stay or go ?

Interested in seeing how long people have spent in Australia, prior to deciding to emigrate. Not really angled at couples whos other halves are Australian, but more towards those couples / singles who have no relationship ties to Oz, just see it as a better way of life.

Also wondering how long people spent on coming to the conclusion....whether it was a "spent 6mths pissed in sydney 12 years ago", or "been in Australia 2 years with work"....

pommiesheila

I think it might have been a good idea to have include a reply along the lines of "Never been to Oz before, but heard it was good" etc.

pommie bastard

Must own up only 4 weeks so it was a case of ," but heard it was good" just shows how naive I was . then again I think a lot of people who came here never saw Australia at all before they came.

Kath

I've met a few people who moved here without visiting, just read books etc.. I couldn't believe it!

We had a 2 months back-packing (before we had children) then a 3 week trip before moving here permanently. Nothing prepares you for 'living' here - it's completely different when you are working, doing the school run, paying bills etc. The grass isn't greener, there is good/bad in both UK and Australia.

walaj

In total it will be 6 weeks, including a visit in 2 months time

We first thought about emigrating 3 years ago, but Cape Town is a lovely place to visit, but not to live there.

Following my trip to Australia earlier this year, which covered WA & Sydney, the subject came up again, and was decided to go ahead with the application (before we lose points for age), with the view that we can change our minds before we have to validate the visa (given the length of the process, we have a lot of time to make our minds up).

Books are a good source of unemotional information, & this site of a lot of emotional views! It also helps that one set of friends are now applying for citizenship and another whom have spent most of this year in the city we intend to emigrate to and also have relations who emigrated many years ago. Their feedback has been very insightful, not always what we want to hear, but not enough to put us off. We also follow the news mainly by frequently looking at SMH on the net. All this gives us a lot more than any glossy holiday brochure can offer.

The offical process starts today with the skills assessment being posted today

Stan J

Haven't decided yet ... 'though I have been out there on a ten year working holiday

renth

1 year WHV in 1989, worked on a gold mine (Kalgoorlie), banana farms (Kunnunurra, Tully), shipbuilders (Cairns). Bought a Motorbike and went from Perth to Cairns were some bugger nicked it. Fell in love with the place. Learned to SCUBA dive.

Went back in 1995 for 3 months, went from Darwin to Melbourne via Sydney, learned to paraglide in NSW.

Applied for PR last year - I.T. fast track (thank God) & got it. Went there in Aug/Sept to validate with wife & kids.

I know what it's like there, & it's great....

Going back in Feb 2003, for good. Can't wait.

r.bartlett

we're in with the 'idiots' .......

i've never been nor has my partner..if we went for a short holiday -what does that tell you??

nothing in my humble opinion -you can't view a place with holiday sunglasses on..

petty much every holiday i've had i felt i could live there!!

you're going to a warm sunny enviroment -so what are you going to think?

a friend of mine was looking at NZ -on his arrival he phoned me to say 'this place is shite'

by the third week he phoned to say 'i don't want to come back'

again this tells you nothing...

if you're scared -sure go see
if your interested -go see
if you need to -go see


if not -don't bother

cheers

richard

stay or go ?

interesting that people feel the need to defend their decision to migrate based on a few weeks visit. no conclusions have been drawn, yet people are already starting to set their stalls and make comments without the stipend of "in my opinion".......sad really.

FWIW, I am the only person who has voted on this poll who has spent more than 24mths in Australia before going for PR...and I hate the place some times, and love it other times.

lets see how the poll runs....

r.bartlett

but the poll is a political fix -based on that poll you must visit before pr!!

where's the 'not at all' option??

cheers

richard

stay or go ?

zero time spent in australia is less than 12 months, is it not ?

practical lines need to be drawn somewhere, otherwise there would be a poll 8 miles long.

r.bartlett

you prove my point exactly -it's a political fix a 'none' type option should be the baseline in any vote situation...

maybe more people in the uk would turnout and vote if 'none of the above' had it's own box...

cheers

richard

stay or go ?

and the point of a "none of the above" tick box in a ballot poll would be what ? so you can get more people into the booths to vote for something that is not productive ? 90% of people voting for "nothing" is more wasteful than 10% of people voting for "something". this poll is not political, never has been, never will be. politics has nothing to do with it.

sorry, not interested in the correctness of construction of the above poll - it merely gives a decent soundbite as to peoples experiences of australia prior to applying for permanent residency.

Ceri

I've never lived/holiday/etc in Australia before I came here to live, only on business (a couple of days). It was not the case of a better life for me, it was a case of moving with the Job. Basically coming from SEA to set up a branch here.

I've been here in Aus for almost 6 years... it took me about a year and a half to two years to realise ... ahrgh... hair pulling . I took PR out, two years ago for the simple reason of "more rights"

cheers

pommiesheila

the point of a "none of the above" or, better still, a vote for "never been there before in my life", would serve a very useful purpose and without it the poll loses most of its effectiveness.