daveandsarah

Hello All

Well, after about 3 yrs trying to get a job in NZ, i've been looking in Oz for about 2 months and have been offered a job virtuallty straight away, so we're coming to you instead on a 457 visa fairly quickly with any luck, so chuck another shrimp on the barbie, will ya ??

Provided all the visa and medical stuff go thru OK, we'll be in north Sydney, so am looking for all the usual advice and contacts please ????

1. Office is in Bella Vista, and we don't want to live city side - so where's good within bikeable commuting distance of there ?? ( upto 15k or so - only need 1 car then).
Hills very close would be good, hills and water would be even better.

2. Coming with 1 x 14 yr old boy - so we need a good school - preferably smallish as he doesn't do lots of people, with a sporty focus (what am i saying, it's oz, they all do sport, don't they ??)

3. Not sure what the deal is with accomodation provision from work yet, but working on the principle that there won't be any, we'll need somewhere furnished, short term until our stuff arrives - where's good to look for this sort of thing on t'web ?? Or Does anyone know of any ??

4. Which NRL team is closest to that neck of the woods ?? Can't just support the Huddersfield Giants once we're over there... or as we were geared up for supporting the NZ Warriors - will that be allowed ??

5. Do we have to pay school fees on a 457 ?? - no idea how the visa stuff all works, so not really clear what the 457 entitles you to and not - Medicare also ??
And therefore does anyone know the progression to residency from there ??

6. There'll be lots more questions over the next few weeks, so you'll probably seeing a lot of us !!

Thanks in advance for your help.
Byee for now

D&S&A

killerhales

3. My company uses Quest serviced apartments for new arrivals. Hopefully your employer would give you a few weeks at their expense. They have a number of locations as you can see on their website.

Sandra

Hi - check out the links on the wiki for 457

http://britishexpats.com/wiki/457_Visa_Restrictions

Someone will be along soon to help you with the hills district you wll be working in and have good advice about housing schools etc

Two things I do know - yes you will need to pay for schools in NSW not sure of the latest cost but was around $4500 a year when I was paying over 8 years ago. You need to start taking to your work about LAFHA and possibly salary sacrifice to offset costs.

There is no progression from a 457 to perm visa you need to talk to your work about employer sponsorship if they are willing and possibly a migration agent to see the likihood of this being acceptable.

Good luck - Sydney beats NZ easily I lived in Auckland for three months and couldn't wait to get back.

bcworld

...and once you start investigating the PR process the LAFHA stops?

Sandra

Funny old world with LAFHA - in principle yes because you start looking into PR you are intending to stay but there are grey areas for different cases. I received LAFHA for 14 months when I actually had a PR application in progress. But I stress my case was highly individual to me and argued on that basis with work and the ATO. Once we returned from overseas with the PR granted LAFHA stopped immediately.

edmontron

Sounds like a great opportunity. How secure will you be in your new job? There is a risk attached to the quick 457 visa. Should you lose your job at any time you will have 28 days + notice period to find a new job (457 sponsor + new 457 visa), otherwise you'll have to leave the country. Happened to me (being made redundant), I managed to hang on, but it's a stressful experience, especially with family. I probably wouldn't have done it again on a 457.

paddyo

So do you mean the Hills district?? Castle Hill, Pennant Hills, Beaumont Hills etc? No rail, lots of buses but check locations for routes and timings (www.131500.com.au) will be agreat source for this. Domain.com.au will give you an indication of rental prices. When I cam over my company provided serviced accomodation for the first month until we located our own property so ask for that, they can only say no.
Lots of decent properties there for a family, for rent ask your new employers about LAFHA which is a tax offset for your accomodation and food and could be worth a couple of grand in your pocket every month.
You will be spoilt for choice for schools and they are usually open to visits to check out facilities etc. As one poster already mentioned, you have to pay $4500 per annum in NSW to attend public schools, plus you then have the usual annual school fees, uniforms, etc etc which do add to quite a tidy sum!
The 'risk' with 457 is there but in my opinion can be mitigated in that it gives you a 'try before you buy' with regards to permanent residency and buying property here. If your intention is to go Permanent as soon as you can, DO NOT mention it at all until you are in the position to do so, it DOES affect your LAFHA and you want to keep this as long as you can. Your company MAY offer you PR but are not obliged to do so.
As for personal circumstances; I was brought over on a 3 year 457 in Mar 08, asked about extening last September and got another 4 yrs 457 now till 2014. Have been offered PR by my company and MAY take that at end of this year, want to get it in before the magic 50 next year.

Gibbo

You could live in Bella Vista and virtually have no travelling time or one of the suburbs around it, eg Baulkham Hills. Would stick with suburbs between Old Windsor and Windsor Roads for ease of commute. Schools are good in the Hills. I believe you do have to pay fees on a 457 visa. Closest NRL team is the Parramatta Eels.

quoll

Yup $4.5k pa for school fees at government schools. Marginally less if you go systemic Catholic

daveandsarah

Thanks for all of this.

Looks like i need to do a bit more reading on the visa front - NZ ones were quite easy !!

Edmontron - job should be quite secure - it's a major retailer, and they are sponsoring and paying, so hoping there shouldn't be any issues on that front.

I'll be back with more questions soon !!

kronk

If the office is in Bella Vista, then Hills definitely best option for you. Bella Vista/Bella Vista Waters is nice. If rental is high, then surrounding suburbs like Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Kellyville/Kellyville Ridge would probably be fine.

Quest is a good suggestion, there is one very close to Bella Vista but the one that springs to mind backs on to Old Windsor Road which is busy road, could be noisy.

We stayed here when we first arrived. 2 bed serviced apartment in Castle Hill, suited us fine, think they're a little bit cheaper than Quest. Very very good.

http://www.westcorpapartments.com.au/

I don't have high school age children but would probably suggest looking at the schools in the areas that have been suggested. You can probably get a bit of an idea from www.myschool.edu.au which you can see the local schools websites etc. My school website would also list how many children are enrolled so you can get a feel for how big the schools are.

Hope that helps.

plantpot

It's 46oo just to be picky! I just paid it...