emigrating to australia

[liz1969]

i am seriously thinking about emigrating to australia. i am a nurse educated to diploma level and working as a senior charge nurse here in scotland. i am a single parent with 2 teenage children. really want to go but am aware am running out of time due to my age (42).

guess im looking for advice on the best way to go about it, and on the best area to look into. we have a fairly decent life here,but am aware of the high cost of australian life

[laptopdancer]

We have even settled on a townhouse to reduce the cost but can see it would still be $450 a week


Looks like we cant afford to go :(

[items]

curtainmyself/laptopdancer - have no idea why you are paying that much. I own a few investment properties in Brisbane. A 2 bedroom lovely townhouse 20mins from Brisbane central and tenants are paying $340 AUD a week. That is £225 GBP per week even with the terrible exchange rate. I am renting out a 3 bedroom house, same location, for $380 per week.
So if Brisbane central ok but how many of us are in London central instead of 20-30mins out. Whilst i agree with many above, some things expensive, some not, I certainly don't agree with a generalisation that rents are more expensive. Its all about location, travel time and what you are looking for. The same as London.

[laptopdancer]

We need a 3 bedroom...what suburb are you talking items?

[laptopdancer]

iIm not in London btw...Im up north

[HighFibreDiet]

items, I think your tenants are getting a very good deal. We are paying far more for our 4bed apartment in Sydney than we are receiving in rent for our 4 bed house in London. Even when I was still in the UK but looking on realestate.com.au at possible places to rent, it became obvious that rent was going to be a far larger proportion of our outgoings in Australia cf the UK.

I also agree with the comments about clothing and other retail items. Forgetting the exchange rate, I have started using a rough £1=$2 conversion to work out if something is 'good value' or not. Even with this rule of thumb, things can work out more expensive than you would expect. E.g. a hat from Pumpkin Patch for my 6 month old daughter cost $15 but would cost £6 in the UK. I have started to really appreciate hand me downs from Tescos.

And the $4500 for the kids to go to the local school isn't the end of it. You have to pay for stationery, books, gym lessons and any special sports your kids do. That's lessons during school time, not clubs. If you don't pay, your kids just do what's called 'school sports' which seems to be games in the playground.

But I'm not here to gripe. I did my homework before we moved and I definitely didn't expect it to be a cheaper, warmer version of the UK. I did think it would be a place with, overall, a more active, outdoors way of life and a good place to bring up the kids. My 9yo ds1 hasn't settled in very well but the others are doing fine. We are still on my husband's 457 visa and I'm not sure whether we will apply for PR or not but I'm glad we tried it, anyway.

items, just out of interest, where did you get your stats in your older post?

[laptopdancer]

I know Brisbane very very well and have only found lower rents in somewhat dodgy suburbs. Thats the downside of knowing the area well..

[jandymaccomesback]

Can't you claim some of the school expenses against tax? We were visiting friends in NSW when their tax advisor was there and he was asking about equipment they had bought for their child for school to put on the tax return.

[liz1969]

starting to think it may be too expensive a move to make!

[laptopdancer]

I must admit Im a little sad today as we have made the decision that we cant afford to go either.

[liz1969]

i would love it, but have a good job and decent enough life here. might be too big a risk to take. if it didnt work, i wouldnt get the same grade of job on return...nhs is pants just now

[notmychristmasname]

gosh lots of differing information going on here. I am just waiting for our medicals to be cleared and then of to Perth(dont give me any boring shite please)
op, I am in GG&C Trust, band 6 CPN addictions and got a job last year, went down to London for an interview. The company are sponsrring me and I get PR with a moral obligation to stay with them for 2 years.

You do not have to be under 45, but you do need to have an occupation in demand which nursing is. There is lots of info on goverment site about visas for nursing.

I am giving up a great job and if Oz goes tits up I will always get something back in NHS, maybe not what I would want straight away but good nurses get jobs!
If you live within your means you can live anywhere.
Please feel free to pm.

[notmychristmasname]

should have said interview was for nursing job in Perth.

[CheshireDing]

Fact is, Oz is an expensive place to live. The groceries etc are more expensive than the UK, as is the housing. The country has not been affected by the recession like the rest of the world and although Nurses wages are okay they are not amazing and as I mentioned you would be full time and a lot of the Aussies would not.

If you will kick yourself forever for not trying it then you should give it a go but try and retain a house (if you have one) in the UK for now, there are people who want to come back but basically cannot afford to now. Also the longer you leave it potentially the more rubbish the £ to the $ becomes.

