Marisawright

University of New England (Armadale) Charles Sturt University (Albury Wodonga, Bathurst) Federation University (Ballarat) Southern Cross (Coffs Harbour, Lismore) These are all in NSW or Victoria. I'm sure there are some in regional Queensland as well. Unfortunately, there aren't any in WA. I think there isn't enough population in WA regional centres to support a university. Would you want to live where your child is studying? If so, I'd pick Southern Cross or Uni of New England - you could live in Coffs Harbour and get the sun-and-sand lifestyle. Or research the Queensland options. If you have the kind of jobs that need a capital city, then I'd pick Federation University - Ballarat is less than two hours' drive from Melbourne. Of course that's not a beach lifestyle and housing is expensive. Have you checked what uni fees you'd have to pay on a 491 visa?

No, not really. We found the whole system strange. We were willing to show them our bank statements showing a healthy bank balance as an indicator of our ability to pay, but they had absolutely no interest in that. They wanted proof of a regular income. Failing that, they wanted six months upfront, and they didn't seem to care how you were going to pay for it after that.

When you say, "setting up a pension is a one off choice", what do you mean? If you're doing what most Australians do, which is to convert your super to an income stream, then it's not a one off choice. You can choose to vary the monthly payments whenever you like (though there's a minimum amount you must take every year). You can also commute the pension to a lump sum at any time. If you're thinking of setting up a pension that will pay you a guaranteed monthly amount, that's not called a pension in Australia, it's called an annuity. You can buy one for x number of years, or buy one that will go on paying until you die. My brother-in-law went that route and bitterly regretted it when he got cancer in his late sixties. If he'd had an income stream instead of an annuity, he could have chosen to take a lump sum there and then and enjoy the time he had left. As it was, you can't get a lump sum from an annuity - and of course, the payments stopped when he died, so his widow got nothing. If he'd had an income stream, she would've inherited the money. The downside of an income stream pension is that it only lasts as long as there's money in the fund - but it does give you a lot more flexibility.

Hi @Samantha F Australia has strict rules about who can migrate. One of you must be qualified and experienced in a job that's on a short list of Skilled Occupations, then that person applies and includes the rest of the family on their application. If neither of you can find your occupation on the lists, then you can't migrate. Even if one of you does qualify, you're not there yet. It's quite a complex process these days. Once upon a time you could do it yourself, but Immigration is very unforgiving - if you make one small mistake, your application gets rejected and you've lost thousands of dollars. So it's wiser to engage a migration agent to do the application for you. A good migration agent will give you an initial consultation free of charge so that's what I suggest you do.

It also depends whether you have a job or not. If you can show a pay slip or a letter of appointment, they know you'll have a steady income. We were answering a lady who will be arriving with no income except her pension and in that situation, most landlords will ask for the money upfront to be on the safe side.

What do you mean, "if need be"? You need some kind of visa before you can enter Australia to work. There's no point in looking for work until you've got the visa. Then you can come to Australia and look for a job when you arrive. There are employer-sponsored visas, but they are only to fill short-term vacancies and you go home at the end. If you are young enough, the quickest way to get to Australia would be a Working Holiday Visa (WHV) - you'd then have have the right to live in Australia for a year, and during that time you could collect solid evidence of your relationship and apply for a partner visa. You'd then be placed on a bridging visa while your partner visa is considered, which would allow you to stay and work in Australia until it's approved. If you can't get a WHV, then your options are either (a) apply for a partner visa. IF you meet the criteria and IF you do a good job of providing solid evidence of your relationship, you have a very good chance of getting this visa. (b) apply for a skilled visa in your own right. There is a point-scoring system for skilled visas. You need 65 points to even be considered, BUT it's like a competition - the applicants with the highest scores get picked, and everyone else gets ignored. It's hard to predict how many points you might need because it depends on how many high-scoring applicants there are at the time. So applying for a skilled visa is a pretty uncertain process Regardless of which visa you go for, you need patience as the process can take a year. That's why there's no point looking for a job, because no employer is going to wait that long for you to arrive.

