where to start?

hello,my wife and i and our 3 girls,have decided that we want to move to australia,i am a bricklayer and we have been seeing adverts for australia,with the headlines saying that the country is desperate for skiiled trades,and i was hoping to get some advice as to where to start.So far i have been on the australia immigration website,and applied for invitation to a skilled trade expostion,which is in london in march,and i am waiting for reply.So what really need is advice of what i should do first.Many thanks.

[kaz101]

Hi Pirate Willy,

Welcome to the forum.

Sounds like you've already started on the right track.
You've had a look at visas and are booked into an expo.

There is a "Please read..." sticky post towards the top of the forum that has other links that you may find useful.

Any idea of where you would like to settle in Australia?
Have you read any of the newspapers and magazines on moving to Australia?

Regards,
Karen

hello kaz, my wife has family in perth,so that might be a good place to start!! i love the look of the gold coast,being a surfer,i named my first daughter kirra!! but i would need to be where the work is,being a bricklayer, and the country is so vast!! but near the coast would be good!

[dixonclan]

Hi there thought i might give you a little help, My husband is also a bricklayer and we have 3 children and 1 is called Kiera (like yours) we went to a few meetings before we deceided on our agents and they have been fab doing everything and they sorted our visa in about 6 moths. As we have visa that allow us to go anywere we were unsure were we wanted to settle but after looking up some job sites brisbane looks like the area that bricklayers are most wanted. Wr are still not sure where we are going to live once out there as we have no one we know living in ozz but i think we will move into a holiday home for a few weeks and wait for our shipment of furniture and dog.
If you would like to know thw agent we went throught please feel free to post me a message. The agent fees were fairly cheap and we paid each months spreading the costs which helped lots. Hope i can help further please post thankyou

[Better-life]

Hi,

Just read your reply to pirate willy, I to have been looking at Brisbane my husband is a joiner by trade, but is now a building estimator. Were right at the start of the journey just trying to find a agent to get the ball rolling, can I ask who you used??? Thanks

Two areas in Brisbane that look really good if you have kids (I have 3) is North Lakes and Pacific Pines which has houses more reasonable

Debbie x

hello,dixonclan,better-life good to hear from you both,ive been wanting to emmigrate for years,but the kids were to young,but with the recession coming i think its time to leave,as for getting started all ive done is applied for the expo!! I was hoping for advice on where to go next, is there agents for the building trades only? and how much work is there in brisbane? im really not to fussy about where i live,but i do know that work here in the south west is coming to a virtual standstill,and that is very worrying.So i will have to travel any way!! what sort of money does it cost to star the ball rolling? many thanks.

[Better-life]

Hi....like you were going to an Expo in Leeds in April, and Ive been sending CV's to recruitment agencies and expressing interest to a few agents, trying to find a good one, I think by what I have looked into its going to cost around £2,500 to get an agent to do everything on your behalf, though, I do know of others that have been sponsored to move to OZ, after attending the Expo, then the company pays for everything, SO, fingers crossed that could happen!!!

How old are your children? We have Luke 6yrs and twin girls Lucy and Leah 3yrs, Luke is really excited, been showing him photos on the net etc...!

Debbie x

hello better-life,i have 3 girls,kirra is 7 named after a beach in new south wales,bethanies 5,kayleighs 2.so there at good ages to make the move,with out to much trouble,they think were joking at the moment!! but they will be up for permanant holiday no doubt!! will you be selling your house? and taking as much money as you can? or will you rent your house out? if you have 1?

[Better-life]

Not sure we have discussed it, and think we might rent our house out for the first 2 years, just to be on the safe side, would hate to come back (not that we will want to) and be able to afford a decent size house, Im from London but now live in Leeds (obviously cheaper), but house prices have gone up ALOT, but like you mentioned earlier, its not very stable here anyway....so, don't really know what to do!!!! But I have been looking at houses on realestate and its amazing what you you can get....so may just sell up and live like celebrity LOL!!! What about you, do you know what your going to do??

yeah will probably sale up!! and go for it!! other wise it will be to easy to run home!! but the thought of coming back to england should be enough to put us off anyways once were out!! so are you hunting for a agent now?