Planning emigration - what did you wish you'd known?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My husband is Australian, I’m British, our daughters (6 and 1 1/2) have dual citizenship. We live at the moment in the UK, but the plan has always been to go (back) to Oz, and since I was officially orphaned in February, it looks like the time is now. We’ve decided that, come what may, we’ll be gone early August 2013 at the very latest. Actually, as of news he got this morning, he may be transferring with work by January 1st. That’s a side issue, really though, since we’re going in any case, and there’s no way I’ll be ready by January.

I have a project plan - I’m a really disorganised person, good at big plans but not at the detail, so I have to do it this way or it’ll never happen at all. I’m hoping that includes most of what I need to do at this end: arranging shipping of our goods ‘n’ chattels, selling the house, quarantining the dog. At the other end we’ll either be staying with my father-in-law till we find something to rent, or my husband will find us something if he’s there first.

For background, this is it for us - we’re sellling up and moving out. I’ve been to Australia many times as a visitor/relative, and I’m very happy at the move, but even so I recognise that it isn’t necessarily going to be plain sailing. His family is all there, but he’s been in the UK for 13 years so his friends are here. All my friends and my brother who is my only remaining family are here. I’ll be applying for a spousal visa, probably using an immigration agent who I’ve already spoken to (although not yet contracted). I have medicated high blood pressure which the agent has said should not be a problem in my case. If my husband does get a transfer, our organisation has an excellent relocation package, which will take a lot of the financial pressure (and some of the practical stuff) off us, but I want to be as prepared as I can and the transfer still may not happen.

What I’m after from the good dopers, though, is experiences from anyone who’s done this. It doesn’t have to be UK - Aus, of course, any emigration will do. If you’ve done something similar, what did you do well? what did you forget? what do you wish someone had reminded you to do? I’m sure I’m missing things, both practical and emotional. Thanks in advance!

2

My advice would be to look into doing the paperwork and filing yourself, applying through lawyers or agents is often a total waste of money unless you have a very unusual or complicated case. Often everything is dead simple, about the only benefit lawyers or agencies can offer is specific experience(if they even have it) with specific countries or embassies. Like knowing that a certain one is unusually strict or etc.

Seriously it is probably easier than you imagine.

3

  1. You do not need to ship nearly as much as you might initially be thinking. If your husband’s work will pay for shipping as a part of relocation then that’s great. Otherwise there is really no need to ship it all. Sell stuff or give it to charity. There really are stores in Oz that sell anything and everything you will need.

  2. Organize your financial paperwork before the move. This includes banks and investment accounts; insurance documents (such as proof of continued motor insurance coverage for getting a discount); decide where to maintain a UK bank account for moving funds back and forth if you will still have financial interests in the UK.

  3. Get copies of relevant medical records including vaccination records for your kids.

  4. Prepare yourself to potentially be out of work for a period of time. Not sure how the Oz immigration system works but you might get a spousal visa before you are cleared to take up employment there. Have something in mind to take up the time in the interim.

4

Except that things are much more expensive in Australia and we don’t have the range and often the quality that is available in the UK. Having your familiar things around you make settling into a new home easier.

I’ve worked with helping people move UK-Aust … if your husband’s company is organising it then you’ll find they will do a huge amount of the work. We organised houses to be packed up, cars to be sold/bought, school visits etc.

Of course there are some things that should be left behind - if you’re bringing your dog/cat the cost to put animal beds etc through quarantine is ridiculous and we do have those here for less than that cost!!

I’d consider school timing for moving your children as a priority - starting a new school year with the rest of the kids is much easier than arriving half way through the year (and our school year begins in February).

Because you have children you will find new friends much more easily as you wont be isolated in your house, use your hobbies to expand your social circle.

5

Thanks for this, all - in particular it hadn’t crossed my mind about the dog bed, and I know that the quicker we can get our stuff through quarantine, the better generally. I’m spending some time lurking on ex-pat boards, so I’m hoping to get a firmer idea of what I should leave and what I should take, from there.

Any other advice greatly received :slight_smile:

6

We just had the man from Pickfords to quote on shipping our house contents from the UK to NZ (returning back after 11 years). Our house hasn’t sold yet, but my wife is going back to live with family shortly (we have a family wedding in December and another planned for April - I will travel for the first and return to sell the house, and hopefully be in NZ for the second).

There are things it is not worth taking, even if we have space (currently looking at about 85% of a 20ft container). Our nice Cadac BBQ is a no-no. Cleaning all my tools will be a major task (the dishwasher will help, but not for power tools) - they may have to be inspected at the other end, NZD200 per box. We are not taking any of the older Ikea cabinets, just the really nice furniture - we do have some stuff already in NZ with family and from family in storage, and some of our UK stuff is not worth it.

Itemise everything, and price in destination currency (for insurance purposes). Look at your shipping insurance closely - some is new replacement and some is current condition replacement, which makes a difference.

Be ruthless, get rid of things you don’t use. We travelled to the UK in 2001 with 2 kids (8 and 9), 80kg of stuff (including 2 guitars) on the plane and a single shipped tea-chest. After 2 years we went back, emptied a storage locker and shipped another tea-chest. Now we are returning with a 20footer and no kids. :smack:

Si