Hi

This is all very new to me! I will be starting the long haul of paperwork to move to Canberra with my Family in the next couple of weeks.

My Husband has been offered a job in Canberra and we will be moving over with our 3 kids (11, 15 & 16) and Springer Spaniel in August/September 07.

Please can anyone give any information on Canberra and Schools etc. Addtionally, if anyone has taken their pooch accross to Australia - was the process straight forward??

Is there anything I can do to prepare for medicals, police checks etc before the paperwork cames through?? As you can see, my information is limited at this point, so any comments or words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Angie

Hi again Angie

I'll point a few people your way

I can help with the medicals, they are really easy and the doctors are really nice. They will go through everything with you so don't worry too much about them.

For pet shipping read this http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=315019 It's really helpful

All the best

you can buy a mag called Australia & NZ, i buy it from big Tesco. . . quite helpjul in early days, give's lots of general info with a useful what to do list from 18mths in the back.... gives general visa Q & A and a few articles on expats living in OZ.. nice

welcome by the way

s-j

Hi S-J!

Thanks very much!! We are currently waiting for immigration to send through all of our paperwork to start. Not too sure how long that will take though. It's slightly different to the civillian side of things though.

Angie

We are a little further down the road .This is an informative site:
http://canberra.yourguide.com.au/hom...=2&mast_id=133

M&M

I live in Canberra - with a 19 year old and a 16 year old - pm me if you need any direct info

Hi Sasbear and all ! Hope they didn't give you too hard a time over the cricket !!!

We just sent off our meds/pccs and are now in the final throes of waiting - putting the house on the market next week in anticipation of getting out to Canberra about Easter time....

We got a whole heap of stuff from the ACT government (they are sponsoring me) and I can get some stuff drawn up - just PM me.

Also, Sasbear is a fantastic source of information !!!

Take care

Thank you - It really helpt to have someone to give info when you are thousands of miles away.

Hi Angie

We are also in Canberra (on the South Side). I arrived here in August 2005 (from Glasgow) to live with my Aussie partner. I don't know much about the school system here but if you have any other questions about Canberra give us a shout!! I adore Canberra and love living here ..... peace and quiet, countryside on your doorstep, friendly laid back people, great roads, loads of parks and outdoor areas, 2 hours to the coast, 3 hours to Sydney, plenty of shops and shopping centres, the list is endless !!

Wendy

Hi

We have 2 sons - 16 and 10 (nearly 11). We are migrating to Canberra from the Ne of England late July/early August. We lived in Australia for 16 -18 months in 2002-2003. My husband is an Australian citizen - so are the boys - and I have just got permanent residency. We've visited Canberra quite a few times as my in-laws live there. Canberra is a great place and we're all pretty excited about our move. we're happy to give you any info you might find helpful re the place - and my experience of getting visa with medicals etc!

Denise and Cameron

What kind of visa are you being sponsored for? Temporary or permanent, and if permanent, what type of permanent visa?

That will influence some of the documentation you will need.

Hi

It'sa 47ES Sub Class 120/855 PR Visa - Is there anyone else going the same route??

Hi Angie,

It looks like we are in the same boat. We're planning on moving somewhere in
August. My husband has accepted a job at ANU and they are sorting out our visa (it will be a sponsored and permanent one can't remember the exact name for it). My kids are a bit smaller than yours (6 & 8) Are yours excited ? Mine are, they can't wait.

We've decided to keep our cat here for a few month (my brither kindly offered to look after him for a while) because it isn't easy to find a place to rent that takes pets and since there aren't a lot of rental vacancies we wanted to expand our options. We also figure it will give us some time to find a house to buy and once we're settled he can come and join us. Has anyone else done it that way ?

It might be nice if we could exchange experience of the move and everything that goes with it ?

Where are you now ? We are in Newcaslte-under-Lyme (near Stoke-on-Trent)

Good luck,

Inge

Hi Inge

Excuse my ignorance - what's ANU??? Not great on Abbreviations!

We've moved on a bit since I wrotethe post above! After the job offer came the Labour Agreement - we had the meds done 13th Feb and they were sent by the Hospital with the Xrays on the 19th Feb - the Visa Application and all the knob and goeorge that goes with it went today! We are now officially playing the waiting game!!!!

Dog is booked in for her odds and sods - it's costing us loads but she's worth it! She's has all of her inport docs approved in OZ and now all we have to do is wait for the Visa and then get a date!

I have now received LOADS of infp regarding Schools etc - we will be living in Service Housing, so we do not need to find somewhere to rent. We will buy eventually - our house here is sold and the proceeds are already in Australian Bank Account. We were looking to buy a couple of small places and rent them out, but it looks as if we wil not be able to do this in Canberra because of rules regarding living in Service Accom and ownng a home in the same state. We may have to re-think that one!

We're in Plymouth at the moment - RAINY WINDY PLYMOUTH! Can't waitto go - our kids are very happy with this and extremely excited! The eldest has her reservations, but I'm sure that's normal!

Keep me informed of your progress and let me know where you are with it all

Take care

Angie