BIRDY35

Hi evets If you click over my AJT on my ticker, it will bring up the private message option and follow it from there

Hi, just wondering as the title says really. Looking at the option of purchasing furniture and associated household bits and pieces off someone that is leaving. Doesn't matter where in Melbourne as will be able to travel to meet. PM me if interested. Thanks

Hi, just wondering if anyone returning to the Uk between start of September and the end of January? Looking to see if anyone is interested in having the contents of their house bought as a job lot. We're coming over in September and looking to settle down in a rental by end of January. Able to travel, so anywhere in suburban Melbourne shouldn't be a problem.

Thankyou for all the great help and information - lots of things to consider. I understand what you are saying Marisawright that the catch point is in your intentions. Great to know that newtoallofthis - I had presumed it would all have to be certified.

Very interesting point MaggieMay24. This was the position we were coming from - having no intentions to breach the conditions of the visa. I have been surprised at the mention of bans and going against a future spousal visa application etc because I hadn't read this in connection with this form of entry. It has certainly made us wonder about it all. As I mentioned before, when we looked at our options we were presented with the onshore and offshore options. Even on the immigration website I have seen nothing documenting these consequences for entering in this way?

Thankyou for the info on documents. This issue of doing something against the law is one that I find hard to fully get my head around as we have no intention of doing anything illegal. Due to time restrictions and inforseen circumstances, we have chosen to take the onshore partner visa application route. I understand that entering on a tourist visa with an intention to then apply for a visa is using it for a different intent and that immigation do not want people arriving in the country and having to stay while their visa is processed. However my husband has no intent of staying in the country illegally and will follow the proper legal channels. The route of applying for a spouse visa onshore is made available by the Australian government and I'm not sure how else someone enters the country to then take this onshore application route? For what purpose do they have it available if they are not happy for people to take this application option? I'm sure someone will be along shortly to set me right on this but right from the start it seemed clear that there were two options for us - either an onshore or offshore partner visa application and it hadn't occured to me that we were considering doing something against the law.

Will be interested in the answers to this as you sound like you may be in a similar situation to ours. Myself and children are Australian citizens and are heading back and I hadn't anticipated any problems. I rightly or wrongly assumed that as Australian citizens you are well within your rights to then register as residents if you decide once you are there? I presume you may be planning to enter on a visitor visa with your family and then apply for a partner visa/bridging visa onshore? Have seen some advice on here about the partner(non Australian citizen) not carrying documents that would suggest their intention is to apply for a visa once they are in the country but not sure what the implications are if immigration suspect this. It's not that you are intending on doing anything illegally if this is the case. I presume it would certainly flag up your intentions to immigration if you havn't got a return flight booked.

Hi, just looking for some help from the people with all the visa experience on this forum! We are travelling to Australia and my husband will be applying for a spouse visa onshore once he arrives - we have decided to take this route for a few different reasons. My question is regarding document certification and who can certify them. We don't have a mortgage so to prove joint property ownership, we will need to present our house/farm deeds and assciciated documents. These particular documents aren't something that I am happy to travel with due to the ramifications of them being lost at any point, and yet from what I can gather on the various sites, the copies need to be certified in Australia when the application is being made in Australia. I'm happy to carry the originals of other documents so it is these in particular I am concerned about. Has anyone had any experience of getting documents certified here for an onshore application in Oz? It does specify a solicitor or magistrate etc in either country on the government site but does anyone know if they are country specifc, depending on where the application is being made? Thanks in advance

Thankyou G'bye Grey Sky - I will update on here even about the issues I've posted about in case it is of any help to anyone else in a similar situation. As far as not burning any bridges, it's been a conscious decision to do it that way. My husband is English and very aware that we have no idea how this is going to work out and if he'll even like Australia. Very different living there to going back for 6 weeks to visit family! At first I felt the only way to do it properly and give ourselves a fair chance was to wrap everything up here - but it has become pretty clear that even though we are going to throw ourselves into our time over there, it will be very much a fact finding mission on if we want to do it permanently and if things will open up and we can have a good standard of living there. SO much more hassle doing it this way though! My family and friends are aware that this is the case but I take your point about some of the others - we're trying very hard to be objective in all of this.

Thanks everybody - and particularly for the advice about Alan Collett. I will try and work our how to get in touch with him on here. I definitely need to find someone or some accountancy group that has good knowledge of the tax implications between countries.

Thanks Bungo - I was under the impression that Vista has been able to give some general information on these sort of things but maybe mistaken. Maybe someone will come along with a recommendation of where is a better place to ask some of these questions?

Hi, just after some general information and advice please. Am aware I will may probably need to seek out some specialist tax help from yourselves once we have made the move, but just trying to work out what to expect and what I need to have in place before we leave. We are heading to Australia later in the year initially for the period of 12 months to see if it is going to work out for us. I and my children are Australian citizens and expect that we would register as residents once there if that is what makes more sense as far as taxation and living in general. My husband is a UK citizen and is going to go down the onshore visa application route once we are there. As a result of not being certain we are going to immigrate permenantly, we are going to have to leave things running on here in the UK for the short term. Things left ticking over in the UK would be as follows: A home which we have friends organised to house sit and will repay us the expenses. Would these be considered income in Oz if it was just a personal arrangement of reimbursing expenses rather than a rental agreement? Land which receives a rental income that goes into a limited company Two personally owned rental properties from which we would be receiving rental income/ paying off BTL mortgages Two limited companies of which we are both directors. The plan is to mainly fund the trip from savings and we will not be taking a wage out of the companies but would be taking a lump sum dividend out of one of the companies as income. Junior stocks and shares ISAs for the children Stocks and shares ISAs Small number of shares which are on a reinvestment of the dividends basis Trading accounts registered in the UK from which I hope to withdraw some additional income. Then the general savings accounts etc on which income is fairly straight forward. I have so may questions as don't know how it will work and where to start but the main ones are how the tax will work in tandem with Australia. Our accountant will do the limited company tax returns and I presume also our personal tax for the UK on any income received. Will the Australian tax office take an interest and need all the information on the companies/company accounts we are directors of, or just be concerned about any income/dividends received from these? If a home is held in joint names and I was to bcome resident and my husband still on a bridging visa, what capital gains implications are there on properties? Similarly on the land that is held in joint names? As far as stocks and shares ISA investments, will they keep under the tax free wrapper in the UK should we return to live, and would they be considered as taxable in Oz if any increase in value is just on paper and not actually realised and withdrawn? Similarly with the shares, do they need to be declared in Australia, or just if they are sold? So sorry for the jumble - just aware that it could all be quite messy if we don't have it sorted before we go. Thankyou in advance for any advice received!

That thread is great Snifter - thanks for all the help. Now just got to start getting it sorted!

Just one more question - if we were to go ahead and get the offshore visa application rolling, once it is granted does anyone know how long you have to activate it/make the move, if indeed there is a limit at all?

Some fantastic information thankyou everyone. Potentially we are looking at maybe being there by August so looks like it would have to be an onshore application. It's a tricky one with earnings and main earners as we have run our own business and would be heading over with a lump sum to first of all live off and picking up some casual work as and when to help along a bit. Then hopefully purchase or set up our own business over there at some point once we are settled. Am hoping this wouldn't cause complications as to who would be the main earner etc if this is something that has to be clearly addressed on the application. Interesting point Snifter about not stating your intent on entering and carrying supporting evidence - it all seems a bit underhand in a way. What else are you meant to do if circumstances mean it's not a viable option to stay on in the UK for another year you wait! So you are advising that it's not a good idea to tell them on entering Australia with a visitors visa, that we are intending to apply for a partner visa?