haggis supper

A good friend of mine has the chance to come to Melbourne to work with the same firm I will be joining. He is very keen on going but believes his wife will not want to move. They have 2 young daughters (6 and 4) and she is very family orientated and lives close to her parents in Essex and sees them regularly. Understandably she is not at all keen to move, especially as far as Oz.

He has asked me to drop him a mail that will help sell Melbourne to her and allay her fears. What can I say that may make a difference ?! Get the thinking caps on please !

Cheers,
Col

HUP

Perhaps they are best left alone. Its a HUGE thing to up sticks and if somebody is not keen then they should not be pushed.

Brisben

If nothing else it could be a nice life expirience, but also it doesn't have to be forever, stay get citizenship then come back, but it leaves you more options in the future if you want to return...

haggis supper

You're not much help !!

Good point though. I think she is not keen based on some stereotypical views of life down under and if she understood what would be good about this then we think she may be open to the idea.

Cheers,
Col

BillnLinz

Was down in Melbourne today for a job interview, too cold down there, much better in Brissy!!

Seriously though, I have a mate who moved to Melbourne 2 and a half years ago, wife and one kid at the time now they have two, went to work for an IT company on a temporary visa, now they are applying for permanent.

They love Melbourne, the lifestyle, the kids are looked after so well from an early age education and sporting wise, if they are getting paid by the British pound there money will go much further than UK over here.

Its the whole Aussie package, come over for a holiday first if possible, check it out.

You can always go back!!!

Bill

helinuk

I agree you can't "make" a person want to go but you can put the positives forward!
I've spent the last 2 yrs doing this with my hubby
To convince him I have :
paid for myself to go on 2 recces,
Spent hours and hours online researching everything he asks questions about,
Organised BE meet ups for our local area and made friends as many people as poss so he has as much contact with enthusistic hopeful migrants!
Talked about lifestyle, beaches, tennis and Good Golf courses!(he's a golfer)
Promised we'd come home or he could return to uk for visits,
talked about the great time our 19 yr old son and I had in Melbourne at the Tennis open this Jan. but how its almost impossible to get tickets to Wimbledon!(he's tennis fan)
How good the restaurants are there!(he loves eating out)
how friendly my friends in Melbourne are.
How we can go on holiday to lots of places we haven't been to yet in OZ. (he loves exploring)...

A holiday in the spring/summer for all the family might help them to see the options and lifestyle they could have there.

What about a short term work contract "to see if they enjoy OZ" then the wife has a return option if she doesn't like it, on the other hand if she does settle they could go for PR ?

If the husband is very keen to go he might need to take a long term view of pusuading the wife. Hope he's patient, understanding, and supportive!
Helinuk....still waiting and hoping ...

moneypenny20

Can't help but agree with HUP If she is very family orientated and has young children and doesn't really want to go, I can't believe she won't suffer badly with homesickness. The majority of people who come back quickly seem to come back because the lady of the house misses her support network even if she has been very keen to go. They need to go on a reccie to see if he even likes it. He might not.