Marisawright

If you’re shopping around agents and none of them are able to offer you a pathway to migration, maybe it’s time to accept there isn’t one.

My ex's experience exactly. It was astonishing the range of subjects he got landed with - subjects he hadn't even done at school himself.

Possibly not even that, since it's out of warranty.

I think it's important that parents are aware of that fact. The government would close the doors on parent visas if they could, and who's to say they won't achieve that goal in future years, if they have enough control of the senate.

It doesn't matter which state you apply to, it's handled nationally. Currently it seems to be taking about a year.

In that case, the bank officer broke the law, because he's supposed to confirm you are actually living at those addresses. However he's probably cottoned on to the fact that no one will ever find out because no one overheard your conversation, and he just ticked the box that says it's your permanent address. The security team at head office will never know!

Presumably you had documents with you to prove residence in the UK? That's the thing that holds most people up.

OK here are a few things for you to think about. Bank account: Don't be in a hurry to close your Australian bank account, because it can take a while to get your British finances sorted out. You probably won't be able to get a credit card in the UK for some time so your Australian card will come in handy. If you browse around this site, you'll find explanations of how the credit rating system works in the UK and how to get a credit card etc: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ Under the new money laundering laws, it is illegal for any British bank to let you operate a bank account unless you can prove you are resident in the UK. To do that, you need to show them an official document (like a bank statement or a utility bill) with your full name and UK address on it. I speeded up the process by changing the address on my Australian bank account to my sister's UK address a few weeks before I left Australia. By the time I got to the UK, my next credit card statement had been posted out and was waiting for me at my sister's, and I used that as proof. You just have to keep a straight face when the bank official asks you if it's your permanent residence! Pensions: Given your age, this is something you may need to consider. As you'll be leaving before you reach pension age, you won't be able to claim the Australian government pension at all (the crazy thing is that you would be able to claim it if you moved to a European country, but not the UK). You should be entitled to some British govt pension, so hunt out your NI (National Insurance) number and contact the International Pension Centre. https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre They'll tell you whether you're eligible for the pension and how much you'll get. They'll also offer you the chance to back-pay a few years' NI contributions to increase the pension, which will probably be worth doing. Once you're settled in the UK, you can apply to have any Australian work experience up until the year 2000 recognised towards the British pension, too. Superannuation: If you (or your daughter) have superannuation, notify the fund as soon as you leave the country and ask them to cancel all insurances (because they probably won't be valid once you're overseas anyway). (If they tell you the insurance is still valid, insist they confirm that in writing as it would be awful to keep paying the premiums and then get knocked back if there's a claim). Your super will keep on growing so you don't have to do anything else until you're ready to retire - but beware! Don't take a lump sum until you've had some advice from an accountant who knows both the Australian and British systems. The law may be different by the time you're retiring - but if you were retiring today and took a lump sum, it would be tax-free in Australia but the UK taxman would grab over a third of it! You can convert your super to a monthly pension instead, which may be a better bet, but it depends what the law is by that time.

Do you have a visa which allows you to live in Australia? If not, then the employer will have to apply to sponsor your husband for a temporary visa. It will be for either 2 or 4 years, and then you MIGHT, if you are lucky, be able to apply to get a permanent visa. But there is no guarantee you'll be eligible to apply, and if you can apply, there is no guarantee you'll be successful. I mention this because there's a widespread myth that if you can get an employer-sponsored visa, it gives you a good chance of migrating to Australia permanently.

Your best bet is to consult a migration agent who specialises in people with medical conditions. George Lombard is one

That's a worry. I think you need to think very carefully before pushing him to migrate, in that case. There are some institutions which offer HSC courses outside of secondary schools - but most of them are aimed at less able students who left school early and then regretted it, or overseas students hoping to qualify for an Australian university. If he's used to dealing with the best high achievers then that's not what he's going to get in those places. Plus, those places are mainly in the big capital cities where house prices are high and you probably can't afford to live anywhere near a beach - which most British migrants hanker for! I think he would struggle to get a senior non-teaching position in a secondary school, because he'd be up against the fact that he has no experience of the Australian curriculum. The thinknig would be, how can he lead others if he's never taught it himself? I'm sorry to be so negative. It's always hard when one partner wants to migrate and the other isn't interested. Why are you so keen to migrate, if you don't mind me asking?

Oh yes it would. In the UK, you can walk into the bank and open the account with just your passport, BUT the account cannot be activated until you present for a face-to-face interview with a bank officer and provide proof that you are a resident of the UK. At that point, the account is "activated", but that doesn't mean a lot because you have to wait for the cards to be posted to the address you provided, which takes about a week. In my case, I had an address but there was a week's wait to get an interview with a bank official. Then another week and a half for the cards to arrive. In my husband's case, he had to wait until we had a utility bill but when he presented it, it didn't show his full name only his first initial, so it got rejected. So we had to get the bill reissued - another week - then organise another interview - another few days' delay - and then finally they activated the account and then it was another week to receive the cards.

