Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
May 11th 2010 | 12:00 am
#31
Banned
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,855
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
You can't get away from those problems by immigrating, kids face the same problems with gangs, drugs and violence in OZ as they do in the UK . Of all the dangers kids face the dangerous wildlife would have to be bottom of the list.
Last edited by mohogony; May 11th 2010 at 12:05 am.
May 11th 2010 | 12:23 am
#33
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 290
From: location location
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
'Not immigrating to OZ becasue of Dangerous creatures really makes sense, Did you realise people get eaten by grizzly bears in Canada so why arent you worried about that? You said you wanted to immigrate to the USA, don't they have sharks, venomous snakes and spiders there just like OZ does.
ALL the dangerous creatures in OZ kill around 10 people a year, more people die from falling trees hitting them . Hundreds of times more people are killed in a car/ road accidents in OZ then by any of the dangerous wildlife so why is that danger not a factor in your decision to immigrate? Dogs casue the most death and injury to kids in OZ , not snakes, sharks or spiders,'
We've got Jehovas Witnesses and double glazing salesman here in Blighty.
ALL the dangerous creatures in OZ kill around 10 people a year, more people die from falling trees hitting them . Hundreds of times more people are killed in a car/ road accidents in OZ then by any of the dangerous wildlife so why is that danger not a factor in your decision to immigrate? Dogs casue the most death and injury to kids in OZ , not snakes, sharks or spiders,'
We've got Jehovas Witnesses and double glazing salesman here in Blighty.
May 11th 2010 | 12:32 am
#34
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 134
From: Lost in Australia
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
When I lived in Oz for 3 years, 2 different states, I never came on this forum and whinged, what good would it have done me.
I would have had all the UK haters and Oz Lovers blasting me and I felt low enough most days so why should I then let strangers add to my misery.
Mine and OH stories are different to most unhappy ex pats. we had great jobs in Oz in both states very well paid far far better than the UK salaries we earned.
Loads of great and very loyal friends, from all over the globe but lived in Oz. Most of them have been over to visit us in UK and we have took them around some places in europe. I have another coming over to stay in a weeks time, and one I am meeting up with in the USA in July.
I can't even get my old mates from the UK to come for a night out FFS.
Yet I can get my Ozzie mates to fly to the other side of the world to see me and OH.
On saying this I did not like or fit in with Australia and other half felt the exact same way, we hated the lack of choice, absolutely hated the food shopping and shit shops.
I did enjoy the Thai restaurants though and could never find one here to compete.
I hated the flies, the shit weather in melbourne although OH loved not wearing a coat.
For us it was just a place we couldn't relate to or fit into.
Yet we had great jobs beautiful houses and even better loyal friends.
We are sad that we didn't like it, as our life there on paper it looks perfect.
For us it was a place we couldn't wait to leave.
I would never tell anyone not to give it a go, life is what you make it.
The UK is far from perfect but given the choice and that is what we had we chose the UK over Australia for the time being.
We have dual citizenship so we had the choice.
I say give everything a go if you can, but some people please make allowances if you do not like the choice you have made, try and make sure you have the resources to go to plan B.
Good luck to the OP, whatever you chose will be the right choice at the time given the information you have.
You can always change your mind, we are very fortunate in the UK in that funds allowing we can always return.
I would have had all the UK haters and Oz Lovers blasting me and I felt low enough most days so why should I then let strangers add to my misery.
Mine and OH stories are different to most unhappy ex pats. we had great jobs in Oz in both states very well paid far far better than the UK salaries we earned.
Loads of great and very loyal friends, from all over the globe but lived in Oz. Most of them have been over to visit us in UK and we have took them around some places in europe. I have another coming over to stay in a weeks time, and one I am meeting up with in the USA in July.
I can't even get my old mates from the UK to come for a night out FFS.
Yet I can get my Ozzie mates to fly to the other side of the world to see me and OH.
On saying this I did not like or fit in with Australia and other half felt the exact same way, we hated the lack of choice, absolutely hated the food shopping and shit shops.
I did enjoy the Thai restaurants though and could never find one here to compete.
I hated the flies, the shit weather in melbourne although OH loved not wearing a coat.
For us it was just a place we couldn't relate to or fit into.
Yet we had great jobs beautiful houses and even better loyal friends.
We are sad that we didn't like it, as our life there on paper it looks perfect.
For us it was a place we couldn't wait to leave.
I would never tell anyone not to give it a go, life is what you make it.
The UK is far from perfect but given the choice and that is what we had we chose the UK over Australia for the time being.
We have dual citizenship so we had the choice.
