# Seeking Northern Ireland people/advice?



## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

Hi

we are a family of 5,and are seriously considering a move abroad.

We would welcome advice and help from anyone from Northern Ireland who has made the move and could offer advice/help.

Thankyou in advance

Gary Doherty


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

Hi Gary, 

I saw on the other thread where you said you'd need advice about all sorts of things. Have you check out the threads at the top of the forum? They have all sorts of information about how to move to Australia and are a great place to start. 

There are a few members moving to WA but not as many as some of the Eastern states. 

After reading those sticky posts if you have any specific questions let us know - and I'd be surprised if you don't have any...  

Regards,
Karen


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

Hi

I have found out that we could realistically gain a visa for South Austrailia.They need beauty therapists in that area and my wife is fully qualifed.

Do you have any contacts or even recommend a ggod job website to investigate this further?

thanks

Gary


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## kaz101 (Nov 29, 2007)

There are job website links the in 'PLEASE READ....' sticky post towards the top of the forum. 

Regards,
Karen


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

kaz101 said:


> There are job website links the in 'PLEASE READ....' sticky post towards the top of the forum.
> 
> Regards,
> Karen


Hi Karen

Took your advice and have contacted few employers on the Job websites,hopefully i get a positive response,

thanks

Gary


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## ellisa (Jul 3, 2008)

Hi Gary

I'm sure anyone on the forum will be able to offer help and advice!! you are in the same situation as ourselves, in the fact we know very little about oz etc, you will be fine asking anyone your queries! ellisa


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

ellisa said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> I'm sure anyone on the forum will be able to offer help and advice!! you are in the same situation as ourselves, in the fact we know very little about oz etc, you will be fine asking anyone your queries! ellisa


hI ellisa

Are you also looking into a similar move?How are you getting on?

Have you had any luck,we are looking into the possibility in moving to Adelaide

thanks

Gary


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## ellisa (Jul 3, 2008)

elizabeth28 said:


> hI ellisa
> 
> Are you also looking into a similar move?How are you getting on?
> 
> ...


Hi Gary, We got our visa in July and are moving to Brisbane in Jan 2010 ask away if you have questions at all! ellisa


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

ellisa said:


> Hi Gary, We got our visa in July and are moving to Brisbane in Jan 2010 ask away if you have questions at all! ellisa


Hi ellisa,
have you a job lined up?Also do you have a young family yourself?
Its a big move but with the way things are globally,what have you to loose.

The way we are looking at it,if we make the move and it doesnt work out,we come home.

That said thats not the way we are approaching it,if we go itll be to make it work.
Would you recommend your visa company ?

thanks
Gary


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## ellisa (Jul 3, 2008)

elizabeth28 said:


> Hi ellisa,
> have you a job lined up?Also do you have a young family yourself?
> Its a big move but with the way things are globally,what have you to loose.
> 
> ...


Hi Gary

I have got a job to go to in Brisbane (I am a midwife) and we can't wait to go now, although were still trying to sell the house!! Its my hubbie and 2 children ages 11 and 9 that are going! I have had enough now of the UK and i think my children will have a better life in Oz. If we don't like it in Brissie after giving it a good go, we will find a part of Australia that we do like, but i hope never to come back here to live.

We used Visa-Go Ltd and what more can i say other than fantastic, they were great and i highly recommend them to you. Have a look at their website and give Darren Chatt a call. They are Australian themselves and are based in Edinburgh. We did it all over the phone or via email. If you want to know more just ask and i'll see if i can help.

Cheers ellisa


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

ellisa said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> I have got a job to go to in Brisbane (I am a midwife) and we can't wait to go now, although were still trying to sell the house!! Its my hubbie and 2 children ages 11 and 9 that are going! I have had enough now of the UK and i think my children will have a better life in Oz. If we don't like it in Brissie after giving it a good go, we will find a part of Australia that we do like, but i hope never to come back here to live.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that.

Ill give your visa company a try then.We have been highly recommended to look at Adelaide,from visa perspective it is the most realsitice for us to achieve,i am estate & letting agent [not in great demand] and my wife is a beauty/massage therapist,which is in great demand in this particular area.I ve contacted a few job sites and hopefully we hear some positive back from them.

Good luck on your experience and i know what you mean about having enough of life in Uk,we are exactly the same,a new challenge needed for our family ,i have 3 kids,aged 13,8 & 2.

