cghorne

Myself (28) and my partner (26) were considering emigrating to Oz with our son (4).

I am a Quauntity Surveyor with 5 years experience within the construction industry with a Bsc (Hons) and she has a NVQ Level 3 in Early Years and works in the childcare industry.

Would we be able to obtain jobs ? Where would I look for information on jobs, housing, schools etc ?

I am consious that should we move that it would be to give Lucas a better quality of life, education etc is that the case ?

newjersey

Hi and welcome to BE. if you have any questions about the site you are welcome to ask me or Alistair aka Sherlock Holmes, and if you run into any issues please contact our mods - Pollyana, moneypenny20, Alfresco or sonlymewalter.

Re. your eligibility for migration in general - have you tried the visa wizard at the immi.gov.au site? First thing you need to make sure is that you satisfy the requirements of the assessing organization (must be TRA, but not 100% sure) so that you can pass the skills assessment and the points test for the skilled visa (175/176). Check to make sure your occupation is on the skills list (aka SOL) and if it requires state/territory sponsorship, if that is the case, it may limit your options as to the place you can move to initially.

As far as the jobs - check seek.com.au to get a general feel of the demand and rates. The rest would depend on the area. You can try domain.com.au for housing and area information.

Juliecabs

Hi and welcome to BE

First of all you would need to check out www.immi.gov.au to see if you would be eligible for a visa.
Also try looking at www.seek.com.au for jobs and www.realestate.com.au for housing.
Whether Australia offers your family a better quality of life is often debated on here. My brother personally thinks that the education standards are lower in Oz than in the UK, while others on here think their kids are doing just fine.

Sorry I can't help more but others will be along to help I'm sure.

Julie.

Bermudashorts

Quantity surveyor is on schedule one of the SOL (Skilled occupation list) which means that you could be eligible for emmigration and you would not need to secure state sponsorship.

I recommend you take a look at the points test, but as a guess you probably should be able to pass it on grounds of your age and having a degree. You might need to take an IELTS test (english test) to make up points, it is pretty common to have to do that these days.

You also need to look into skills assessment, for the skilled migrant visa everyone is required to get a positive skills assessment before applying. For your occupation AIQS is the assessing body.

http://www.aiqs.com.au/site.php?id=76

Your wife and family would come on your application as dependents but once a visa is granted they woudl have the same status as you and your wife would be free to work.

In terms of getting work, well once you have the visa and are in the country, it is probably much the same as finding work in UK. Some times it is easier than others and some people find it easier than others. If you are generally comfortable about your ability to find work in UK then you will probably find it much the same. Still when you make the move it is a good idea to have some funds behind you to tide you over until you find that first job.

The "better life for the kids" is talked about a lot. It is more often said by people who have not yet made the move. You are moving from one first world country to another at the end of the day.

Naboo

Before you go too far with this is your 5 years experience post-qualification? The reason I ask is if like me you did your QS degree part-time over 5 years it might not count as relevant work experience. May be worth checking out before forking out $400 to AIQS.

Also WA are definitely sponsoring surveyors if you are considering a 176 visa, not too sure on other states though.