Decided to make the move - Just dont know where to start??

[richard300]

My Wife and I have long been talking about a move abroad -Australia is country we want to move to and Adelaide is the area we have identified.

 

But we are at such an early stage in the process that we don’tknow where to begin, who to contact what order to do things in.

 

Is there a complete and current idiots guide to 'making the move'?

 

A bit of background information (if it helps):

 

I am 37yo male and my wife is 32yo. We have two young children (a 2yo boy and a 5yo girl)

 

My wife is a fully trained nurse that has been nursing since she started her nursing degree at 18 years old.

She is currently a specialist Diabetes nurse and her main role is an educator.

 

I am a Support and hotel services manager for a large private hospital home. In charge of all aspects of operational and manmanagement in the following areas of the business:

 

•Housekeeping

•Laundry

•security

•Dining service

•Kitchen(s)

•Health and safety training

•Reception

•Purchasing

•Transport.

 

And I recently passed all my Nebosh qualifications in

 

•Management of health and safety

•Health and safety practical application

•Controlling workplace hazards

•Full Nebosh certificate in occupational Health and safety

 

In the UK this is the relevant qualification for H&S based employment.

 

 

 

I get the impression that my wife is likely to find work quite easily in any location, but some people have said that my qualifications might be more applicable in Western Australia where there is mining and other industrial business???

 

 

The reason we have identified Adelaide is because we are after the following from a location:

•Close to the sea (currently we can see the sea from our lounge and we walk along the promenade and use the beach a lot)

•As above - but with relatively cheap property rental costs (I hear Perth is much more expensive)?

•Close enough to a city that we can work and visit but we don’t want to live in the city

•Good local Amenities , schools, developed neighbourhood’s and things to do of an evening and a weekend.

 

We will be renting out our property in the UK and can maybe get together $15.000- $17.000 to see us through the whole process to the pointwhere we are hopefully in rented property and can start earning a wage - will this be enough do you think?

 

Thanks,

 

Richard.

Edited March 27, 2013 by richard300

[Guest weegie]

Hi Richard,

 

The starting point for us was to work out whether we could actually get a visa. It's all a bit complex as there are many options.

 

One option is to try to get a free consultation with a migration agent who should know the best option. There are a few people on here who should be able to recommend someone to speak to.

 

As for money, the more you can save the better just to give that cushion when you arrive. Remember you'll need to put down a rental deposit, hire then buy a car, buying new stuff you didn't realise you needed.

 

Tony

[Toni]

Howdy and welcome to the forum. There was a really great thread a little while ago with a really useful spreadsheet that a PIA member kindly provided which will probably help shttp://www.pomsinadelaide.com/forum/money-finance/25074-budget-spreadsheet.html - read through some of the comments also - it is quite a long thread too and I haven't read all of it but the "chatter" in it always helps to pick up other clues too. Good luck and don't blame you wanting to live near the sea. We live about 10-15 minute drive away and it's not as close as where you live but we still like to go for walks along the esplanade a few times a week. It is so relaxing.

[Guest domino]

hi we are in a similar position. we have just decided to apply for a visa. im 41 and a nurse, have been since qualifying at 21 currently in practice nursing, my husband is a carpenter. we have 2 girls 11 and 7. we have been weighing up perth or adelaide and, like you, think nurses would be ok in either but there does seem to be more carpentry work in perth. we will be going based on me working full time hopefully as main breadwinner initially. we are thinking seriously about adelaide as cost of living seems much lower, and, we could afford to live in a reasonable school catchment in adelaide outskirts whereas we couldnt afford a good suburb in perth. day to day living costs seem less in adelaide too (check out numbeo.com you can compare cost of living for cities). it also sounds like a nice city for families.we are going over based on my skills so for us first step is to do expression of interest. have ruled out employment sponsorship as dont want to be tied to a job for 2 years. so its a skilled independent or skilled independent state nominated, both need at least 60 points. as we only have 60 we are going for state nominated as having lower points doesnt disadvantage you. we found all this out in a free seminar at australia house accessed by australian futures via the immigration website. to do our expression of interest to get points for being a nurse u have to apply to anamc for skills assessment which is where we are at. have just done nmc form to verify registration, applied for a transcript of training and got ITELS english language test in 2 weeks, which you need for skills assessment and can also be used for points on expression of interest. then i think u need references cv various documants and it takes up to 12 weeks and i think is about $500. then u can put in the expression of interest to hopefully be invited to apply for a visa. so thats the first step (I think!) if you are going down that route of a skilled visa based on a nurse. feel free to get in touch if u decide to go ahead, it would be good to know other families going to adelaide. nursing sounds a little less stressful over there although there does seem to less autonomy so trying not to go with set ideas rather will do what it takes so can get settled. i do think my children will have a better future there

[jim and adel]

(check out numbeo.com you can compare cost of living for cities)

 

I assume you're doing more research than numbeo for such important decision making? I wouldn't put too much weight on the contributions of such a small number of people whose experience varies so widely. I'd suggest it would be (slightly!) better to ask questions to people who've actually spent time in both cities, or at least ask some questions on here and some on the Perth equivalent. Cut through the 'patriotism' shown for each city and you'll get a feel for actual cost of living. The ideal would be to split a recce between the two places and see for yourself, but I know this isn't practical for many people.

