Marisawright

Unlikely as the 457 no longer exists. The 482 is the new version of it. It is difficult to know what will happen with temp visas though. The unemployment rate has shot up thanks to the coronavirus, and the government has flagged an 80% reduction in migration for 2020/21. If unemployment is bad, then I can see the government putting a lot of pressure on companies to make do with less-qualified locals rather than bring in the best foreign workers - which is probably short-sighted but governments think politically not logically.

Those are the outer Eastern suburbs. If you're currently living in London, you probably wouldn't find them expensive. Otherwise, you might be shocked. There are cheap houses in Coogee and Maroubra but they are usually cockroach-infested. Little Bay has a lot of new development - it used to be looked down on, because it was industrial and a bit too close to the jail. Nice, but a difficult commute because there's not much in the way of public transport. My employer used to have a warehouse out that way and I used to get stuck in dreadful traffic trying to get there.

I think the actual wording is another substantive visa

DOHA is right. You must meet the conditions of your visa, and that means you must stay for 2 years. HOWEVER, your employer must honour your contract, including paying you the salary they promised and giving you annual leave, sick leave etc. They are acting illegally if they don't do so.

They are lying to you. Did you sign the letter of offer? If you did, it is a contract. The employer can't change his mind now. You are permanent full-time and you are entitled to annual leave.

Did you pay the agent? If so, you are entitled to ask them to give you a copy of the employment contract. There MUST be an employment contract in the documents and it MUST be for permanent, full-time employment. The employer can't change that after you've got the visa.

That's impossible. How did you get a 187 visa if you didn't have a contract to show Immigration?

Sydney is the most expensive city for housing in Australia by a long shot. Melbourne is next - prices are around two-thirds of Sydney. Brisbane comes third, followed by Adelaide, Perth and Hobart. I'm assuming the vacancies would be in one of those cities. I live in Melbourne and love it, but most Australians think the weather is too cold and unpredictable. It's certainly not the typical Aussie sun-and-sand lifestyle. Neither is Hobart. Like Sydney, Brisbane gets hot and sticky in summer. However, you're more likely to afford a spacious home with good air conditioning and ventilation. A lot of housing stock in Sydney is not built for the climate, and even six years ago when we were renting, a lot of places we looked at didn't have air con. Perth is a nice city but the downside, if you're here for a short time and want to explore the country, is that you've got an expensive three- or four-hour flight every time you want to visit any of the other states. Steam trains around the country: https://www.brisbanekids.com.au/brisbane-for-train-loving-brisbane-kids/ https://www.weekendnotes.com/best-steam-train-rides-melbourne-victoria/ http://www.steamrangerheritagerailway.org/

Well, no they wouldn't, because they wouldn't be allowed to work on a 12 month tourist visa. It's not unusual to get a 3 month tourist visa after a WHV - I've known a few people do it, because they ended up working too much during the WHV and they want some extra time to visit the places they missed. I think your problem would arise if you developed a pattern of frequently and repeatedly getting visas.

Why can't you move now? You hold PR, which means you don't even need to apply for permission. Just book a flight and come. You'll need to do two weeks quarantine when you arrive, but that's all arranged automatically, you don't even have to book that either. It's a good time to make the move, because there are more rental properties available than usual. I have heard of that method of building evidence for a RRV. The problem is, of course, that you won't be able to work while you're on the ETA, so you'll need to budget several months unpaid. Whereas if you move before August, you may take a little while to find work due to Covid, but at least you've got the option to work. Applying for the tourist visa won't affect your PR.

Definitely, if you're able to get a Working Holiday Visa, go for that first. It's relatively easy and quick, and lets you come and go freely for a full year. You say you don't need to work, but if you were able to do the short period of regional work required, you could get a second full year. After that, you'd be reliant on tourist visas. The difficulty you might face with the tourist visas is that if you're returning multiple times each year and applying for them year after year, Immigration will eventually you're trying to settle in Australia by an underhand route, and you'll eventually get refused.

It includes the kind of things I listed in my previous post. A figure of 30K is often quoted as the cost for the initial move, and of course, you have to budget to move back again as well.

I would not worry at all about your son. He'll be at the perfect age to adapt, both moving to Australia and moving back. I'd say the finances will be the deciding factor. Do the budget and work out what it's going to cost (I forgot to mention the agent's fee and the visa application fees BTW). At a guess, you're probably looking at around £60,000 all up. If you don't go to Australia, what could you do with that money? Would that be a better choice? You might feel it's worth it - after all, it's your last chance now, because once he's older, it'll be far more difficult to do overseas contracts. My question would be, is Australia really that important to you? Or are you just feeling the need for some kind of adventure while you still can? It's a not-unusual feeling that happens to young parents...and maybe you could find an easier way to have some adventures. A thought - there are so many people eager to migrate to Australia, employers don't have to offer enticements to recruit foreign workers. It might pay to see if there are other international opportunities, with more generous relocation and salary packages, which would mean you don't have to be thousands of pounds out of pocket to have your adventure.

Very few women are a SAHM in Sydney because of the high cost of housing (double the cost of most other cities in Australia). Most people find they need a double income to be comfortable..

I believe hairdresser is about to be removed from the list, but not sure when. However, you are not obliged to work in the occupation once you've got the visa - you can do any job you like.