Hopefully we get things sorted

Cheers Gary


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## surhythms (Apr 8, 2008)

Hi Gary 

I am from Ireland too and we have just started the visa process for South Australia. I am a massage therapist and in order to get a visa you need to get your qualifications assessed. We are using an agent and I have to say without her I would have messed up big time with sending my details on. Any questions let me know id be glad to help!

Suzanne


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

surhythms said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> I am from Ireland too and we have just started the visa process for South Australia. I am a massage therapist and in order to get a visa you need to get your qualifications assessed. We are using an agent and I have to say without her I would have messed up big time with sending my details on. Any questions let me know id be glad to help!
> 
> Suzanne


hI Suzanne

Are you going to Adelaide? thats were the visa company we first taked to told us about,they said their was a high emand for massage therapists.

My wife is a fully qualified beauty therapist and her qualifications included massage treatments,full body etc etc.

I myself am an estate agent/letting agent,not in great demand!

Have you got a job lined up as we would go ahead immediately with the visa application but are frightened of having no job out their,if you know what i mean.Could you pass me the details of who you are using as your intented move is almost identical to what we are looking to do?

thanks very much

Gary


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## surhythms (Apr 8, 2008)

Hi Gary

We plan to go to Adelaide - I am applying for a Regional Sponsored visa - Our situation is a little bit different in that we arent married and dont have full defacto evidence as yet so we need to start going down the route of seperate applications but once we have "official" 12 months together we can either go on my application or Daves. Dave works in IT so he has to go down another route. 

It depends on your wifes quals. Is she ITEC qualified of CIBTAC or CIDESCO? She might still need to get these assessed as I know the quals in Oz are different. My quals are ITEC but my actual job is Office Manager which is on the Perm and Provisional list for SA. Its a bit strange the way they do it over there. What type of visa's are you applying for? 

I dont have a job lined up and will wait until I get over there. Visas sometimes take a while to come through and nobody knows exactly how long it will take. It depends on the type of visa etc. We are using Julie from Grace Migration. She is based in Dublin - gives loads of information and there is no pressure to go with her. We went in to meet her in her office for an hours consultation which set us back €25 - absolutely well worth it. Then we decided to use her. Julie knows her stuff and so far so good. Any other questions let me know!

Suzanne


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

surhythms said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> We plan to go to Adelaide - I am applying for a Regional Sponsored visa - Our situation is a little bit different in that we arent married and dont have full defacto evidence as yet so we need to start going down the route of seperate applications but once we have "official" 12 months together we can either go on my application or Daves. Dave works in IT so he has to go down another route.
> 
> ...



Hi Suzanne

After checking with my wife,she is CIBTAC qualified im told!
We too are applying for the regional sponsored visa were after 3 years we can apply for permanent visa.

Im told that the visa could be gained if qualifications etc are suitable within 9 mths more likely 6. 
Does Juilie's company have a branch in Northern Ireland that perhaps i could visit?

Because we do not have any great deal of money behind us it would be vital that a job be lined up for my wife,once we are their i too can look for work.

Apparently we are almost g/teed to get free education fr the kids as they know you will eventually gain a permanent visa

Have you tried to line up a job? Weve tried contacting a few employers through recommended job sites,but so far have had no response.This is the only area were we are nervous about.


thanks for help

Gary


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## surhythms (Apr 8, 2008)

Hi Gary 

If it is CIBTAC your wife will need to get her educational assessment done first then her vetassess - they are stages that you need to go through. Does your wife work as a beauty therapist? She would need to work more than 20 hrs per week in an occupation that is on the skills list for SA. Check out the South Australian Immigration website it will give you the list of skilled jobs specifically for SA. When you do a vestasses it is based on your qualifications - I think Julie could tell you more but unfortunately she doesnt have a place in NI. Might be an idea to email her and visit Dublin for the day!  I think the rest can be done through post and email. 

If you are getting Sponsored Regionally the SA government will need to see that you have funds behind you - either cash or assetts - it will give you a breakdown of what yuo need on the immigration SA website

You get free education for the kids in SA - I think its the only state that does it if you dont have a perm visa - good eh? I have one daughter 11 so Im delighted we dont have to pay for her education

I dont have a job lined up yet - Im going to go into the Expo in September - check out The Down Under Expo Opportunities in Australia & New Zealand to Emigrate, Working Holidays, Gap Years and Travel. - I think there is one on in Belfast aswell.


We are going on the basis that we wont get a job for 3-6 months anyway - Im not saying either of us wont - but we are saving like mental just in case!!! 

