Has anyone on here immigrated from the UK with children?

Options
2»

Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Options
    Hiya! I'm in Norn Irn too, and I spent some time working abroad!

    Like you, I thought about emigrating to Australia with my 2 children.

    What we did was:

    a) first of all, move somewhere closer to home rather than on the other side of the planet, to see if we could really handle it. We moved to Luxembourg (the kids were 8 and 10 when we went) and stayed there for 3 1/2 years. What I discovered was I got REALLY homesick, and didnt want to be anywhere that it would be impossible to nip home to family for a weekend. Lovely ex-pat commuunity, though, like an extended family.

    b) visit Australia for a holiday. And having experienced it for real, not just pictures on the telly, I felt it wouldn't really suit me. The obsession with sporty outdoors-ness, and with coffee, and the much joked-about limited cultural events convinced me it wasn't the right choice.

    Big pluses - the kids can speak fluent French. Big minuses - we all struggled with reverse culture shock when we came back home.

    Biggest plus of all - I met my now husband when I returned! And actually, NI is a much nicer place to live now, than it was 10 years ago.

    Feel free to message me if you have any more questions.
  • mikeandkate
    mikeandkate Posts: 22 Member
    Options
    Hey, I live in New Zealand. My parents moved over here with me and my brother when I was four.

    This forum may help you, it is from New Zealanders moving to Australia and may give some info http://www.trademe.co.nz/Community/MessageBoard/Messages.aspx?id=616499&topic=5

    Good luck with your move :)
  • donna_do_good
    donna_do_good Posts: 161
    Options
    You do open up a big can of worms when you emigrate. Grass is always greener etc.

    It is generally a bit easy to get in to NZ, which is seen as the backdoor to Australia. Once you are permanent residents of NZ, you are free to move to Aus.

    Hey, I have just looked on the New Zeland list of skilled workers required and we def don't qualify. Guess its the EU it is, but my partner thinks the UK is the best place for us to be if we can't be in Canada or Aus :(
  • donna_do_good
    donna_do_good Posts: 161
    Options
    Hiya! I'm in Norn Irn too, and I spent some time working abroad!

    Like you, I thought about emigrating to Australia with my 2 children.

    What we did was:

    a) first of all, move somewhere closer to home rather than on the other side of the planet, to see if we could really handle it. We moved to Luxembourg (the kids were 8 and 10 when we went) and stayed there for 3 1/2 years. What I discovered was I got REALLY homesick, and didnt want to be anywhere that it would be impossible to nip home to family for a weekend. Lovely ex-pat commuunity, though, like an extended family.

    b) visit Australia for a holiday. And having experienced it for real, not just pictures on the telly, I felt it wouldn't really suit me. The obsession with sporty outdoors-ness, and with coffee, and the much joked-about limited cultural events convinced me it wasn't the right choice.

    Big pluses - the kids can speak fluent French. Big minuses - we all struggled with reverse culture shock when we came back home.

    Biggest plus of all - I met my now husband when I returned! And actually, NI is a much nicer place to live now, than it was 10 years ago.

    Feel free to message me if you have any more questions.

    Thanks so much, my partner thinks we should stay in N.Ireland if we can't get to where we want to be. He sees this as the best life we can have if we don't get out of Europe. I see it as being trapped
  • grrrlface
    grrrlface Posts: 1,204 Member
    Options
    Can you try to learn a skill that would be needed in Aus? Then move when you are both done?

    We cannot afford to give up our jobs to get the experience and the cost of doing them courses are so much :(

    What about night courses? You wouldn't have to give up your job and most colleges can offer funding as can the Prince's Trust.

    Good luck in whatever you choose. :-)
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Options
    You do need to be clear and agreed on your motivation for moving.

    Why do you feel trapped? What things do you enjoy doing? What things about NI do you hope to escape from? Do you plan to have more children? What are your work prospects here ( you are both in employment, yes?)

    (Happy to answer these by message if you'd rather)
  • Turtlehurdle
    Turtlehurdle Posts: 412
    Options
    Basically as the title says,

    I live in N.Ireland and just want out, would love to go to Australia or Canada but I know its very hard to get into those countries. Just looking other peoples experiences. It would be myself my partner and 2 year old son

    Why?

    I'm trying to go to Ireland and you want out?
  • donna_do_good
    donna_do_good Posts: 161
    Options
    You do need to be clear and agreed on your motivation for moving.