Congratulations on your decision. Lots more admin to be done I’m afraid but it will all work out. I’ll post in more detail later when I’m at my computer

Sorry, the only reason I said to get the UK bank account process started ASAP is that it can take ages for the account to be fully activated, so the earlier you start the better. It wont be an issue for real estate agents

Yes, I'd suggest he looks into it carefully. And if he's not keen enough to do the research himself, then he's not keen, and you should think very carefully before migrating. The fact that you've "finally convinced" your partner to migrate rings alarm bells for me. Ask yourself honestly whether you've really convinced him, or whether you've just nagged or browbeaten him to the point where he's giving in for a quiet life? If it's the latter, don't do it. Migrating is a difficult, stressful, and very expensive process. It sometimes feels that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. If you're both eager to go, you'll get through it. If one of you isn't so keen, the first time something goes wrong, you'll get, "I never wanted to come here, this is all your fault" and it will just get worse from there. Marriages have broken up over it. I worry in your case because it sounds as though your husband is happy being a specialist Chemistry teacher and though he'll easily get work teaching in Australia, he'll struggle to find the same environment in Australia. If he's going to be discontented with his work life, that will be a barrier to him settling. I've heard people say that teaching in the state system here is better than teaching in the English one. However coming from the Scottish system, my husband didn't like it because (like your oh) he was a specialist, and he was horrified to find he had to teach all the sciences at junior level, and was even expected to cover occasionally in other subjects altogether - something that would never be allowed in Scotland. Because of that, he moved into the private school system (equivalent of English public schools). He was pleased to be teaching Physics again, but he didn't like the snobbery and he didn't like the hours. Teachers in private schools have to participate in supervising sports activities as well, so although he had a lighter teaching load, he had to work every Saturday morning and the occasional Sunday carnival. These days he teaches in a college for foreign (mainly Asian) students who want to get their HSC to get into university. He's able to specialise BUT he's struggling with students who can barely speak English. He had an affair with an Australian girl, left me and married her, so he's still in Australia. However if we had just split up and he'd stayed single, I think he would've headed back to Scotland because although he liked Australia, he missed his Scottish teaching career.

I think you are missing the point. You'll notice that Rusty achieved success by registering her cat NOT as a Bengal but as a domestic cat, and that's what ThePomQueen is telling you too. I know you're proud of the fact you have a Bengal and horrified at the thought of saying she's just a cross tabby, but which would you prefer? Stick to your guns and say "she's almost pure Bengal even though I have no evidence" - and potentially get refused? Or swallow your pride and say, "My cat has Bengal markings but I've since learned it was a dodgy breeder who can't give me any papers, so she's just a moggy" - and get accepted?

No, it's got even longer. The official figure of 52 months is based on the applications being processed now - which are the people who applied in 2015. I don't know why they base their waiting times on historical figures, because it would be easy for them to base it on the current queue and the current annual quota. I can only guess that they don't want it to look as bad as it really is. The waiting time will definitely be longer for those currently in the queue because there was a big flood of applications in 2016 and it's going to take a long time to clear them with the current annual quotas. So those who applied in 2017/18/19 have a very long wait ahead.

I'd say that 's your only choice.

If you're shipping a really small amount, you can ship individual boxes. You must use standard-sized "Tea Chest" boxes which are 61cm (height) x 51cm (depth) x 41cm (width) - and get them from the shippers. The ones you can buy in Officeworks or Bunnings are far too flimsy to ship on their own. Maximum filled weight is 30kg per box. We used Seven Seas (the same company that does the Movecube). They will give you a quote if you ask them. I wouldn't order the small Movecube if you can't fill it, because things will get damaged if they can rattle around. The only problem I can see is that the TV won't fit in the standard box. You can get special TV boxes but I wouldn't even try shipping it individually, the chances of damage would be too high.

I'm not sure what you mean. If you're in the UK, you're going to get processed a lot faster than someone in, say, Pakistan - even though someone in Pakistan may be more desperate to leave. That's because Immigration does a lot more security checks on people coming from countries deemed as high risk for terrorism.

@summer1979 - just thought I'd amplify my reply. He should have no difficulty getting work as there is a shortage of science teachers with the skills and knowledge to teach the higher years. However, it's very likely he'll have to teach junior science as well. He's more likely to find a specialist Chemistry job in a private school - and private schools are far more widespread in Australia so that's a fairly big market. It depends where you're planning to move to.

That doesn't surprise me. When I split from my partner in Australia, it was amicable and we did a DIY separation which was easy - except for the property/assets aspect, for which we had to use a solicitor. As we were de facto, it couldn't be rubber-stamped in the Family Court, it had to go to the Supreme Court , even though we had already agreed on everything (the rules have changed since then). We got stung for $5,000 and that was a long time ago. I think their hourly rate was something like $350 an hour! I expect UK ones are much the same.

Do you mean a 189 or do you mean a 186?

Paul IS a migration agent.

This is about ping-ponging from Australia to France, but it will strike a chord with many UK/Australia ping-pongers I think. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/dec/23/the-expats-dilemma-i-want-my-child-to-grow-up-in-australia-but-i-didnt-want-to-come-home