Quoll

Sorry, a lot of our readers have “the dream” because they’ve grown up watching Home and Away or Wanted Down Under and think that is what Australia is all about. In essence, they’re both first world countries with all the pluses and minuses that brings with it. Neither is inherently better than the other and moving to a foreign country on the other side of the world requires not “a dream” but a sense of adventure, a considerable dose of self reliance and well over the average selfishness (not meant in a pejorative sense, rather a survival sense) along with a willingness to take risks and not get hung up if it doesn’t work. If someone isn’t 100% committed and 110% raring to go, then it’s likely to flounder. oh, and please don’t start watching H&A, it’ll sap your brain!

Yup, this, in a nutshell! Even the strongest of marriages can founder when one loathes what the other loves! We have seen on here though the odd occasion where the dream turns into a nightmare for the instigator when the other partner thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread and so won’t let their partner move on with their kids to U.K. but keep them trapped in a place they come to loathe with the shackles of The Hague Convention. One man’s dream is another man’s nightmare! I always shudder when the “it’s been my dream to ...” is produced as the reason for a move (too much WDU & H&A will do that to you lol)

But remember, schools are more than their ranking and Aussies generally don't get too hung up on rankings.Vce rankings

Schools very much reflect the suburbs they are located in so if you look around at where there are vacancies to be rented and look at the neighbourhood, and cannot see yourself living with "those" neighbours then you're not going to much want to send your kids to the local school. Choose the place you want to live in because you can afford it, there are rentals available, it's not too onerous a commute, the other facilities you expect from a neighbourhood are there and the neighbours don't appear too noxious. If you do that, the schools will fall into place. Bear in mind that a good number of secondary kids especially don't go to state schools, they go private and there's a roughly parallel Catholic sector and quite a wide range of other private options although the best - like Melbourne Grammar, Scotch, Geelong Grammar etc usually have waiting lists miles long and cost an arm and several legs in fees. Don't sweat it, basically.

You can’t just take your mother in law. There are balance of family tests and all sorts and you have to be settled yourself for a couple of years. She may not be eligible to emigrate.

International Baccalaureate - universal qualifications recognised across the world. https://www.goodschools.com.au/start-here/at-school-and-beyond/international-baccalaureate/south-australia

Get UK passport Book plane ticket Pack bag Go. Of course there are other niggling things and you may want to think of renting out your home if you own one, putting bigger stuff in storage until you see if you like what the UK has to offer, try and get a career break if you are still working (firm believer in belt and braces here). When you get to UK you'll need to apply for a NI number although you might have got one at birth then Bob's your uncle, sort out where you want to live and go for it. Good luck!

As Sammy had said, she won't be going back a year. She will be moving into a new system in a new country and will have lots of catching up to do anyway with different approaches to teaching and learning, new social experiences and cultural differences. She's over the cut off point in all states (the latest state is NSW where cut off is 31 July but kids with birthdays from March/April onwards are encouraged to delay entry until the following year). Schools can see the problems that kids who are younger than their cohort have when going through school. Maybe not so obvious at 7 but definitely the maturity helps in the senior years. Don't push it, just go with the flow and don't tell her she is going back a year just tell hey its a foreign country with a completely different system.

Why would you expect your your parents trek across the world in their old age to follow you, when you may up and move again, who knows. It's not always a good move for older folk to leave their lives behind, shell out a fortune for a visa, be financially constrained in a foreign country (frozen pensions, not as many benefits) and maybe not actually enjoy living in a foreign country (a lot of older people really feel the pull of "home" as they near their end). Before you leave you can help them get settled in supported accommodation perhaps so that you and they know they will be cared for, their friends will still be around and you might help them with the development of a network of friends and more distant relatives. You'll take the grandkids away from them and they are going to go through the grieving process for that so there is no telling whether they will be rational or not. But don't expect them to visit constantly - why should they spend a fortune and be uncomfortable for hours on end on flights just because you decided to leave? Some parents do, I acknowledge but the generic "if they want to see the grandkids they have to come here" is rather cruel imho (we see it all the time). You can build in return trips I am sure. You can send the kids back for holidays as UMs if you can't all afford to go. Personally I hate Skype as a grand parenting tool - in lots of ways I would much rather out of sight out of mind (much less painful) but your parents might enjoy their contact with the kids that way, I do it for the kids but I defy anyone to get a cuddle over Skype you could get the simplest of systems set up for them, they may or may not use it. I am elderly but still quite happy to do the 24 hour flight thing, I've been doing it for nearly half a century so I am used to it, others not so much. Bottom line though, it's your life, you do what you want with it and get on with it. If you hurt people on the journey you'll just have to suck it up and get on with it - you've got to be selfish and self sufficient to be a good migrant. Edited to say I should have said what we did - we lived our lives in Australia until the point where both my husband and I took one look at my ageing and increasingly frail parents and both said (although he was the one with the most to lose!) "We cant leave them alone here like this" so we just didn't go back to Australia after one holiday. It's worked out well - I happen to love living in England and, now, so does my DH. We cared for mum until her death 2 years ago and we still provide 24/7 care for my dad. My conscience is clear. I could not have left them alone although I suspect they would have both popped their clogs much earlier had we deserted them. We provide too good care and it is onerous - there are days when even I would get on a plane to Aus and never look back but we dont. We will return when dad dies, that's the agreement I have made with the DH who has been the most amazing and wonderful husband I could ever have wished for. As it happens, one of our sons came to UK on holiday for a year in 2002 and is now happily married with a young lad, a good career and a home of his own in London. He won't be going back and openly says, that there is nothing in Aus for him - so I see a future and a fortune spent on international flights as long as I am able.

