Marisawright

No. If there is a caveat, it means they have added extra requirements which you or the employer has to meet

No 75 is not enough currently

A couple more tips: Do not close your Australian bank account as it can take ages to get a British bank account set up (they'll accept your deposit quick enough but can take weeks to let you withdraw anything!). If you're going to rent at first, be prepared to pay six months rent upfront.

You don't need a migration agent to do the British spouse visa application. It's a fiddly process but it's not as bad as the Australian one, and approval is much quicker. This is the visa you want: https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa/partner-spouse\ It's confusing because it talks about a partner "joining you in the UK', as if one of you has already moved there - but don't let that put you off, it's the right visa. The big snag is that you have to meet a financial requirement. You either need enough savings (which can come from the sale of your home), or have a job to go to. If you can manage the financial requirement then the rest is easy. No medicals required. Tip for when you fill in the forms: the main application is online, but there's an extra form called "Appendix 2" which is really easy to miss. If you don't fill it in, your application will be rejected, so make sure you complete it! https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/733638/VAF4A-Appendix2-08-18.pdf

Do you have an agent? You need to find out exactly which caveat applies to accountancy and then check whether your employer can satisfy the extra requirements (whatever they are). If they can't, then the visa will be rejected.

What do you mean by enough points? For accountancy you need very high points. I think the minimum right now is 85 points but I haven't checked it recently.

Where are you, Starlight? One of the things I like about Melbourne (unlike Sydney) is that people don't talk about property. I think most of the women I know through U3A own their own homes. The subject of whether we own our own home simply never arises, so when we buy our own place, I can't see how it would make any difference.

Could you get enough points for normal PR?

Make sure your family is aware of how long it’s going to take, they probably don’t realise. Would they consider moving back to be with you?

If it helps, comparing my time in the UK a couple of years ago and my life in Melbourne now, I find the cost of living about the same. Some things are a bit dearer and some things are a bit cheaper, but it balances out - with one exception, which is the cost of housing (buying or renting). So if you look at what you spend now and adjust it for your rent, you'll be about right. However if you're looking at the Mornington Peninsula, then you'll need to allow for higher public transport or petrol costs as you're a long way from anywhere. TBH if you don't already have a job lined up, it's risky to settle that far out of town - it's just too far too commute to the north or west of Melbourne, so you're cutting yourself out of half the job market. For a young family on a limited budget coming to Victoria, I'd say Geelong would be a much better choice as a place to live and work, if you want to live close to the coast. A lot of young families are moving inland to Bendigo, but it depends what kind of work you do.

They won't. The queue is not regarded by Immigration as a backlog that needs to be cleared, so they will not allocate more staff or make extra effort to speed things up. Your only hope is that people ahead of you will start giving up and dropping out of the queue.

Renting is not money down the drain. Although Sydney prices have come down a bit, they are extremely high at the moment, so it's a bad time to buy - in a few years, you could easily have a house that's worth less than you paid for it. Sydneysiders have a hard time believing that because they're so used to house prices continually soaring, but that's unlikely to happen again for several years.

Then can you arrange to visit Goulburn to look at places before you move? If you can, then ring a few real estate agents, tell them you are coming to Goulburn for a weekend and see if you can arrange to view a few places. If not, then you'll need to book the AirBnB and wait till you arrive.

If you see an area where houses are cheap, there are two possible reasons. One is that it's a long way from the city (housing generally gets cheaper the further you go from the city centre). However, houses can also be cheap because they're in a neighbourhood where nobody wants to live - maybe it's got no public transport, or no shops nearby, or it's in a catchment area for a terrible school, or there are hoons or bikie gangs around, or whatever.

No one will give you a long-term room before you arrive in Australia. You can book a place for a few weeks with AirBnB: https://www.airbnb.com.au/s/Goulburn--Australia

I am surprised a company has been able to sponsor you as an Accountant when there is an over-supply of accountants in Australia currently.