[Guest domino]

will be doing more research than numbeo and finding out more. unfortunately although ideal splitting a recce between the two isnt possible. as we are going for state sponsorship we need to specify on EOI, difficult decision to make! do you have any views/advice re adelaide jim and adel please? sorry not to be more specific but ive just woken up and my brain isnt in gear yet!

[Guest domino]

sorry dont mean to hijack your thread!

[richard300]

Hi Domino….

 

Thank you for your reply, I mentioned it to my wife – who feels as you do, that ideally, she doesn’t want to be committed to an employer for 2years.

 

I think that we have decided on Adelaide and hopefully the Hove/Brighton coastal area of Adelaide.

 

So, am I right to put the following things into thefollowing order (as a plan of action)…..

 

1.Have my wife fill in an NMC form – Is this to apply for the transcript of training?

2.Book/complete ITELS English language test.

3.Apply to ANAMC for skills assessment.

 

From there, is there a prompt or request from someone for the various documentations, such as CV’s and references?

 

Once that (upto 12 week) period has been and gone are we then contacted to lodge our expression of interest for the visa?

 

Where do things like medicals and police checks etc fall into the time line?

 

 

Sounds like we will be following a similar path as you and your family, in as much as – We are likely to be applying for a nominated skills visa based upon my wife being a nurse.

 

Perhaps I will get her to send you a privatemessage after the Easter weekend?

Edited March 30, 2013 by richard300

[Guest domino]

hi,yes to start with you can get a transcript of training directly from the course provider such as university, however, if your provider is no longer there to do this the nmc will provide a transcript about syllabus or which eu directive training matches. you can do this online via nmc site. to verify registration you need to phone the nmc who send a form which you send back with payment £34 and they forward this to ANAMC. book ITELS directly via the ITELS site, they will send results to ANAMC, so yes they are the first three things to do. you then apply to ANAMC who request what else they need. I am only at the stage of I have requested verification, transcript and have ITELS test on 13 april. I think they promptly request the further info like cv reference etc. it says on the site 6-12 weeks to verify skills. once your skills are verified you then have to go on the Australian immigration site to skills select to lodge an expression or interest via a form on there. then you wait and see if you are invited to apply for a visa. then I believe you have medicals and police checks etc and pay visa application fee. feel free to correct me anyone if im wrong as this is only from what I have read finding out about the process. we will apply for skills visa and proably nominate South Australia rather than western. feel free if your wife would like to pm me always good to talk to people in the same boat. if we do get invited to apply and are successful we will be looking to contact other people already in Adelaide or in the process of going to get to know some people!

[richard300]

Thanks Domino,

 

Again - Very helpful information.

 

Are you aware yet of how much the total costs are likely to be (for all the administration and the visa's) for you and your family?

 

I can work out air travel, shipping, initial property rental etc, etc. But dont currently have a clear idea of 'approximately' the legal (for want of a better word) costs will come to.

[freesia]

All of this information is there for you on the DIAC website. Go to http://www.immi.gov.au/skills/skillselect & identify the appropriate visa class. Much better than doing it all piecemeal

[Jessica Berry]

And I recently passed all my Nebosh qualifications in

 

•Management of health and safety

•Health and safety practical application

•Controlling workplace hazards

•Full Nebosh certificate in occupational Health and safety

 

In the UK this is the relevant qualification for H&S based employment.

 

 

 

I get the impression that my wife is likely to find work quite easily in any location, but some people have said that my qualifications might be more applicable in Western Australia where there is mining and other industrial business???

 

 

When you talk about your qualifications I am assuming you are referring to your health and safety quals. As you say 'in the UK this is the relevant qualification for H&S', but this is not an Australian qualification that gives you the knowledge of Australian Work, Health and Safety Laws. I am sure the knowledge would be transferable to some areas and gives you a level of skill in this area and obviously gives you an overall understanding of OHS but I would not use these quals as a basis for determining whether to go to Perth or Adelaide.

 

As you are at the start of the journey, it is difficult to say which place would suit your family, in reality only you can make that decision. We have a good life in Adelaide and I still believe it is a great place to live but it is not for everyone, in the same way that Perth will be great for some and not for others.

[Guest starfish]

Hi everyone - just want to introduce myself. My family will be moving to Adelaide in January please god. I was born in Darwin so I am lucky to already have Oz passport. Im in the process of getting my 2 girls (aged 1 and 2) their citizenship by decent and then once that is done I can get their passports. I also have to get my husband his spouse visa which takes 8-9 months. The application for that is so long but hope to have it all sorted by January!

 

We are going through a company (Sandy Coates) which helps families make the move, get accomodation, car, job, accounts etc. has anyone else used her services? It seems great. Were not sure whereabouts in Adelaide to go, I guess it depends where the work is. My husband works in construction and i work in admin. My main concern is the kids have a nice school to go to & we live in a nice area. The main reason for the move is we want a better life for the kids!

 

I hope we can get to know other irish families soon! Sara :-)

[richard300]

Hi, sorry for the late reply, and again, thanks for all the advice....

Had a mad couple of weeks, with lots of other stuff going on, so not visited the forum..

 

​We definitely feel that Adelaide is the place for us (as opposed to Perth) the biggest decisioned is what type of visa we go for. Initially we were thinking about a state sponsored visa, but now were are going to pursue an employer sponsored visa.