Marisawright

What would you like to know? How old is the dependent sibling?

To get detailed advice, you'll need to have a proper consultation with a reputable migration agent. I suggest pinoyau.com or ozimmigration.com However, if you've been reading articles telling you that studying in Australia can lead to a permanent visa, you've been reading a misleading article posted by unscrupulous agencies, trying to recruit students for Australian colleges (for which they collect a fat fee). If you come to study in Australia, you will pay full international fees, and you'd only be allowed to work for 20 hours a week. There's no guarantee you'll be eligible to apply for a visa at the end of it. In general, it will be a lot easier and cheaper to get a qualification at home and then apply to migrate.

I'm surprised at your story, because it's so unusual that your Australian doctor didn't refer you to a specialist. Most Aussie doctors are very quick to refer to specialists, some say too quick. In hindsight, it sounds like you should have sought a second opinion yourself, rather than persevering with a doctor that wasn't helping. However, that's water under the bridge and I doubt you would have much luck pursuing a negligence claim. You're right, emigration is very expensive. You can't afford to do it again, so I suggest making up your mind to enjoy everything the UK has to offer. It doesn't matter one jot where your daughter was born! When she's grown up, she'll have the bonus of two passports and can go where she likes. For now, she can have just as bright a future in the UK as in Australia. Just take a look at some of the stories here on the forums - there are many families who went back to the UK for one reason or another, and are just as happy if not more than they were in Australia.

A week is not nearly long enough. Most people book into a holiday let , caravan park or Airbnb for a month when they first arrive. We we’re lucky and found a place to rent in our second week, but then it took another week and a half before we could get the keys. Houses are often only open for inspections on the weekend, and it will take at least a week to go through the admin processes before you can occupy.

The Hunter Valley has its good areas and bad areas, like everywhere. The nice thing is that there's lots of wineries! I would probably look to live between Muswellbrook and Newcastle (the nearest big city). It means you'll be handier for the big shopping centres and the beaches. t's a whlie since I've been there but I think Singleton would be worth looking at (about half an hour's drive from Muswellbrook). Look at the suburb reviews on Homely.com.au https://www.homely.com.au/muswellbrook-muswellbrook-hunter-new-south-wales ( a note about the reviews: "bogans" is Australian for "chav")

Is there a reason why you''re not applying for your partner visa right now? If you apply in the UK, processing times are faster than if you apply in Australia. If you apply now, you'll be 8 months ahead of the game. I'm pretty sure you could still apply for a WHV when you're ready to move to Australia. When the partner visa arrives it will cancel the WHV. But I think you'd be wise to engage an agent, because your evidence sounds a bit sketchy (through no fault of your own), so it will be vital to present it in the best possible light. An agent will know how to do that, and will also advise on the best combo of visas. to smooth your transition. Make sure they are a MARA registered migration agent.

If you can manage to be legally resident in Australia for 10 years before retirement age, then you'll both be entitled to the full Australian state pension. However, it is means tested, which means you don't get it if you've got enough assets to live on. In practice, if you have a partial police pension, a partial UK state pension, superannuation and savings, you may never qualify for much of the Australian state pension - but it's good to have it as a safety belt if you live to 100 and the money runs out.

In that case, that's much better than superannuation. Superannuation lasts as long as you take to spend it - if the money runs out before you do, you have to rely on the Aussie state pension.

I thought that was illegal, or is that only for the temp visas?

Even if he transfers to a new employer, there's no guarantee they will want to sponsor him either. The employer doesn't have to sponsor for the 186, they are entitled to say no.

That's 20 years of contributions. I'm sure there are calculators somewhere that would let you work out the figure. How does the police pension work? Is he guaranteed a certain amount of pension till the day he dies, even if he retires at 56? If so, then maybe staying in the UK is worth considering. Superannuation doesn't pay you a set pension. When you retire you've got a pot of money sitting in your superannuation fund, and it's up to you to work out how to make it last until you die. If you give yourself too generous a monthly pension and the money runs out, too bad!

Apply for your UK passport and off you go. Jusr be aware you won’t get your Australian govt pension but your superannuation will be fine

That's what surprised me about the people I've met. One woman said to me, "I wish I'd realised there is more to life than grandchildren". She's a lovely outgoing person who does lots of activities, but I get the impression she and her husband moved to Australia thinking, "I must be near the grandkids, I must be near the grandkids, I must be near the grandkids" with no thought about whether Australia would suit them. They have private pensions but even so, they can't afford to live close to their daughter (in Sydney) and are two hours away up the coast. She's working hard to make the best of it, now it's done, but if she could have her time again she wouldn't make the move. So yes, I do think some people live their lives through their children and grandchildren and they are the ones who make possibly unwise decisions to uproot their lives.

