Hi,

My wife and I are currently looking into a potential move out to Oz in a year or so (start of 2014 ish). We are only in the initial stages and whilst there a number of obvious reasons to be excited, I cannot help but have some reservations at the moment. I would never claim to be the most spontaneous of people (unlike my wife), so something like this was always going to take me while to get used to.

Many of my concerns are obvious ones about distance from home/friends/family, costs involved, securing employment etc. I'm sure these are very common, so if anyone could offer any words of advice on them, please let me know.
For example, how often is it realistic to expect people to visit per year and also how often can a family on an average income afford to fly home?
How much should will be targeting to save for moving/setting up a (rented) home ?

One of my main concerns is that in the last 18 months, we have bought our first house together, got married and had our first child. Consequently, life is amazingly good right now where we are and I'm worried that such a life-changing move could alter that for the worse (I appreciate it may also change for the better, just hard to imagine be happier). My reluctance to such a change is countered by the fact that if we were to do this, now may be the ideal time with our daughter so young and our parents not at the age when health/care for them may be an issue.

Has anyone been though similar dilemmas, or know anyone that has? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Welcome to BE. Regarding your concerns, I think the first thing to do is to accept that migration is an expensive process and that you will be a long way from family and friends. No point pretending otherwise.

In terms of securing a job well most of us manage this, but it is important to make sure you bring enough money to tide yourself over. And you could lose a job and be looking for work at any time, anywhere, so not moving doesn't mean you will never need to look for work again. In a nutshell, I wouldn't let that stop you in itself.

I think it is better not to "expect" people to visit at all and then it is a bonus when they do. We have had no visitors yet (over two years) but we think we will get two lots next year. How often you will be able to travel back really does depend on individual circumstances, income and how much of a priority it is to visit. Flights back are at least $2 -3k so it does add up for a family and if you mean very literally on the average income then this would be a huge chunk of it.

If I were to guesstimate, I think once every few years might be an average. Well that is what I think I will do, that is what my close personal friends have averaged (perhaps even less for them) and I certainly don't get the impression that the average person on BE is going back much more than that, with exceptions of course.

I think our visa, moving costs and initial set up cost about £25k, we made no particular effort to keep costs down (eg chose nice serviced apartment in CBD for initial accommodation), so am sure it can be done more cheaply.

Hope this helps.

Why bother? Sounds like things are going well for you at the moment anyway.

I'm with BS don't expect any one to visit (and why should they?) but if they do then that is a bonus. Latterly i've managed a sanity trip to UK on average every 9 months but when we were young and the whole family needed to go, it was much less frequent.

Emigration is an expensive process and unless you are selfish and self sufficient it can be a big challenge. Try not to burn any bridges in the process - take a career break, don't sell your home etc and treat it like an adventure and it should be ok.

Getting married buying a house and having a baby are major life changes. I am not sure I would plan to have another huge upheaval so soon. I too am a very change averse person, and my OH was suprised when I said yes to the move. We had thought about it before DD was born, but when she came along, we waited. She was 8 when we next thought about it, and 10 when we actually applied. The process took a long time so she was 12 by the time we came. By that time I had had time to get used to the idea!

We are a reasonably well off family- or were in the UK. We were also lucky that OH had a job to go to. You will need to have some money behind you for start up expenses- renting is not cheap out here, especially with the high Aussie dollar. We have been here 4 years now, and really love it, but it is a long way from the UK, and people don't have the time or money to visit. Having said that, my dad, sister and aunt have all been to visit and we have gone back to the UK twice- once for a celebration and once for my dad's funeral.

I'm not trying to put you off, but you do need to think carefully about whether it is the right move for you at this stage, or whether you should enjoy your new child for another year or two before revisiting the idea.

Question 1, why are you looking to move

Sounds like its going well. I wouldn't move.

In fact I'm looking at moving back already.. lol

Hi Beans

Why do you want to move?

As others have said, first of all you need to identify why you want to come. You have just gone through the most life-changing 18 months of your life and are presumably happy as a new family in your own house - if you aren't then coming to Australia isn't going to change things. So if you have a home you like and are having fun getting it just the way you want it, a wife and child you love, parents you care about, then dissatisfaction with your job is the only thing I can think of as a reason to emigrate. What makes you think that working in Australia will be any different?

Don't expect people to come to visit, just be happy if they do. Don't expect to make regular trips back to the UK - if you can't afford to take a family holiday out here now, you won't be able to afford a holiday back in the UK as flights are far more expensive when bought in Australia rather than the UK. This is assuming that you would get a job out here that was the equivalent of the job you have at present.

When my wife and I came out here in 1983 with 2 young daughters, neither of us got back to the UK for 13 years, by which time we were divorced and my income was considerably greater than when we were together. During that time my wife's cousin came out twice (she now lives here), her parents came out once and mine came out three times. I no longer have any family in England except my brother and I certainly don't expect him out any time soon!

So my advice to you, and anyone else considering emigration, it make sure that the reasons you are considering it are not frivolous, and that the reasons for going heavily outweigh the reasons for staying. That is even truer today than it was 30 years ago when we came.

My wife, three year old and I recently returned from Aus after around sixteen months. Not that we didn't like it there- we loved it! We did find it hard not having that "family support", network behind us with the little 'un, and it is $$$ out there.

I'd go on the assumption that:

. You may get a visit once a year, but more likely not.

. You are prepared for the costs of childcare/ nursery if your partner doesn't intend to stay at home 24/7. In Sydney at least, it's about $80/ day!

Lot's of other factors of course which need to be balanced against the positives of moving (there's lots of them- esp with kids).

You parents will want to see their granddaughter growing up for a while yet, I reckon.

As others have asked, why do you want to move?