I say give everything a go if you can, but some people please make allowances if you do not like the choice you have made, try and make sure you have the resources to go to plan B.
Good luck to the OP, whatever you chose will be the right choice at the time given the information you have.
You can always change your mind, we are very fortunate in the UK in that funds allowing we can always return.
May 11th 2010 | 1:55 am
#35
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 21,434
From: Tropical North QLD
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
[
We've got Jehovas Witnesses and double glazing salesman here in Blighty.[/QUOTE]
& guess what? They are in Aus too!!!!
We've got Jehovas Witnesses and double glazing salesman here in Blighty.
[/QUOTE]& guess what? They are in Aus too!!!!
May 11th 2010 | 2:38 am
#36
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,922
From: Asia Pacific
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
[/QUOTE]I wish. Whilst witnesses we have in abundance, we need more double glazing salesmen to replace the crap glass windows that frequent every home in queensland. Throw in some brickies as well please so we could actually build proper homes with real insulation.
May 11th 2010 | 11:20 am
#37
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 21,434
From: Tropical North QLD
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
I wish. Whilst witnesses we have in abundance, we need more double glazing salesmen to replace the crap glass windows that frequent every home in queensland. Throw in some brickies as well please so we could actually build proper homes with real insulation.[/QUOTE]
I knew I should have deleted the double glazing salesmen bit!
I knew I should have deleted the double glazing salesmen bit!
May 11th 2010 | 12:53 pm
#38
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 3,342
From: Scotland
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
There is actually a LOT more people leave Oz than appears on this site. Most people who come to Oz, in fact the vast majority have never been to this site.
When we moved here, eight friends also did. I am the last still here.
When we moved here, eight friends also did. I am the last still here.
May 11th 2010 | 6:18 pm
#39
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Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 743
From: Perth, WA
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
There is actually a LOT more people MOVE TO Oz than appears on this site. Most people who come to Oz, in fact the vast majority, have never been to this site.
When we moved here there were 1000s of people who emmigrated from the UK still here.
When we moved here there were 1000s of people who emmigrated from the UK still here.
May 11th 2010 | 6:21 pm
#40
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 20,821
From: Brisbane
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
May 11th 2010 | 7:30 pm
#42
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 219
From: Gold Coast, QLD
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
Well said paularn.
Don't confuse your worries about economy etc with normal feelings of apprehension and trepidation. Don;t look for an excuse not to go.
We were 110% for Australia when we started our independent PR visa applications, we had talked about going for 10 years and never put the plan into action. We never really thought we'd get an independent visa as there were so many hoops to jump through.
As it started to look more and more likely that we would get the visas, we started to get more and more apprehensive! We were giving up friends, family, good jobs and a great house to move to the other side of the world and start all over again. By the time our departure date was only a week away we got very nervous indeed, we wouldn't have pulled out, but we did 'test' each other a coupe of times in those last few days....along the lines of we still have time to cancel. To be honest, if the other had agreed when one of those comments were made, maybe we would have canceled. Looking back though, it was a mixture of absolute excitement about the adventure that we were about to start, mixed with the absolute terror of thinking about moving to a country to start a new life in a city we'd only spent 3 weeks in prior.
Yes, we had a good life in the UK and we really didn't know what would be ahead of us in Australia. What we did know, and what helped the decision to go were a few key things:-
1 - We looked back over the previous 10 years and realized that in the last 7 we had done nothing different or exciting. We spent time with the same friends, hung out in the same places and lived the same routines. Those 7 years went by so fast.
2 - We spoke to old friends of my parents in the last few weeks before leaving, They, as had many other of my parents generation, said they wish they'd have done it years ago. They remarked on how they remembered my Mum coming to see them, on the same house they are still in now, 30 years ago to tell them Mum was pregnant with me and now here I was moving to Australia and there they were, still in the same house, going to the same pub and musing on what their lives would have been 'IF' they had done something different all those years ago.
3 - The 'What If' scenario. We had come so far and spent so long researching Australia and trying to get the visas that we knew we would definitely be in the 'What If we'd done that' camp by the time we were old. We're not one for regretting decisions we've made, you make your choices based on whats right at the time, but the thought of sitting in a cold damp UK flat in my 80's thinking about what my life would have been if we'd tried Australia scared the shit out of me.
4 - We're not adventurous people, usually happy to do the easy, comfortable thing. Moving to Australia and traveling across the USA & South America on the way was like an unbelievable adventure that 'other people do'. The thought of being an adventurer for a while was the most unbelievably exciting thing.