Interesting. I was aware of the citizenship requirement for Federal jobs and I have worked in places where they wanted people with permanent visas - but what that really meant was, they wouldn't hire people on WHV or 457 or bridging visas, i.e. people who would probably have to go home. Funny that state governments won't take a Provisional visa holder when they offer Provisional visas themselves (489)!

We are talking about the 804 visa. There are no contributory options in the 804 visa, those are completely different visas. Here is an article from 2015 which states the queue had gone up to 30 years: https://migrationalliance.com.au/immigration-daily-news/entry/2015-07-30-year-wait-for-parent-visa-damages-australia-s-international-standing.html Here is another quote from 2016: "There are approximately 40 thousand parents on the lower cost visa waiting list for the slower non-contributory visas. With only 1500 visa places offered this financial year, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection says applicants can expect a 30 year wait before visa grant consideration." https://www.sbs.com.au/radio/article/2016/06/02/settlement-guide-parent-visas-cost-time-and-money Finally here is an article from 2018, showing that the figure of 30 years is becoming remarkably consistent: https://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/korean/en/article/2018/05/01/parent-visa-hopes-crushed-australia-demands-sponsors-earn-more As a professional migration agent, I'd expect you to be aware of these facts.

Andrew just replied that he won't have the option, police pensions can't be transferred so he'll have to leave it whether he likes it or not!

With two dogs, you will likely have to take what you can get. Real estate agents in Australia are reluctant to take even one dog, let alone two.

No, your family can't sponsor you. If you find an employer sponsor, it'll be for a temporary visa only, for 2 or 4 years and then you go home. Sometimes it's possible to apply for a permanent visa after you've completed the temporary contract, but that's becoming harder and harder to achieve. I certainly wouldn't recommend attempting that route with young children, because it becomes very expensive, and disruptive to your children's education, if it doesn't work out. You can apply for a 189 Skilled Visa but you'll need to check whether your husband can get enough points. The minimum is 65 to be eligible, but that's probably not enough to get a visa. Immigration picks applicants with the highest points first. So let's say your husband can only get 65 points. If there are applications in the queue with 70 points, they'll get accepted first. And as new applications are getting added to the queue every day, new applicants with 70 points will keep leapfrogging him and he'll never get anywhere. So working out your points is important as it hugely affects your chances of getting a visa. State sponsorship is a possibility but that doesn't mean they offer you a job, or pay your expenses. It just means you promise to work in that state for several years. Usually, you don't need as many points to get a state-sponsored visa and that's the only attraction. Your best bet would be to consult a MARA registered agent as the whole process is pretty complicated these days.

Homely.com.au

AFAIK the reason is that too many people have abused the "moral obligation" of the 190 so the states are less keen on them.

There's nothing to stop you going for a holiday before the visa is granted, but you can't move permanently until the visa is granted. Once the visa is granted, you have to "activate" it. That means you have to enter Australia. You don't have to stay, you just have to arrive. If you don't enter Australia by a certain date (which they give you), you lose the visa. That's why you may have heard of people making an "activation" visit because they've been granted their visa, but they want to delay moving because kids have to finish school or whatever.

It's a very tough road and it's only going to get worse, so I wouldn't bank on being able to get a Parent visa. The processing time for the Non-Contributory Visa is 30 years (in other words, never!). The processing time for the Contributory Visa is 5-6 years and I think the fees are around $100,000. I'm sure there are parents who make the move and love it, but I've also met a few in real life and none of them were entirely happy. Because they'd had to stump up such a high fee, they couldn't afford such a nice home in Australia as they had in the UK, and they had to be very conscious of their budget because of their frozen pension. They had to throw out a lot of their treasured possessions. They were glad to be in Australia to see their grandkids - but that was only once a week, and the rest of the week they had to live in their cramped flat, watching their pennies and missing their friends. For that reason, I'd say please don't push them to get the parent visa, or assume they will want to go. It's a big step to throw away a lifetime of memories and friendship and move to a foreign country in your old age.

I think that's the reason only those two get recommended, because finding a tax advisor who has genuine knowledge of both systems is difficult.

Do you think so? I don't think most employers would be worried if he had a 309 visa. I know it's temporary, but if the employer knows he's been married for some time with a child, they can feel pretty confident he'll transition smoothly to the 100 and they won't be worried about it.

I think that's because gas isn't nearly as popular in Australia, so there's a lot less demand. It's very hard to get a job from overseas so I wouldn't even bother trying. Think about it - if an employer has a vacancy now, why would they wait months and months, with no idea when you might get your visa? It's not like 20 years ago when they were so desperate for staff, they'd be hanging out for you to arrive - they'll just hire someone local. Unemployment rates are about the same in Australia now as in the UK, there are local people available to do the job.