Hi

We are thinking of a move to Oz after my husband was contacted by his old work colleague and friend who moved to Adelaide 2 years ago. My husband was whinging about his job on Facebook and he messaged him to say get yourself over plenty of jobs here and good money too.

We have been able to think of little else since and his friend has been in contact a few times since giving us names of the recruitment people who got him a job out there and putting a word in for my OH. They want him to send in his cv as they are really keen.

We have 3 children, 1 between us and 2 from previous relationships. This is a major stumbling block for us as I may be able to take my 12 year old daughter (if her dad doesn't fight me) and if she wants to go, but OH will never be able to take his son who is 9, and is very worried that an already fragile bond may not survive(long story but they don't have a great relationship, and I feel are never going to have).
The thing is in the UK we are struggling. I had to go bankrupt 4 years ago after my first husband died suddenly and my new OH has really bad credit from a previous relationship. We live hand to mouth and each month fall a little bit more behind. Things are getting worse job wise in the UK and neither of us feels safe in our employment. OH more than me. He thinks he's lucky if he doesn't get his P45 with his wage slip every Friday.

If we did come over to Oz it would be with nothing. We would have to rent and would have no savings to fall back on, but OH should have employment straight away and a lot better paid than his job here. In fact he can earn the same as me and him together are earning in the UK.

has anybody ever done this. Come over with nothing? I kind of feel we have nothing to lose as over here we have nothing and steadily dropping lower than that every month. Its the Kids factor that is my main problem but then I think we could be offering them a better life as we could have more money and a better quality of life than we do now and soon they will be old enough to make their own choice as to where they want to be.

Sorry for rambling, I just keep thinking if we don't take this opportunity now and wait for the kids to be over 16 we might never get it again

Thanks if you read this far!

First things first. Do either of you qualify for a visa? www.immi.gov.au is where to start. Do the visa wizard and see what you come up with.

Bear in mind that applying for a visa is NOT cheap. Besides skills assessments there's visa fees, medicals, police checks, flights, shipping, etc. And while Australia's nice, it's not paradise. Adelaide is small and depending on what your husband does he could find himself out of work there too. My husband was unemployed for 9 months over there before we eventually moved to Perth so he could get work.

Do some research on cost of living over here after you see if you qualify for a visa. There have been tons of threads.

Hi

Yeah my husband qualifies for an employer sponsored visa. We have not tried for me as he has a trade and I don't. He is a qualified Vehicle Sprayer and I am a Project Manager for a translation company so not sure what I would need to do.

We have got things we could sell to raise some cash. We have a car and my husband ran his own car spraying business for a while until he couldn't make a living out of it. All his tools are still sitting in the workshop so they could be sold on.

I did try to look for threads before starting my own and have read some really useful information but a lot of people on these have sold houses in the UK or are renting them out so have some sort of financial stability. We have nothing and I just wondered whether anyone else had done the same and it had worked for them

thanks for your reply

Ok, he qualifies for an employer sponsored visa. Does he have an employer willing to sponsor him for a permanent visa? They're not easy to find.

We are in the process of finding this out. His friend has put us in contact with the employers who sponsored him to go there and they have asked OH to send his cv as they are interested.

Good luck!!!

We came over with very little (a few thousand dollars and 20kg luggage each) but we were young and cocky and had, quite honestly, nothing to lose. We had no children to worry about, were pretty much unestablished in careers (I was almost 24 and my partner had just turned 24!) and we came over when the economy was strong. I had lined up interviews before I got here because demand in my industry at the time was incredibly high (I no longer work in that industry, and demand is definitely not high). I had a job within 24 hours of arriving, and my partner was at second interview stage by the time we got here, having done phone interviews from the UK. I came over on my Kiwi passport and my partner is on a defacto visa as a result.

Even now, having been here for several years and being pretty well established, I’m always aware, at the back of my mind, that we are not eligible for benefits should it all go pear-shaped (I have a non-protected SCV and we don’t have kids, so nothing beyond medicare). In your position I can see the appeal of Australia but I’m assuming that you’ve never been here before? Nor had my partner, but again, we don’t have kids so we were quite prepared to basically have a holiday for a while and then go back if it didn’t work out. You might hate it, and then you’d be stuck here if you didn’t have the money for flights home. You might find that your husband doesn’t get work, or that you don’t, or if you’re employer sponsored that your husband hates the job but is stuck there. When things are bad, it seems a bloody long way from home.

