Hi all,

I am from India, my husband is a system administrator(IT Sector), we just filed our papers to apply for ACS certification.

Our agent, AK Migration, told us it will take close to one year, so we are all prepared to wait that long.

I have been reading online about OZ forever now. Accidently i bumped into this site, and i must appreciate your effort to make things easier for those with a dream to move to a new place for a better life.

I have never been to australia, same goes for my husband.
I am 31 and my husband is 28, he fits in the skilled worker category and scores good enough to have a sure shot approval.I am writing so much to make sure i don't leave out on things that some of you would want to know about us.

i had certain things that have been bothering me, and i did not get that information anywhere on the net.
Thought, its best to ask from those who are more than willing to help.
Though we still have a long way to go before everything falls in place but these are the things that i wanted to know

1. What all should i carry with me and what all should i leave behind. Since we are allowed just 40KG per person, i plan to carry clothes, a few utensils, linen, curtains and shoes. Out of which i plan to clean my shoes before throwing them in the bags and getting the rest dry cleaned just to make sure we don't face any trouble after landing there. And i don't plan to ship things from here to OZ, its best i believe to buy them as and when u make enough from your earnings and start afresh. Why bother with the customs and the quarantine and all if you can make life easier by disposing here and buying again there.

2. I got gastric banding done about a year 3 months back, the result has been very good in terms of weight loss. i am down 40 kgs in just this much of time. What worries me is, what when i plan for an adjustment after i reach OZ. and how much would the doctors charge for it. Since i know Laparoscopic banding started off in OZ, i do not doubt the doctors but will the medical insurance people object looking at my state. i am perfectly fine and in no way has banding affected my day to day life. I just eat less and loose weight.

3. people told me that pressure cookers are way too expensive in OZ, so carry those with lots of fittings and fixtures, is that right? because carrying a pressure cooker would mean a kilo of weight added to my luggage.

4. I am still confused about the area that we wish to go to. I am from Delhi, and it has extreme weather. summers time it hits 44 degree and winter time it is as low as 4 degree. and i love winters more than anything else. so i would want to go to a place which is relatively cold/ pleasant and not so hot, since both me and my husband are winter born and we hate summer. (and mind it, delhi summers ranging up-to 44 degree).

5. My husband plans to go there one month before me, so that he can manage looking for a job and then i follow, is that the right thing to do or should we both come together. whichever is a better option in terms of money saving, we will do that.

6. i have some jewelry /shawls with me, we just got married on 8th Feb. 2008 and we have some stuff that i got form my parents. and being an Indian, these things have an emotional value attached, how safe is it to carry jewelry? and how should i do it? Should i carry some and leave the rest back home with mom or take it all with me with the fear of being robbed... i am confused.

7. How much money do you think we should carry with us to lead a comfortable one month while my husband looks for a job, and finally get one and waits for the salary which is post one month of starting to work.

8. My husband has some 4-5 suits. Is it advisable to carry them? I don't know what is the dressing culture there to work. If he has to be in formals, he would rather carry them since they are very new.

9. I am an advertising professional, running my own partnership firm for close to 7 years, what should i expect for myself from OZ in terms of job, I do not have any qualification in my profession and i would not have any papers except for a partnership deed to prove my work record. Should i carry client references? I do everything, form pitching for a client to taking a brief from them for design work, designing, copy-writing and finally print production(since we are only into print media). I am so confused about what i would be doing once we land there.
This is rather a long list of things to ask at one go, i would rest my queries for maybe the next post.

Cheers
anj