Hello Everybody !! Excited to start our journey & a bit worried........

[CharlottesWeb]

Hi Everybody

 

This is my first post We are at the very very start of our journey and I just wanted to introduce ourselves and say hello...

 

We are a family of 4 myself, hubby and our 2 girls aged 3 years and 9 months, I am a travel agent and hubby is a maintenance engineer we are looking to move to Australia and have so far contacted a migration agent ( visa bureau ) and they have advised husband to get Skilled independent visa 189 but was a bit daunted by the extra cost of this compared to doing it ourselves (are they really worth the extra money ??) and hubby has booked in to do his IELTS for those extra points . Also we have started looking at the different suburbs in Adelaide to see where may be a good base to start.

 

We will not have any friends or family in Australia so looking to make friends and meet people in similar circumstances to us, I have travelled around Australia in my teenage years but my husband has never been, he thinks it will be a better life for us and the children it was his Idea to migrate. ( I am more nervous because we wont know anybody im just hoping our family will visit !! )

 

We love the look of Adelaide, Climate, Affordability, Greenery it looks like the perfect place to raise our family it just looks beautiful ! the only thing the really worries me is the job prospects, as somebody here quite rightly said there's no point moving to a beautiful country if you cant afford to live!!!

 

 

Im open to all advice on our journey, and also peoples experiences good and bad to help us decide if Adelaide really is the right area for us aim for.

 

 

Sorry got a bit excited with the smileys !! Thanks for reading ! Charlotte

[NicF]

Welcome to the forum. Just so you are aware your first few posts will need to be approved by a moderator before they appear.

 

There's lots of info on the forum about the good and bad of Adelaide. Maybe have a bit of a surf and a read and see if helps clarify things in your head. If I get time later I'll try and remember to come back and post a bit more.

[Becks22]

Hi! I am part way through the process, and using visa bureau! I've found them really helpful. I had done a lot, and I mean a lot, of research before starting the process, but we decided to sign up rather than risk fluffing it up and needing to do it all again. They have been fantastic, and really helpful and quick to get back with answers to all my silly questions. Undoubtedly, it is a lot more cost than doing it alone. Both me and hubby have been working full time with a 2 and 5 year old so for us its been money well spent as its been far less stressful than doing it alone. Its perfectly possible to do it without an agent, but in my view it depends whether you have the time and energy to commit to doing it yourself. We decided we didn't, but plenty of others have gone it alone and been just fine. I really do rate visa bureau though so if you do use an agent, in my experience they have been fab! Good luck with it all, its very exciting! :jiggy:We are also leaving all our family behind, very daunting but like you, we feel its the best option for our future. We wnt out last March and I had a tour round a local hospital. They genuinely told me that the family life of their employees becomes before work, so they were very supportive of flexi working etc to ensure lots of time is spent as a family. The NHS don't treat me like that! I too am loving the smileys!

Edited December 7, 2015 by Becks22
Spelling!

[CharlottesWeb]

Hi Becks, thank you for your reply its lovely to hear from somebody in the same boat as us that can relate, feel free to contact me or private message at any time. How are you and your husband feeling about the current jobs climate at the moment ? Do you have jobs lined up or are are you going to start searching once you get to Australia ? That is the only thing that is worrying us really. Regarding visa bureau they have been really great so far I think I am going to start to try and get the ball rolling myself and if we get stuck with anything we will use there services I have no complaints so far it was just the extra cost really Charlotte

[snifter]

Most people migrate without jobs lined up. Some do have jobs to come to but for most its that big leap into the unknown.

 

It can take a fair while to find work so ensure you research well into living costs and have a budget to cover say 3-6 months. And be prepared to live cheaply to start off with till work is found. It could be you arrive and land a job within weeks, it could take months.

[KennyKen]

I've been here two years. I also went through the visa bureau. Laura ismay was my agent and she was fantastic. This is my opinion and don't let it sway you. Me and my family will be moving state next year. There's nothing going on in adelaide for my occupation. I'm currently working in WA. Which means a lot of time away from family. I feel adelaide is very insular upon travelling to the eastern states I felt a totally different vibe. The house price are not too expensive compared either. It's different circumstances for different people. I won't really miss anything or anyone I've meet here. To be honest. I'm looking forward to progression. That's my two pennies worth.

[Bal67]

Hi Charlotte,

 

Firstly good luck with everything, you've been to Australia before which is great, we had not before we started visa process in 2012 which now feels a lifetime away, it was my decision to emigrate always had a fascination for Australia and have not been disappointed, after 2 long years of the process using a migration agent well worth every penny could not have done it without them, we arrived in adelaide with a 17 and 13 year old difficult ages to to move to other side of the world!!! We also did not know anyone here but had been to Perth where we had friends and had loved it there, but hubby's job came off skills list and did not come back on and was high in SA, so decided to try here and totally love it here, my hubby and 13 year old son have never ever had a days homesickness, my 17 year old daughter was heartbroken at leaving her bf at the time behind which really upset me and my first month here but once she got over that she has not looked back and would not go back to UK now if you paid her!!!!

 

We started off in Somerton Park a beautiful place to live but broke lease after 5 months after buying our first home, hubby went job hunting soon after we had arrived in April 2014, it was Easter so we had a 2 week holiday first, drove to Melbourne to collect our 2 dogs then on a Wednesday after doing his white card training for building site management and by the Friday night had 5 jobs offers!!!

 

i started job hunting once the kids had settled into school and did some temping work until I found a job I really liked which was 3 months in, both kids got part time jobs too and study, we bought our dogs over with us which also helped us settle, there is a fb page you can join before you get here where you meet people, we have made so many friends here and our social life is better here than it was in UK, weather is so accurate you can actually plan to do a lot more here and I find it's easier and cheaper too as you can have a BBQ on beach with friends and take your own food and drinks which keeps costs down.

 

it has been best thing we have ever done, please feel free to pm me for more information of if we can help at all. I also see you are from derby not too far from Birmingham where we used to live. Lol.

 

Whereabouts are you looking to settle?

 

Living the Dream, Bal xxx

[CharlottesWeb]

Thank you everyone for the response, its good to hear both sides positive and negative aspects of Adelaide as I know we need to be realistic with our expectations, I have spoken to my husband and agreed we need to budget for 3-6 months of looking for work. We don't mind settling in other areas of Australia although don't really want to go too far north because the climate will be too tropical I think for us to handle ! My husband is a maintenance engineer ( fixes machinery currently x ray machines) I am a travel agent but I don't mind any kind of admin or sales roles. Thank you for your story @Bal67 I hope I can say the same thing as you one day that it was the best thing we've ever done! As its very nerve wracking at the moment, yes not too far from Birmingham were right in the middle of Nottingham and Derby now very busy and crowded constant traffic jams ! That's some of what we want to get away from and have more space and outdoor lifestyle for the children there only small still so hopefully won't kick up too much fuss about the move ! Charlotte Xx

[Bal67]

You will Charlotte say the same one day. Good luck hun xx

[Becks22]

Hi sorry, been a busy week! We don't have jobs lined up yet, but I'm a highly experienced mental health nurse and when we went out there last March I was advised that I would have no problem as they have lost a lot of experienced nurses due to retirement and that the aussies don't like to progress much as they are very much used to the work to live lifestyle. I should hopefully have a job before we go, but need to wait for my registration eligibility to come through first. It's such a beautiful place that if we had to wait a bit to start work, I think we would survive! Feel free to keep in touch too! My friend who is out there and married to an aussie said its one of the big things that has made her settle so well!