Quoll

Special needs is a whole different ballgame. In that case you will need the whole box and dice - copies of assessments, ieps, therapy assessments and plans, behaviour checklists and adaptive behaviour scores. You were lucky to get a visa with a special needs child. Disability funding (ie support over and above mainstream) is hard to get, just having a label isn’t enough. Most kids who don’t fall into the disability category just sink or swim with whatever the school provides through mainstream funding.

Probably yes as a general rule. There may be multi age groups as well but it all depends on the school, how many kids in each year group etc.

Wouldn’t bother with a handover file, schools like to make their own decisions and she’s only 6 so she won’t have missed anything and you’ll probably find she’s streets ahead in literacy and numeracy anyway. They may pay lip service and ask to see her last report but I wouldn’t sweat it. Nobody gives two hoots if a kid is out of school for a few months if they’re new arrivals. Only reason you might want to enrol her in term 4 is the chance to make friends for playing over the summer holidays - she could get bored with her own company in a new place. Kids start new schools all the time so that isn’t unusual, they don’t need to start at the beginning of the year to fit right in.

If you applied for an offshore contributory visa and arrived as permanent residents then you would be able to access whatever other permanent residents access - waiting times and means testing provided of course but you would get full medicare from date of arrival. Have you thought about applying for an offshore visa and making regular visits while you wait? Might keep more of your options open in the longer run. I'm not sure I would be quite so sanguine about expecting Medicare to cover everything if you are on a bridging visa - stories vary and some folk have found no difference to full medicare but others have so I suspect it may depend on item number they claim it on (elective surgery not covered for example). If you do decide to go for it you'd be better getting good private health cover just in case although that won't pay for things like medications.

I'd agree with Eera, she won't understand the implications of it until it happens and she cant go and visit her nanna or play with her current friends. Kids are remarkably resilient and for the little kids "home" is mummy, daddy, their toys, their room and their pets regardless of which continent it may be on. She may hate you for removing her from something she loves, she may not, you won't know until it's happened. She may settle, she may not, you won't know until you've tried it but the vast majority of kids settle quite well so the best you can do is be in tune if she remains unsettled for a longer time (very rare but it has been known to happen). It really only gets difficult when they are older and there are all sorts of "belonging" issues. Thinking about change of home when I was about that age and I really cant remember a thing about it - cant remember what, if anything, my parents told me, it was a grown up thing and it happened - I was still "home" with mummy and daddy and my bear Billy so all was good with the world.

Some of them do, believe me!!!!

I do see where BF is going with this though - I hardly think it is ethical to string someone along at $150 an hour week after week. If you cant, as a therapist, offer them more than a chance to offload on an expensive weekly basis then you really aren't doing them much good at all. I remember one "teacher" of mine who proudly announced that she had clients coming weekly for years (only $100 an hour back then though) so her bank balance was doing very well, God knows how her clients were faring (she wasnt much chop as a teacher either unless you liked doing mutual foot massages which wasnt my idea of counselling!).

Remember that there is a very fine line between a dream and a nightmare - often dreams are the result of lots of rose tinted glasses and more than a few unreal tv shows (mine was because I was in love with Robert Mitchum and watched the Sundowners at the time - I'm very old!!!). I am all for having an adventure if it is what you want and you are prepared to blow quite a bit of cash in the process and totally agree with the suggestions above - take a career break, rent out your house, suck it and see. If it works you win and if it turns belly up then you can cut your losses and recoup what you have of your current life. Either that or draw a line and think that your life aint broke so you dont need to fix it - enjoy your long holidays, family, familiarity, belonging and get on with it. No easy answers one way or the other really. Good luck!

That's what I used to do with my parents. The NHS service they and my elderly aunt and uncle received was second to none. My dad was in hospital being seen by a urologist within 2 weeks of me phoning to say he had an issue. He had an op about 6 weeks later and Christmas was in the middle of that. At the same time we were back in Canberra where the Canberra times had its front page news that the waiting time to see a (public) urologist in Canberra was 5 years!!!! I guess everyone has a different story! I had to wait 3 weeks to see MY doctor recently (non urgent and I am sure I would have been slotted in to see someone, anyone a lot quicker than that!)

Permanent residence is always better than being on a bridging visa.

It'd be the medical coverage that would be the most concern. As a temporary on a bridging visa they might not receive the same level of care, who knows, but not something you would be wanting to muck about with. So, yes, the 101 gives you more security than the bridging visa

I would have thought that there might be risks with having a child on a tourist visa for the longer term - especially a new born with the potential need to access who knows what medical intervention (or, hopefully, none at all, of course). Apply for the 101 - if it arrives in time you win, if not, maybe you can still travel with the baby on a tourist visa but then leave the country for a quick hop when it is issued. Or, you could delay your departure until the visa is issued. If you need to return for work, say, then perhaps you could go and your wife and child follow along afterwards when the visa is issued

If it's sponsorship in WA then remember to factor in school fees as primary and secondary education is not free for temporary visa holders. It's free in Vic at the moment but for how long - who knows.

