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

What s your DH actually going to be studying?
Perth is great, but it's hugely expensive as everyone else has said. I cannot find a single part of your plan that makes any sense at all.

Also good luck even flying in. Nearly all my relatives live in Perth, and I don't expect to be able to see them for a couple of years. Their covid strategy seems to have no way out at this point.

@kyliekylie, I'm amazed. But congratulations.

Again thank you to everyone’s comments. I have a few houses here which are paid outright and thought we can lean on that for the move. We never really could decide at the start whether Australia was going to be the right move for us 100% and both myself and my husbands got promoted and then my husband kept getting promoted. I then had a baby after baby. Work have got a good maternity package. we have been to Australia a fair few times especially Melbourne/Sydney. My husbands family live in Taylor’s lake and have a house outright there. It is quite a big house and we have stayed there plenty of times before. My cousins also live in Perth and decided to go there ten years ago but just wanted to try and not rely on any help from them. I agree surprisingly on everyone’s post, we are bonkers. Someone mentioned to use a migration agent, we are using down under centre and they informed us that an international student visa would be processed ready for enrolment , it takes between 4-12 weeks. Anyways I guess we’ve waited all these years, what’s a few more right :’( my husband will become a brickie as planned and maybe in a few years time, we will see again . Other than that when Australia finally opens up its borders, maybe our jobs will be listed as skilled workers. When there is hope , we have everything. Thank you all

Friend out there said its miles and miles of coastline and beaches are stunning,

If you want to swim without worrying about being eaten, try Coogee Beach.

@coogee

Friend out there said its miles and miles of coastline and beaches are stunning,

If you want to swim without worrying about being eaten, try Coogee Beach.

Thats were i was looking to rent, but it is ££££

But yes ill stick to the pools or shark netted areas!

My brother said on land or in water there is always something trying you kill you there

[quote saraclara]@kyliekylie, I'm amazed. But congratulations.[/quote]
Me also!! I thought nah this isn't going to happen... then it did! Very quickly!!

@Moonlight34 lean on the properties how? By renting them? I wouldn't recommend being a landlord from the other side of the world to be honest.

There are sharks in the sea - that really puts me off

@YourenutsmiLord

There are sharks in the sea - that really puts me off

There are shark attacks but if you think how big Australia is (around the size of Europe?) and the number of attacks compared to the number of people who swim in the sea daily its an acceptable risk of course common sense says swi in marked /patrolled areas or beaches with shark nets or stick to sea pools or reg swimming pools.

Swimming in Devon & Cornwalls polluted seas put me off.

'People are being advised to avoid bathing in the water at a number of beaches across Devon and Cornwall because of concerns over pollution levels.
Surfers Against Sewage has said that multiple sites in the two counties are experiencing levels that data suggests could cause a risk to anyone entering the sea.'

Haha. It always cracks me up that everyone is so scared of the wildlife in Australia. I've lived here ( Sydney) all my 51 years and have never seen a shark when I've been swimming or been bitten by a spider. The odds are minute. Anyway OP your plan does sound a bit crazy but there is and will soon be a big shortage of foreign workers in Australia for all different types of jobs. A lot of people headed back to their own countries due to uncertainty about Covid; plus the regular thousands of foreign workers that come every year have not been allowed in for the last couple of years ( also Covid). All of the states are now letting people in, or are in the process of doing so, so your plan may not be that mad. Check out the skills shortage occupations on .gov.au websites. Personally , I wouldn't choose Perth as it is bloody miles and miles from anywhere at the best of times ( except Bali - some people do work in Perth and have a weekender in Bali) but it has also gone all crazy lockdown over Covid.
Come to the East Coast. It's only an hour flight between Sydney and Melbourne or Brisbane and Sydney or Melbourne and Adelaide.
I wouldn't live anywhere else ( except the UK funny enough - I like the rain) and I'm sure you and your children would love it, but the property prices are berk at the moment so don't even consider buying. Example - DS just bought rundown 2 bed unit in nice suburb but half hour trip to city on public transport and cost well over $600k Aussie. New house on regular street in nice suburb half hourish from city 2.5 mill Aussie. ALmost nothing under a million in Sydney or Melbourne and other cities catching up fast.
Do checkout realestate.com.au for property prices as pp suggested or domain.com,au . They both have rental prices as well.
Good luck , hopefully the Omicron surge will be gone soon and things will be more settled, but it may actually help you with your job hunt.

I loved it too! Miss it loads x

Thank god it's Australia. I can't help except say the UK version is on its knees and it's well past it's sell by date.

@coogee

Friend out there said its miles and miles of coastline and beaches are stunning,

If you want to swim without worrying about being eaten, try Coogee Beach.

Ahhh Coogee, probably my favourite NSW beach. Did have a shark alert there one day though! Do they still play ‘toss the boss’ at the Palace? It’s been 20 years since I was there, but very happy memories.

Australians usually are very lovely and friendly and laid back, but I think this can give new arrivals an unrealistic expectation of how easy it will be to make friends and settle. In my experience, Australians tend to have long-established friendship groups from school/uni/work that go back decades, and often aren't looking to make more friends. They may be friendly and chatty when they meet you, but it can be surprisingly hard to make real friendships with them. That said, it may be easier for the OP if she is able to socialise with family.

