Marisawright

I know it must be difficult, but try to see it from their point of view. You have children, how would you feel if tomorrow, they announced they've decided not to go to Australia with you - they're staying with the grandparents? I know you'll say, "but my children are only small, of course I'd be devastated to be separated from them". But consider - it doesn't matter whether they leave you at ten years old, or twenty, or forty. As a mother, you're still going to feel the same pain of loss. That's what you're putting your parents through. As Tulip1 says, it's a fact of life that children grow up and leave home, so most parents will try to button up and at least pretend to be happy. However they are only human, after all. And they may not understand why you need to go back to Australia, if it looks as though you've made a good life in the UK. It must look as if you love Australia more than you love them.

Why would you think that? The person who started this thread is the spouse of a citizen but they don't have a partner visa, that's why they need to apply.

I don't know, but the point is that you WILL need the experience to get the visa, so there will be no point in taking the skills assessment until you've got the experience. If you haven't already, I would strongly suggest you see a good migration agent to get a professional opinion on your strategy. I seem to recall you got scammed before so you may be wary of agents, but there are some reputable ones on this site like @paulhand. Upskilling is always a risky business, because it's going to take you a few years to get the qualifications and experience, and there's always the chance the occupation won't be on the list by the time you're ready to apply. For instance, learning a trade has always been a good bet for getting a visa, but this year they're taking glaziers and tilers and some mechanics off the list. So it's important to choose something you'll be happy to do long-term in the UK if the Australian dream doesn't work out.

Not often I agree with you, Home and Happy, but in this case I do. One of the big problems is that once you've left a country, the longer you're away, the more you forget the bad memories, and the rosier the good memories become. So people start thinking of all the things they miss, and forget that they must have been pretty b***dy miserable to uproot their family and move back to the UK, especially considering how much money and effort probably went into moving to Australia in the first place. Ping ponging is fine for people with high-paying jobs or plenty savings, but otherwise it needs very careful thought indeed.

Rubbish. You always have the option to renounce citizenship if you really don't want it. The only "obligation" is to vote, and you don't have to do that if you're not legally resident. You could also get called up if there was a war and they decided to conscript people, but once you're past a certain age, you're safe from that too. There are no tax obligations to being a citizen.

If you have already engaged an agent, then ask him. However as they are not permanent residents, and unless there is some compelling reason why they need to see you (like illness), I can’t see how they would get permission.

It depends on what the employer hires you for. It's either 2 or 4 years, with the possibility of renewal. You are 100% tied to that employer. If your partner quits or the business goes bust or he's made redundant, you have to go home. You can stay IF you can find another employer to sponsor you, but it's not wise to bank on it - sponsorship is so complex and expensive nowadays, many employers won't do it unless they're really struggling to find a local candidate. Some big employers have strict policies of not sponsoring below a certain pay grade. For a couple with no kids or if your kids are young enough, this kind of visa is a good option - you get to experience Australia for a few years, with your air fares paid and a job to come to. You rent out your home in the UK while you're away, so when you get home you can settle back into your old life with some great memories. The problem is that a lot of people think the 482 is a reliable gateway to getting PR (a permanent visa). Years ago that was true, but now It's not. Once you've been in the job for a certain length of time, you MAY be able to apply for a permanent visa, IF your employer is willing to sponsor you for it, and IF your occupation is still on the skilled list by then, and IF you are under the age limit. Every year, we see posts on these forums from people who have stuck it out in a horrible job for 3 years in expectation of applying for PR, and then their occupation gets removed from the list two weeks before they were eligible to apply. Or their employer won't sponsor them. Or their employer does sponsor them but the application is refused because the employer doesn't meet the required criteria. So, like I said, good if you treat it like an adventure, and think of PR as a bonus which you might get if you're lucky. If your goal is to migrate, don't even think about it - bust a gut now to get a permanent visa. The best approach is to consult a MARA registered migration agent. All the reputable ones will give you a free initial consultation. They won't be able to give you definite answers in an initial consult, BUT they can give you a general indication - and if you've got no chance, they'll be able to tell you then and there.

