Terry Regan

Weeks and weeks of trauling through the internet looking for a better way of life for myself, the wife and my 2 kids (5&3) no such luck. I really don't mind where we go but it must have good education for the kids and preferably no language barrier (this is now becoming a problem in the UK with so many cultures and immigrants). I am currently working in the Passive Fire Protection Sector and have seen plently of work around the USA but VISA's are a constant problem.

Anyone got any bright ideas as I'm coming to the end of my teather.

debsy

Hi Terry

Are you thinking about Australia or New Zealand? If so' this is the place you can get some advice about Lifestyle etc. If you want you can also have a look at the Immigration Forum where you will get advice about immigration and there are some very helpful peeps on there who will help you.

leanda

Visas are always going to be a problem outside of Europe, come and join us in the queue to Oz and New Zealand, it will only dominate your life for around 18 months and costs lots of grey hairs, but could be worth it in the end, nothing worth having is easy or so they say!!!!! Good Luck wherever you end up.

joem

Try moving out of Essex, for a start





joem

debsy

Now, now - no more Essex jokes please

Go Banana's !!

Please, please do not take this the wrong way, as I know that the right tone doesn't always come over in posts, but I feel you may be looking in the wrong place to change your life. I may be mistaken, apologies if I am.

When we made our descision to move to Oz, we hadn't up until then, even enlisted the help of our PC. We have family in Oz so were able to ask questions from first time experience.

We had toyed with lots of ideas and talked into the small hours to lots and lots of different people and approached it as a process of elimination. This if I'm honest is a process which began in earnest at least two years ago.

Warren and I both wrote seperate lists, very honestly, of what we wanted out of life. We then put that list together and went through many senarios of which country (including the UK) would help us achieve the majority of the list. Luckily our list where vertually identical, which is a start ! One other factor was that Warren's skills would have to be of benefit to the country - otherwise there would be no challange. Oz is not this Golden Country some are led to believe, we had to be able to offer them something in return. No country is going to offer you a solution on a plate. We have some cash to take out with us and hopefully start morgage free, which instantly takes a big pressure away .

We had to really get to the nitty gritty of what was important to us as a family and that if we were going to put ourselves through such an upheaval, it had to be worth it. We had to think how long this upheaval would take.

I mean if it was going to take us 10 years to make it work, with some hairbrained business scheme (oh yes and there were some interesting ideas) then it wouldn't achieve our No. 1 goal, which was to spend more time together as a family. Our daughter is 6 and we want to spend more time with her now, as when she is 16 you can bet your bottom aussie dollar, she'll not want to be around her totally embarrasing parents!

We have obviously have a list of about 20 other reasons, (which I've posted a long time ago). I don't know , you may have done all this soul searching, but our next step was to go to Oz. Your next step may be France, Spain I don't know. We decided it was worth the investment if we were going to make a real change to our life .

Is there nowhere where you have family ? What is so bad about your life that you feel you need to change it ? Lots of questions, which you don't have to answer to me, but you do to yourself and family.

It's a bloody enormous task to take on and will be like nothing you have ever gone through. It will test your relationship to breaking point, at times, so you have to be strong to pull it off.

There is so much to think about, such as what family do you leave behind ? One family I know of went over there to mend a broken relationship( please I don't think that is you- just an example) and I still cannot fathom why they thought putting yourself throught one of the most stressful things you could ever do, would mend a relationship !

I am certainly no expert (not my AIM assessment getting us in !) but over the months thanks to many of these forum members, YES YOU GUYS THANKS !!! I am able to see things alot more realistically now. Every country has it's problems, it's about how you react to them and what problems you can live with and what ones you can live without.

You reasons are personal to you and non of anyones business, but you have to justify them to yourself and family, for it all to work.

I know I've probably made it sound daunting and it is. But once you have truely decided what/ where / how , you'll be on your way and the very best of luck.

Jill

P.S . This is quite brave of me to write this, I normally sit on the fence :scared: waiting to be nailed to it.

debsy

Blimey Jill - how long did it take you to type that out!!!:scared:

Well said Jill - it would be wrong for anyone to make a decision upon anything they read on a pc. Have you been to Aus or NZ Trev? There are also Us and Canada forums.

You could always move to Canvey Island (joke)

Ps Jill - we also did our thingybob with AIM

jandjuk

excellent excellent post. if I could do that megalania trick of highlighting it I would.....

Go Banana's !!

Bloody ages ..........I'm a one finger girl !!!.

Thought if I was going to come off the fence then I'd better give enough time for the splinter holes to heal.

Jill

Go Banana's !!

Apart from all my spelling mistakes. But thankyou for your nice comments.........it's nice to make someone smile (< that's me when I read your post.)

Jill

joem

Don't let WBB hear you say that



joem

Sandra

Excellent Post.........and you have not lived in Aus yet..........you have your I going for it glasses on and bugger it...........enjoy!


Cheers

noodle

Jill (and thread starter!!)

That was a lovely and thoughtful post in my opinion.

I myself have always wanted to live in a warmer country and have always fancied Oz. Once I get an idea in my head there is no stopping me, so after lenghty discussions with my husband, we decided we would go for it.

To cut a long story short, my husband is in IT and needs his skills to be recognised by the ACS. Unfortunately they do not recognise his qualifications even though the jobs were on the list and there seemed to be jobs over there. I imagined that we would have a biggerhouse and a more outdoor way of life which really entices me, but as time went on, I kind of realised that in a way, I was actually running away from my problems (childhood crap) and started to really appreciate everything that I already have.

If it had been a bit easier to get into Oz, I would still possibly go tomorrow, but now I don't think it's worth it. My children are 7, 2 and 1 and I want to enjoy life with them before they grow up. I don't want to waste the next how ever many years trying to get into Australia. Life is too short.

I suppose that I am lucky. I have a great hubby, shitty family though, and live in a nice village, we have a decent house and can afford a holiday every year etc, so I count my lucky stars really. It doesn't mean you're wrong for wanting more, but for me, I don't think it's worth it now and I am determined to make the most of my life here. For some, they live in the city and can't afford to meet ends meet and that's a different story.

Anyway, I've gone on for long enough, but I just wanted to let people know that I have decided the grass isn't always greener even though I haven't tried it. If ever the opportunity arose I would seriously consider it and that's that.

Timber Floor Au

Read the post with a wry smile and got to the ONE FINGER GURL bit and kinda got excited

Go Banana's !!

Kinda made you blind too, judging by your spelling !!!



Jill