Wait until you've decided you like it in Australia because should you decide you want to return to UK your pension can't return with you - should it come to that. Wouldn't be rushing into it.

She would be in year 3 this year, year 4 2020 Keep her with her age peers and forget the year level names. None of the states take kindly to year jumping and she won't be "kept back" "repeating" or any of those other negative terms, she will be moving to a foreign country with its own education systems and moving through with her age peers she hasn't done it before, nothing to get hung up about just go with the flow.

They may also be expected to be repatriated should they get really sick and the reciprocal care doesn't cover them or they fail the medical if they're still around when it comes - and Medicare doesn't cover everything. Why do they not get a CPV and meanwhile visit occasionally so that they arrive permanently in security.

No guarantee you would be let back in one your ILR has expired after 2 years. It's a relatively painless process and you never know when it might come in handy. Cheaper than getting your DH an Australian visa!

Don't think so. Never been mentioned on here and I think folk would happily pay an extra few thousand to speed up their application. While you wait though, you could get your UK citizenship if you haven't already got it / you never know when you might need it.

I'd be worried too about the cost of travel insurance given a pre-existing condition - that might be out of reach and reciprocal Medicare might not cover every eventuality. I hadn't thought about the loss of benefits from being out of the country so long but that, and a changed status with the NHS for a long absence, could be an issue.

Unlikely. Even if his skills met the need, the fact that he is getting disability benefits pretty much rules him out as he would cost the Australian tax payer too much. You could run it past one of the agents who specialize in medical conditions but on the face of it I'd say his chances are close to zero

I assume you're not in UK so I can't help you with where to go for paediatric psychological assessments but if you talk to her therapist (I assume she is already undergoing some firm of early intervention) and ask what assessments they can do and also ask for recommendations for developmental psychologists who can do cognitive assessments. Edited to say / are you in Australia already? There are plenty of services you can access if you are. Your daughter should already be known to Early Intervention services. We cannot reiterate enough the need for you to talk to one of the agents who specialise in medical conditions. Sadly the glib positive assertions of people whose kids have made it through the medical process are not likely to be of much use to you, all cases are different

Get a full cognitive/speech assessment. Nobody can tell you what they may decide until she has been assessed. It’s unlikely they would be interested in any assertion that you would cover all her costs because circumstances change and you could end up not being able to fund all the interventions required or may just change your mind. Once a kid hits pre-school age with eligibility for special ed programs - and early intervention is often key to better prognosis - they are going to cost the tax payer a lot of money and visa refusals should be expected. It’s always wise to talk to one of the agents who specialise in medical conditions - every case is different.

He is in clover then with citizenship. If he can get a U.K. apprenticeship then he might be better to get that under his belt then move as a qualified sparky rather than hoping to continue in Aus. He’d just have to do the state licences once he’s qualified and would be in a much better position to get work.

Will he be working in UK when you apply for your visa? If so, he may not be considered dependent upon you. Will he be more than 17 having left school in UK? Will he have A levels or equivalent? School leaving age in Australia is 17 so he would have to be in full time education to that point if he is under 17. If he has A levels he will have what they call a year 12 equivalent which is basically what he will need for any further study in Australia and to be an electrician he will certainly need further study! Probably in TAFE or, if he is very lucky, an apprenticeship (depending on your visa there, might not be an option). Getting work as an unskilled young person in Australia is not easy and youth unemployment levels are quite high (astronomical almost) in some areas so it rather depends on where you will be living. Almost all young Aussies are encouraged to leave school with a Year 12 equivalent score these days and if they dont then employers aren't that interested really.

Actually in all states dependents on a student visa have to pay school fees. In some states that’s less than the full international student rate but still a significant amount and no benefits towards child care if children are under school age and the other parent needs care so they can do their 20hpw. Surviving as a student has been discussed here recently - bad enough as a single person unless very well heeled. For a family, lunacy unless even wealthier.

Highly likely that a primary teacher won't get you a visa either and even if you did, you'd be lucky to get a job with thousands of young unemployed Aussie teachers all wanting the positions in places that people actually want to live. I'd agree with Stormy, work at what makes your soul thrill and if in the future it is on the skills list then so be it but otherwise live your life doing what you want to do and dont chase unicorns just because you think there may be a visa at the end of it.

View it as an adventure. If it works you win but if it doesn’t then you move on. Simples. Don’t set yourself up with the expectation that it has to work, that’s too stressful.

Visa status, vaccination record, proof of address, date of birth, that’s about it. If there is a disability of some kind then bring every report ever written but otherwise don’t bother. Transfer of information across state lines is pathetic so the assumption is that they will make their own assessments for the most part.

If you can’t imagine not being near your parents when you have kids then go home. If your mum has a disability then even visiting you for a short period is going to cost her a lot of money with travel insurance just for starters. There’s nothing wrong with either place, it’s not like you’re tossing up between one first world country and a third world hell hole. Neither is inherently better than the other. As the others have said, don’t even think if having a child with an Aussie partner because then the chances of you leaving if you want to are reduced to zero if there is any dispute between you (read up in The Hague Convention). To raise kids in isolation on the other side of the world requires a good deal of self reliance and a healthy dose of selfishness. Is it easy? Sure, as long as you don’t need the support of other people other than your own little family unit. Edited to say - well beyond the age of having kids but parents needing support - yup, we just didn’t return to Australia after one holiday when it was obvious to blind Freddie that my olds weren’t going to make it on their own. Only child, no alternative!