New career in rail Down Under

[_Al_]

I'm looking at leaving the UK behind for a few years.

I have a handful of years experience in rail and in oil & gas, both as project manager and project engineer.

I've identified a couple of emigration services online and checked that I meet the criteria for a visa. All that said, I'm just starting out & would appreciate anyone's experience..

Where is a good place to seek information on the process?
Any particular pitfalls to look out for?
My wife will be coming too, does that complicate matters?
Any places to avoid?
We have a flat here in a decent area, would you sell or rent it?

It's a very broad subject for a post, but I am basically talking about re-booting two lives..

Any thoughts appreciated!

Thanks
Alan

[ALawson]

I have been working in civils rail, major projects for the last 5 years.

During that time 5-10 people I know have moved to Oz to do civils/rail.

I would say that the majority either had interviews in the UK or via Skype. Got an offer with visa and then made the move.

One chap went travelling to see if he liked the country, interviewed on holiday and then resigned after 4 weeks back in the uk.

Another has a kiwi wife and got there visa very easily.

Almost all of them are working for http://careers.leightoncontractors.com.au/caw/en/#...

All those planning on going for a few years have kept there properties, the other who were sure that they weren't coming back sold up.

Enjoy yourself. I have found Linkedin very valuable in exploring options in the UK, and had some interest in Oz.

[anonymous-user]

there is loads of work in both industries in OZ, I keep getting job offers, but rates are not that high considering the cost of living,have a look at expatengineer.net. there is a lot of rail work coming up in KL on the new underground, which will last for 3 or 4 years.

[JumboBeef]

_Al_ said:

I'm looking at leaving the UK behind for a few years.

The biggest question: why?

And a second question: have you been to the country you are considering living in before?

[_Al_]

Thanks for the links guys.

Reason for looking: Both of us are in good stable jobs here, but both jobs demand long hours for decent but not fantastic pay. We're therefore both looking for other work. Working abroad is an idea we've both been toying with for a long time.

We're getting married soon and plan to "live a little" before kids come along. We plan to travel out there on holiday in the next 6-12 months to get a feel for it.

It's something we'd be best doing now as I'm shortly dropping out of the preferred age band for the visa application and we wouldn't want to move with a young family in any case.