malpjc

hello all,
over the last few months i have submitted various posts mostly asking for your experiences or advice and have read your replies and taken on board what you have said,this includes the "returning to the uk" forum.
just a quick recap on my situation:
i have started the ball rolling and am in the position of sending my first batch of paperwork to our agent
i will be 40 next april, so really have to make my mind up before then as i will lose 5 points on my application.
i have a good job that's quite secure.
wife works 10 mins down the road and she walks.
daughter has just started her last year at school although she wants to go to university.
both sons have jobs and part of the trouble is that they are considered too old and not dependant on us to be included on our visa application.we are hoping to get them into tafe to enable them a better chance of getting a job and hopefully apply for their own visas.
we applied for planning permission before moving to oz came up and 2 weeks ago we recieved a letter saying it had been granted.this will turn our house into a 4 bedroom 3 bath house with detached double garage plus a gym with toilet and shower room.the area we live is right on the edge of a renowned council estate so it's nothing special but we are in the corner hence having the room to do the new building work.
i am a heating engineer by trade and also do electrics and most other diy, so once the structual work has been done i will be doing all the other work myself.
with my job i get company pension scheme,6 months full pay sickness and overtime every saturday and if anything happens to me the wife gets a lump sum plus a widows pension,we have just been taken over by ge (general electric)who are the biggest company in the world and we are not sure if things are going to stay the same or if they are going to start cutting these perks,they are not allowed to make changes for another 18 months by law i have been told.
up until the last 3 weeks i have been so sure of wanting to move to australia but now i seem to get these little nagging doubts that it is not the right thing to do,it really has been driving me potty.i have made the decision that if i can definitely get myself a job in the adelaide area then i am willing to give it a go.can any of you out there relate to this or am i worrying too much,i feel quite secure as i am,i feel as a family we are very secure but out in oz none of this would apply and that bothers me.
what would you do???,thanks in advance for any replies i might get

Grayling

It's quite a dilemna really.
It depends on why you really want to move.
It is one that I am facing and have never pretended otherwise.
Fortunately I am in reciept of an index linked pension and my wife will also be.
I do not want to move to be worse off - I don't see the point.

You seem to have a good job and pension scheme. What is that worth?
I see lot's of posts by people saying that they will be happy to earn enough to get by but what about pensions?
Do people really want to work for ever? It's a lot to pay for Sunshine!!

Leaving the family behind may also be a problem. One of my son's already lives there and the other will go soon. I know I can get a reasonable job, if I want so things are stacked in my favour but I still have doubts. You are taking much more of a gamble.
Whatever you do I hope it works out but I don't envy you having to decide.

Good luck

G

carryon

Know how you feel Malpjc, we are always discussing this problem, secure jobs and nice house, doing ok, would we be throwing it all away? who knows.
The thing on our side is my wife is a nurse, so we know we would have a fair income and that is half the battle to start with. It really is a bugger and i have seen on here alot of people have the same worries. What the hell can you do, one minute it's ' LETS DO IT' the next , what if this and that, i cant get my head round it! good luck to you with your decision mate!

markeh

Hiya Malpjc

I understand where you are comming from. Secure job (well as secure as they come butthere are never any guarantees.) final salary pension, good working conditions & hours, overtime etc Nice house, loving wife & close family.

The only thingis is that I now have itchey feet.

I had a dream of living in Oz and enjoying life in a wrmer climate than the UK. I know that I will still have to work and life will be tough but It's what I wont.

We have been to Oz and the wife likes it as well. It took her 2 day's to decide that she wonted to stop and live here.(Oz)


There comes a time when you have to decide which way to go and we have decided we will go.
The only thing I would say in our favour is that we can alway's come back to the UK, keeping the Oz passport and than go back if we wished.

Regards
Mark

ohippy

I understand exactly what you're saying but no one can make your mind up for you.

For us, we have a comfortable secure life here in England. However it is at a cost of both of us working long hours and hubby working 6 or 7 days a week. I try not to think of it as giving up what we've got but starting a new and different life. I'd like to downsize, give up work and concentrate on what really matters - my family. There are loads of pros and cons to a life in Oz and loads of pros and cons to staying here, but if we don't give it a go now we never will and I don't want to always be thinking 'what if'? At worst we'd go and come back, we may have lost financially but at least we'd know we'd given it our best shot and the UK was definitely for us.

We're lucky in that our children are young enough to be coming with us - we're not close to the rest of our family except my mum and she's now living half the year in France so we've no one to miss. If I had to leave any of my children behind I don't think I'd go.

