Thinking of taking up an opportunity in Australia; can anyone give me the lowdown?

[wanderingwillow]

Hi, am new to the site and have been directed here by the ladies on AIBU.

I am 25 and DH is 27. We have a 4yo DS. We both joined the Royal Navy at 17, and had DS quite young. We really made our careers count as we were both aircraft engineers. DH completed his civilian accreditation and is licenced, whereas I am not, although I am considering it now.

We trade as a limited company and pull in a good amount on locum/contract work at the moment. There are a lot of options opening up abroad, and a recruitment person rang DH to tell him about a position in Victoria for AUD$125000 a year. I could also find work for around AUD$55000+ depending on the company.

We don't currently have a mortgage (we rent), but have no debt, and around £40k in savings.

I lived in Melbourne for a few years when I was younger (Coburg), but we returned. I've always wanted to go back.

Can anyone let me know about what life is really like? I did a quick online shop in Coles and it came to $195, without alcohol or cleaning products.

Are utilities expensive?

Is the weather as good as I remembered?

Is it easy to make friends/have a good social life, or are you limited to the expat community?

Can DH and I enter the country on a 457 TR Visa, and me look for work when we're there?

What is Medicare?

What do people do wrt cars? How does it all work? Is there tax/insurance? Would I be able to just ring up and get insurance even as an immigrant?

If anyone could help me with just one question, I would be eternally grateful

hiya.

I think if you do a quick search on this topic you will find all your questions answered plus more you haven't thought of. I was only recently reading a fairly long thread on Oz, shouldn't be too far, maybe a couple of pages back.

Good luck with it all, we're hoping to get to Oz in the next couple of years as well

Re 457, yes, at the moment if you're on your partners 457 then you are eligible for full time employment. However (at least from what I read on the news) there's a lot of political pressure at the moment about this type of visa, so who knows what might happen to it....

Not necessarily on the 457. I've been on DH's visa twice - once I could work full-time, the other I was only allowed to work for 17 hours a week.

Utilities are expensive - remember you need air-conditioning in the summer and we sometimes had to run ours overnight to keep temp under 30'. Hot weather is miserable with young kids. We ended up buying a trampoline so I could send the kids in the garden to burn off energy first thing before it got too hot. Park equipment can get too hot to use in Summer. Winter is cold and wet - we were in Adelaide which is quite similar to Melbourne but you can go for weekends in Queensland where its slightly warmer.

Medicare covers basic emergency treatment. You register when you get there. On a 457 visa you also need medical insurance which is quite useful because you get extras such as physiotherapy/ dental/ optical cover.

I found people to be superficially friendly and most of my friends ending up being ex-pats. I found the 'true' Australians basically had their own family and friends whereas other ex-pats make more effort because.

We bought a 2nd hand car when we arrived. Insurance is like the Uk - just phone up with details like back home.

I think on the salary you've mentioned its worth going for a few years just to try something different. My kids don't remember much now but they have a few memories of things and they enjoy knowing that they lived there for a while

Oh brilliant Thankyou, I'll search a bit further!

Wrt Visa's then; can I look for work under the 457 and then apply for my own Visa once I've found work, so I wouldn't essentially be working under DH's Visa?

I think you can. I found BritishExpats and PomsinOz websites good for visa questions.

yetanother can you please explain that? Does it depend on the hours your partner is working? Or something else? I hadn't realised that not all 457s are the same.

I don't know. Both times DH was working the same hours. first time we went on a 1 year contract and I was given a visa which allowed me to work 17 hours. Second time we were going permanently but on a 2 year 457 visa. They asked for my CV and put on my visa that I could work full time. Friends going out at this time (for 1 year) had the 17 hour restriction. I'd applied as spouse both times so didn't have to do the medicals etc.

I don't know the reasoning behind it or whether it was due to our situation where DH was wanted by the state (South Aus) to do a particular job, or if it was due to the difference in length of visa applied for.

There is only one type of 457. Yes you can work as much as you choose on your husbands visa. You can then apply for employer sponsored pr after 2 years.

Medicare is the equivalent to the NHS. On a 457 you are entitled to Any treatment required for the duration of your stay. This isn't only emergency care. You can have a baby and full care that goes with that. You can have a hernia repaired etc... You cannot have a nose job for aesthetic reasons .. But if you break your nose and can't breathe them you get the nose job! Private health insurance is a good idea for extras like dental physio etc as these are not covered by Medicare.. Even with pr. immigration stare you have to ensure you can pay for treatment. Only a very small number of countries are open to reciprocal healthcare and as such insurance is suggested. We came on a 457 and only took private cover out once we got pr. immigration were totally aware of that. And I add perfectly happy! You are even included in the Medicare threshold .. So once you pay a set amount out of your pocket. It becomes much cheaper as the govt subsidise your family. And you are eligible to pharmaceutical benefits scheme.. So medications ( prescribed) are cost reduced. Not a set fee like the uk.. But reduced if included under PBS. Not all medications are included but most are. Often it is scary how expensive stuff is still .. Antibiotics get me anywhere between $13 and $50 depending what type! And that's kids too.
Second hand cars keep there value. They are registered in the state you live in. What is required varies from state to state on top of rego.
Weather.. I live on qld. Sorry but I have never heard of anyone popping up here from the south for weekends! Holidays yes.. It is remember a plane trip. You either get used to the weather and live it or move. We have had no air con in 6 yrs. last year we borrowed one small portable air con unit because I was pregnant and struggled a bit. Doubt we will use it this year. Qld humidity we suck it up. My kids play outside a lot! They do a lot of sport.. Outside summer and winter. We too have a tramp in the garden hand have had to replace it twice through over use. Again. Adapt to the climate or move. Sunscreen, shade cloth, Ice blocks, swimming pool! Winter we have been given a wood burner .. But the room for it to go into has yet to be built! So we pull on a jumper / dressing gown . Down to about 5 degrees here over night on cold nights. Cool 20 degree days ... Feels like about -20.... Being soft now!
125k isn't huge salary. Expensive place to live Australia! But about what we came over on and we now earn much more after cruising the job market from the inside. 125 k is quite do able especially if you do not want to live in the middle of the city. Average Aussie income is about 65 k now. But I have no idea how they live on that! Except for centrelink payments and most families both parents work. No centrelink payments on a 457.

