Moving to Perth, Australia from UK

[Moonlight34]

Hi everyone

My husband and myself have been thinking for a long time to move to Australia. We have two little girls and another one on the way. We are looking to move in October, a few months after the baby is born. Although both me and my husband are educated and in really good jobs , we don't qualify for any visa. My husbands mum and sister live in Melbourne but it still does not give my husband any rights. Unfortunately the only way to get there is for my husband to become an international student, luckily we have savings behind us to fund this but we really think this is the best move for us as a family. We understand that our right to work is 20 hours only , I won't be working as I will be on Mat pay.
I doubt we can buy a flat outright there for 100k (house sale) but does anyone know if an international mortgage is possible ?
Can anyone guide us what areas in Perth are suitable for a young family ? We would like to be near the beach / city / amenities but realise that this is most likely impossible.
If anyone can provide any information about Perth , we would very much appreciate it.

Many thanks

It sounds a bit nuts tbh. Moving across the globe, unable to work, no visa opportunity, hoping to get a mortgage with no job and only a student?

@bucketsoflove

Are you allowed to buy property on a student visa?

It would be considered a foreign investment, there is a process of approval to go through, Foreign Investment Review Board. However, it is probably a moot point, as I don’t see how OP would afford it anyway.

You know moving to Australia doesn’t give you squatters rights, right?

Are you off your head?!?!

You want to buy a house on the other side of the world, in a country in which you don’t have a work visa??

If you don’t qualify for a visa, you/your husband need to apply for jobs and get sponsored. There’s a list of professions they are short of.

If you do what you suggest I think there’s a good chance you’ll blow all your money on schools and rent and end up back in the Uk, but minus the best part of 100k.

You are much better off spending the next couple of years here for one of you to retrain and then moving.

My friend went a couple of years ago and neither her or her husband had a required qualification, he decided to train to become a bricklayer which took just under 2 years and then they moved, could it be an option to do it that way round?

As PP's have said, the cost of living in Australia is a lot higher than here so you need to take that into account.

How will you pay international student fees?
How will you pay for housing and schooling?

Why Perth?

@Hb12

It sounds a bit nuts tbh. Moving across the globe, unable to work, no visa opportunity, hoping to get a mortgage with no job and only a student?

With three small children!

100k is about 180ish Aus Dollars. That will get you a bed apartment @Moonlight34 nothing more.

@MouseyMoose

You are much better off spending the next couple of years here for one of you to retrain and then moving.

My friend went a couple of years ago and neither her or her husband had a required qualification, he decided to train to become a bricklayer which took just under 2 years and then they moved, could it be an option to do it that way round?

As PP's have said, the cost of living in Australia is a lot higher than here so you need to take that into account.

Also, said friend has just built her own house after renting for the first few years. Apparently that is the cheapest way to get a house in Perth!

@Lola528 my sister lives in Secret Harbour. I loved it when I visited her. Sorry, totally random post.

Several years ago, I spent two months in Perth.

Without fail, in every single way, every server, every shopkeeper, every person-on-the-street was beyond lovely. They were friendly, helpful and kind beyond measure. Every. Single. One. Without. Fail.

Decent beyond measure - off the charts. Smiles, outgoing, helpful - just all-around the most lovely people. They didn’t have to be — they just were.

I left feeling so welcome and respected and impressed. Honestly, just the very most lovely people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. I felt loved and welcome and warm.
I didn’t want to leave.

While I realize that two months isn’t a long time, it was long enough to make the most positive impressive impression I think I’ve ever had of a city anywhere I’ve ever traveled.

Ny advice would be to move to Perth, and move to Perth toot sweet.

I’d go back in a heartbeat if I could - I so miss it. It shames the USA IN EVERY WAY shame is possible, then shames it again (what a sad thing to type).
___

While getting off a train in Perth, a person (not Australian, not American) began shoving very aggressively from behind and I fell down the train steps onto the pavement, breaking my arm — the only person to stop & offer assistance was a kind Australian man. Others just kept walking by. I’ll always remember him.
Typical Australian kindness. Typical Perth-Australian in my eyes.

Others just kept walking by.

Sorry to nitpick but surely all the people who walked by without helping were also Perth folk?

Any chance you could go over on a working visa? We moved to Brisbane 16 years ago in a 457 working visa, Dh knew someone over there that got him a job for a company that sponsored him.
He worked for the company for 2 years and that enabled us to then apply for permanent residency (think that's changed to 3 now and called something else). Does your dh's family know anyone who could do that? Do either of you have skills that could enable sponsorship? If not, are there any family visa options?

