Dilemma

[ijbrown]

Hi,

Has anyone moved over to Oz leaving there partner and children behind, to follow later.

I have a face to face interview in Australia next month after having a telephone interview last week.

I would be going on a 457 visa, and go for PR on an ENS after 2 years.

The plan was for me to go out there for the first few months and then my wife and kids to move out, however I am now a little concerned about the current climate with all the news on redundancies, and being on a 457 visa if something happened then I would need to get another sponsor or leave within 28 days.

My wife has a good job over here earning good money so I would not really want her to give that up to move over and for it to all go pear shaped, if we did have to come back.

The dilemma I have is should I just put the whole thing on hold and wait for things to improve or move over there and my wife follow out once I have really got my feet under the table with this company, as 12 – 18 months. I don’t know how I would cope not seeing them all the time.

My children are 6 and 2, and I don’t think that I could stand to be away from them for that long. However this is a once in a lifetime chance for us to get out there.

I have thought that my mum would bring the kids out during the half term so I could see them for the 6 weeks in the summer and also at Christmas, plus with the internet and video calls I could chat to them on that.

Also anyone know how much a good broadband connection per month would be in OZ and also a Blackberry Mobile Phone tariff.

[SOMV]

Hello,

I am not sure about how it would feel to leave your children behind, but I have had a client do exactly what you described in the past, and it worked out really well for him and his family: The wife and child had to stay behind while a custody issue was being sorted out, but the husband had to go out to begin his job.

In the end I think it proved to be a much better solution: it seemed much less stressful because by the time the wife and child arrived, the husband was familiar with the every day run of things, he had sorted out the most important things (like the internet etc) and it was just a much more stress free experience for the wife and child.

As for job security, don't forget that your employer has some very serious obligations to meet, and has to pay the cost of your return flights etc. if things do not work out, so I am sure that they will think more than twice about letting someone who they have just sponsored go.

As for the internet, this may be useful:
Internet Access in Australia - Aussiemove.com

Best of luck,
Veronika