get into the swing of things)
Thank you for your post Janna,
Very helpful comments regards Banking(HSBC),think I will use, seems to be quick and relatively painless.
best regards
or good on yeh
sarkyd

sarkyd

Thanks for the posts MarcMc and Seanshelluke,
if you get five minutes could you ansewr any of the following;
regards costs for your dogs, which company shipped them for you?
Did you have to get a pet passort?
And if you get another two minutes couldnt write an idiots guide (you dont ask you dont get)
and just one final question
Where do you sell a kidney these days?
many thanks
sarkyd

sarkyd

Hotton dont post that stuff friend,
(the missus checks my laptop every nite)
lol

sarkyd

Hi Johnknight,
The ansewr to your question is yes, I did complete the afore mentioned qualifications 12 weeks although the bpec water cert can only be issued to plumbers who have completed six months experience in plumbing field prior to exam but there are ways around this.
May i ask why you ask?
Can I ask how they requested you proove your skills, or is this back to tafe or Oz college scenario?
best regards
sarkyd

MarkMC

Costs are for 2 Boxers, with Airpets, They were not necessarily the cheapest, but they included everything and seemed professional.

No pet passport, just be careful what microchip numbers you have, some are not recognised in Oz apparently??? and make sure all front line and vaccinations are up to date. I'm having to check all this with my better half has she did all the arranging.

As for an idiots guide, phone airpets, they will send you a pack out and a pack for the vet. Also have a chat to the vet, it surprising they seemed to have dealt with loads of migrating dogs recently. Wooden crates can be tailor made to size and usually work out cheaper as you are paying for each square inch of load space. A plastic crate may end up being bigger.

As for the Kidney, we originally tried ebay, but the listing got closed. I was lucky to meet a guy in a pub, he arranged the whole procedure. I cannot give his name or discuss cash sums or he will be back for the other one

ALSO

We opened a bank with commonwealth and they started charging us from day 1, they also missed the fact I asked for a joint account. So their letters are getting ignored. We have opened a current and savings account with Westpac, they have been really helpful and have waived the charges for the first 6 months.

sarkyd

Thanks Mark,
a few folk have mentioned airpets and will definitely being talking to the vet.
Intresting comments about commonwealth, will steer clear.
aprreciated, thirsty work all this typing recommend any pubs

DunRoaminTheUK

Did she include you on the visa application, by the way?