@LavenderHills

Australians usually are very lovely and friendly and laid back, but I think this can give new arrivals an unrealistic expectation of how easy it will be to make friends and settle. In my experience, Australians tend to have long-established friendship groups from school/uni/work that go back decades, and often aren't looking to make more friends. They may be friendly and chatty when they meet you, but it can be surprisingly hard to make real friendships with them. That said, it may be easier for the OP if she is able to socialise with family.

This. Big time.

Why on Earth would you want to move here now? It’s fucking awful and Mark McGowan is an absolute arsehole not to mention Scott Morrison.
Seriously rethink your choices. Australia is nothing like it used to be.

Perth, the most isolated city on the planet.

And your point is? I know a lot of people living in Perth (moved there from elsewhere) and they absolutely love it and wouldn't live anywhere else. It has a very laid-back lifestyle, very different to anything in the UK.

However, I have to agree with most other posters OP, it won't work in your circumstances at the moment.

Another thing to consider is if the government suddenly changes the student visa rules. I had a flat mate who was on a student visa and when she was part way through her course of study the government decided to change which areas of study qualified an international student for a student visa.

They removed her area of study and her student visa was cancelled and she had to return to her home country without having completed the course she was enrolled in, that she paid a lot of money for in school fees etc.

Carefully consider the risks vs benefit of coming here on a student visa.

@LavenderHills

Australians usually are very lovely and friendly and laid back, but I think this can give new arrivals an unrealistic expectation of how easy it will be to make friends and settle. In my experience, Australians tend to have long-established friendship groups from school/uni/work that go back decades, and often aren't looking to make more friends. They may be friendly and chatty when they meet you, but it can be surprisingly hard to make real friendships with them. That said, it may be easier for the OP if she is able to socialise with family.

Yes, because we tend not to move away for University so we stay friends with people we’ve known since childhood. I’ve met a lot of expats over the years who have said they found it very hard to meet locals. I can sympathise - I moved away from the area I grew up in and might as well be dead to people 😂

Also consider that rapid antigen tests are not free in Australia. A pack of two costs around $25, a pack of 5 costs around $60.

At the moment our supermarket shelves are bare and I can’t buy essentials. I haven’t been able to buy toilet paper for over a week. I will run out soon but every time I go to the supermarket there is absolutely no toilet paper at all. I’ve even tried going to different supermarkets and they all have bare shelves and no toilet paper. Apparently there are supply issues because of Omicron. This happened suddenly and without warning, so many Australians were not prepared. If this pandemic continues this sort of thing will only continue and perhaps get worse.

Also, rentals have been harder to find and the cost of rent has risen significantly since the pandemic.

My last grocery cost $147 for 25 items (mostly food) and I tried to buy the cheapest brand available and items on special.

The cost of living in Australia is high.

I think you are living in cloud cookoo land! You basically have very little money and little opportunity to work and you want to move to one of the most expensive cities in the world!

@HaroldMeeker

I have friends in Perth and honestly, they both had to spend around $1million aus to get a family sized home with a wee garden. What research have you done?

Wow what suburb do they live in? That is a crazy amount of money!

We lived in Perth for ten years. Its stunning, beautiful place for families, loads to do. Amazing parks. Etc etc etc. But once I had children I was just so miserable.

1. Don't underestimate the distance from family. We felt so isolated. My Children saw their grandparents twice a year which was more than any UK family we knew. The plane flight with 2 toddlers was brutal and so costly we couldn't afford any of the other amazing holidays people like to mention looks flying to Broome or Bali. We also used all our leave on visiting the UK (only 4 weeks leave per year). We didn't have to obviously, but the guilt was strong. Depends on your family.

1. We got out just before covid, thankfully. My friends in Perth who are from the UK haven't seen their families, or left Perth, since March 2020.

1. Aree with pp about Australians. Definitely not sure about the post that describes them about friendliest people in the world that wasn't my experience at all. Customer service in Perth is dreadful. Australians are fine but do have established friendships. Perth people tend not to leave. So often people have friendship groups doing back to highschool and spent a lot of time with extended families. We felt like outsiders amongst Australian friends even ten years in. Every 'grandparent day' at school my heart broke for my DD. And there were loads of events like that. Mothers day morning tea etc. We felt like tourists even ten years in with citizenship.
2. It costs a fortune. We ended up moving to the hills area where we bought a lovely place. We couldn't afford to move into a large family home within the met area. Certainly couldn't afford to live near the sea.

1. The weather is great most of the year. The summer is extremely hot. Kids in 40 plus degrees is tough. I used to get frustrated that the beach was so beautiful yet I couldn't sit the kids on it for longer than half an hour before worrying about the sun!

1. I found some Australians particularly younger ones to be quite superficial. There is a massive instamum culture. Most people had expensive cars on tick and amazing homes and devoted a lot to keeping up appearances of a luxury lifestyle even though financially they were just hanging on. We were comfortably off but drove an older car and dressed the kids in cheap clothes from target and I often felt pressure to "keep up" which is usually really unlike me! Even kids birthday parties were elaborate affairs, with party planners and caterers etc. Tying in with this, my daughter was bullied at school for having red hair - in the first year at school! I remember telling my 'mum group' about it and instead of being shocked they reassured me her hair might change colour as she gets older!! It could just be a bit bizarre like that.

I've just discovered the population of Perth is over 2 million - I'm staggered. I was there in 2010 and the 'town' centre was closed and deserted by 9pm. Perhaps it's changed.
It is beautiful but is too far from everywhere else. Why aren't you wanting to move to Melbourne where you have family.