Marisawright

There is a reciprocal agreement between the UK and Australia on healthcare. It applies to UK residents (not UK citizens). So, as long as you were legally resident in the UK immediately before you arrive in Australia, you are entitled to care under the reciprocal agreement. Note, that means if you were resident in France or Spain before moving, you're not eligible. If you are eligible, then applying for any visa doesn't change that fact, you remain eligible. The reciprocal agreement states that you are entitled to essential care. If treatment could wait until you get back to your home country, it's not covered. In practice, doctors and hospitals don't seem to be aware of that and I've heard of people getting full access.

Yes, people do book an AirBnB or a holiday let for about four weeks usually. Never, ever take on a long-term rental without inspecting the place first, because real estate agents shamelessly doctor the photos to make them look better, and you can end up with a real dive (actually we found the same thing in Bournemouth, so it's not just Australian agents that do it!). Why would you need to store the Movecube for a month? The Movecube will take six to eight weeks to get to Australia. So ideally, you want to send it off three weeks before you leave the UK, then you'll have four weeks in your AirBnB, then your Movecube will be arriving around the time when you get the keys to your new home. Obviously, you'll have to work out how you're going to manage for those last few weeks, once the Movecube has gone. One strategy is to move in with relatives. Another option is to "camp" in your own home - easier if you were planning to leave your big furniture behind anyway, as you can go on using it.

You can't apply for the passport until you have the certificate

You must have got to the wrong part of their website. They also ship individual boxes so I think you got on the wrong quote page. Here is the right one: https://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/GetQuote?MyOptions=Furniture To work out what's worth taking with you, do a trial shop online at some of the big Australian stores, pretending that you're replacing all the stuff you left behind. It's a great way to put everything in perspective. I think I may have suggested that before, if not and you need some links, let me know.

But surely it also depends where you are in each country. Someone coming from a chav area in the UK to a bogan area of Australia would doubtless find teenagers in both places had much the same experience. What used to happen in the past was that migrants could afford to live in a better neighbourhood in Australia than they did in the UK. Nowadays that isn't necessarily going to be true.

I should also point out that you get nothing back from your private health insurance. Also that the strawberry/baking soda home treatment will remove stains if that's your problem, but it won't whiten teeth.

What career does it qualify you for? If it qualifies you to be a social worker, then there is a registration body for that. If it qualifies you to provide care, e.g. in aged care homes, then I don't think there is a body that deals with it. What you'll probably have to do is enrol in an equivalent Certificate course here, and apply to the College to have your Scottish course recognised for advanced standing (meaning you won't have to do the entire Certificate course here, they'll recognise modules from your Scottish course as equivalent).

Can't answer for Sydney but just had it done in Melbourne. Zoom whitening, cost $450. It lasts for a year maximum, but probably only six months for most people. You can get it done cheaper at booths in shopping centres but apparently most of them are cowboys and can damage your teeth.

I agree. I've seen some people resist getting Aussie citizenship because they feel like it's surrendering or being unfaithful to the UK - but if you have children who have Australian citizenship, you need to get over that. Let's say you return to the UK to live once your kids are grown up. Let's say one child decides to remain in Australia and has children. One of the children isn't well and you want to head over and help them out. If you don't have Australian citizenship. you're limited in how often you can visit in a year and how long you can stay. if you've got citizenship, you can get on a plane whenever you like and stay as long as you're needed. It's practicality.

Oh dear @bug family, a big hug to you. It sounds like your wife has already decided the marriage is over and is looking for ways to push you out the door. What an awful situation to be in.

Very good point and personally I think that's the best option. If you are happy in Australia and see your future here, have the baby first and then see how you feel. I know it will be harder to make the move with a baby in tow if that's what you eventually decide, but you may find your concerns about lack of support are unfounded and a move is unnecessary.

We never tried it so I can't say. However like I say, if you get an ING account then you can use the debit card to take money out at any bank's ATM and not pay a fee, so we never really needed to try.

If you're moving to Sydney, you have to get used to that because in summer, it gets hot pretty early in the day and it doesn't cool down in the evening much (unless there's a thunderstorm), so early morning is the only chance to exercise outdoors. Golfers do the same.

He's not leaving his kids for a job. He's leaving his kids because living in Australia makes him perpetually depressed. If he's already depressed and then is sitting at home unemployed, that's not a healthy situation. It is an awful situation to be in.

Sorry, I guess that's what I was saying. If he waits a few months until he's got all that stuff in place, he'll be in a much better position than if he applies as soon as the travel facility expires.

