Temp move to Australia with 7 year old - worth it?

[Vixk1]

After traveling around parts of Oz a few years back my husband and I are considering applying for a temporary skilled visa and relocating from England to Australia (potentially Sydney suburbs). I understand it will still be work, school etc and not a holiday but we are just tempted to have a bit of a different adventure, while we are still young enough to apply.

Our current lifestyle is lovely and we are thankful for that.

My main question is -

We have a 2year old DD who would happily go wherever :) but we are just doubtful if it's really worth taking my DS 7 out of his current school and starting him at a new school in a completely different country just for 3/4 years? By the time he returns he could be moving up to secondary school and I'm concerned about reintegrating him.

A permanent move doesn't hugely appeal to me as I am very close to my family here.

I'd be really grateful of any advice.

Fyi - My SIL is a GP. She has been advised of a 3 year wait to have a visa processed. When we moved it took 26 months (12 years ago).

457 visas are almost impossible to get these days.

I'm currently in Sydney and the job market for visa holders has tanked. There's a lot of anti-immigration sentiment at the moment and even in the highly skilled sector there is very little work. For context, I have been head-hunted for my previous 3 roles. I can't even get an interview. If you take a look at seek.com.au you'll see a lot of ads saying 'no sponsorship' or PR holders only.

The Australian government also told us to go home when COVID hit - 15 years of paying tax here meant nothing.

Visa processing is also currently shut down for temporary visas and depending on how long this continues will result in a several month backlog.

If you do decide to come remember that you will be bound to your sponsoring organisation and if you have to leave that role you will have 60 days to find a new sponsor (REALLY difficult) or leave the country.

Also note that the occupations on the skilled visa list change all of the time.

Due to COVID though the rents have fallen, so there are some positives. If you can tell me what profession you'd be looking to be sponsored for I can maybe help more.

If you come to NSW you'll need to pay ~$5K for state education. We had fun times when DD was younger - a beachy lifestyle, nippers, water polo, sailing etc. I found non-sport activities quite limited in Sydney in comparison to London though, although things are probably a bit better now.

That's really interesting to know, I will take what you have said into consideration.

My husband works in IT specifically the area of SharePoint, Office 365.

Gadday - looking on the official visa application site. The 482 currently can take a few months to process. The 457 is no longer a visa to apply for.

Ok, so it's now 12am and we have just finished working out our budget.

We have decided to register my husband's CV and keep our options open as to where we'd move if a sponsorship came up.

We are grateful that we enjoy our family time in the nice area we currently live in, so if the opportunity never comes up we are not going to feel disappointed or like we've missed out, especially as we have already visited Oz and possibly will again on holiday.

What are the most popular sites to register CV for a sponsored vacancy?

Thank you once again for all of your help.

I wrote that last message last night but forgot to post it :).

You could try seek.com.au

Hmm. I think he may struggle in the current market. I'm also IT, but cyber security. To get a 482 visa you have to demonstrate that no Australian can do the role - and the firm would need to demonstrate that they have advertised for local skills for two weeks - and there are a lot of Aussies with O365/Sharepoint experience.

That's not to say that in time the market won't stabilise - so many of us have returned home (I've just accepted a UK job offer after 15 years here - yes, it's that bad) that there will be a huge skills gap in the coming months and you can't just train people to have a number of years hands-on/deployment experience.

Can I suggest that while you wait he skills up in AWS and CI/CD and DevOps? Those are the skills that Australian companies are currently looking for - he needs to have something in addition to O365/Azure (although Azure is definitely good to have).

Thank you so much, I will forward your advice on.

He's a senior SharePoint developer and is looking to upskill in React, so we will see where that takes us.

I'm finding that Sharepoint is being replaced by Teams - leadership is trying to make people go to the cloud. I know, and he will, that Sharepoint is considerably more powerful but the move to the cloud with generic platforms is being pushed by people trying to get quick wins and save money.

React is Java development yes? I've run teams of 70+ people here (including Java Devs) and he will find the that he will be competing with many Indian Java developers and will probably be over-priced for the market.

He will be fine if he has PR, but not on a 482 with those skills, so you need to have a game plan to make his skills sought after in the Australian market.

Although in my experience candidates who have worked in the UK have a great work ethic with good hands-on skills with a good cultural fit with Australia, so it's not all bad!

I will forward this on, thank you.

What's everyone's thoughts on Brisbane? What are the nice and reasonable living areas (cost wise)? Also is there much going in there?

When I look online it seems like there's lots of art and museums? We like to be outdoors amongst nature/wildlife, beeches and being close proximity to heritage/steam trains would be brilliant.

Brisbane is nice but to come to Australia for a short time and not live on the beaches... Why come to Australia for an adventure and end up in Brisbane?
I believe Brisbane to be quiet. We are in Sydney and compared to Barcelona where we were posted before it is sooooooooo quiet.
Plenty of bush, bike tracks, but what makes it nice for us is the beach.

Museums here compared to Europe will receive the minors works on loan and exhibitions will be so small.
You don't come to Australia for the Arts or Museum. Opera costs a fortune, we still go once a year with the kids, but pay 1200$ for 5 of us (with kids fee!) . From Barcelona we would fly to Verona with Ryanair and pay the entrance at the Arena for the same price.

Think about what Australia represents in your mind and go for that. Brisbane is a city. Beaches are not far, but they are not close. Would Gold Coast be an option? Very Australian, lots of people riding bikes, surfing, cheap and sunny.

Sydney is expensive, especially on the northern beaches or around water. We are near Manly and enjoy it, but it is very expensive, and I don't think covid has made a big difference in rent in this area.

or go to Barcelona instead!!
I miss it so so much!! Beaches in summer, skiing nearby in winter

That's for your post.

Yes beaches are an important part of it. Maybe if we are successful at securing a role out there, we will look on the outside of Sydney along the coastal areas, to see if we can find a cheaper but still nice area.

Public transport, train and buses are a joke so be careful before considering going further up the coast one way or the other. The new light rail is the worst, so slow, it might get into the Guinness record book.
The train line is better going south than the central coast as it doesn't really cover the Central Coast beaches going north.
On the northern beaches, maybe Dee Why, Narraweena, and possibly Mona Vale, but not sure.

Have a look at this Australian forum, great for both IT and real Estate forums.whirlpool.net.au and forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/154

(The equivalent of MN is called Essential baby but super crap unless you want to talk about soap opera and reality tv. )

Life is sweet for the kids, and being here will give you the opportunity to visit the Pacific region. Kids stay kids for longer and the difference is shocking when we go back to Europe and meet up with their old friends.
It is extremely safe, people are very kind and life for adults is simple.
Consider the distance and cost - which is predicted to double - to go back to Europe and sometimes the loneliness , especially for you.
In the long run, it isn't the beauty of a place that makes you happy, but the people living in that place, and friendships are important for happiness.
Health is good. Public health system doesn't mean everything is cheap, especially not the specialist as Medicare covers a fraction , you will need some sort of private health even if only to cover for ambulance which is not free.
Schools compared to French, Spanish and Italian system in which we were enrolled before here, are very easy and low key. A lot of focus on wellbeing , surfing as school sport. We complement at home.

I live in Brisbane.

The nearest proper beach is an hour away.

It is a wonderful place to live but it is definitely still a regional city - albeit a large one. There are good museums and theatres.

Jobs are the biggest issue here. Breaking the local market with no local experience can be really hard.

Schools are great and private secondary is the norm. I have two in secondary, it costs $52k per year .

Housing is relatively affordable - compared to Sydney & Melbourne.

The weather is absolutely sublime in winter but hideous in summer.