5 - We could always come back. That was the clincher. We worked out that if we moved, and HATED it, we'd stick it our for 2 years no matter what and then go 'home', or try somewhere else. We figured it would put us back by say 5 years if we had to return, but though the life experience, bad or good, but be worth it. After all, those 5 years would only have been spent sat in the same living room, going to the same job and drinking in the same pub anyway.
So, we got on that plane.....and we've never looked back. Sure, there have been a few down times. I hated my first job, it took Emma a long time to find a job (which she also disliked for a long time), some things are expensive, we cant afford to travel as much as we would have liked, but the good things far outweigh. We've made great new friends, live in a lovely part of the world and consider ourselves lucky every day, especially when your sat in the beer garden or sat on the beach on a summers day.
We've been here almost three years now and we have done more in that time than we did in the last 7 back 'home'. In fact, the move has definitely changed us in some respects, we're not content to sit back and be comfortable anymore. We try and do different things, I always like to have a project on the go. Life's to short to sit still.
Will we be here for ever? Probably not, and that's not because we don;t want to, but more to do with the sense of adventure that was gained in moving here in the first place. For now we love it, but there will come a time when that feeling of venturing into the unknown will become to strong to ignore. As scary as it was, if you have an open mind and a good work ethic life will be what you make of it. Enjoy the good times, make the most of the thrill and excitement of moving, accept that it will take a long time to settle and that you may have to do it hard for the first year or two, an d always try and look for the good in the bad. Above all, keep an open mind and be proud that you've stepped outside your comfort zone in a big way and at least you'll never be sat in your cold damp flat thinking....what if.
Whatever you decide, best of luck to you and don;t dwell on the would have beens. You make the decisions that are best for you at the time.
Good luck.
Don't confuse your worries about economy etc with normal feelings of apprehension and trepidation. Don;t look for an excuse not to go.
We were 110% for Australia when we started our independent PR visa applications, we had talked about going for 10 years and never put the plan into action. We never really thought we'd get an independent visa as there were so many hoops to jump through.
As it started to look more and more likely that we would get the visas, we started to get more and more apprehensive! We were giving up friends, family, good jobs and a great house to move to the other side of the world and start all over again. By the time our departure date was only a week away we got very nervous indeed, we wouldn't have pulled out, but we did 'test' each other a coupe of times in those last few days....along the lines of we still have time to cancel. To be honest, if the other had agreed when one of those comments were made, maybe we would have canceled. Looking back though, it was a mixture of absolute excitement about the adventure that we were about to start, mixed with the absolute terror of thinking about moving to a country to start a new life in a city we'd only spent 3 weeks in prior.
Yes, we had a good life in the UK and we really didn't know what would be ahead of us in Australia. What we did know, and what helped the decision to go were a few key things:-
1 - We looked back over the previous 10 years and realized that in the last 7 we had done nothing different or exciting. We spent time with the same friends, hung out in the same places and lived the same routines. Those 7 years went by so fast.
2 - We spoke to old friends of my parents in the last few weeks before leaving, They, as had many other of my parents generation, said they wish they'd have done it years ago. They remarked on how they remembered my Mum coming to see them, on the same house they are still in now, 30 years ago to tell them Mum was pregnant with me and now here I was moving to Australia and there they were, still in the same house, going to the same pub and musing on what their lives would have been 'IF' they had done something different all those years ago.
3 - The 'What If' scenario. We had come so far and spent so long researching Australia and trying to get the visas that we knew we would definitely be in the 'What If we'd done that' camp by the time we were old. We're not one for regretting decisions we've made, you make your choices based on whats right at the time, but the thought of sitting in a cold damp UK flat in my 80's thinking about what my life would have been if we'd tried Australia scared the shit out of me.
4 - We're not adventurous people, usually happy to do the easy, comfortable thing. Moving to Australia and traveling across the USA & South America on the way was like an unbelievable adventure that 'other people do'. The thought of being an adventurer for a while was the most unbelievably exciting thing.
5 - We could always come back. That was the clincher. We worked out that if we moved, and HATED it, we'd stick it our for 2 years no matter what and then go 'home', or try somewhere else. We figured it would put us back by say 5 years if we had to return, but though the life experience, bad or good, but be worth it. After all, those 5 years would only have been spent sat in the same living room, going to the same job and drinking in the same pub anyway.
So, we got on that plane.....and we've never looked back. Sure, there have been a few down times. I hated my first job, it took Emma a long time to find a job (which she also disliked for a long time), some things are expensive, we cant afford to travel as much as we would have liked, but the good things far outweigh. We've made great new friends, live in a lovely part of the world and consider ourselves lucky every day, especially when your sat in the beer garden or sat on the beach on a summers day.