Hang in there, it'll all be good in the end and if it is not all good then it is not the end! (Got to love the Marigold Hotel!)

Nope

I am so sorry to hear about your dad, that's one of the really hard things about being a migrant and all the logic in the world can't prepare you for dealing with it. What Marisa said. In spades!!!! The best a psychologist might be able to do for you is to give you coping strategies but if what ails you is exogenous depression then nothing they do is going to remove you from the stimulus which is causing that depression - leaving the country is the only cure. Medication isn't going to help you. Personally, CBT strategies worked the best for me but everyone is different. As one who has learned over more than 4 decades (I went well past the point of no return) that life is often about reframing and accepting the least worst option rather than getting all the bells and whistles - I still get immense "downs" where all I want to do is cry (I let myself do that in the shower and my DH is now in tune with my up and down-Ness according to shower length - it was a bit of a bugger during the drought but it was a coping mechanism and the alternative would be worse!) So I guess it comes down to whether you are prepared to fight for what you want (I wish I had, about 10 years after being here) or whether you are prepared to live with the least worst option. Only you will know how difficult it might be for your family to find work/home/school that you'd be happy with in UK but in the plus side, now is a VERY good time to be moving back - the $ has never been so strong. You might be able to do what I suggest for those questioning a move in the opposite direction - take a career break, rent out your home and suck it and see. We had 9 years in UK until Covid hastened our return and without a doubt they were the best 9 years of my life in a long while even though we were 24/7 caring for a demented mum, an increasingly frail dad and lending a hand with a frail aunt and uncle. But now, even though both my parents are dead I still need to get back for my sanity hits (and see my son and his family) - I had thought their passing would make it easier for me to be here but it hasn't. I do sympathise with the "changing of the goal posts" - that sort of happened to me but I was a bit slow off the mark realising it. At least you have that sussed and can confront it! You need to seriously discuss it with your DH and getting him to engage in counselling - whether it be with your counsellor or with relationships counselling - is a good move and the aim needs to be for you both to come to a compromise situation. With him being happy where he is, surrounded by his family that could be difficult but he needs to understand that you want what he is taking for granted and you've got diddly squat. Your compromise might be that the family budgets for at least you to take the kids home for 4-6 weeks every year (if you work in schools that will be for Christmas which isn't probably that ideal). Or, if you return to UK that he gets to visit his folks or pay for them to visit every year. At the end of the day, though, you may need to come to terms with what is your least worst option - here with him or there without him. Good luck, it's a sh!tty situation to find yourself in and it's made even harder because so many people don't understand what exogenous depression does to your mental health - with all the pragmatism in the world it isn't a matter of "suck it up, you live in paradise".

https://www.abf.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/can-you-bring-it-in/list-of-items

You'd probably have more opportunities in Geelong and it seems like a nice enough place. Some of my inlaws live in Lara and they seem very happy. Their son went to Geelong College and then to Melbourne Uni and he still commutes into Melbourne - the train seems good. None of them are beach bunnies so that side of it would be irrelevant for them. Do be aware, though, that there is a degree of ageism in Australia - getting a job when you are past 50 can be a challenge unless you have a skill set which is in high demand (I know, there will be folk on here who have got jobs after 50 as did my DH and I but that was more a "who you know" kind of deal rather than "what you know" - just be aware that it can be a challenge). The other thing to bear in mind is that you will need to save extra hard with your super for a decent retirement. You're going to have to do in 15-20 years what takes everyone 35-40 years (the pension in Australia is a benefit not a right and is means tested). You've got a couple of years for a taste and try adventure before the education gates sort of close for your kids if you decide that it isn't quite what you had in mind but I tend to agree with Marisa, if you aren't absolutely busting to move and have at least an expensive adventure then dont do it. Good luck with your decision.

Not looking like you have too many options really - if your husband thinks he will enjoy being a plumber he should go for it anyway - meanwhile, move out of London! There are a load of other happy choices within the UK, you're spoiled for choice really.

And, to add what had already been said, on the temporary visa you are liable to pay fees for your kids to be educated in some states. That can knock you back anything from $5k -$12k per child per year.

Good to know!!! Thanks!

So you reckon your new one will arrive in time - well done!!

If you can get an emergency document to travel home, you can get an expedited new one whole you are there. Costs more but only takes a week. https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently/1-week-fast-track-service. Then you will need to get your visa transferred - is the travel component of your visa still current or will you need to apply for a RRV? Getting back into Australia will be the issue if the travel component of your original visa has expired.

Are you an Australian citizen? You can travel on your Australian passport if you are and as long as you don't intend to work or stay more than 6 months good be OK. Otherwise, can you travel to UK on the emergency document them apply for your UK passport while you are there? You might want to delete your phone number, that's a risky thing to have on the Internet.

Tim tams and cherry ripes. Lightfeet predator sports socks from Athletes Foot (standard request from my son). Australian hoodies and our local Aussie made shop has some amazing wild life t shirts. For women/girls, opals go a long way. Chocolate covered macadamias (the daughter in laws perennial request!)