    Why do you feel trapped? What things do you enjoy doing? What things about NI do you hope to escape from? Do you plan to have more children? What are your work prospects here ( you are both in employment, yes?)

    (Happy to answer these by message if you'd rather)

    Our motivation for moving is to give our child the best life we can, we live in a good enough area in our town but just want our child to have an out door lifestyle and we feel kids here grow up far to quickly. My partner feels that we have a support network here if we need babysitters etc and it wouldn't be worth giving that up to not get that quality of life and get the experiences we want. We want to escape from the benifits culture, not going to get into it but it sickens us the policy here in regards to single parents and the amount of people who work the system while we do everything right and are prob just as well off.
    We would like one more child in a few years and want to go before my son starts school so hes not mssing out on any education. We both work yes, I work part time 21hrs and my partner works full time.
  • donna_do_good
    donna_do_good Posts: 161
    Options
    Can you try to learn a skill that would be needed in Aus? Then move when you are both done?

    We cannot afford to give up our jobs to get the experience and the cost of doing them courses are so much :(

    What about night courses? You wouldn't have to give up your job and most colleges can offer funding as can the Prince's Trust.

    Good luck in whatever you choose. :-)

    This is something we could look into, the only thing myself or my partner could do would be the practical nvq sort of things as neither of us went to uni, this would generally involve doing a NVQ which alot of practical experience is required but it could be a long runs the fox sort of thing.
  • donna_do_good
    donna_do_good Posts: 161
    Options
    Basically as the title says,

    I live in N.Ireland and just want out, would love to go to Australia or Canada but I know its very hard to get into those countries. Just looking other peoples experiences. It would be myself my partner and 2 year old son

    Why?

    I'm trying to go to Ireland and you want out?

    Why do you want in?? lol. Where are you from?
  • queenhiphop
    queenhiphop Posts: 286 Member
    Options
    I definitely would not move to Europe consideirng the state of the economy...........!!!!! It is worse than you think it is, the media doesn't spell it out in full.

    I have never emigrated nor do I want to at this moment in time but my mum has always wanted to move to Florida. Cheap houses for double the size of a standard house in the UK, lovely weather, great people and great food.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Options
    just go to Mexico and then walk across the border. Ppl do it everyday here and you get helathcare and jobs.

    You can't walk into Australian or Canada from Mexico, dude.

    Well, you COULD walk to Canada from Mexico.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Options
    I definitely would not move to Europe consideirng the state of the economy...........!!!!! It is worse than you think it is, the media doesn't spell it out in full.

    I have never emigrated nor do I want to at this moment in time but my mum has always wanted to move to Florida. Cheap houses for double the size of a standard house in the UK, lovely weather, great people and great food.

    Cheap houses in Florida? In a neighborhood where you won't be shot walking down the street? Houses must be massively expensive in the UK.

    Of course, housing prices took a dive a while back but they're going back up here.
  • manda_rae_k
    manda_rae_k Posts: 17
    Options
    You can come always come to Texas! Everyone's friendlier here ;)
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
    Options
    It's very easy to have rose-tinted spectacles on when you imagine a better life elsewhere.

    But there are problems EVERYWHERE, nowhere is perfect. My sister lived in Melbourne for 4 years, and the excessively hot summers were just incredibly uncomfortable to work in. There is - quite rightly - a bit of an obsession in Oz with the sun - schoolchidlren are taught "slip slap slop" ie wear a Tshirt, hat and sunscreen. They're very near the hole in the ozone layer, so exposure to harmful rays is a big concern.
  • smiley245
    smiley245 Posts: 420 Member
    Options
    just go to Mexico and then walk across the border. Ppl do it everyday here and you get helathcare and jobs.

    You can't walk into Australian or Canada from Mexico, dude.

    Well, you COULD walk to Canada from Mexico.

    It would certainly be a far *kitten* walk lol


    have you taken the online prequalifying test for Canada yet? (You get extra points if you know/speak french )
    http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/assess/index.asp
    and
    http://www.cic.gc.ca/app/ctcvac/english/index

    If you are married, whom ever has the qualifying score can be the applicant.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    Options
    I would also like to say your partner has a point about being close to family and a support system with children. I moved from New York to Georgia (and now Florida) when my daughter was 10 and it was a whole different world being so far from family. I have a friend here in Tallahassee who's from Orlando (about 4 hours away) who has a 2-year-old and even that small distance she says makes a huge difference with such a small child.

Categories