# Moving to Brisbane very excited.



## nicmeg

Hi everyone my husband and I and 3 children are moving to Brisbane between July-Aug this year. We are all very excited about the move. Any advice on area to live, schools etc. My Husband will be working for Komatsu in Brisbane. Any advice will be very much appreciated.
Thank you.


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## BHesford

Hello, Congratulations on getting your move to Brisbane. 
Sorry I cannot give you any professional info on your move, but I was hoping you could help us :-/...we are too wanting to emigrate to Australia, Gold Coast to be exact. We are just wondering what the very first step was for you? We have no family out there although my fiancee has friends out there. We also have 3 children aged 4,2+2. We have booked onto an Australian seminar which apparently have Aus employers wanting to recruit. Have you ever heard of these, or know if they are any good?

Also how long has it taken to get your permanent visa?


Thankyou


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## nicmeg

My husband (Neil) is a mechanic and we are going over on a 457 company sponsored visa (temporary 4 years). The steps we took were kind of determined by the type of visa we went for. Neil put his CV out to loads of recruitment agencies and direct to job advertisements in the hope of someone showing an interest. He attended lots of EXPOs and seminars (Belfast, London, Manchester, Aberdeen, Farnborough), they were definately worth it. Go prepared to the EXPOs, do the research on who will be there and what trades they are looking for - it saves you time. Neil started the whole process around summer last year, with a target of summer this year. Its worked out pretty well, but there is a lot of research to do along the way. Some good websites out there as well - they will give you lots of info on seminars, expo, visas, schools, jobs, Skilled Occupation List (SOL), anything you can think of really! Look at the SOL to see if your trade is wanted, this will open doors for a company sponsored visa. There are a whole raft of other types of visa and the process changes as at July this year (moves to an expression of interest, from which you would be selected). The websites gives you much more detail and you pick it up as you go along. There are other requirements depending on the visa type you go for to gain enough 'points' (e.g. IELTS - english language, skills assessment, medical, police checks, govt sponsorship). We aim to gain permanent residency during our time there, this is a whole other process with more abbreviations and paperwork. Oh, one more thing, if you use a migration agent make sure they are registered - info on websites.

Good luck


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## brian_84

*Hi!*

Hi there!
Congrats on your moving!
Welcome to the forum.
Cheers!


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## BHesford

Thankyou So much for your reply, you have been most helpful with information. We will check out some more seminars also. Fingers crossed for you getting permanent residency. 
Hope all goes well for you  Take Care


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## emkate6

Congratulations!

I have lived in Brisbane my whole life (Redland City - close to the bay) so I may be biassed when I say that you are moving to a beautiful part of Australia! Be prepared for amazing weather, a relaxed lifestyle and PLENTY of fun things to do with the family.

Where in Brisbane is your husband's work? If you let me know a suburb or general area - south side, north side, bayside etc. I will provide you with what I know and links to relevant information. I have been a school teacher for the past 9 years and have worked in a number of public schools on the south side (some of which I can recommend, others which I can strongly advise you to avoid ). 

As the mum of a 12 year old boy, I can also say that Brisbane is a fantastic place to bring up kids! I know of families (through teaching) who have come from the UK and have formed playgroups/mother's groups in my local area to get together with other UK mums which may help with feelings of homesickness or just support for moving to a new country.

If you give me more detail about what type of area you would like to live (what facilities or services would you like close by? Do you want to live near the bay or the river or close to the city?), I can suggest some suburbs for you to research too.

Good luck with planning the move! I hope you love living in Brisbane as much as I do!


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## nicmeg

Thank you emkate6, we are very excited. We have been looking at a couple of suburbs southside, but am waiting on confirmation on which site my husband will be working. I will be in touch for some advice as soon as we know. My oldest is 5 so she will be at school and I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old so your advice and knowledge will be much appreciated once we get some more information

Thank you,


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## AIT

So exciting!!! 

I hope your children are excited about the new adventure as well. 

I will be passing through Brisbane next week as I get to Perth for a visit. Wish I had more time to leave the airport and explore the city a bit. No such luck on this trip!

Good luck to you and your family!!!


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## nicmeg

Hi emkate6, we will be moving in just over a week, so will be in touch soon to get some advice on the schooling. just wondering my daughter has just completed her first year in school (P1) she will be 6 in october. Does this mean that mean that when when starts school she will start in the first year again or will her first year of school start in January and start in pre-school. 
Many thanks for your help.


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## Paradise

I must agree with emkate6, Brissy is a beautiful city to live. There's much to do for young families & for young professionals.

Cost of living is a little expensive compared to other cities in the world, but is offset by great weather & lifestyle.

Here's a link that might give you a snapshot of Brisbane & lifestyle here.

It's a government website, so is safe to view.

www.brisbane.qld.gov.au

Goodluck with your pathway to permanent residency.


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## jackthelad

*can i please join the thread*

also moving to Brisbane with wife and child. Am just starting the homework! I will have a job (its a company transfer), but wife will not.

Could really use some advice on areas and schools too...

Am quite nervous of it. We are a mixed family (wife is Chinese) and I've heard reports of Aussie being a bit more racist than NZ, in places... just wondered what people thought of that comment (huge generalisation I know, but my research into Brisbane so far has found that different ethnicities seem to live in their own areas which doesn't sound healthy?)

Thanks heaps for any feedback also...


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## chicken999

I don't think we are racist at all we really have a melting pot here in brissie. The only thing we don't like is if a newbie doesn't try to learn English. There are some districts that certain nationalities congregate at for some reason. Asians all seem o like sunny bank. Kiwis and Tongans like woodridge. I recommend u stay away from the rough areas although cheap they cam be more racist. Logan area aka woodridge and inala for example. I live north side which I think is second only to the bay/wynnum areas. But because Brisbane is huge u are best to pick ur suburb to live closest to work. I work cbd so I picked alderley to live as its a quick 15 min commute on the train to work. Also consider the public transport routes to ur work if u are not driving. Don't try to drive across the city in peak hour to get to work I,e, don't live southside and work north side or ur commute by cars will be hours long. We have ferry, bus train. Check our translink.com.au for all the routes and whereis.com.au is handy too. Welcome all newbies to Brisvegas as us locals call it sometimes lol

Sent from my iPad using Australia


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## vemma4success

Hey welcome to the forums! I can not give you exact areas to target but I know Brisbane is an amazing area. Weclome to the forums and I hopeto chat with you more soon


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