Thank you for all your honest comments. I guess we are being ignorant about the facts that lie ahead . We’ve been wanting to go for 11 years. Wish we had done it sooner. Now we have to think shall we kill the dream or go and live with my husbands family in Melbourne, we won’t really have any costs. Kids are not of school age just to answer someone’s question previously. My husband recently done a bricklaying course here but he has to have a minimum of 4 years experience to even apply for a visa. We don’t have any costs where we are living now either, not sure if you need to know that , just trying to give all the facts .

@Moonlight34

Thank you for all your honest comments. I guess we are being ignorant about the facts that lie ahead . We’ve been wanting to go for 11 years. Wish we had done it sooner. Now we have to think shall we kill the dream or go and live with my husbands family in Melbourne, we won’t really have any costs. Kids are not of school age just to answer someone’s question previously. My husband recently done a bricklaying course here but he has to have a minimum of 4 years experience to even apply for a visa. We don’t have any costs where we are living now either, not sure if you need to know that , just trying to give all the facts .

Odd you've been wanting to go for 11 years yet haven't even googled the practicalities.

We don’t have any costs where we are living now

You don't eat? use electricity? drive a car? use public transport? wear clothes?
Of course you have costs and you will have costs in Australia as well.

It’s a crazy idea that makes no legal sense.

Much better to sort your visa entitlement at this end in terms of skills visas (study or retrain here into an in demand occupation) and then go. However, it is a very expensive and long winded process admin-wise.

Have you actually visited Australia and the area you are planning to move to?

OP I wouldn't just give up. It's not an impossible situation. You could train in a required profession and get a working visa.

Perth is lovely but also has problems. It is very large and isolated which means you need to use a huge amount of fuel to commute everywhere. Weather is nice but can be super hot and unpleasant. People are nice, but also a lot of people are quite ignorant. Many have never left Perth or been outside of Australia, so they don't care or know about the rest of the world (very parochial).

If you're white English you will probably fit in fine. If you're from a different ethnic background, you will probably experience some racism.

But generally the weather is nice, it's laid back, a slower pace of life. A lot of Australians think Perth is extremely boring, but I know English people who have moved and because it's a novelty and change, they love it.

I would say the standard of living is higher generally as houses are newer and you get more for your money. So pros and cons!

Also I should add it can be difficult to make friends and really fit in. A lot of Perth people have been there for ages, and don't really bother making new friends. Might be worth going for a year and seeing how you like it.

If you have the option to live with family out there why don't you do that while he studies?

Perth have not had to endure lockdowns well maybe very short one.... go

@Moonlight34

Thank you for all your honest comments. I guess we are being ignorant about the facts that lie ahead . We’ve been wanting to go for 11 years. Wish we had done it sooner. Now we have to think shall we kill the dream or go and live with my husbands family in Melbourne, we won’t really have any costs. Kids are not of school age just to answer someone’s question previously. My husband recently done a bricklaying course here but he has to have a minimum of 4 years experience to even apply for a visa. We don’t have any costs where we are living now either, not sure if you need to know that , just trying to give all the facts .

What about rent , bills , food those are your basic costs.

You can't really move and expect your family to fund you unless they are extremely wealthy.

Perhaps train so you can get a proper work visa.

The £100k won't take you far.

The cost of living is very high.

What is the attraction?

@DreamTheMoors

Several years ago, I spent two months in Perth.

Without fail, in every single way, every server, every shopkeeper, every person-on-the-street was beyond lovely. They were friendly, helpful and kind beyond measure. Every. Single. One. Without. Fail.

Decent beyond measure - off the charts. Smiles, outgoing, helpful - just all-around the most lovely people. They didn’t have to be — they just were.

I left feeling so welcome and respected and impressed. Honestly, just the very most lovely people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. I felt loved and welcome and warm.
I didn’t want to leave.

While I realize that two months isn’t a long time, it was long enough to make the most positive impressive impression I think I’ve ever had of a city anywhere I’ve ever traveled.

Ny advice would be to move to Perth, and move to Perth toot sweet.

I’d go back in a heartbeat if I could - I so miss it. It shames the USA IN EVERY WAY shame is possible, then shames it again (what a sad thing to type).
___

While getting off a train in Perth, a person (not Australian, not American) began shoving very aggressively from behind and I fell down the train steps onto the pavement, breaking my arm — the only person to stop & offer assistance was a kind Australian man. Others just kept walking by. I’ll always remember him.
Typical Australian kindness. Typical Perth-Australian in my eyes.

So this family should uproot because of this?