Barberboyy

Hello guys my partner and myself are 90% sure about moving to Sydney, I have been offered a job there where the company will sponsor me and my family. the starting salary is round about $66,600 what kind of lifestyle and will that kind of salary be comfortable to live on in the Sydney suburbs? Any information will be greatly appreciated thanks.

louie

For a family? To be blunt, not unless you are very frugal indeed. Have a look at this thread as a starting point.

Bermudashorts

What kind of lifestyle do you have now? Will your OH be looking for a job? Will you have serious money behind you to buy a house perhaps? Is your sponsor paying for school fees or if not sponsoring you for a permanent visa?

I agree with Louie, this will not provide a comfortable living for a family, it will be hand to mouth living. If you are going on a 457 visa, even worse and I would perhaps go so far as to say, don't do it.

Barberboyy

They didn't mention about school fees but my daughter is only 21 months at the mo, we will have a fair few k behind us and we r looking to rent for the time being if that's any use to u, with the job that is based on bare minimum without overtime and bonus if any

quoll

Well if your OH intends to work then budget $100 per day for child care (no gov benefits for temp residents). I wouldn't be moving to Sydney on that TBH. It's a fairly precarious situation with just 90 days to find another sponsor or leave if it all goes pear shaped. You can't bank on bonuses or overtime. If you think that you are going to be up for around $25,000 pa in rent alone plus all the other expenses of living in Sydney - it won't be comfortable.

Barberboyy

Where would you say is best to go as there are a few different job vacancies in different areas?

Bermudashorts

If that is the salary you can expect, then really anywhere is better than Sydney. I would probably say Adelaide or Brisbane would be more comfortable given the choice.

Still it is only just a liveable salary anywhere. You should seriously assess what you might be giving up for this, you haven't said a lot about your current situation. Would you be comfortable sharing those details and then people could help you make a meaningful comparison.

Geordie George

For a family, IMHO, that's a small (uncomfortably so) sum. With that salary, you'd possibly be looking at take-home pay of just over $48K- if you include super. Have a look at: http://www.paycalculator.com.au

If you work on 30% of net income going towards rent, you might be looking at a budget of around $300 a week. We pay more than double that and we live nearly 20k out of Sydney (and it's only a 3-bed place, no pool or anything flash!). Have a look on Domain to get an idea of how much housing is in Sydney (and elsewhere).

Completely agree with Quoll about childcare - that is expensive, too. Fees tend to go down with age, so the older the cheaper it is. At my son's daycare fees for a child your daughter's age would be $120 a day. But, again, we're a long way out, so closer to Sydney would be more.

For what it's worth, at my daughter's preschool, families with incomes of $49,999 or less are considered for fee exemption, as the income is classed as so low as to be un-liveable.

Marisawright

Where in Sydney is your job? Sydney is very spread out: commute times from the outer suburbs to the city can be up to two hours. At that salary you'll need to live in the outer burbs, so I'm hoping your job is also on the edge!

Barberboyy

Thanks for the replies my job is a mobile engineer so I would be all over the place I've spoken to the company and they said I'm looking at a minimum of three hours overtime a day and an on call rota too so that would bump up the money if that's any help

Bermudashorts

So you want to come here and work extremely long hours every day in order to survive? Why do you think it would be worth it?

verystormy

First, that is a VERY low salary anywhere in Oz for a family. Even with some overtime, it's going to be an "existence" income.

Next you need to be aware that a sponsored visa is a temporary visa. Normally for a maximum of 4 years.

You need to be aware it is tied to the employer and if you lose your job, you have 90 days to find another or leave the country.

Not every company can sponsor as there are criteria they must meet. So do not assume getting another job would be easy just because there are others out there. It is pretty risky being on a 457 with a family.