Hi There,

My Family (Wife, 2 Boys aged 2 + 5) and I have been asked by my employer to take up a position in Perth CBD. We are originally from the West Coast of Scotland, but we have been living in Houston, Texas for the last 3 and a half years.

My Wife and I went over a week or so ago for our reccie trip and had a brief look around (my employer had me working a lot while I was there) and liked what we saw.

After living in Texas where everything is so cheap, it was quite a shock to us that it was so expensive in Perth. Thankfully, my employers have performed a cost of living comparison and also taken in the tax differentiation, so hopefully it will work out ok.

We are just about to start our visa process, but the immigration Lawyer wanted to pre-empt my Sons necessity for a medical, so we sent this away 4 weeks ago and have been asked to submit further information since then. He has Down Syndrome and is in remission from Cancer. When we were first approached about the move, I said I did not think that due to Australian immigration legislation my Son would get in. My employers have done a bit of digging, and although there are no guarantees, we could get in on a 457 medical waiver as my employer are prepared to meet any medical costs that we incur for the duration of our stay. Has anyone else had experience of this?

I am due to come back alone, flying Thursday and arriving Saturday 18th for 3 weeks. The company are really struggling with workload at the moment and require my assistance. It seems that they have difficulty finding descent staff for the office, as I am led to believe the salaries being paid in the mines even for menial posts are over $100K? If anyone knows of anyone who has experience in Oil and Gas Recruitment, please let me know as I will be looking to grow the team whilst I am there.

Anyway, I am going to have a look around the site to see what tips I can pick up.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to any advice anyone can give us on the medical side of things and should our visa application be successful.

Best regards,

Alan

The medical criteria for 457 is lower than for permanent residency, so it is possible he could pass. It's if you decide later to apply for permanent residency that you could potentially run into problems.

Your previous posts suggested you were looking to get a US Green Card.

Did you obtain one? If so, how do you feel about abandoning/losing your Green Card in favour of a non-permanent visa situation in Australia?

Are you ok to go back to the United Kingdom if it all doesn't work out?

Every case on medical grounds has different implications so it is hard to have input on your very personal situation. Yes it has been known for people to get in on 457's when below the medical requirements for permanent.

There was a pretty recent case of a doctor (in outback Victoria I think) being refused his PR after being here on a 457 with his disabled son who I believe had the same condition as your son - but as you know every case can be different. This highlighted many of the rules over here and how strict they can be regardless of the benefit you may bring to the country.

I was refused a 457 visa for my daughter initially but because I was on shore we had different rights of redress and it all worked out in the end. She is severely deaf but mainstream schooled at the time. Work offerred to cover all costs and did pay private medical but that made no difference on the first refusal it is a potential cost calculation they do not who can/will pay. I am not saying because it worked for me you will be alright just plan for what you can and do not give up too much. We did not sell up in the UK and I kept the right to return to my original role until a few years on when we had PR.

Good luck it may be a bumpy road but if you want it enough?