Any q's ye know where I am 

Cheers

Suzanne


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

surhythms said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> If it is CIBTAC your wife will need to get her educational assessment done first then her vetassess - they are stages that you need to go through. Does your wife work as a beauty therapist? She would need to work more than 20 hrs per week in an occupation that is on the skills list for SA. Check out the South Australian Immigration website it will give you the list of skilled jobs specifically for SA. When you do a vestasses it is based on your qualifications - I think Julie could tell you more but unfortunately she doesnt have a place in NI. Might be an idea to email her and visit Dublin for the day!  I think the rest can be done through post and email.
> 
> ...


Hi Suzanne

Yeah my wife works for my sister who has her own skin & beauty clinic.
Unfortunately i dont think we could give ourselves that long without a job as ive had to close my estate agency through lack of income,so were not in great postion finacially,that said we could save towards maybe 1 or 2 months without work,but id rather have work lined up first.
Ill def email your friend Julie,can you send me her email address,my wife and i will definately travel to Dublin and see her,id rather someone was looking after us/guiding us from over here,if you know what i mean,
Yeah its very good about the education,we just feel as a young couple and after 2 very stressful years with the biz etc,we want a totally differenet lifestyle,climate,people everything,be great for the family.My kids are 2,8 and 13,all young enough to adapt.
The expo sounds good ,maybe we could line a job up from that,if its in Belfast then great.
Sure when you have a min send me that email address,that would be great.
thanks again!!!!!!!!!!!

Gary


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## surhythms (Apr 8, 2008)

Hi Gary 

massage therapist is on the provisional visa subclass 475 list - for this your wife would have to have a minimum Diploma qualification to apply for this as the massage therapist is a 40 point job. Yeah its better to have worked lined up but the only thing is until your visa is granted most places wont line you up with a job unless you have permission to work in Australia and as your job is not on the Critical Skills List that might pose difficult. The only other way is if your wife gets an employer to sponsor her to work in Oz. I'd say your wife will pick up a massage job within a month of being there anyway. I guess its a risk that we are all taking 

The migration agents name is Julie from Grace Migration and her email address is [email protected]. I know she is away at the moment but she will be back on Monday. Agents are not cheap but you get what you pay for!! if you know what I mean!

We had a choice of 3 agents - 2 from Ireland and one from the UK. The UK one was very popular but like yourself I would prefer to deal with someone who I physically meet. It makes me feel alot more secure. Especially when handing over good earned money! The other Irish agent wouldnt meet us until we agreed to go with her. She was half the price but we decided to go with Grace Migration because of Julies professionalism, personal service, and you know the way us irish dont like to be pushed into doing anything....... I have had loads of contact with loads of agents and some of them will give you a sentence reply and then say somethng along the lines of.................... If you need any further assistance here is our fees etc etc............. It doesnt work with us over here im afraid.  

We want to get away to have a better quality life aswell - fingers crossed all goes well.

We are going to bring our CV's with us to the expo - ye never know!


Suzanne


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

surhythms said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> massage therapist is on the provisional visa subclass 475 list - for this your wife would have to have a minimum Diploma qualification to apply for this as the massage therapist is a 40 point job. Yeah its better to have worked lined up but the only thing is until your visa is granted most places wont line you up with a job unless you have permission to work in Australia and as your job is not on the Critical Skills List that might pose difficult. The only other way is if your wife gets an employer to sponsor her to work in Oz. I'd say your wife will pick up a massage job within a month of being there anyway. I guess its a risk that we are all taking
> 
> ...



Thanks for that Suzanne

I wander does my wife's qualification CIBTAC NVQ Levels 2 & 3 in Beauty therapy [were massage is a module] falls into the massage therapists category.Do you know?If it doesn,t we might be at a dead end as my career doesnt meet the required criteria unfortunately,

Thanks for the email address ill def make contact with her,yeah sounds like a good idea taking your cv to expo,bit of luck is all you need.

Ill def look into any Belfast expo's too.I never thought it'd be so complex,relocating!!!!!!!!!! 

We looked at America,Canada and found both impossible,what they were lookin for.Austrailia really appeals,i think a new life,perspective etc etc,would be a really good experience for any like minded family.

Best of luck,thanks again and again and again!

