chuckie76

Hi all

Myself and wife and son are thinking of moving to Oz. i have job offer with big civil engineering contractor in nsw, offering around 150k.....i'm out of work at home so on the face of it its a no brainer. the other side of the coin is that my wife has good managerial job at home (she's on maternity at the mo) which is pretty secure.......so would you stay at home keeping the safe job or would you ditch it and head to oz...particularly at the moment with this global recession malarkey....we'd like to go for the adventure but would we be foolhardy to go at the moment do ya think? thanks

viviennef

I have no idea what I would do. there are heaps of things to consider.

But if you feel like an adventure, you are well qualified and will get another job eventually even if the other one didnt work out, your wife feels similarly and doesnt necessarily want to go back to work yet and enjoys being with the baby for a while then it sounds great. After all you are the main breadwinner and you have an offer. I dont think there is any rule saying you cant maternity leave in another country, you could rent your house etc.

let us know how you get on. your wife may want to stay home for other reasons rather than jobs but if she was keen sounds good - doesnt have to be forever.

Vivienne

JAJ

What kind of visa would you have - temporary or permanent?

chuckie76

hi

i would be on a 457 so temporary i think...?

JAJ

in which case:
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/457_Visa_Restrictions

jayr

I don't hink her current employer would continue to pay maternity leave if she moves to Australia and the OP should note that Australia does not have mandatory paid materntiy leave unlike most countries (in case of future babies, not current one).

A $150k offer should not be sniffed at though. Check whether this inlcudes LAFHA and whether the employer would instead initially offer an ENS PR visa, or if not try to have that included in the contract for them to do in the future.

Notably, if OP has school age children then NSW is the only (?) state that charges 457 visa holders for STATE-provided education.

alipally

Maternity leave is payable, whether or not you are in the UK.... You are not required to tell them of your intentions (return to work or resign your employment) until 6 weeks before you leave is due to end... (Unless this has changed in the last 12 months) For most companies you also accrue holiday entitlement whilst on Mat leave so this can be tagged on the end of your leave.
It mightn't seem fair but you could hedge your bets and come and try it before you commit yourselves one way or the other.... Some may say that this is wrong in principle, but the company wouldn't hesitate to make your redundant if it was best for the business.... it's nothing personal. (Just my opinion)

However you may have an element of maternity pay that is dependent on a return to work once the leave is over, so you may have to bear this in mind, because you might have to repay it.

The other alternative is: If your wife has a professional job with a big corporate, then it may be easy enough for her to get a transfer (assuming that they have an Aussie affiliate)

The 457 visa is a bit of a nightmare, so part of the deal could be that they will pay for PR after a trial period.... it's not cheap so if you can get this agreed it'll save you a good bit of money and hassle if you decide that you like it!

chuckie76

thanks guys...with regard to maternity - we are in ireland - similar enough rules i guess but you dont need to be resident in ireland - maternity is up end of march, she needs to go back for 6 mths to get 2 months of backpay,,,,is there any reason this company couldnt or shouldnt give us PR visa up front? cost? alternatively would we be able to apply for PR ourselves (we are on this skills in demand list at the moment anyway!)?

might look into me going first up and seeing what the situation is for a couple of months, then reassess

chuckie76

what are childcare costs like in aus also? nsw in particular - any state subsidy? (for 457 visa holder)