haggis supper

I've seen a number of posts recently about concerns, problems and general apprehensions about moving to Australia. I thought a brief summary of my move may help some.

I was offered a job in early July (457 visa) and flew on August 19th. We had an incredibly hectic 6 weeks preparing and had all manner of problems, see below. I moved with my wife, my 5 year old daughter and 3 year old son.

· Had 3 weeks to decorate house and completely redo front garden - to make presentable for rent. Akin to mission impossible.
· Told by Gas Engineer that we have a gas leak, pipes not fitted properly and he cannot issue Landlord Safety Cert. Takes 2 days knocking holes in walls to find and fix. Not cheap.
· My move to Oz came about as a result of my boss in the UK taking a job in Melbourne and offering me a job. I go through 3 weeks of interviews and on-line psychological profiling. 1 week before I'm due to fly he gets cold feet and pulls out at last minute. He later changes his mind but for 3 days we are in panic mode and consider pulling out.
· We rented our house the day it went on the market, above asking price. 5 days before we fly the tenants pull out - it takes us a further 3 months to let house at a price GBP 650 less than previous offer.
· Company offers only 20 foot container. Not enough. 40 foot then provided but we are to pay extra. We then sell, give away and move to inlaws a ton of furniture only for company to say there was misunderstanding and they would have paid for the lot. Too late !
· One week to go I put petrol into 6 month old BMW - it's a diesel car so does GBP 4,500 worth of damage !!
· Have to travel to London for medicals - twice in 3 days and then GP loses daughters medical records - twice. We only receive visas 2 days before we are due to fly.
· Have to leave the UK not having sold either car. Eventually sell both but lose a fortune on one of them.
· Removal process is a shocker. Allied Pickfords are awful. They call in sick on second day. They run out of wrapping materials. No special cartons provided. They wrap items they shouldn't. They fail to pick up air freight. I have to wait in empty house for 2 days waiting for air freight to be collected and miss Mother In Laws 60th party - not best pleased !
· Pickfords and Relocation Agent fail to provide relevant documentation so I'm up until 4am on the morning of the move completing transit, DIMIA and Insurance documents. Only panicking slightly.
· Air Freight goes missing in transit - told that it has been lost at KL and cannot be found. It turns up 8 days later.
· $15,000 worth of damages as a result of removals - all beds and mattresses arrive water damaged and therefore ruined. Damage to cabinets, chests of drawers, laptops, PC monitors, plates, pictures, glasses etc etc etc ! 4 months after move I am still waiting final settlement.
· 3 boxes of clothes are "lost". Dresses, kids clothing and some of our favourite items. They never turn up.
· We looked at 36 houses before settling on a place in Beaumaris - found it only 1 week before company was due to stop paying for apartment. We were in panic mode again.

The process was a shocker and at times we felt that fate was certainly against us. We considered pulling out twice and from mid June to mid September we hardly stopped. So many times we heard the phrase "This has never happened before..." - from Estate Agents, Visa Agent, Relocation Agent, Removal firm etc as something else went wrong.

However, despite all of this we adore it here in Melbourne and it was certainly worth the hassle. The people, the place, the lifestyle and the opportunities are fabulous. There is so much to do and see and it is incredibly child friendly. The process was very quick and we hardly had time to think once things started moving, and perhaps this helped. My advice to those considering the move is to go for it. It is incredibly difficult, it is stressful and there are so many unknowns but it is worth it. The children are incredibly settled (my daughter loves her school), they are already body boarding and swimming most days, we have a family day out almost every weekend and are spending so much more time together. My wife is also very happy and has already made some very good friends - both Aussie and ex-pat. Sure it has some downsides and we miss things from home but it is a fabulous place and an amazing opportunity. We may decide to return one day, though that appears to be unlikely, but if we do it will have been a great and positive experience for us all.

Good luck to those considering or actually in the process.

Mrs Rangersman

Well done for sticking with it, you certainly had a rough ride, glad you are enjoying it, Nicola

gedge

Some people would have given up ages ago.
Well done for sticking it out, all the best for the new year.
Hope it's less stressful.

paulf

What an amazing story! good luck and best wishes for 2006

NickyP

Well done for sticking with it, we thought that we had a stressful time with getting our 457 sorted from Belgium but in hindsight it was pretty straightforward.
Are you applying for PR with the company sponsoring now that you are here? We are going through the process ourselves at the moment and it is inching forward slowly.
Good luck with 2006 and we may meet up some time at one of the Melbourne meets.
Nicky

binbird

Wow - that was some story! Well done for persevering and there's always dye for those few grey hairs you picked up along the way! Then again - you won't need them where you are - the bleached look must definitely be in!

Hope all continues well for you now.

Binbird

haggis supper

Thanks Nicky. Though we did consider chucking it we felt it was too good an opportunity and after all we had been through it would be a great experience - even if we didn't settle. It would have been awful wondering what it would have been like if we didn't move.

I'm on a 4 yr 457 visa so will remain on that to take advantage of the LAFHA allowance for as long as possible. The company is sponsoring me so we will look at PR at a later date.

All the best to you too for 2006 and hope to see you at one of the meets.

Cheers.

NickyP

We aren't getting the LAFHA (no set base in the UK or Belgium) and Ian needs to get citizenship ASAP as his job is in defense, so we applied for PR alongside the 457. It was also helped by the fact that the company are paying for it all and with 4 kids we could do with the child tax benefits sooner rather than later.
Our move was plain sailing compared to yours although Ian's company haven't done this before so there were a few teeething problems, which weren't helped by the fact that they were having to deal with Belgium (not easy at the best of times ).
We are coming down to the Berwick meet this weekend and tend to come along if we can.
Nicky

bri.thomson

WOW 10 / 10 for sticking with it?
I have just been offered same as you a job with my employer and the 457 visa. I am at the moment living in Spain, so if all does not go too smoothly I am going to be in deep sh** as my Spanish is not up to much.
So fingers crossed and away we should be going with the process quite soon!!

All the best for 2006.

NickyP

we had a similar problem with languages in Belgium , where is your work in Australia going to be based?
Nicky

bri.thomson

My works office is in Perth, but due to the nature of my work they have told me I can stay where I like in Australia. My actual workplace to begin with will be commuting to NZ! So not exactly sure how it all works, but they say that I will be working for an Australian company paying Aus taxes, so I can stay in Aus with no problems?

Hopefully they know what they are doing?

NickyP

Sounds like a nice offer you get to pick where you live, not many people get that with a job. Ian's company dealt with our visa and now that they can do the 457 online it is really straightforward. The medicals and police checks can be a challenge if you don't speak the language though, we just about got through it OK in Belgium but it added to the stress. We went back to the UK to hand in our forms for the police checks for our PR but you don't need them for the 457 I don't think.
Do you have kids? If so then consider where you are living as some states charge you school fees with the 457 (I know that NSW do but there may be others).
Good luck.
Nicky

haggis supper

I'm sure it will be fine, I'm hoping that we used up enough bad luck for a dozen folk !

It really is worth the hassle and the problems. It's just a case of gritting teeth, getting through it as best you can, handle each problem rationally as it arises and keeping the bigger picture in mind - we knew that 3 or 4 months down the line this would all be behind us and we would have a great lifestyle.

Good luck with your move !

CathnPaul

I felt the stress reading your post!!! Well done on persevering, you and your family must be made of remarkably strong stuff. Superb.

gobbyjock

OMG!!! Karma on it`s way, that sounds like a complete nightmare, I think I would have had a nervous breakdown, glad it`s been worth it for you though.