It would be interesting to know how many people emigrate to Australia or New Zealand having never made a visit before emigration.
For me: The family have visited prior to emigration for Holiday & for research also.

Tony C

Hi Tony,

We can't get any time off work for a fact finding visit. We're relying on information from websites and colleagues who are already in the area we want to go to.

Keith.

Hi

We were planning on selling up here and moving to NZ - my partner is an NZ citizen. We have done loads of research on the net and talked to his family out there.

However, according to my solicitor, we have to have visited first for the court to ask my children if they want to go back!! This is a large expense that we can't afford. I understand that we also have to have places at schools, a house to live in of suitable size and an offer of a job! but how can we arrange accommodation and get a job when we don't have the visas and will have to come back here for god knows how long to sort it all out? help, confused and bewildered..........

Thats funny!! I am in the same boat - having to make a life changing decision without ever having been there - relying on mu husbands and friends judgement. On the other hand you only live once and hell if you dont like it after you gave it your best shot at least you have tried it.
"It is better to have loved and lost than not loved at all!!!"

I.o.w.::: yes I am going for it !!

Never been! Also relying on husband who says life will be challanging but sweeter in Australia. So I'm willing to give it my best shot and if I don't like it I'll go somewhere where I will. (Going for those missed life experiences!).

I do think it vital to go and see where you want to move to. When we visited Australia recently I found it to be not at all like I imagined it to be. IÕve worked with loads of Aussies over the years and we have realtives and friends in Oz, so after hearing so much about the place I thought I would have a pretty good idea how it would be.
I not saying that I didnÕt like Australia, just that my impressions gained from travel programmes and episodes of Neighbours were not confirmed.

hi wilf! or is it pb?

Couldn't agree more. I'm not that sure what was so different to what I expected, but the first few days of my trip to Perth about 18 months ago were very odd. The landscape was much flatter, it was more arid, the quality of the light was stronger, the urban landscape was more suburban, the cars on the freeway were generally a lot older, the structure of metropolitan Perth was a lot more 'planned' (heading north up the Mitchell Freeway with the railway running between the carriageways, suburban stops with bridges over the freeway into suburban shopping areas), the American influence was a lot stronger.........than I imagined it would be. Three hours into our first day my wife said 'this is another planet'. Admittedly we had just flown 20 odd hours and were very tired but it did feel very very different. Saying that it wasn't too long until the 'strangeness' wore off.

I'm not sure you would have to visit before emigrating but I would probably recommend it. In any event don't think that the usual Oz images portrayed in the media are what to expect and be prepared to feel a degree of disorientation.

Martin

We couldn't really afford to come out on a fact finding mission before we came, so we just came!!!!
Don't know if we would be here if we had come out to visit first, we'll never know!

We have friends wanting to come out on a skilled migration visa and I have suggested it is money well spent to come and get a 'feel' before deciding.

we have never visited australia before and we are just waiting for our medicals. when you go to a place on holiday that is exactly what it is, a holiday. it's never the same as actually living there. for the cost of a holiday weve got visa's (hopefully!)

We leave the Uk 26th October landing in Brisbane 28th
we have never been before, sometimes think we must be mad but it is all part of the adventure.

You need to give a bit more information. If you are talking about the children of you and your partner, no such problem exists. If you are (as I suspect) talking about your children from a previous relationship, it should be enough to get your ex-partner's formal consent to emigrate. Age of children?

Hi
Where abouts are you heading in brisbane.
We are also going next year but have only just started the ball rolling.
I would have liked to go first to have a look, but funds don't allow and i'm sure it must be a bit better than the u.k. I know the u.k has lots to offer and i'm not totally unhappy but it is beginning to get a bit chlaustrophobic now. We live 20 miles north of the M25, right next to the A1M and the traffic is unbelievable.
Also it is becoming increasingly hard to have a decent standard of living, myself and my wife have always agreed that she would stay home and bring up the kids in the "traditional" way and I would go out to work because we feel that a secure homelife is paramount for children. This is easier said than done and is becoming almost impossible to maintain, i won't even mention house prices so we can move off the council estate.
I have a relative and an old workmate in Oz , melbourne & adelaide respectively, and they both say they would never come back, which I find reassuring in light of our "blind" move.
What are your reasons for going?
Would love to find out.

I bet you can't wait !!! til 28th-10

Jarv

Yes, children are from previous marriage, aged 7 and 12. Their father is very unlikely to give consent, now we're worried that having to go through the court is going to cost arms and legs and be unrealistic.

OK, sympathies. If there's no way of getting ex-partner's consent, it is almost certainly going to be a tough and costly time for you. (If I were in the position of the father I think I would object and do my best to stop the kids from emigrating too, but that isn't a comment directed against you, just to say I think it's fairly normal to expect a father to object to his kids being moved to the other side of the world. Of course, I don't know the full story.)