Sorry, don’t mean to sound like I’m pouring cold water over the whole idea, and I don’t know you or anything about you beyond what you’ve said here, but if you were one of my friends, I’d say don’t do it. I’m just an anonymous person on the internet though, so take everything with a pinch of salt.

It all sounds a bit vague, maybe your OH needs to follow through on this job stuff and see whether there is any substance to it anyway before over thinking everything else.

If there is a sponsorhip on the table, be clear over whether it is temporary or permanent and understand the difference. And no matter how many people tell you that you can "apply for PR after two years" ignore it. It isn't true, there is a fair bit more to it than that.

I am not sure I would have wanted to come over with nothing to be honest. It is pretty expensive getting set up, if flights, temporary accommodation and the car / car hire isn't enough there are loads of "little" things that need to be bought too; plates, cups, towels, cutlery, pillows etc etc (cos all your stuff is in the container).

It sounds like you (both) have previously had trouble managing money, don't think being in Australia is going to be a cure for that ("we will have a better life because we wil have more money"), people can have financial difficulties here too. In fact I would be inclined to think emigration would make your financial problems a whole lot worse.

I would have to agree with Bermudashorts. Without sounding like a broken record, you will need to have some sort of financial back up and selling your possessions is only a short term solution to what could quickly become a long term problem. The children situation could also be a problem especially as you said the relationship is “already fragile”.
Do your homework and good luck!!

We came over 4 years ago on a company sponsored visa with very little money (about $10k) but with just a suitcase each and a few personal items the comapny agreed to pay for shipping. So it can be done. But, dont get carried away too much at this early stage as it is not easy to get a company to sponsor. Particularly in the trades as most go to proffessionals.

If one is on the table then see what the total package includes. For example, does it include air fares, shipping, temporary accomodation and then what the salary is. Then sit and do the research as to if the package is worth while. There is no point in comming to find you are no better off. Also, bear in mind that if you come on a temporary visa and he loses his job then he only has 28 days to find another employer / sponsor or you have to leave the country.

In saying that, there are plenty of people on here that are temp visa success stories including myself.

Agreeing with much thats already been said. But it sounds like you have a lot of knots to untangle first. Then and probably most fundamental I would not see Australia as a path to a far better life, If you are starting with nothing or near as, Its going to be pretty tough and will undoubtedly put strains on you and your relationships. It took 10,000 pound for us just to get here and due to the high cost of living You`ll need a few thousand and an income shortly after. I would encourage anyone to move forward with their lives. And don`t live to regret things. But if I had not had a large sum to start with over here. As the main bread winner for wife and two kids I would not have chanced it. It can be a Land of opportunity, The Lucky country and all that, But that is so much down to the individual. I think many have found that out the hard way. Good luck whichever path you tread.

I would also add that, even before thinking about moving, you need to establish whether the children can come with you. You said your daughter's dad might fight your decision, and from having read a lot of threads here on this particular topic, it seems that it could be the first major obstacle to your moving to Australia. Even if you get a visa, an employer willing to pay your moving costs and a good job offer, are you prepared for a potentially long and drawn out legal battle? And would the employer be willing to wait until that is resolved?

To my mind, the above should be your priority, before anything else. If your daughter's father agrees to let her go, then that is half of the battle won.

We came here with around $15k maybe a little more, cannot remember now.
We bought a car, paid the bond and the weeks rent and that was pretty much it all gone.
We have 4 kids, one had just started his GCSE's.
We had never set foot in the country before, we just took the plunge and went for it, all kids on board.

DH had a job straight away and we had friends who put us up for a few weeks, it worked fine.
We also had all our visas and tickets paid for by the company.

I would never of come if DH did not have a job too come too.

Good luck xx

I came here 3 years ago with $6k and a suitcase. I've still got the suitcase.

Pretty much what I will be doing in 4 weeks! Then iv got 6 months to get ready for the family to join me!!