If you go to an agency O'Grady Peyton, Healthstaff Recruitment etc it is easy enough for a Nurse to get a job offer and a 457 visa.

[dollydoodledo]

Good lucy with your decision. From a work point of view it could be the best move you ever made, especially considering how senior you are. I have a friend who is a NUM and a friend who is about to start a masters to be a nurse practitioner, both get paid more and better work conditions than they had in UK. You need to get national registration from AHPRA (ahpra.com.au) and can contact hospitals you are interested in to see if they will sponsor you.

I am in Sydney, very expensive, $650 for 2 bed flat, 3 kids, not exactly a dream for family life, but no regrets. Sydney is very expensive, we were comfortable in Norway, but really struggle here, partly due to bonus baby though.

I have little kids so different worries like expensive childcare, but teen present different issues, such a schooling, on a 457 visa you pay for public (state) school, but most people here talk about private high school, expensive and on lists from when little. Also thinking ahead about university is a factor. Also if they made need braces etc etc, can be very expensive.

Also if you have family and a good network of friends, it is hard to start from scratch in a new country.

We will go back (my issue is UK or Norway) as it is so far away. Very expensive, yes, paradise, no, but an amazing life experience however it pans out :)

[laptopdancer]

Im wondering what Queensland Health is like now compared to the nhs right now. Im a band 8 in the nhs and looking for a hp6 but Im not impressed with how much leave is available so far.

[laptopdancer]

That is (if we dont give up)

[trafficwarden]

We did this in 2004 but left in 2007 so I can't help with current cost of living expenses. We rent out our house for what seems an incredibly high amount - I wouldn't pay it myself! We now seem to be serial expats so beware of wanderlust.
Your qualifications are fine. I'm a Midwife and in my experience, and that of friends who have moved recently, you would be snapped up regardless of not having a degree. Brisbane is crying out for nurses and midwives. Yes, the APHRA process is tedious but for someone who is used to form filling (as I'm sure you are!) it is not onerous. Professionally you are probably way ahead.......
Ex-colleagues who have teenagers say the initial months can be stressful but the advantages outweigh the negatives.
We enjoyed our time there and will probably go back but not for ever. It is a BIG decision to move so far away from family/friends. We didn't get homesick but became very aware of how isolated Australia is and how very far away from the rest of the world. That's despite being there 3 times before we emigrated and having the advice of friends who still live in Perth and Sydney. We also had the advantage of permanent residency and now have Australian passports.
You need to get on to the sites previously mentioned and do a huge amount of research. Having the support of your family/friends also helps.
Good luck with your planning!

[laptopdancer]

oops I meant hp 5 (6 I wish!)

[liz1969]

would seem the opinion is 50/50 on the pros and cons? notmychristmasname its nhs gg&c im with too. we have probably met! lol

[lulalullabye]

Depending on where you live, annual leave is not as important, ie with a beach down the road and guaranteed sun in summer it kind of makes it easier with lesser days iykwim.

[giggly]

changed back from my christmas name. I am in Clydebank, if we've met you'll know all about my Australia plans

[giggly]

I also meant to say I got loads of advice and contacts from chloeb, however when I was loking for work Queensland were not recruiting from overseas only intersate. My visa gives me PR which measn I can change jobs and not have to continue to wrk f/t.

[giggly]

excuse spelling

[migrant]

I left London 15 years ago and have been in Perth ever since. I now live in "the good part of town" in a 5 bed house with pool, tucked between the golf course and the ocean. Similar properties rent for $450 a week, some for less. My children attend a quality private school for which I pay less than childcare.

Over the years we've been friends with several other uk migrants and a clear pattern emerges. The ones who sold up in the uk and came here determined to succeed, generally did just that. The ones who kept a house back home "just in case" generally didn't settle and found the whole thing just too hard. You need to be committed. If you keep converting every purchase into pounds you will just send yourself crazy. You're not on holiday, you're earning in dollars so why worry if it's cheaper in the uk?

When I needed an emergency trip back the airline had 3 seats ready for me within 4 hours. It's not that far now and Skype is almost free!

For us Australia has been amazing. The opportunities which my children take for granted just wouldn't have been available in the uk. I tend to look at what day to day life is here compared to my life in London. Yes, I still go to work, pay the bills and clean up after wretched teens. But here I drive to work alongside the white sands and blue ocean. Here it Will be sunny at the weekend so I can plan a BBQ by the pool. Tonight I will swim in our pool after work and the pace of life is so much less stressful. People are very inviting to new migrants and the lifestyle is great.

[Feminine]

Thats a lovely post migrant

You made some good positive points.

Would you ever consider going back to the UK?