scottkirwanthomas

Hi All,

I’ve just signed up to the forum and am looking for some up to date information.

My wife and I are just starting the process of migrating to Australia. We’re looking to move to Perth as my wife has family there.

My wife is a community nurse with 18 months experience and I’m a software engineer with 15+ years’ experience in the Microsoft C# stack.

We’re looking to achieve a different pace of life in Australia, one where we’re happy just to go to work in a less stressful environment and come home and enjoy other things in life.

We have 3 children and a dog who’ll be coming with us.

What I’d like some opinions on is:
I appreciate there are quite a few questions but any comments would be most appreciated.

Cheers


Scott

Beoz

You are about to have your expectations blown out of the water. Don't let them dent your enthusiasm. Good luck.

PS. On the mortgage question, just like the UK, if you have money to stump up, the banks will be happy to take your interest payments.

mikelincs

Your most important thing to do is to see whether you can even get a visa, everything else in moot at this point until you know you CAN move to Oz.

carcajou

Concur with the above two posts.

1 and 1A is make sure you can qualify for a visa.

Next is focus on what else you like about Australia besides a more relaxed pace of life and less stressful work environment, because that isn't going to happen.

For some of your other questions, though moot right now:

It is possible to rent with pets. Let the agent know at the outset that is a requirement.

Banks are happy to take your money for a mortgage.

It is better to find work before moving but that is not likely to happen (don't even bother before you get a visa). Best to take a recce and meet with hiring managers in your field during that time to get a sense of what will be available (once your visa is granted). Australia is built on networks so use that of your Perth relatives.

Commuter traffic in Perth is entirely dependent on what Point A and Point B are.

Good luck.

scottkirwanthomas

Visa process has been started and appears to be straight forward. Current guestimate is 12 months from now.

scottkirwanthomas

I appreciate traffic is dependent on route taken but in general how long would it take to get from one side of the city to the other during rush hour?

Is it like certain cities in the uk? for example, it can take more than an hour to get from one side of nottingham to the other in rush hour, double the normal time with reasonable traffic.

carcajou

Good, hope things work out for you, but applying for a visa, and receiving one are two different things. Do not make any irreversible life changes until you have actually received your Visa Grant Notice, and I doubt you will get much help on the ground in Perth (outside your family) on the grounds that a visa is potentially in the pipeline (when you have one, things change). Have you already received a positive skills assessment? How does your projected points total compare with others who have been drawn recently? Even if both look good, heed the advice on "irreversible life changes."

To answer your traffic question in a roundabout way - the commuting times can be highly variable and "one side of the city to the other" is pretty nebulous in my view when speaking about Perth. Australian cities are not built like English cities.

I would not want to, for instance, live in Armadale and have to commute to Joondalup.

scottkirwanthomas

We have no intention of implementing "irreversible life changes" until visa is granted. Positive skills assessment completed, Points total is 65.

All I'm inquiring about at this stage is peoples experiences an opinions.

In regards to traffic, @carcajou, you say you "would not want to live in Armadale and have to commute to Joondalup" why is that?

is it because it takes twice or three times as long to travel that distance because of traffic or is it becauseits over an hour in the car?

carcajou

Armadale is in the southern part of Perth and Joondalup is in the north. Like any big city, traffic can be busy and variable, and Perth stretches quite a bit north to south, so yes there are times that could be a lengthy and miserable commute. So I would try to make sure, if possible, that I wasn't living south of the CBD and working north of it, or vice versa. There are times when the freeways crawl.

What do your Perth relatives say about it?

It would also be a good idea to rent at first, let yourselves get settled into your workplaces, and then choose a place to buy based on that, so you can take commuting into account.

There is, also, the TransPerth. I am not a fan but others on here find it useful.

old.sparkles

What occupation code did you use with ACS? Asking because it will have a bearing on your likelihood to get an invite.

Can't help with many of your questions, but we did ship everything over bar the car. International removals / shipping companies are much of a muchness, so best advise is to go with best quote. There are good and bad stories surrounding most of the companies.

scottkirwanthomas

The wife is the main applicant as its her family that could sponsor us. Code 254418.

Its suggest we don't do a joint application as me proving my employment history will be a lot of work for only 5 points.

carcajou

Who suggested that? It's a points-based system. Take every point that you can. It's not "60 points and you're in" - if someone applies after you, and has more points, they get in ahead of you. 65 points is not a guarantee of anything. Do not leave points on the table.

Have you done IELTS?

Can I add - what visa route are you going? Is this a 189? I assumed it was with the talk of 65 points.

scottkirwanthomas

Yes it is a 189. IELTS is booked. 65 is a presumption that IELTs will generate 10, if she aces the test that could make 75.

visabureau.com advised that as the wife's job is on the short list and mine on the medium to long term list, her application would get us over here quicker because there are more positions for nurses.

Their advise was I would need to prove the first eight years of my employment history as the equivalence of a degree as I don't have one. Then I have to prove the rest of my employment history as work experience.

All of which could be tricky going back several years and only add 5 points where as an application with just my wife as the main applicant would be simpler to process.

carcajou

Having just looked through the recent invitation rounds, there have been times where 65 has not been enough.

If she aces IELTS and you end up on 75, that is probably OK.

If after IELTS, you are in fact on 65 - I would have that conversation again with the agent as to whether chasing down the paperwork for the extra five points, taking you to 70, would be worth it. At 65 it's possible you could find yourself in a very long line.

Keep in mind the department's draws where people on 65 points were offered invitations - those may not be new EoIs but rather in the pool for quite some time, as precedence for tied points totals goes to who has been in the pool the longest.

Good luck.

scottkirwanthomas

fair point. Cheers for the info...