The questionnaire is only for Australian legal residents, so not applicable to the OP. @Chiwy: Allianz is a very large European insurance company. I don't think you need to worry about "reliability" with any of the insurance companies offering this insurance in Australia, they are all governed by regulations and are all much the same. The main thing to consider is how much they cost and what they cover.

Most lease agreements are for 6 or 12 months to start with, but after that, it automatically renews on a month-to-month basis. If you wanted to leave on the 16th, you needed to confirm that at least two weeks before that date. You didn't, so the lease automatically became a monthly lease, which you can terminate any time by giving two weeks' written notice. I'd say you're quite lucky they didn't say you had to pay rent for a full two weeks from the day you gave notice. I suggest you find your lease document and read it to see what applies in your case.

That doesn't quite make sense. If he wants to apply for a 820/801 visa, then he needs to be in Australia already (on a tourist visa). He must apply for the 820 visa soon after he arrives, while the tourist visa is still valid. If he waits until the tourist visa expires, then he will be in the country illegally and that would ruin his chances of approval.

The main downside of applying onshore is finding work. Employers can be reluctant to employ someone who’s on a bridging visa and your partner will be on that visa for a long time

Victoria isn’t most British migrants’ first choice because it doesn’t offer the stereotypical sun and sand lifestyle most of them are after. However having moved here recently, I think it’s possibly one of the best places to be. The climate all over Australia is getting more extreme but being further south, Victoria suffers less from that. It’s also the most populated state, meaning that small towns are actually within reach of each other, so if your visa requires you to live in the country, it feels less isolated

That's my recollection too

I am so sorry your move to Australia has gone wrong. Moving countries is one of the most stressful things you can do and it puts a strain on any marriage. As others have said, get professional help fast. There is an international agreement covering the movement of children, and Australia applies it strictly. If you're forced to leave Australia because you're no longer in a relationship, your children will have to stay behind. That's not because the government favours the father - it's simply because the law won't allow either party to "remove" the children from their current country of residence. By moving out of the family home, especially if you move to Perth, you'll be raising a flag that you're no longer in that relationship and putting yourself at risk of being deported. Obviously, if you're in danger, you've got no option - but if there's any chance at all of patching up the marriage, even if it's only for a few years until you can either get permanency or persuade your partner to return to the UK as a family, it's your best option.

If you lived in the UK until you were 49, you are entitled to the British pension now. You should claim it whether you move back to the UK or not, so that's your first step. They might even give you some back-pay as you should have started the pension a few years ago, and that would be a nice sum of money to help you get started. You'll need to find your old National Insurance number. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-claiming-a-state-pension-if-you-retire-abroad Apply now on the basis that you're living in Australia. Then you'll have to wait until you have proof of a permanent address in the UK (e.g. a rental agreement), and then you can present that and you may get an increase. I suggest you also go to the Centrellink office too, and ask them to explain how moving will affect your Australian government pension (it will probably be reduced). You could just ring them, but I find you get more accurate and detailed advice face-to-face. I'm anxious about you arriving in the UK with so little money. You'll need to book a holiday flat for three to four weeks, while you look for a place to stay. That's expensive in England, though if you plan to go back in the off-season it will be cheaper. Then when you find a flat, you'll need to pay six months' rent upfront because you're a new arrival, and then you'll have the cost of buying furniture, crockery, pots, pans, towels, bedlinen, kitchen appliances etc. Years ago, it was fairly easy to get a furnished flat but when we were back three years ago, I noticed that most flats were unfurnished, so you'll have to start from scratch. If you try to sell your household goods, it's likely you'll get next-to-nothing for them, so I suggest looking into a medium Movecube and ship them all. You may think they're not worth shipping - but consider that you're going to have to buy brand new stuff to replace them, and if you haven't bought pots or crockery for a while, you'll be stunned at the cost. Of course it takes six to eight weeks for it to reach the UK, but if you can keep enough bits and pieces to "camp" in your current home, you can send it off early so it arrives by the time you've found a flat.

