Emigrating to Perth

[Sunnywa]

Hi Karen

I dont think he is going to need any sort licencing etc. The best would be for Steve to send his resume off to various companies. Have a look at the Seek and Career one website.
Also perhaps send his resume off to companies like Veem Eng group , Galvin Engeneering and John Hart - They all have branches in perth and are large Engeneering Co. if you Google them , they will come up.

Regarding Freemantle, its beautiful, I am not sure of your budget, but Freemantle is quite an upmarket area now. I am sorry but I cannot help you with a recommendation of the "best" high school in or around Freemantle, I live North of the River.
Are you looking at sending your son to a Private school or to a State School?
And does he have any particular thing that he really enjoys ie art/drama /plays a musical instrument, soccer etc?
If I was in your position, I would be flexible regarding where you would like to settle, as perhaps your husband gets a job in Malaga , which is North of the River , then he would have to travel a little if he was based in Freo.?

Regarding the statuory declaration, speak to the migration agent when you see him regarding what he requires and the wording thereof.

I hope that this is of some assistance.
Cheers
Sunny

[BLM]

Hi Karen,

Perth is my home! You will LOVE it, especially Fremantle

I am currently applying for a visa for my partner so that we can move back there in a few years. Contact these people:

London Contact Centre
Migration Branch
Australian High Commission
Strand London WC2B 4LA

DIAC website: Department of Immigration and Citizenship
London website: home - Australian High Commission
Telephone Information Service: 09065 508 900

The info they sent me was this:

Entering Australia on an Appropriate Visa

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship specifies that non-Australian citizens travelling to Australia should enter Australia on an appropriate visa for their intended purpose of stay and length of stay.

Tourist visas and ETAs are for genuine visitors to Australia only. This means you should be intending to visit for a holiday only, not work during your stay and depart at the end of your trip. If a Customs official suspects that you are not a genuine visitor when you enter Australia then they may refuse you entry. If you are intending to move to Australia and live there permanently, you should be obtaining an appropriate visa before you go.

Partner Migration

To be eligible for Partner Migration you will need to be either married, living in a defacto or interdependent spouse relationship (minimum 12 months cohabitation in a spouse-like relationship) or engaged to be married (Prospective Spouse visa - must have a date set within 8 months of when you intend to enter Australia) to an Australian citizen or permanent resident.

There are a number of advantages in lodging a Partner Migration application in London:

1) The processing time at the London office is only 12 weeks whereas it may take over 6 months to be processed in Australia.
2) The application charge is significantly higher for applications lodged inside Australia than atthe London office.
3) People granted a Partner Migration Visa in the UK will have full work rights upon entry to Australia and should then be eligible to enrol in Medicare (please see Medicare Australia). If you arrive on a visitor visa and lodge your Partner visa application in Australia then you will have to wait until a decision is made on your application (6 months) before you can work or enrol in Medicare.

To lodge a Partner Migration application at the London office the fee is £655 and processing takes up to 12 weeks. You can pay using a credit/switch/debit card (put your card details at the back of your form and pay in £) or a banker's draft/cheque made out to the "Australian High Commission". We do not accept cash, personal cheques, Diner's Club, American Express or postal orders.

Please do not supply any original documents with your application, except for the forms and police records checks. Photocopies of official documents and evidence of the sponsor's income should be certified by an authorised person (see attachment on Certification). Relationship evidence can be just normal photocopies. If you wish to provide photos, then please include a couple of pages of colour photocopies with 4 photos per page.

Please do not use staples (except for the forms), plastic sleeves, paper clips, boxes, files, file dividers or sticky tabs. Just put your application in an envelope, post it using Special Delivery (recorded mail) and enclose another self-addressed Special Delivery envelope for the safe return of your documents.

The website advises clients not to provide a front-end loaded application (everything including health and character checks) as the information is for all of the countries of the world. The health and character checks are only valid for 12 months, and their validity determines the initial entry date required if a visa is granted. Some countries have long processing times so the website advises applicants to check with the processing office first.

As our office takes up to 12 weeks to process, you can go ahead and obtain your health and character checks before you lodge your application if you choose, or you can wait until you are asked to provide them.

You may be interviewed by a case officer and, if so, this is usually done over the telephone. Please see the attached documents for more information - you will need to click on the link and download information booklet 1 Partner Migration.

Please note:
- The advice you are given by the London Contact Centre will be based on the information you supply.
- We cannot advise clients on the likely outcome of any visa application, as applications are assessed on an individual merits basis.
- The Department of Immigration & Citizenship strongly recommends that clients do not make any irreversible travel bookings until they have been granted an appropriate visa.

[SGKG102]

Hi Sunny hope you are well.

Thank you so much for your response. You probably don't realise how helpful you are being to us. We are extremely grateful. That seems to be good news about Steve not needing a licence and your peovision of some suggested Engineering companies is fantastic thanks.

Thanks for your info on Freemantle. It would be our intention to rent for a while until we know exactly what is what with regard to the job front and what sort of mortgage we could obtain. I was wondering whether the Australian police employ civilians like the police over here do and what my chanses would be of getting employment within the Australian force bearing in mind that they have just introduced the computer system that we use over here.

