Sophie1208

Hi,

I am seriously considering moving to Melbourne at the end of 2017 and keen to do as much research as possible before.

I have two young girls, one 5 the other 8 months although when we move they will be 6 and just coming up to two. I work in recruitment and my partner runs his own business in the uk as a kitchen fitter,

My initial plans are relocating with my existing employer in the uk as they will sponsor me and give me the 457 visa for 4 years, first question is .... Me and my partner aren't married, we have two children and have owned a house together for 5 years will this qualify?

My partners current line of work as mentioned is kitchen fitting which includes fitting units, works tops, plumbing, electrics, wooden flooring, hanging doors, skirting board and carpentry, he was employed for 7 years and then 3 years ago set up his own business. He has always taken pictures of his work and has lots of recommendations, with this experience will it be difficult to get work and how or what would he need to do in order to secure employement. Do we wait until we get there as I will already have secured work or get this lined up before we move?

I read on some forums expats have to pay to put children in state schools in some areas of OZ, is this in Melbourne? I would like my daughter to go to a state school as she does in the UK but how do you go about getting them in to schools and how do you know what schools are good? Obviously I am aware I have to choose where we are going to live first but do I have to again sort this before we move or do we just move and she would get in to school very quickly when we come, are schools limited by numbers like they are in the UK?

My 8 month old currently goes to a childminder I know extremely well as she had my 5 year old too, what options would I have for a 2 year old and what is the cost of childcare. I currently pay £612 pm / $ 1063 for 3 and a half days a week.

I am looking to live somewhere that i can commute to work with about a 30 minute drive but also close to a beach but not necessarily on the beach. Needs to be family friendly, safe with good schools and nice properties. I will initially rent and if we decide we would like to stay for good sell up in the UK and buy over there. We will be earning between us around $150-170000 dependant on my partners job. I would assume we could look at renting around 600-850 per week. 3 bed house and ideally dog friendly as we will likely be bringing ours.

Last thing, in the UK I finance my car as I like to be able to have a nice car and then change it every 2/3 years. How would I do this in oz especially being on a temporary visa initially?

Really appreciate any help.

Thanks
Sophie

Kiwikaye

Hi Sophie,

Welcome to the forum.

With regard to State schools, many of them (and certainly almost all of the good ones) will have a zone, so you need to be living in the catchment area to attend. If you can advise where you will be working I'm sure some I and others can suggest some good suburbs to look for a rental and schools. With a budget of 600-850 per week you will have some choice of where you want to live, and certainly some of the bayside suburbs will be within reach.

At this stage, as far as I know, Victoria does not charge school fees for 457 holders - I think that is only NSW and WA.

If you will be working in the CBD you can check out www.ptv.vic.gov.au for train maps and timetables, which will give you an idea of commute times. If you would like to be near a beach then the Frankston line may suit. The Sandringham line also runs down the bay but these suburbs can be more pricey. Alternatively on the other side of town, check out Altona Beach down to Williamstown.

If you would like a newer area (lots of new build houses, etc). then some recommend Point Cook but I don't have a lot of knowledge of that area. I know there are some posters on here that do though and hopefully they will provide you with some more info. Just a warning though that I have heard that traffic out of that area into the city can be a bit of a nightmare, and public transport is not that great yet.

I can't help with the work stuff, sorry, but you should get some more replies to help with that.

Edit: corrected typo

quoll

Childcare, if you can find it, it's going to set you back $100-120 a day but as a temporary resident you will get no benefit to offset that. There are centres and Family Day Care or nannies.

Getting a job as the dependent of a temporary resident is also going to be more of a challenge than if you had PR - you will be way down the applicant pool as employers will go for someone who isn't going to potentially have to leave them at the drop of a hat. Tradies need licences and they can be a bit of a nuisance as well and in that realm, too, is who you know not what you know!

At the moment school education is free in Victoria for temporary residents but things have been known to change out of the blue (You now pay in WA, SA, ACT, NSW)

verystormy

As mentioned, the partners of 457 applicants can struggle to get work and so you need to budget for only your income

Sophie1208

Hi Kiwikaye

Thank you for your message,

Yes I will be working in the CBD, some of the areas we have initially considered are Hampton and St kilda, we did think Brighton but I have heard it's very pricey and I would like to get more for our money. We would like a 3/4 bedroom property not to far from the cbd but equally not to far to the beach.

I assume we wouldn't be able to start looking at schools or enrol my daughter until we arrive as we don't know exactly where we live. Do you know if many state schools also have kindergartens on site as it would be ideal to have both children in the same place for drop offs and pick ups,

Thank you for your help.
Sophie

Sophie1208

Hi Quoll

My visa is likely to be the 4 year one, I thought this wouldn't be difficult to secure him work? So would he be better off getting his own visa or applying for jobs before we get there?

Thanks

Kiwikaye

Hi,

Unfortunately You're not likely to find kindergartens on the same campus as a primary school - at least not in the State system. I know some of the private schools do have their own though.

As your youngest will be not quite 2 at the time of the proposed move, you will be looking at daycare, rather than kindergarten (which is usually Council-run and for 3-4 yo). There are quite a few daycare places around, but some have long waiting lists. Hopefully you can find one fairly close to the school though. When we returned my son was going into 4yo kinder and there was only one Council-run place available in the whole council area so we just had to take it. It would have been easier if we had been looking for daycare, as there would have been more choice - more expense too, though.

Where you end up living will largely determine the schools, but you can of course select the schools you like and then look for a rental property in that area. If a school has a catchment and you are living within that catchment, they have to take you, so once you get the property sorted, just enrol, buy some uniform and you're good to go.

Hope that helps.
Kaye

quoll

If he can get PR then, of course that would take longer and be more expensive (check out the lists to see if his skills are in demand - probably not I suspect) but you could be a dependent on his visa. PR always has advantages including subsidised child care for starters. Chances of him getting a job before he arrives are somewhere between slim and none regardless of his visa. Just budget that you will be living on a single income then anything else is a bonus.

Just a thought - will your employer be able to justify that they cannot find an Australian to fill the role they propose for you? Within the next 12 months there could be crack downs on the availability of such visas, there are certainly calls for them to be more strictly scrutinised.

Bermudashorts

If he could get his own visa, then presuming you mean a permanent visa, you would all be much better off if he does that and you forget about your employer sponsorship, just go on his permanent visa application. Applying for jobs before arriving in the country is a non starter for most people, too many local candidates to compete with in most fields.