I recall your earlier thread when you were considering what to do, and I do recall that everyone here advised you to try for a RRV first, before going down the route for a whole new visa. What a pity a migration agent knocked that on the head. I doubt the spouse visa will get refused,but if it did, you wouldn't have grounds for appeal because of the wrong advice on the RRV. It's a different visa.

Nothing, basically. It's just a moral obligation (i.e. the onus is on you). This is why they've cut back so much on granting the 190 and switched to the 489 and then the 491 - because they were fed up of people getting a 190, spending a token amount of time in the state and then disappearing. I have no idea why they couldn't have changed the 190 regulations to add some penalties for not fulfiling your obligations instead. I believe you might be in trouble if you get the 190, don't fulfil your moral obligation and then want to apply for citizenship. As for not having to work in your nominated occupation - I can see why that's the way it is. No state can guarantee you a job in any field, and they don't want you sitting there unemployed because you're not allowed to do anything else.

So they are already in Australia? What visa is her partner on?

They could take a day's annual leave.

I suggest they visit a Centrelink office in person. I've found that makes a huge difference in the response you get.

If you were an Australian citizen at the time of your children's birth, then get on with getting their Australian passports, they won't need a visa. With a long-standing, genuine relationship, a DIY application is usually fine. Just remember that a marriage certificate isn't enough, even if you're married - you need to provide an exhausting list of evidence to prove that you're not just married but still happily married and that your lives are enmeshed. However getting the 17-year-old a visa could be the thing that trips you up. I think you might need an agent to ensure you get it exactly right as if you get it wrong, he could be refused. You will need written consent from his father, which you'll need to submit with the application. I know that once he's 18 he won't need his father's permission so it's tempting to wait for that - but then you've got the bigger problem of proving that he's genuinely dependent on you. I recall someone on the forums who had their application refused because their child was working part-time so you need to check that out carefully.

Why do you say that, Chortlepuss? I do think that people like yourself and Samt4 have a hard time understanding how nomads feel. I've had people tell me that a deep longing for your home country is "natural" and "fundamental" - "you must feel it, you're just in denial!", and so on. But that's not the case. People are different, and some people ARE able to transfer their allegiance to a new country. It would be tragic if Samt4 stayed in Australia because of flawed thinking: "I know my partner says he'd be happy to move to the UK but I know his mind better than he does".

It's not illegal to enter on a tourist visa and then apply for a partner visa, however the Immigration Officer at the airport has to decide whether they trust her partner to do the right thing. If the officer has any suspicion that he might try to stay illegally, then he can be turned around at the airport. It would remove the anxiety if they apply for a Prospective Marriage Visa which would allow them to enter together, provided they get married within 9 months of arrival.

Considering how difficult it is to provide evidence for a partner visa, why on earth did you decide not to apply for the PMV?

NO IT WON'T This is such dangerous advice. The only place that love conquers all is in a movie or a book. To @samt4 I would say - it's possible to feel terribly lonely even if you have a loving partner, and being lonely can make everything look black. But one thing you said is telling: "I feel like if I was to have children, then I would want to go straight home to where I have support from my own family, am familiar/ comfortable with my surroundings and for my kids to have a British childhood." I don't think making friends will change that feeling. I think the solution is to go back to the UK and more importantly, I think you need to stop putting thoughts into your partner's head that aren't there. You're assuming he's like you - while you're in Australia, you've got a deep emptiness in your heart where your family and country should be, so you think he must feel the same when he's in England. That's a HUGE assumption! Some people - like you - have such a deep attachment to their homeland, they can never be truly happy anywhere else. But other people - like me - can cheerfully live wherever takes their fancy. I call them nomads, and they're the ones who make successful migrants. As a nomad, it took me a long time to accept that people like you truly existed. I couldn't believe how people got to the point of suicide because they were so homesick. Likewise, your boyfriend is telling you that he'd prefer to live in the UK, and you can't believe he could possibly leave his family and homeland behind so lightly. Well, if he's like me, yes he can - you're the one thinking it would be a sacrifice for him when it's not.

This is great advice.