With regard to High School my son Liam is 15 and will be 16 by the time we get to Australia. He wants to be a Formula 1 mechanic and has managed to secure a place at our local college for his first year however I don't think he will complete the first year over here now. As for my daughter Kayleigh she is 13 and wishes to be a Nursery Nurse. It would be our intention to send her to a state school as we probably won't be able to afford Private.

Thanks for the info on the Statutory Declaration. I have managed to find the wording required and have already drawn up the document for my ex husband's signature which he has confirmed he is more than willing to sign if it means giving Liam a better future. That was really good news as I thought I may have a problem there.

Steve has asked me to ask about spiders and snakes. How frequently do you get spiders in the house and what sort? Do you get the dreaded Redback and other dangerous ones? How often do you see snakes? I hate snakes with a passion and that is the only thing that worries me about living in Australia.

Everything you have told me has been of great assistance and once again thank you.

Regards

Karen

[SGKG102]

Hi BML (sorry don't have your name), hope you are well.

Thanks for your response I found it very imformative.

I have decided to apply for a Spouse Visa being as Steve and I have been married for 14 years I don't think we will have a problem. I can't believe that it only takes 12 weeks to process the application, how good is that? We have decided not to use an Agent as we feel that our application is quite straight forward compared to some and not only that it would cost us more than double for them to sort it out for us. Steve was born in Subiaco and his parents lived in Wembly. They have said it is lovely. What a shame you are waiting a few years to move back you must really miss it. Good luck with your application. I will keep you informed as to the progress of mine and provide you with any info that may be helpful to you later however things change all the time and who knows what it will be like making an application in a few years?

Thanks again

Karen

[BLM]

It's Bianca, and you are more than welcome! I am the biggest advocate for Perth, it is such a beautiful, safe, clean and fun place to bring up your kids and generally to enjoy life! I wish you and your family all the best.

We are moving to Dubai after 5 years in London, a great adventure for us! Perth property prices have gone through the roof so it's a money-making stoppover on the way home so that we can afford a house by the river

You will love Fremantle, it is divine. I am REALLY jealous!

[SGKG102]

Hi Bianca,

Gosh you are going on an adventure Australia via Dubai how very brave. Lots of luck with that. It's bad enough the process of what we are trying to achieve. It is so nice to be in touch with somone from Perth who knows first hand about it. Mind you having said that everyone who has responded to us have been really nice and extremely helpful thankfully as without this I would probably have had a nervous breakdown by now!

You said about the house prices in Perth, do you know if first time buyers can obtain a grant as I know they can in other states?

No need to be jealous you will be back in Perth before you know it and hopefully be able to look us up provided of course you keep in touch via this site otherwise you may not find us and provided of course we actually get there ourselves!

All the very best.

Karen

[kaz101]

Hi Karen,

The info for the FHOG (First time home owners grant) can be found here for WA:
Office of State Revenue

It looks as though at least one person in the household must be a permanent resident to apply for the grant.

We applied for this several months after we had moved in since we didn't know that we were allowed since we owned other property for investment. It turned out that as permanent residents, and since we'd never lived anywhere else we received the grant of A$7,000 (that's for South Australia). We didn't use an agent and it was fairly straightforward.

Regards,
Karen

[Sunnywa]

Hi Karen
Glad to help where we can.
Regarding the Police I am not to sure, I know that the WA Police did a huge recruitment drive International a few months back. Perhaps it is worth your while to contact them
Western Australia Police

For your son, it might be worth your while to contact the Motor Industries
Training Ass. of WA on the following website
The Motor Industry Training Asociation of Western Australia (Inc)
I know that they are bulding a new motor Industries training facility in Joondalup ( North of the River) close to the WA Police Training College

Regarding snakes and spiders...........red backs plenty, but they are found outside, they can bite your and as an adult it can give you a really bad nead ache, its not fatal to adult , but can be fatal to young children and the elderly. You just need to make sure that you hose your patio chairs and tables down and get rid of cobwebs. The Pest buster people can also spray to keep the spider population down.
Snakes, I have never seen snakes in my garden, yes occassionally if you are walking in /around the bush land in summer, nothing to be worried about.
Snakes are just as scared of us humans as we are of them!!!! Tell you husband he has nothing to worry about, if you dont mess with them, they wont mess with you.

[SGKG102]

Hi Karen we have just had some fantastic news. Steve has been invited to attend an interview at an expo at Australia House on the 15 March. Oh my god I can't believe it I really can't. How excited am I now. I have also today printed off the forms to apply for our police checks to be done. YIPEEEEEE just had to let you know.

Thank you so much for all your positive help and hopefully some time in the not too distant future we will both be sending these messages from AUSTRALIA.

Thank you soooooooo much

Kindest Regards

Karen & Steve

[SGKG102]

Hi there Sunny,

We have just had some fantastic news. Steve has been invited to attend an interview at an expo at Australia House on the 15 March. Oh my god I can't believe it I really can't. How excited am I now. I have also today printed off the forms to apply for our police checks to be done. YIPEEEEEE just had to let you know.

Thanks for the info on the Police. I will send them an e-mail and obtain some feedback. The info for Liam is also very helpful.

The Redbacks oh my gosh that is scarey are you sure you can't find them in your bed? Thanks for the very useful tip

Thank you so much for all your positive help and hopefully some time in the not too distant future we will both be sending these messages from AUSTRALIA.

Thank you soooooooo much

Kindest Regards