No reason why not. Lots of people work for an employer in another country.

Points are less important for the 190 and 491 visas than for the 189. However, you still have the problem that there is not a shortage of accountants or internal auditors in Australia at the moment, so the question is, are any of the states likely to offer any 491 or 190 visas for accountants? Unfortunately it is impossible to say at the moment. A good agent can tell you whether accountants have been invited recently, but that is no guide, because coronavirus has changed everything. Unemployment is soaring in Australia, and our prime minister has said that immigration will be slashed in 2020/21. Look for a MARA registered agent. They do not have to be in your country of residence, you can hire one from anywhere. It is unusual for an agent to "lack detailed knowledge", however they won't give you a fully detailed analysis in a free consultation. Would you give free accounting advice? What they will do is tell you whether it is worth taking the next step.

I knew someone who shipped stuff from their deceased mother's house, including her grand piano, and the container went overboard. They're relying on the weight of the containers to keep them in place and most of the time, that's enough. It's only when they hit unusually bad weather that it's a problem. Bottom line - make sure you're properly insured, preferably with a third party insurer not the removalist. And don't send anything in a container that you'd be devastated to lose.

There's wisdom in that. One thing to consider. For someone who has done the 2 years out of 5, a RRV gets processed fairly quickly. For someone like you who doesn't meet the criteria, the wait is more likely to be 12 months or longer. So if you let your current travel facility expire, you'll be stuck in limbo in the UK for the next 12 months, fretting if you'll be approved or not.

Your first step should be to calculate how many points you are likely to achieve. You need only 65 points to apply for a visa, however it is a competitive process. Only those with the highest points will succeed. There is an over-supply of accountants in Australia. For that reason, you would need to achieve 100 points to stand any chance of getting a visa as an Accountant. If you apply as an Internal Auditor, you would need to achieve 95 points. https://www.iscah.com/will-get-189-invitation-january-2020-estimates/

I have a dim view of them too, and I have been reluctantly impressed by how they've handled the pandemic. In fact, I felt the opposite to you - when countries around the world were lying to their citizens and saying "we'll need to have restrictions for a month", the Australian govt were saying, "restrictions will have to go on for at least six months" - and they were right. It's not the government's fault that your parents can't visit you. Even if the government lifted the restrictions tomorrow, there is no way I would want my elderly parents to get on a flight during this pandemic. Covid-19 is so rampant in the UK, I'd be worried about them just getting to the airport. Then imagine the crowds at the airports at both ends and during the stopover, and being cooped up in close proximity to other passengers for 24 hours. The risk of infection would be enormous. I know you're in a horrible situation with terrible homesickness. Maybe it would help to have a chat with a counsellor - not because they can do anything about it, but because it can sometimes be an enormous help to have an impartial person to talk to. You can have a telehealth appointment.

I suspect a lot of those are the same as the stories of people who come to Australia on a WHV and then get sponsored - it does happen occasionally, but it's rare and there are particular circumstances which we're not aware of. That said, it does appear that Immigration are somewhat lenient about the rules. You said they're vague, but they're not vague at all - you must have "strong ties of benefit to Australia". The word is "strong", but apparently having a job offer can be enough to get you in. Good luck with it.

You don’t need a sponsor to get a skilled visa. You just apply. The whole process takes about a year. If you are in a hurry to get to Australia then you could look for an employer who could sponsor you, as that process is much quicker. But that only gets you to Australia for a contract of 2 to 4 years, and then you still have to apply for the permanent skilled visa. skilled visas are so complicated these days, your best bet is to hire an agent to handle the application. Make sure they are MARA registered

Surely it’s more honest to say “we’re not sure when this pandemic will be over” than to set an arbitrary date? It’s not forever anyway

TBH that sounds like a much better plan, even if it means keeping the kids out of school a bit longer. Having someone else view the home at least means you won't be stuck with a dump, but everyone's taste is different and there's no substitute for viewing yourself. Plus it wo0ld save you a few weeks' rent at a time when that would be handy.

