Relocating to Australia?

Q: Hi, my partner and I and seriously considering a migration from the UK to Sydney, Aus. My partner is at Nottingham University and can exchange to a Sydney based University quite easily. I however am a Recruitment Consultant, very experienced but with no academic background. My question is, how hard will I find it to relocate? Typically how much is a house in Australia and what size can you get for your money? Is there any advice on where to start this process? Thanks, Anthony

A: If your partner is an academic and can easily change to a Sydney university, you probably won't have too much trouble obtaining a visa with a job offer in hand. You will be able to qualify on the same visa as a spouse or interdependent partner (if your relationship can be proven to be a long standing one) even though your own skills don't qualify. Once you get here, your experience will probably get you a job quickly even without academic qualifications. Work is plentiful in Sydney. Sydney is our most expensive city for housing and you'll get less house for your money than anywhere else in Australia. You can expect to pay at least $600,000 (possibly more) for a house and it won't be in a near city suburb, but Australian houses are generally fairly large and are usually on their own block of land around 600 sq.m. Check out some of the real estate listings for Sydney suburbs: http://www.realestate.com.au/cgi-bin/rsearch?s=nsw&t=res&snf=rbs&a=sf http://www.domain.com.au/ You first move should be to investigate which university would be best for your partner to exchange to. That will then give you an idea of where you should be looking for property. Australian cities have lower population densities than those in the UK and Sydney covers a huge area - probably much larger than Nottingham and you won't want to be driving miles across town in Sydney's traffic. You then need to apply for a work visa which may take 12 months or more to be granted. Check out the Australian immigration website for all info. on work visas, bringing a spouse/interdependent partner, costs, other requirements and how to apply: http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/index.htm

Related items