We've been here almost three years now and we have done more in that time than we did in the last 7 back 'home'. In fact, the move has definitely changed us in some respects, we're not content to sit back and be comfortable anymore. We try and do different things, I always like to have a project on the go. Life's to short to sit still.
Will we be here for ever? Probably not, and that's not because we don;t want to, but more to do with the sense of adventure that was gained in moving here in the first place. For now we love it, but there will come a time when that feeling of venturing into the unknown will become to strong to ignore. As scary as it was, if you have an open mind and a good work ethic life will be what you make of it. Enjoy the good times, make the most of the thrill and excitement of moving, accept that it will take a long time to settle and that you may have to do it hard for the first year or two, an d always try and look for the good in the bad. Above all, keep an open mind and be proud that you've stepped outside your comfort zone in a big way and at least you'll never be sat in your cold damp flat thinking....what if.
Whatever you decide, best of luck to you and don;t dwell on the would have beens. You make the decisions that are best for you at the time.
Good luck.
I too am feeling 'what the hell are we doing?', waiting on house sale completion and the house is a mess with stuff to be packed for the container, notice handed in on my job, OH has been out of work sometime, dogs have been rehomed; so what do we have here now - nothing apart from family and friends and is this all that is keeping us here?
I appreciate your honesty - you have made my Wednesday so much brighter
May 12th 2010 | 12:28 am
#43
Thread Starter
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 437
From: Ex Chatsworth Estate now Lego land
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
Thanks to everyone for the great replies,it's good to know I'm not the only one with doubts.
Sometimes I just think we're setting ourselves up for a fall going knowing everything I know, and then the reasons why your moving over don't seem to hold up against the reasons for not going. We have got kids, 2 of them, aged 6 and 2 at the moment. We would be going for them mainly and I want to make the right choice. Is the sun so appealing when your living on the breadline?! We think my OH will earn around $50k working for somebody else, he would want to open his own Barbers at some point like he has here.
I don't think I'd work until my youngest is in school so I could at least try and get work part time when the time came. But stuff like the price of school uniforms makes my stomach churn.
Oz is coming across as a hot, overpriced, underpaid, choiceless, insect infested, erm.......place
Sometimes I just think we're setting ourselves up for a fall going knowing everything I know, and then the reasons why your moving over don't seem to hold up against the reasons for not going. We have got kids, 2 of them, aged 6 and 2 at the moment. We would be going for them mainly and I want to make the right choice. Is the sun so appealing when your living on the breadline?! We think my OH will earn around $50k working for somebody else, he would want to open his own Barbers at some point like he has here.
I don't think I'd work until my youngest is in school so I could at least try and get work part time when the time came. But stuff like the price of school uniforms makes my stomach churn.
Oz is coming across as a hot, overpriced, underpaid, choiceless, insect infested, erm.......place
May 12th 2010 | 3:29 am
#44
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 636
From: Northants (though hopefully not forever!)
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
My husband's IT profession wasn't classed as O, A or B on the NOC list, neither was mine, so we didn't get enough points to go via the normal (long - although not anymore apparently) Federal Skilled Worker route. And job offers are really hard to secure so we had to go the PNP route, and Manitoba is the only province which doesn't require a job offer (through their Strategic Recruitment Initiative).
I reckon they should call the place "Windypeg" actually!
May 12th 2010 | 3:39 am
#45
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 636
From: Northants (though hopefully not forever!)
Re: Anybody got the visa and then decided not to go?
Not immigrating to OZ becasue of Dangerous creatures really makes sense, Did you realise people get eaten by grizzly bears in Canada so why arent you worried about that? You said you wanted to immigrate to the USA, don't they have sharks, venomous snakes and spiders there just like OZ does.
ALL the dangerous creatures in OZ kill around 10 people a year, more people die from falling trees hitting them . Hundreds of times more people are killed in a car/ road accidents in OZ then by any of the dangerous wildlife so why is that danger not a factor in your decision to immigrate? Dogs casue the most death and injury to kids in OZ , not snakes, sharks or spiders,
ALL the dangerous creatures in OZ kill around 10 people a year, more people die from falling trees hitting them . Hundreds of times more people are killed in a car/ road accidents in OZ then by any of the dangerous wildlife so why is that danger not a factor in your decision to immigrate? Dogs casue the most death and injury to kids in OZ , not snakes, sharks or spiders,
Lastly, we found a couple of redback spiders in her jetski garage on 2 separate occasions.So excuse me for sounding paranoid but if we move to Oz then splashing around in the sea and playing in the garden will become large parts of our children's lives and I have to accept that I won't be totally comfortable with that - not at first, anyway. Maybe after a while I'll get used to it.
Basically, I'd take my chances crossing the road
