ali

Welcome - ask away-

You may get smaller classes in private schools

Not WA, our borders were supposed to open on Feb 5th and they're not. We also have mandatory triple vaccination for health workers.

Hi and welcome. Congratulations on your girlfriends job offer. The visa's don't open on Feb 5th, that is when WA is supposed to open it's borders (having said that, the premier and recently closed state borders again) and it's not certain yet how this will work. You will need to apply for a Tax File Number when you get here Australia Tax File Number (aus-taxnumber.com) Your status for applying for a mortgage may depend on the visa you are on and if it's temporary or not. We applied and got a mortgage within 2 weeks of landing (had a big deposit) but we had permanent residency and permanent jobs. It's not impossible to get one, but some lenders may not - it may be worth speaking to a mortgage broker. Citizenship again depends on the visa you are on. If it's a PR visa then you can apply in 4 years providing you have met the residency requirements of not leaving the country in that four years for more than a set amount of days (sorry can't recall off hand what that is). We have dual nationality but TBH it doesn't make any difference to us - we've allowed our British passports to expire and just travel on our Australian ones. As an Aussie Citizen you have to leave/enter this country on it anyway. Suburbs - it's always a difficult one as everyone is different. I love my suburb (Leeming) which has always had a strong community feel and been great when my children were growing up with a number of well regarded primary schools in the area.

Does your suburb have a local directory? Might be worth trying someone local

Were you an Australian Citizen when your sons were born? If so, it may be that you can apply for visa's as citizen by decent (you'll need to look into that). We live nearer to the city so unable to comment about living around the areas you've suggested. Private schools tend to have looser boundaries than public schools for catchment but they may also have waiting lists depending on how popular or prestigious it is. Worth contacting them and seeing how the land lies. By chance that you do need to have medicals for the children - it may be worth gathering 'official' evidence about how functional your eldest is so that these can be submitted at the time of the medical.

It's been a long time since my children were at primary school, my friend is a teaching assistant but works between two classes so there isn't always another person present who can give 1:1 time to a child. Some public schools have catchment areas so you'd be best doing a google search of schools in the areas you're interested in and and contacting the schools directly to find out what they offer/how they can meet your requiremnts.

Ate recently (for our Anniversary) at Prago in Floreat. Meal was excellent, it says Italian but is more Mediterranean/European. Fine dining portions and they offer paired wines. We had the 3 course set menu (with choices) for $68 each (although I paid $5 for the fish) and $24 (something) for the paired wine - I got a rose, chardonnay and dessert wine with the food i'd ordered. My daughter had given us a Restaurant choice gift card which was accepted here. Certainly worth a visit.

Not been to Ruby's - it closes early and working full time I don't get there

Where is 6 willows?

I'd booked a table at Baltazhar but had to cancel due to the most recent lockdown. Going to Seven Sins next month in Roleystone (used to be Roleys on the ridge), it's got good reviews.

I think they're the same owners who had the Roxby

I like the older suburbs

As Rossmoyne says there are lots of private schools in Perth but private doesn't always mean better from a results point of view. I would always suggest looking around the school and seeing if it will meet the needs of your child - I've known families start off in private and move to public and visa versa because their children weren't happy/thriving. Primary schools are really much of a muchness

Have you tried contacting the maritime museum? They may be able to point you in the right direction

Which visa are you looking at? I didn't see Graphic designer on the skills list for a 190 or the 491 but I may have missed it. If you can get a visa then I certainly think it's worth considering but there are a few buts ... not everyone finds the migration journey a successful one and both you and your partner need to both be really up for it, following the other partners dream has sometimes not been enough for people to want to stay. The process is a long one if you add on doing the skills assessment etc. Application grants seem to have been taken much longer due to covid. Whilst the WA economy is doing better than most the unemployment rate is still 6.2% and many businesses were and still are effected by Covid. That said, if you're both up for it then it's a great place to live.

What is is you do now Joe? Is that on any of the lists and something you could get more qualifications for?

Hi and welcome to the forum, Having family here doesn't mean much these days i'm afraid, your first thing will be to see if your (or your wifes) occupations are on any on the skilled lists and if they are to see which body does the skills assessment. You will need a mixture of qualifications and experience (the assessing authority will set out what those are). Unfortunately, the lists change all the time and even things like nursing have been identified as 'under review' and potentially could come off the lists (unheard of a few years ago), so my advice would be if choosing a different career path, to choose something that you'd be happy doing even if you don't get to move to Australia.

Where are they moving to - Perth Metro is a very big place?

Lol, I think that's the main reason why a lot of people don't want to consider changing the date

Hope you had a good day. We're all for moving the day - my suggestion is 21st May as this is when Aboriginals were able to vote.

Not sure .. but how about applying for jobs - have a look at jobs WA and in your cover letter say you require nomination.

The universities are excellent in Perth and it does depend on what you want to do as to which one you end up going to. UWA is still considered the more elite (and harder to get into), not sure of it's placing now but was in the top 100 world universities. When my daughter went there you needed a minimum ATAR of 80 for any course and an ATAR of 99 for medicine. Curtin has an excellent reputation particularly for engineering (my daughters friend went there), Murdoch has an exceptional vet program (think the ATAR for that might also be in the 90's). There's also Edith Cowen and Notre Dame. One of the reasons my daughter chose UWA was that it offered European Languages I haven't heard that most students go interstate, some do, but I don't think it's the majority. My daughters friend did her BA at UWA, Masters in Canberra and Phd in Germany .. it sometimes depends where your course/qualification leads you. There is also a large proportion of international students come to WA universities

Where do you live? Have a look on Football west's website. Most clubs will have armatures and socials. https://footballwest.com.au/club-finder/

Not used any hamper companies - are you thinking of gift items or more necessities? Gift type - Myers will probably have them and also Target do them. Alternatively, you could get them stuff from coles/woolies and have it delivered. I do find with christmas hampers though, that I end up with stuff sitting in the cupboard that we never eat.