Browse around these forums and you'll find many, many people who have been in the same situation and many, like Quoll, who still are. The best migrants are people who don't feel any particular attachment to the land of their birth and can happily live anywhere. I call them nomads. However, such people are in the minority. The majority of people feel a deep-seated attachment to their homeland. It's not logical. It's not based on comparisons of which country is better, it's a visceral feeling that you can't explain, but it's very very real. Unfortunately, people often aren't aware of it until they try to live in another country - and then they realise they feel a strange emptiness, and the only thing that fixes it is to go home. So what happens is that a nomad will move their partner to a new country, and the nomad will be happy as Larry because the lifestyle is great - and can't understand why their partner isn't. How could you not love this place? he asks. The partner feels silly - how can I say I miss home when logically, this new place is so much nicer? So they start nitpicking faults with everything, to try to justify why they're feeling so awful. The thing is, they don't have to justify it. It's in their nature and there's nothing they can do to change it. They can make up their mind to be happy in their new country, to please their partner, but there will always be that yearning in the background, every single day. You wouldn't think many people would choose a country over a partner, but that just goes to show how desperate that yearning can become. We've seen many marriage breakups on these forums because one partner simply can't bear living in a foreign country any longer. It's not clear from your posts whether one of you is suffering that yearning or whether it's just a case of different preferences. If it's just preferences, it's fixable but you probably need a counsellor to be the referee while you thrash it out. Otherwise it's a tough call and unless you can afford to swap between countries every few years to take turns, one of you will have to accept that if you want to stay together, one of you will have to sacrifice their happiness.

What do you need the RRV for? There is no rule that says you have to apply for the RRV immediately it runs out. Wait until shortly before you want to use the RRV and apply then. If that's, say, nine months after you arrive in Australia, then by that time you'll have an established home and a job and are obviously settled, which would give you a strong case.

Get yourself a good migration agent (make sure they are MARA registered). The 132 visa is a complicated one and I wouldn't recommend tackling the process on your own.

What Quoll said. There is no such thing as "a better place to bring up children". Both countries have pluses and minuses. What matters is where you and your partner want to be.

Your best plan is to apply for a Working Holiday Visa, which is very easy and quick to get compared to any other visa. You can simply apply independently and each get your own visa. That will give you a full year in Australia. Many people think the WHV is just for people who want to do casual work and travel, but it's perfectly possible to get a normal job in your usual profession. The only limitation is that you can't work for more than six months with the same employer. So you could do two six-month contracts. Being in Australia will give you the chance to make contact with employers and you may then be able to get an employer-sponsored visa to stay for another 2 to 4 years. However to be eligible for that visa, one of you must have an occupation that's on the skilled lists, so you would need to check if that's the case. (By the way, if you do 3 months of farm work in your first year on the WHV, you get to stay for another full year - but it's hard manual labour so you have to decide whether it's worth it)

There are employer sponsored visas but they are only for 2 to 4 years, then you go home again. If you're looking for a permanent visa then you need to get the visa then find work. If you are under 30, you could just get a Working Holiday Visa and come over for a year to try it out.

A sponsorship is not the solution. An employer-sponsored visa is just a temporary visa for 2 to 4 years, then you have to return to the UK, so that won't do you any good. At the end of the contract, there is a chance that you might be able to get a PR visa, but do you really want to sell your house and upheave your children for the sake of 2 years with every chance that you'll have to upheave everything again and end up back where you started? Besides, he's an electrician and like I said, he won't be allowed to take a job as a qualifieid electrican until he's done his training in Australia and served his time as a trades assistant. Not many employers would be willing to offer him a sponsored visa on that basis, it's a very expensive and complicated business for the employer so they don't do it lightly. I know it will be scary coming out to Australia with no job to go to, but as an electrician he doesn't really have much choice.

It makes no difference whether you're married or not. Australia recognises living together more so than the UK, I find. It's called "de facto" over here and de facto partners have the same rights as married partners. When you buy a house, it takes about six weeks for the purchase to be settled, so you wouldn't have time to buy a house when you arrive anyway. You'll need to sign up for a six month or twelve month lease on a place first. It's a good idea anyway as it gives you time to research the suburbs.

Australia is a foreign country that just happens to speak English, so you will find a big difference in attitudes and culture. It's one reason I just couldn't settle when I tried retiring back in the UK - I had got too used to the Aussie culture and couldn't adapt back to the English one.

The rule with Medicare is that a British resident (not citizen) is entitled to essential treatment while he's in Australia. If the treatment can wait until he gets back to his home country, then it can't be done under Medicare.