@vixk1, I'm afraid we're getting way off topic! The fact is that for every person who can't tolerate the heat and humidity, there's someone else who laps it up. It's a personal thing and depends on your own physiology. Consider how you feel on hot days when you go to Spain or Italy in summer. Have you ever gone on holidays somewhere hot and sticky, and how would you feel if you had to go to work in that heat, or cart shopping bags? Maybe you'd hate it, or maybe you'd be fine - only you know. To get back to the point - we're talking about the pros and cons of the move, but are you sure you are eligible for a visa? That's the first thing to work out. Employers can't hire just anyone. The occupation has to be on the "skilled list", and the employee must have the qualifications AND experience specified on that list - otherwise, no go. So if you haven't looked into that yet, that is your first step. The visa you are interested in is a 482 visa. The easiest way is to see a migration agent. All the reputable ones will give you an initial consultation free of charge (if they want to charge you, find someone else!).

When? Where? I can just about imagine that happening in the south of England on a few rare occasions during some summers. I remember having to suppress a smile when people in Southampton moaned about not being able to sleep because it was so "humid". They had no idea what a sticky Sydney night could be like.

I may be wrong, but I thought that on a temporary contract, the employer is obliged to provide you with flights home at the end of the contract. Personally, I would not contemplate moving unless they were offering flights in both directions plus a reasonable contribution towards shipping. The costs are just too high to go it alone. People do it, but that's because they're using the temp contract as a stepping-stone to a permanent visa, so they see it as an investment. I suggest you sit down and draw up a budget for the move - and don't forget to include the return journey. Your total figure is what your advenure is going to cost you, because you'll never get that money back - and only you can decide whether it's worth it. Don't count on being better off financially while you're in Australia, because that's unlikely if you're living in Sydney. What to include in your budget - air fares, buying a car, insurances, holiday accommodation for four weeks while you search for a long-term rental, and shipping your belongings - or the cost of buying a whole new houseful if you don't ship. A good exercise is to pretend you've arrived, and do a "trial shop" at an online store like https://www.harveynorman.com.au/ for furniture, whitegoods, pots and pans, bedlinen, etc etc. It's very rare to get a furnished rental in Australia so you'll need to either buy or ship everything except the cooker. When you leave, you'll have to sell it all again or give it away - or ship it back, which is another cost. If you own your own home currently, the sensible thing is to keep it and rent it out while you're away. That may be another cost to consider - will you need to do anything to prepare the home for tenants? Will the rent cover your mortgage? Remember that you'll also be paying rent in Australia, which will be expensive if you're in Sydney (look at realestate.com.au to check prices).

I'm not sure it's worth getting professional advice as it's not a lot of money. On balance, I think it's worth paying contributions for the UK pension for two reasons. One, the UK pension is not means tested, so you'll start receiving it as soon as you reach the eligible age - and of course, it continues until you die. If you look at how little you''re paying for stamps each year, that's a pretty good deal. Two, if you have a decent superannuation balance, you may not get much if any Australian pension for years after you reach eligible age - so you won't need to worry about the UK pension affecting it anyway. Even once you do start getting the Australian pension, it's not a dollar-for-dollar adjustment. So your Australian pension is reduced because you're getting the British pension, but not by the whole amount. So you'll still be ahead.

I feel like you're focussing your worries on your child, when in fact he'll be absolutely fine. I'd say your biggest concern is how you'll cope being separated from family for that length of time. It doesn't sound too bad when you say "it's only 4 years" but if you're lonely, that can feel like an absolute eternity. I lived in Sydney for 30 years and although I will always think of it as "home", it can also be quite difficult to make connections. I think it's a pretty normal thing in most big cities around the world - the bigger the city, the more people keep to themselves. I've made more friends in Melbourne in 4 years than I ever did in Sydney! You maynot have a choice of city, depending on what you and your husband do for a living, but personally I'd be looking at one of the other cities if possible - or even better, one of the regional centres, where you have a better chance of having the dream Australian beachside experience (and people are much friendlier).

You look on Seek.com.au and network on Linkedin, and apply for jobs.

Many Brits move to Australia because they love hot weather, so you'll find plenty of people on these forums who'll say, "no, of course it's not too hot to go outside, it's gorgeous!" But it is a very individual thing. I'm one of those who finds summer in Sydney intolerable - not so much because of the heat, as the humidity. I've been to Adelaide (which has a dry heat) and happily gone shopping in 40 degrees C - but put me in Sydney at 28 degrees and I'm a moist, helpless puddle. If you're rich enough to live in a beach suburb (as I did for the first 20 years I lived there), you get cooling breezes that make all the difference. Unfortunately I got to the point where I couldn't afford it, which meant moving further inland - and the further from the coast you go, the more humid it gets. That meant I was pretty uncomfortable in Sydney from late December through to the end of March. But like I say, it's a very individual thing - only you know how you feel on a hot, sticky day. Schools have shade cloths over the playgrounds and the children wear hats. They're not so much worried about the heat (which kids cope with), as the sun. As you probably know, Australian adults have a very high rate of skin cancer, and it's exposure in early childhood that causes it, so primary schools are very careful to keep children in the shade. If you look up the World Health Organization website, you'll find guidance on what precautions to take at different levels. The UV never gets much above 8 in the UK, but in Sydney, it's 11 to 14 for much of the year.

As Quoll says, Australia has very few HE colleges. Most schools cover years 7 to 12, so that's what you'll be teaching. The bigger question is whether you can get a visa. Immigration is inflexible - if the requirements says you need two years experience and you've only got one, there's no point in applying. The easiest way to find out is to have a consultation with a migration agent (make sure they're MARA registered). All the reputable agencies (there are a few shonky ones out there) will give you a free initial consult.

This: https://www.ag.gov.au/legal-system/statutory-declarations/complete-statutory-declaration#ask

The fact that she's married to an Australian citizen counts as a substantial tie, so you had that advantage over the OP.