Julie T

We're thinking of emigrating to either Australia or New Zealand from the island of Jersey. I'd appreciate an honest appraisal of the pros and cons of emigrating to Australia.

I'm a qualified accountant and my husband is a retail manager, we have a daughter aged one. We have a good life in the UK, but fell in love with both Australia and New Zealand when we visited a few years ago.

How easy is it to apply for residency? Can anyone recommended a route?

What is the job situation like over there?

I'd love to hear about your experiences - are you happy you made the move?

Cheers

Julie

suzimc

The best first step is to go onto google and do a search, then do a free online skills assessment with the numerous companies who will come up. This will give you an idea of how likely you are to be able to get residency.

It's not hard to apply, just long winded and loads of paperwork, you have to be quite patient and organised, and ready for lots of little setbacks.

We're not there yet, so can't tell you anything about the up and down-sides, but all I can say is that if you're thinking about it it's probably worth doing it.You'll probably regret the things you don't do in life a lot more than the things you do. Nothing is forever, but it's worth giving it a good go for the experience if nothing else! Thant's what I feel anyway. If you do a serch on this forum you will probably find loads of answers to your questions....

Good luck with the decision.

arkon

No not happy, but rather than me just repeat it all now do a search on my name for my thoughts and experiences here. Be warned mostly negative I'm afraid.
paste this into you address bar to get all my posts.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...searchid=40303

possoms

If you are serious about emigrating, then contact a MARA registered Agent to see if you are eligible to get a visa. There have been many threads recommending agents if you do a search.

Or if you want to do it without an agent look at the DIMIA website.

http://www.immi.gov.au/

Also take a look at the immigration forum for any advice.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32

Good luck

Possoms

tonyk38

Hello and welcome to BE!

There are several possible visa routes leading to Permanent Residency in Aus based on your work skills. There is a list of jobs in demand nationally in Aus on the Migration Occupation in Demand List (MODL) which is regularly updated by DIMIA, the government department responsible for immigration. As fortune has it, accountant is on the list (though check it regularly, as I believe it has been removed from the list in the past).

This becomes important if you decide to apply for the Skilled Independent 136 visa which is points tested. To meet the basic requrements for this visa, the principal applicant would need to be under 45 (you don't mention your age) and usually have a minimum amount of work experience. Having more than 3 years work experience, a job offer and $100,000 dollars to pay as a 'bond' all get you bonus points. The pass mark is currently 120 I believe.

Take an online points test as suggested to see if you qualify, but beware that some of the tests are out of date, so be careful. Also, follow Possoms' link to the official goverment website of DIMIA whom either you, or an agent (should you choose to use one) will have to deal with to get the visa.

You are not assessed on your capital, but you will have to meet the basic requirements (of skills, age and experience) pass a skills assessment, pass the points test (as it stands on the day DIMIA receive your application for the visa) and then wait bloody ages for it to be processed and get the visa (or not, if you have a useless agent; ask about for recommendations). If you pass the points test outright, there really is no point going with any other visa, as this one gives you instant permanent residency, and enables you to live wherever you want in Aus and do whatever you want for a living.

If however (as in my case) age counts against you, and you are impatient to go, then there is a range of regional and work sponsorship visas available with differing restrictions. Many people successfully use these routes.

As an accountant, you should stand an excellent chance as the principal applicant of getting a permanent visa.

Very best of luck!

hilary6

Hi Julie,
My out take on immigration is that you'll never know if you dont try

What suit some people will not suit others

Give it a go

tonyk38

The pros and cons of Aus I think are largely personal, though there are some obvious practical differences.

I can only give you my perspective on my reasons for wanting to go based on time spent there in the past and research, thus:

Pros

Wide open spaces; lots of interesting wildlife; slower pace of life; more affordable housing (I want to live in a relatively 'cheap' part of Aus; housing can be very expensive in some of the better coastal suburbs); friendly people; and last but not least, the simple fact that I just need a change, and Aus largely 'ticks' the boxes in various ways, if you know what I mean.

Cons

There are plently of potential cons, but my main concern really is simply making friends and feeling settled, and I believe this is largely down to your own personally ability to be open-minded, adaptable, and ready to expect the unexpected.

