Marisawright

This doesn’t quite make sense. The alternative is to move back to Australia where she won’t be able to help with childcare either.

Make sure you are on ing.com.au, which is the Australian branch. You will need an Australian address

This is the thought you have to cling to. If you were saying, "I miss my home in Australia and I realise I prefer life there", then I might suggest you up sticks and go back. But if you dread the thought of being stuck in Australia forever, then DO NOT GO BACK, because the likelihood is that you would get stuck. Once you're back in Australia and your partner is settled back in his old life, there's no way he'll agree to try moving again. He'll be able to say, "We tried it and it didn't work, tell me why it would be any different this time?" And you'll have no answer. So, you'll buckle down and get on with life in Australia, hoping that one day you might be able to go home - but when the kids are in high school, your partner will say it would be bad to disrupt their education. By the time the kids have left school, they've got their own friends and maybe even a partner - they'll be Aussies and they don't want to live in the UK anyway. Maybe when you retire? But then your own children may have grandchildren by then and how can you leave them? Mixed marriages are always difficult and the move has been made worse by all the setbacks you've experienced. Hang in there and I hope things improve soon.

One thing to be aware of - Australia, like the UK, has big established banks (which often don't look after their customers very well, and charge excessive fees), and a variety of smaller banks and credit unions (similar to building societies). Naturally enough, the big banks want to snare you while you're still overseas, because they know you won't get around to switching banks once you arrive. However, you will get a much better deal from a smaller bank. Unfortunately most of them don't have the resources to offer a "sign up overseas" service, so you'll have to wait. However, you can transfer your money into a Moneycorp account and then it's a quick transfer to an Australian account once you've opened one We've recently had a Royal Commission in Australia which exposed how badly the four big banks (ANZ, NAB, Commonwealth and Westpac) have gouged their customers for fees. They're all up for millions of dollars in fines as a result, but they can afford it and I doubt they will change their ways! If you're happy with an online bank, ING is a great option as it has no international transaction fees, so it's handy when you need to send money back to the UK etc.

It all depends on your personal definition of “easy” and what you’re comparing it to. The train journey from the Central Coast is under an hour, but by the time you factor in getting to the station and then getting to work at the other end, it can be well over an hour. For someone used to London commutes, I can see that would qualify as “easy”, but it wouldn’t be my cup of tea. I certainly wouldn’t contemplate the 2 hour commute from Newcastle or Wollongong!

If you're only qualified in gas, I'd be a bit worried. Gas water heaters, fires and gas cookers are MUCH less common in Australia so there's much less call for the trade. I notice because I love cooking with gas and it's fairly rare to find a house here that has gas supplied. A lot of Australians seem to be scared of it, even though they have gas barbecues. Out in country areas if you want gas in the house, you need to use bottled. I'd say it's worth trying to research job prospects as it would be awful to jump through all those hoops and then find yourself unemployable.

Yes, much longer in rush hour and then you pay a fortune for all day parking. Public transport takes an hour and a half

Yes, but I was replying to someone who was making "frequent visits back home". Different thing. I just wanted to make sure you got that difference. I hope you do find a solution.

That's what I mean. I'm not talking about one visit to clarify your decisions about whether to stay or go. That's a sensible thing to do. I'm talking about people who make frequent visits back. The problem is that every time you go back, you're reminded of the life you lost. What good does that do? Reminding yourself of what you can't have - that will only make you more miserable.

For some people, going back for frequent holidays can be counter-productive because it keeps reminding you of your old life. Sometimes I think refugees have it easier, because they know they can never go back. So there's no point in thinking about things they loved about their old country. They just have to close the door on their old life, throw away the key and commit themselveswholeheartedly to their new home. I liken it to having a marriage breakup, where you're still in love with your partner. If you keep photos of her around the house, think about her all the time, and constantly visit your old neighbourhood, you'll never get over her. New relationships won't work because you'll always be thinking of how she doesn't live up to your previous partner. But eventually, though it breaks your heart to do it, you have to put away the photos and let your previous partner go - then you've got a chance of finding happiness with someone new.

If you keep quiet about the breakup then you're committing fraud - so yes, I would be worried it could affect your appeal. If you've already got an agent then I suggest asking them what the implications are, after all you're paying them to look after you. Do you have confidence in your agent? Did they give you an idea of your chances of success or how much longer it's likely to take? I only ask because if Immigration assessed the company's application and decided it couldn't justify or afford you, then I don't believe your appeal has much chance of success unless the company can provide strong additional evidence to prove otherwise. So I hope that's the case for you?

It sounds like you're doing the right thing and you've achieved an amazing amount in such a short time. All the best!

Ask yourself what it's going to cost to ship them, if anything. What I mean by that is: - If you've booked a whole container, then it makes sense to fill it to the max, including stuff that doesn't have much intrinsic value. It's not going to cost you anything extra, and as you say, it saves you the trouble of all that shopping to replace stuff at the other end. - Same logic for a Movecube - if you've got space left over, put them in; but if it means moving up to a bigger Movecube, it's probably not worth paying the extra.

Yes, or sounds like you are all former PR. The point is that I think people are misreading your original post to mean she never had PR and in that case, it would be vital for her to be dependent on you. Paul will sort you out!

I suggest ringing them to ask. Both states struggle to recruit people to work in remote areas but city postings are plum jobs

If I understand the situation correctly, the daughter already has PR, she just needs to apply for a RRV in her own right. I’m pretty sure of that’s the case then it doesn’t matter whether she’s dependent or not - that would only be an issue if she didn’t already have PR

I'm sure you're aware that snub-nosed ("brachycephalic") dogs can have restricted breathing at the best of times. That can get dangerously worse when they get stressed or over-heated. Sitting in a cage for hours, separated from their human, in a stifling (or freezing) cargo hold is about as stressed as a dog can get. Many airlines have judged that the risk of death is too high and refuse to carry them. Have a chat with your vet about your own dogs' risk. I'd have thought a puggle would be less at risk than a purebred pug because they usually have longer snout, but it depends on the breeder.

She’s asking you to move countries so you’re already making a big concession. Why should you give up your career as well? Is she making an equivalent sacrifice in some way? Depending where in NSW her family lives, you could live in Queensland or Canberra or Victoria and be in reasonable driving distance for regular visits. Or pick a large city with good flight connt

Me neither

Caree visa will take a lot longer than partner visa

appliances (except the fridge) will already be installed in a rental AND in any house you buy, unless you decide to build new So you won’t have to budget to buy in Oz unless you are fussy and want to throw out what’s already installed From memory, you’ve done your research, so you know it won’t be economic to buy a house until you get PR so that could be some time away

If you are migrating and they are your personal effects which are more than 12 months old, they are not liable for tax. No ambiguity. Ask the removalist to explain what they mean

I'm not a big fan of Paypal either but sometimes there's no alternative for me. The main thing with Paypal is never, ever trust any email from them - the scammers are very good at creating genuine-looking emails and as soon as you click on a link, you're toast. If the email asks you to do something, don't click on the link provided - instead, go and log into your Paypal account on a separate window. The same applies to any other bank or financial institution, frankly.

As Rammygirl says, if you've owned them for less than 12 months, you are officially supposed to declare them, and then you're liable to pay tax on them. If they're older, no tax is payable if you are a migrant. I'd say the removalist is being ambiguous because, let's face it - even if they're less than 12 months old, how will Customs know? Provided they look as though they've been used, there's no way they can tell the difference. Obviously the removalist can't say that because they have to be seen to do the right thing.