What you think of my wife's qualification ,acceptable as massage therapist???

cheers Gary

Gary


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## surhythms (Apr 8, 2008)

Hi Gary 

As far as I know your qualification doesnt have to be related to the job you will be applying for. For e.g my 3 diplomas are in massage , reflex and aromatherapy. I am applying under the list as office manager- as my work experience is relative to that job and it is on the demand list in SA. Once your wife has a diploma and it doesnt have to be in massage you can get assessed. The only thing is to make sure it is AQF equivalent. Check out www.aqf.ed.au and vetassess website aswell. You diploma doesnt have to be related to the job so hang on in there!!!. if you had a degree you could apply under General Manager surely?

Cheers

Suzanne


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## elizabeth28 (Aug 13, 2009)

surhythms said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> As far as I know your qualification doesnt have to be related to the job you will be applying for. For e.g my 3 diplomas are in massage , reflex and aromatherapy. I am applying under the list as office manager- as my work experience is relative to that job and it is on the demand list in SA. Once your wife has a diploma and it doesnt have to be in massage you can get assessed. The only thing is to make sure it is AQF equivalent. Check out www.aqf.ed.au and vetassess website aswell. You diploma doesnt have to be related to the job so hang on in there!!!. if you had a degree you could apply under General Manager surely?
> 
> ...


Hi Suzanne

Yeah i know what you mean.Though im wandering to be able to get in the first instance is my wifes qualification falling into the category that is needed in SA.I hope it is equivalent to Diploma standard,it took her 2 years to achieve.
Would Julie know the answers to this?Ill check that website you mention too .

I see what you mean about being able to apply for other jobs and not specically what you are qualified to do,i didnt realise that,that opens more avenues,we plan on my wife working the minimum that she has to ie 20 hrs and me possibly working the rest.We'll see.If i had made this decision at the height of the property boom,it woudlve been soo much easier,i mean i wouldn be putting such a big emphasises on lining up a job..
Ah well ,we'll deal with it now the best we can.

Thanks,it is good to hear from someone going to the same place with similar objectives

Gary


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## surhythms (Apr 8, 2008)

Hi Gary 

Did you have any luck with Julie?

Suzanne


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## stephenc (Jan 22, 2010)

Good luck in your decision Gary, its a tough one! I'm constantly seeing visitors to my self catering apartments in Belfast originally from here who really miss the province and come back as often as they can

They tell me that when they were home (before emigrating), everytime they passed a landmark, building or place they had some memories of it, but when they emigrated (to whereever it was) everything was new and there was nothing to trigger those memories

Good luck in your decision

Stephen


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## AngiW (May 18, 2010)

elizabeth28 said:


> hI ellisa
> 
> Are you also looking into a similar move?How are you getting on?
> 
> ...


Hi Gary
We're from Northern Ireland too and are literally right at the beginning of the process. We're planning on contacting the relevant professional bodies in Aus asap and in the hope of getting a positive response, then we'll begin the visa process. I'm a primary teacher and my husbands a construction project manager so we're both on the skills list but I think after using the visa wizard to calculate points I might be the main applicant. We have 4 kids and a dog too! one quick question- you're probably much further down the line regarding this process, but have you tackled it on your own or did you go through an agent? As far as I can tell there are none based in NI and I'd much rather deal with someone face to face. Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated! Thanks
Angi


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## AngiW (May 18, 2010)

surhythms said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> We plan to go to Adelaide - I am applying for a Regional Sponsored visa - Our situation is a little bit different in that we arent married and dont have full defacto evidence as yet so we need to start going down the route of seperate applications but once we have "official" 12 months together we can either go on my application or Daves. Dave works in IT so he has to go down another route.
> 
> ...


Hi Suzanne!
i'm new to all this and I was just reading some of the old threads when I came across yours! I've taken note of julie's email - thanks. Was just wondering how you go about getting state sponsorship. I'm a primary teacher and my husbands a construction project manager and we have 4 kids. We're right at the beginning of the process and intend to contact the relevant Aus professional bodies as soon as we organise ourselves. Did you go through your agent from the get go or did you use her from the middle of the visa process? these are probably really naive questions but we're nervous about the big move. We're both in ft employment but buildings sliding off the scale at the minute and we want a better quality of life for our kids. Cash flows also a bit of an issue at the minute. I guess everyone has the same objective! Didn't realise you have to pay for education either!! We're so green - we'd been thinking of Melbourne mostly because of the climate - my husband's a redhead. Wish I could fastforward through all the decision making and just arrive in australia Any help or advice would be MUCH appreciated! you must be there by now right? How's it going? Hope you've settled in!
Angi


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