Oh and I have great friends! As does dh and the kids. Can't say people are at more superficial than the uk. My best friend is an Aussie born n breed. She is married to a Brit.. But we met through work not her dh! In my group of friends.. 3 are expats. The rest are Aussies. My kids see themselves as Australian. They know no different.
Like anything if you love it here in aus. You will say so. If you don't you will complain. Wherever you choose to live just be happy! Make it work.. Which is hard work for about 5 years.. Socially .. Financially. With family back overseas.. After about 5 years it seems to come together! That is the case moving to aus or anywhere else it seems! Remember Australia is a different country ... Not little Britain. Adapt and enjoy.
Oh we came over with about 40 k in savings.. I fear it didn't go far! We bought two cars, deposit on house and paid rent up front. Bought stuff for house and child.. And then had another baby so I was on leave.

chloeb2002, its quite common for people living in Adelaide to go to Queensland and Sydney for weekends! Although I had some strange looks when I went to Perth for 3 days to visit relatives, apparently no-one goes on holiday to Perth :)

I definitely had restrictions on my working hours.

Just checked the .immi.au website and rules do seem to have changed to allow unrestricted working for spouses...

Still need to have heath insurance though, we used Medibank (special cover for 457 holders) and they seemed ok.

You also need to check whether you need to pay school fees on a 457 - it depends from state to state.

WanderingWillow would your job be in central Melb? You'd have a combined salary of $180K - check rentals/houses on here for a realistic indication of housing costs. Cost of living is VERY high here - food & bills etc are mad. I spent $36 today on 4 pork chops and 4 chicken breasts for instance.

The weather here is FANTASTIC, I'm in Adelaide and the climate is lovely. Think Mediterranean, everyone says Melb is cooler and wetter but you still get lovely long summers. You get used to the heat too, apart from a few weeks of boiling hot weather in Feb it's fine. We don't really use aircon as we're up in the hills where it's cooler but it's chuffing freezing in the winter so we burn LOADS of wood. As an aside, yetanotherworry, I know no-one who goes to QLD for a warm weekend! I'd bloody love it if I could, it does get cold here in July/Aug.

We bought a car over with us when we moved, I wouldn't do it again though unless you have a really special one, it's expensive and you have to pay through the nose to get it licenced here. Sell your car in the UK and buy one here.

I think Australia is fantastic for kids, I'd def do it at your age.

Oh re the friends thing - I have lots of friends both expat and Australian, but it has taken quite a long time to get a good gang of mates together. I've been here 7 years.

Looked at the immigration obligations for 457 again... It still says its the workers obligation to ensure they have suitable health insurance to meet their health requirements. This is what it said when we asked immigration. A general clause aimed at all nationalities. Only a very small number if countries enjoy reciprocal arrangements.. As such the reciprocal arrangement is better than any private cover.

Apologies if I am unaware of any people who weekend up here! I must mix in the wrong crowds my dh fkys to Sydney for a day and Melbourne for a few for work.. But we don't pay for that!

chloeb, I am aware of someone who had their 457 visa revoked for not having travel insurance but this was just after the rule had been introduced so not sure if its been relaxed now.

Sorry that was meant to say health insurance

Nhs reciprocal cover is fine for UK citizens on a 457, I wrote a cover letter when we applied stating that we would have insurance to cover our arrival and a period of 14/21 days thereafter (can't remember which) and would register for Medicare ASAP on arrival. That was accepted fine.

I have to say, we are existing here in Perth on waaaaaay less than everyone else seems to be struggling on. We don't eat out much, and live relatively quietly, but we're happy and loving it, for the foreseeable future at least..

Ravenous.. That's pretty much what we did.. Contacted immigration asked why do we need it if British citizens. They said you don't. The clause is for counties not covered by reciprocal care. So I wrote a cover letter in application staring we would maintain British citizenship and would hold British passports so we would present these at any ed until we got Medicare cards sent through. We had no issues.

I would try and get ENS instead of a 457 if you can, that was our biggest mistake and I constantly feel like we are a month away from being kicked out, it's very unsettling. Us if you split up on a 457 then the other partner had no right to stay but your child cannot leave without the other parties permission. Obviously you never think that happen to you but we'd been married 9.5 years and it happened to me withing 6 months of being in Oz.
I lived in Melbourne for two years, it's like a better version of the UK of I remember correctly.

Hi joining in here if that's OK. We are in Auckland and have been for 11 years. DH has the opportunity to relocate to Melbourne. It wasn't something we saw coming as he's only been in this job for 3 weeks and it wasn't discussed at interview so we can say no but it is an opportunity which ties in with the possibility of me having no work after the end of August. Visas are not a problem as we all have NZ passports. So if you could chose anywhere to live in Melbourne where would you chose. He will be setting up the Melbourne office so has the option of location. Schooling is important - I have 2 dss 8 and 13. The 13 year old is currently in private school studying Cambridge (not essential just local High School are not good). We love the beach, outdoors stuff, teh boys play rugby. We have a few acres here but I have a phobia of snakes (!) so think urban would be better, good access to shops.... Happy to train to work if not too far and transport good. I would probably be looking for work at a Uni or Hospital????? TIA