There are visas for remaining relatives but the waiting time is something like 30 years, I think. So their only option will be to make sure their qualifications meet the criteria for a skilled visa and then work for the required number of years until they're eligible to apply. Bear in mind, if you haven't applied for your visa yet, it's going to be another year at least before you find out if you've been successful anyway. They could come to Australia on a WHV in the meantime, but it's not always possible to get work in your trade while on a WHV. They'd probably be better off staying in the UK where they can maintain an unbroken work record, that way they'll get the required experience in the fastest time possible. Young people are impatient and as Tulip1 says, there are thousands of young people who arrive on a WHV thinking they'll somehow find a way to apply for a permanent visa. When you go to the hostels where WHVérs hang out, they're full of stories about people who managed to do it - but funnily enough, it's always a nameless friend of a friend of a friend. I do know people who've managed to arrive on a WHV and transition to a skilled visa, but they were nearer 30 than 20 with a lot of experience in their field.

The "better life for the children" thing is a complete myth, so don't let that sway you. If you can afford the true Aussie lifestyle - living fairly close to a beach and able to enjoy the outdoor life - then growing up in Australia can be fabulous (although if you're stuck out in the miserable outskirts of Sydney, it would be a different story). I would also say that education in the UK is somewhat better - take a look at some of the "returning to the UK" posts and you'll see. There's certainly a much greater variety of higher education (university and college courses) and because of the proximity of Europe, more flexible job opportunities. So while kids can have a great time growing up in Australia, they won't necessarily have a better, more successful life. I used to live in Sydney and loved it, but I would never, ever, EVER have considered moving to the outer suburbs. They are too depressing, and I'm not surprised you hate it. Would your oh consider moving to a livelier inner suburb, or perhaps up to the Blue Mountains where you can get fresh mornings and birds singing? If he resists, point out that you've given up an enormous amount and travelled thousands of kilometres for him, so the least he can do is move a few kilometres himself. I would say, do NOT buy a house until you're absolutely positive you want to stay. Your oh's business is already a tie that he can use as an excuse not to leave. If you buy a place, that will be another tie. Remember, when you buy a house, you have to pay stamp duty, conveyancing fees and mortgage application fees on top of the purchase price. If you decide, a year or two later, that you want to go home, then your oh will have the perfect excuse: "Oh, but if we sell now, we'll lose money. Let's just wait until the price goes up enough to cover our costs". They way the market is going, that could be a long time. If he won't talk about things, then please see a counsellor. Go by yourself at first. That's important because it's often hard to get through to your partner and make him understand how deep your feelings go. The fact that you're seeing a counsellor may be enough to make him take it seriously - and if not, then if you can persuade him to attend some counselling sessions, the counsellor can help you get a proper conversation happening instead of him shutting down on you.

Bulya, I'm like you - I prefer Australia. But I don't agree that it takes two years to decide whether you're going to like it or not. Some people have deep roots in their homeland. Australia could be a paradise and they still wouldn't be happy. It's just the way they're made.

I'm curious where you're seeing great housing in the Parramatta area. A large part of Sydney's population live around Parramatta, but it's because it's all they can afford, not because it's a nice place to live. It's very built-up (not much green space), and it's on the plain so it gets stinking hot in summer (up to 5 degrees hotter than the coast) and it's not as if you can get to the beach easily to cool off. Parts of Parramatta are nice but there are some pretty rough areas too. If your husband can tolerate an hour's commute then you'd be much more sensible to go south. You could look at Peakhurst, parts of Riverwood (some bits are dodgy). Oatley, Penshurst, Mortdale are all nice but may be too pricey.

All visas have a queue, but some countries are classed as "high risk' and applications from those countries take longer. Also sometimes people might be asked for additional information and that can hold them up.

I second that. The income sounds reasonable. However if you want a reasonable commute, you'll have to get used to the idea of a terrace house, not a detached one.

Which campus will he be working at? The main campus is in the inner city but some departments are in other parts of Sydney some distance away, so it's worth checking - fingers crossed he'll be based somewhere else! In general, the further South or West you go, the cheaper housing gets, so those are the directions to look at. Homely.com.au is a good resource for reviews of suburbs.

Obviously you'll be eligible for Medicare. You should apply for a Seniors Card. Once you've got that, you can get cheap travel on public transport. When you arrive, ring up Centrelink and ask for an appointment with a "Financial Information Services Officer". They will look into what you're entitled to in terms of pensions, health card, rebates etc.

Yup, that's what happens in winter