If we all had a crystal ball and could see what our lives would be like in the future it would make things so much easier but they've not been invented yet. We just know that you don't get much out of life without taking risks.

mand8002

all i think is that if you don't go you might always wish you had.If you go and don't settle you can always come back. On the other hand you might love it out there and think it is the best thing you have ever done. as they say ' nothing ventured nothing gained'.
We are in the same position regarding having a non dependent child. Our daughter is 19 but we have said that we will pay for her to study so that she qualifies for her own visa. She is happy about this.

jad n rich

I think people forget this fact, Australia will provide most with the same day to day grind as anywhere else it will also provide the same "westernised" problems of society. It will most likely provide a lower standard of living financially.

So the advantages, first 6 months will be quite exciting, lots of new stuff to do, weather will be great or a big shock depending on what time of year you arrive. Housing will probably be bigger if you are arriving well padded with pounds, check this one, prices have risen a lot.

So personally you need to weigh up 2 big factors, JOBS, and how you feel about FAMILY, be honest, 40 heating engineer in Adelaide, 2 sons who cant come to OZ with you, both would concern me, but your not me are you?. Be honest, imagine living in Australia as the day today event it will become after a few years then think hard what you are prepared to give up to get it.

PortJackson

What are your reasons for wanting to go?
You been before?
Will your wife find work easily in her profession in Australia?

Questions rather than answers ~ but they are important

HiddenPaw

you need to work out what it is Australia will provide you with. And then decide if it's a fair trade off....i.e. what you will gain is equal to or better than what you are giving up. (I dont necessarily mean just financial or material )

Also interested to know how your children can reside in Oz without a PR...do they get foreign student/educational visas for going to TAFE?

bridiej

We go through similar thoughts - one day it's "cant wait to get there" the next it's "what if its a big mistake"?

We are in a similar position in that my husband is training to be an electrician so in a year or two we would have a much better standard of life in the UK, would be able to pay our mortgage off and work fewer hours.

Personally we are prepared to gamble and give Oz a go (I am 31, husband is 32) - if it doesnt work out then we will have lost some money but nothing ventured and all that...

Agree with what others have said, it depends on your reasons for going. I dont have kids so not sure on that one, although personally if they are that age it wont be long until they get their own lives so is it worth putting yours on hold and a few years down the line having an "empty nest" and regretting that you'd not gone to Oz when you had the chance?

MikeStanton

Perhaps move from where you are, but keep your UK base. You seem to be putting a lot at risk - and for what? And, no, I'm not saying this because you want to go to Oz : the same response would apply to any country.

Commonsense strongly suggests you should stay. However, your heart may tell you something else. Things could work out well for you in Oz, but you're taking one big gamble : it could easily go pear-shaped.

Put your question another way; what would your response be, if it had been posed by somebody else?

parkhigh

Hi
My husband and I go through similar thought processes. We have our visa and must validate by May 2005. Our house is up for sell but no takers yet! I have just got my degree and kids happy at school etc.
Although my work know of my plans they have offered me a promotion. I am currently deputy of substance misuse service and asked whether I would consider more responsibility (manager is looking to retire). I start to think what am I doing....life is great here we're doing well etc etc.
But in reality I spend very little time with my children and any free time I have its spent chasing chores etc.
Life is too short and working in this field you realise that you cannot take life for granted. Ive come to terms with my decision now and believe me I was very resistive to the thought of moving to oz for a variety of reasons. I've accepted that if its a mistake we can return but if we dont go I will always wonder what if. I think those of us on this forum who have made the decision to emigrate can rarely go back to the days when emigration was not even on your agenda. You will always have those nagging doubts...better to go and say you have tried than not!
However, I dont have the ties you have so its really difficult to comment on. This is just my own personal perspective.
Good luck with your decision process
Irene

Pollyana

Hi malpjc,

Assuming you've read all our replies to your various posts, on both forums, you must have some idea of the stresses and the options etc etc etc.

I'm not being nasty here, but you are still virtually asking the forum members to make the decision for you....... only YOU can make the final decision, everyone is such an individual, we all have our own reasons for moving, and we all have our own reasons for staying or returning; no-one is going to have the exact mirror-image of your own situation.
I think it was JAJ who I was reading earlier, who said - Make a list, pros and cons of Oz, from YOUR point of view; then another pros and cons of the UK - again from YOUR point of view - because only YOU know what those pros and cons are!

I really feel for someone in a dilemma like you are in, but the fact that you are still searching for "the answer" suggests that maybe you are really not committed to emigrating....not yet anyway.....

Good luck, whatever you decide,

Polly