Nursing and teaching both have the same problem - the requirements for registration and the requirements for a visa are two different things. So it's possible to achieve registration because they recognise an alternative qualification, but that will cut absolutely no ice with the Immigration Department - they are pretty inflexible. On another topic, have you calculated your points for the 189 visa? If you can't get 90 points, there is no point in applying. No one with less than 90 points is getting invited these days.

If you don't satisfy the 2 year out of 5 criteria, then I wouldn't just be asking Paul for an explanation, I'd be hiring him to do the application for you. The more tenuous your connection to Australia, the more risk that you'll be refused, so you need a professional who knows how to present your evidence in the best possible light. Having lived in Australia in the past doesn't count. Think about it - if that was all it took, everyone would get approved. Foreigners can hold bank accounts in Australia, and temporary workers get superannuation funds, so they're marginal. Normally, you need family in Australia, or an established home, or a job waiting for you. Covid or not, I think your best bet would be to return before your travel facility expires. Once you're in Australia, you won't need a RRV until you need to travel again. By that time, you'll have a job and a lease on a property, so you should have no problems.

I was born in August too. I can understand you're reluctant to repeat a year when you're going to be ahead of everyone, so there's a risk you'll be bored. However, have you thought about how you'll make friends, if you are accepted into a higher year? Your school work will suit you better, but you'll be amongst students who are all older than you. It can be challenging to make friends when you come from a foreign country anyway, but even more so if you're out of your age cohort. I think it might be better to accept that you're going to have an easy year with schoolwork, which will give you more time to concentrate on developing hobbies, making friends, and settling back into Australian life. You could also take up a new, demanding hobby if you want more intellectual stimulation.

It's a matter of doing your own sums. If you're not conversant enough to work it out for yourself, it would be worth a short consult with a tax agent to get them to work it out. We were planning to retire back in the UK and at the time, we had an investment property. We did our sums and decided it wouldn't be worth hanging on to them. As you say, you get no tax-free threshold so you're going to be taxed on every dollar of income, so that was the first issue. The bigger hurdle for us was capital gains - because we wouldn't ever live in it, even if we returned to Oz. And we knew we'd want to sell it one day. So we sold it before we left and got a capital gains bill for nearly $40,000. However if we'd sold it after becoming non-resident, the capital gains bill would've been double that!

For the 186, there are costs the employer has to pay and it is illegal for them to make the employee pay them. It will be absolutely essential for the employer to hire an agent to do their part of the process, because it is too complex for them to do alone. Your partner's side of the application is much simpler and he may choose to do it himself, but it will not be expensive to use an agent for peace of mind.

The dollar isn't falling, it's rising - so you're going to get fewer dollars for your pound. I think that's what you mean. The whole world is going through an economic disaster - the UK and US are heading for a deeper recession than Australia - so who knows what is going to happen to currencies in the future. In situations like this, the only safe thing to do is to stay where you are and hang on to the jobs and the home you've got. If you decide to move, you're taking a risk, and there's no way to sugarcoat that. It comes down to whether your goal is worth taking a risk for, and you're the only person who can answer that question. Exchange rate fluctuations can affect migrants at any time. When I migrated 35 years ago, there were no pandemics or other emergencies, but exchange rates were still volatile. I was lucky - the dollar was worth about 40p when I transferred my money, so I got over 2 dollars for every pound. Only a few months later, the dollar shot up to over 70p. Thank goodness we had settled happily in Australia, because if we'd wanted to go home, we would have ended up back in the UK with about half the pounds we started out with, all because of the exchange rate.

When the pandemic first started, there were lots of cancellations because the airlines still had their normal schedules but nobody was flying, and they didn't want empty planes - so if they didn't get enough bookings, they cancelled. Now, most of them are flying extremely limited schedules because they've got a good handle on the number of people flying, so I think cancellations are far less likely.

Seven Seas is probably the best option. You can send them as individual boxes, get a quote here: https://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/GetQuote However, if she has more than two or three, you'll be more economical to get one of their Movecubes. There are three different sizes depending on your needs. You pay for the Movecube by size, not by the number of boxes. https://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/moving/movecube