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Cape Town to Auckland and now Sydney


El&Reynier

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HI Everybody

I am new to this forum and know absolutely nothing about the process we're about to embark on. My husband and I left Cape Town for Christchurch, New Zealand at the end of 2008. We could not get work down in the South Island (being the global financial crisis and all!) so moved up to Auckland in April 2009. We both found fairly decent work and got into NZ life (not used to the cold yet). Then in May this year my husband was asked by his company to work in Sydney for 2 months and he's been over there since beginning June. While he was over there they asked him to stay and work on a new part of their business - it's a great career move and he loves Sydney so he accepted the offer. He's coming back to Auckland on Thursday to work in the NZ office while they apply for the 457 visa. Once that has been processed he'll be back again, the target date is 13th September. So we're about to do this whole packing up and shipping and selling cars and moving and looking for a new place and finding a source for boerewors and.... oh the list goes on! At least this time we do not have to say good bye to family as ours is scattered between SA and UK. I still need to figure out if the 457 will allow us to get permanent residency in Australia eventually. We're on PR visa's in New Zealand and will qualify for the indefinate returning residents visa at the end of the year (even though at least one of us will be in Sydney!!!) Also the timing on this is pretty bad as I recently started a fantastic job and have only been in the job for a few months. And then on a more personal note we were planning to start a family towards the end of next year but from what I have read so far is that those on 457 visa cannot get pregnant as you are not allowed to go to the hospitals? Can that be true and is anybody else in this situation? (I am not pregnant yet but it is in our broad plan for the next 12 - 18 months)

Whew, well that's about it from me. Any recommendations in terms of a mover, a boerewors source, short term accommodation and particularly information on the medical side of things is very welcome!

Cheers and thank you

El and Reynier

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And then on a more personal note we were planning to start a family towards the end of next year but from what I have read so far is that those on 457 visa cannot get pregnant as you are not allowed to go to the hospitals?

Yes, true! If you find yourself pregnant you have to deliver at home :ilikeit:.

Sorry, could not resist. I think somebody is either pulling your leg or you misunderstood. Speak to SANZOZ on the forum, they did the SA to NZ to Aus thing too, and she had a little boy in Jan while on a 457. They are also in Sydney. PM Jannie on the forum if you fancy joining a bunch of us for dinner once a month. Very excited for you, Sydney is great.

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HI Everybody

I am new to this forum

Welcome. hope we can help.

I still need to figure out if the 457 will allow us to get permanent residency in Australia eventually.

The 457 is not a route to PR and you will have to make a seperate application for a PR visa. ie it does not convert to Pr automatically after say 5 years. But can be used to avoid doing skills assessment if you apply for ENS Pr for the same job you have been doing for 2 years on the 457.

but from what I have read so far is that those on 457 visa cannot get pregnant

Personally I wouldnt use the 457 as a contraceptive. I am pretty sure you could still fall pregnant while on a 457 visa but I would check with a doctor to confirm. :ilikeit:

but from what I have read so far is that those on 457 visa cannot get pregnant as you are not allowed to go to the hospitals?

You can go hospitals, doctors etc but the state doesnt pay. You will require comprehensive medical insurance to cover all costs. ie you are treated as a private patient.

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I think everyone has pulled your leg enough about the getting pregnant thing so I wont go there :ilikeit:

As Rozelle mentioned, we had our little boy 6 months ago on a 457 visa. All it means is the state wont pay - you dont have medicare. But some of your expenses are reimbursed by your medical aid, Medibank in our case. We got a fair amount back. Nowhere near what we paid, but at least it was something.

Good luck and PM me if you need to know anything specific.

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We used John Scott Removals (on recommendation) when we arrived in Auckland and again when we left to move to the Gold Coast. Excellent service.

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HI Everybody

I still need to figure out if the 457 will allow us to get permanent residency in Australia eventually.

Get hubby to have the employer include a clause in his contract of employment that they will support his PR application within (6,12,24) months via the Employer Nomination Scheme. This is a route to PR that the employer can sponsor in basically the same way as they sponsor his 457 visa application. How soon he can get it depends on skills / salary / time in employment, but the most important thing is to get them to commit now!

Ajay

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Oh, and there are LOTS of places to get boerewors in Sydney.... do not worry about that one!!! I know of 3 SA shops that I have been to personally, and then you can get other SA goodies at Franklins and apparently even at Coles now.

Just remember if you have a baby on a 457 that it will still be an SA citizen, whereas (correct me if I am wrong) in NZ it would have been a citizen because you currently have PR there. And unless you manage to spend a lot of time in NZ over the next few months until you have IRRV, you will lose your NZ PR at some point. So you might even want to consider staying in NZ until the end of the year to get your IRRV so that you have something to fall back on just in case.

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Thanks for the warm welcome and all the pregnancy jokes! I guess I asked for that with the way I worded my questions!!! :thumbdown:

@RozelleM: Thank you for the contacts! We would love to join for dinner so we'll PM when we're finally there!!

@ Trinations: Thank you for the recommendation on the mover, I will be in touch with them tomorrow.

@ SANZOZ: Congratulations on your little boy! You're right if we don't get the IRRV we will lose the PR. Currently we have RRV which expire at the end of the year but we have met the requirement for the IRRV which is to live in NZ for more that 186 days of each of the last 2 years. So unless they change the rules we'd have NZ to fall back onto if for some reason we could not get PR in Australia. I don't mind if my child is a SA citizen, I presume he/she could become and Aussie when we've got PR or is that not the case???

@ Ajay: Thank you for that advice, I will try to get that into the contract. Sorry if this seems a dumb question but where can I find out how long before we can apply for PR in this way?

I am very relieved to hear that there are many boerewors shops - it is nice to have a little bit of familiar food when you're feeling homesick. (And also sommer for the lekker too!!!) :ilikeit:

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If you are on a 457, you can apply for PR asap if you have a positive skills assessment done with the relevant body (OR earn over $165k pa OR have been in the country for 2 years and the last year of which to be working for the sponsoring company).

If your child is an SA citizen they can only become an Aussie citizen when you do. If your child were born here in Aus and you already have Aus PR then it would automatically be an Aus citizen (just like in NZ). But while you are on a 457, the child will be added to your 457 visa.

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