It's a wonderful country, as I'm assuming you felt on your visits, and I believe that if you really feel that you want to give it a go, then do, otherwise you might always be asking yourself when you're old, 'if only I'd given it a go'....

kbryant

Hi

Myself and my other half are potentially thinking of moving to Oz and really would be very interested to hear your gripes about it. We are currently living in Toronto and wish we had listened to what people had to say as we would NOT be here now, this place is definitely not for us and we don't want to make the same mistake again. Tried your link above but it doesn't seem to work, grateful if you could maybe jst let me know what the very worst few things are about it there ?

Cheers

Karen

tonyk38

No disrespect intended, but I think you've actually touched on why you have probs now: you didn't listen to advice.

Most folks here are very honest with their opinions of where they live. I'm sure you'll get sound advice if you listen to enough people.

Good luck!

arkon

Hi Karen, I've got to go to bed now, do an advanced search on my name and select view posts. If still no luck I'll pm my gripes to you as to post them on here will just turn the thread into a flame. Definately listen to what people say we read so much positive stuff on here we still came even though a couple of negative posts almost had me thinking twice, turned out for us the very few negative Oz posts were a much truer representation. I personally think if you have a lesser set of standards and like holidaying somewhere like torremolinos then you might like it here. If you like your forign holidays, diversity and think that a british rail staff attitude is very poor then you will hate it here.

psb182

[QUOTE=arkon] if you have a lesser set of standards and like holidaying somewhere like torremolinosQUOTE]


whats wrong with torremolinos??

tonyk38

I have never been to Torremolinos Arkon... I have however travelled all over the world. Don't patronise me.

Look, yours is an extreme view and is illustrative of why the OP should listen to a lot of people, not just one. I'm guessing that you were unwilling to adapt to a different way of life and I'm guessing that most Aussies (who are no fools) could see you coming a mile off.

Julie T

Thanks everyone, you've given me a fair bit to think about.

I'm 31 by the way, have 5 years post qualification experience as a senior accountant and the bond would be no problem - so fingers crossed from what you've said I stand a fair chance.

If we do decide to go for it, how on earth do you go about deciding where to settle? We spent time in Perth and Sydney, and loved both. With having a young daughter, my priorities are low crime, high standard of living, good schools (eventually - she's only 1!) and an area were there's potential to find reasonable jobs.

Julie

JerrySpringer

Hello Julie, I don't know your background but are you CI born and bred? I should think moving from Jersey to Sydney would be rather a culture shock if so!! Surely the crime levels in Jersey are well below those of Sydney? (Of course if you have lived the big city then it probably won't be news to you!!)

As regards high standard of living, you need to look at what you expect to earn and work out what your disposable income would be, based on a few scenarios. Living in Australia is not necessarily cheap - it will depend on where you live. Sydney has probably the highest cost of living in Australia (but then again, salaries can be highly regionalised, so you could expect to earn more in Sydney than, say, Perth). You may be better off, you may not - there is no fixed formula. Many people on here will concur that cost of living is about the same. You may get a well paid job and respect for what you do; on the other hand, you may have to take a step or two back down the career ladder (and pay cut) and earn some Aussie work experience before you can get to the level you are accustomed to. You may need to re-train or take Australian qualifications in order to practice. Are you prepared to do this? You can check with the governing body of your profession whether this is a requirement. Quality of life is not, of course, all monetary - consider things like commuting times, city working hours. How would city commuting and city working hours compare with what you have now? Would you spend more or less time together as a family?

You don't have to live/work in the city but consider that Australia is the most urbanised country on earth. All that empty space and so many people living in areas more densely populated than a lot of UK towns/cities.

Emigrating is definately worth a go, if done for the right reasons. I think it's important to identify what is pulling you to Australia and then investigate if the reality can live up to your expectations. You have listed some quite specific criteria of what you would want out of your new country and you need to look into those as much as you need to look into the logistical side of getting here. If you just want to do it 'because you can', then the lower your expectations, the more accepting you will be of Australia and the reality of living here.

mand8002

Hi

I would think that you would have enough points to satisfy the points test without having to lodge the bond money, as Accountants are on the MODL (migrants occupation in demand list ) but check this out on www.immi.gov.au to make sure.

As for the pros and cons, I think that unless you try it you will never know if it is for you or not.

We love it here, I have had my ups and down with homesickness but that is only to be expected.

It is a hard decision to make, whether to emigrate or not, but nothing ventured, nothing gained as they say.....and if you make the move and really hate it then you can always go back to Jersey.

All the best with whatever you decide.

Amanda