belaroy

The hotel is paid for... It's part of the flight package. They will just be hanging around he hotel overnight so will need just enough money for snacks and a meal or two. We won't be opening a bank account just for one day as we already have uk accounts. just a guesstimate on meal prices would be handy. thanks

My wife and kids are flying to London via Seoul in sept with Korean air and I wondered if anyone has any experiences with reference to stop over. I have read that they should pack overnight bags as your luggage goes straight through. Also any recommendations for. How much money recommended for brief stay? Any info would be appreciated.

geeez catlover1, I had thought I had put Policing to bed, over dealing with **** end of society on a daily basis and politics too. I am mates with a copper and he is just as jaded as I was and we have come to the same conclusion that the job sucks but pays well. I think I will seriously have to consider it again as we cant get a mortgage on my wage now and cant get anything better. We are classed as rural here but my concern is being posted to the middle of nowhere and have to jack it in before I started as I will not be travelling 8 hours to work for the week.... I have looked at becoming a PI and have got the certificate to go ahead but the majority work on a subcontract basis which I cant do as I need to rely on a regular wage..... I think I need to bring up policing again with my god wife and hope she doesn't hit me or kill me with her dagger eyes as we have really become accustomed to weekends and tea time as a family....

yes, sorry I didn't mention that I grew up in Oz and emigrated to the UK when I was 25 and returned 12 years later, so have many years experience of Oz working...

I recently enquired with Aussie home loans as to how much we can borrow. I earn $50k per year and my wife has just started her part time business and we were told her small earnings could not be used as she has not been in business for 2 years. We have about $115k deposit on a $370 k house and were told the best we could borrow was $84 K ??? Do the banks not take into account the size of your deposit ??? How the hell do people borrow the huge sums needed to buy a house here??

I have been back in Oz for almost 2 years now and I am absolutely fed up with the job situation here. I am an ex Police Officer with 7 years experience and welder/ fabricator previous to that. I got a job here within 2 months of arriving and still in it. It is mining based ( not on site but manufacturing for mines) and I cannot for the life of me get a better paid/ rewarding job. I have mostly applied for Govt jobs and have had only 2 or 3 interviews from about 15 applications. I will concede at the very beginning my CV may have been not 100% up to scratch but I had it professionally reworked and now looks great - I can say this as I recently was tasked with taking on a new member of staff and saw the very low calibre of CV layout that was sent to me. Most Govt jobs have criteria to address using the STAR method which I can do fairly well, yet still I wont get an interview. One interview I went to for an admin officer for NSW Police I was asked 4 set questions - are they serious ?? or was the job already gone ?? how could you possibly recruit someone after asking 4 simples questions without probing further into their work/life history ??? I am not in any way saying that I am the best person for every job but to get such little response is quite hard to accept. I spoke with a family member who works for a federal agency and was told there are a lot of internal moves happening which begs the question why advertise the job if it is earmarked for an internal member of staff. Am I the only one getting this ?? if I am then so be it I am not up to scratch and can work on it. Most times when I ask for feedback I get the old " although your application was of a high standard it was not considered for the position or some crap" I have considered my skills were not the same as Oz skills so forked out for Oz certs but sill no luck, is anyone else finding this??

OK, We went to the accountant a little while ago to find out if we were liable for CGT as I did not want to get a tax bill at tax time. We had a short meeting and gave him our background, ie dates when entered the country, bought /sold the house etc. He came back with it written on paper that we are NOT liable for CGT. there was some bumf put in with the letter which was a bit confusing but what I can make out is that there is some form of 6 year rule combined with owning no other properties in Oz. This cost us $400 but in my opinion well worth it as I now know without any hesitation that I will not be liable to CGT. it is a lot of money to have to fork out but better that than spend what we made on the house only to find out at tax time we owe a few grand .... hope this helps clarify things a bit

not sure if this helps, I am as far removed from being an account as is humanly possible, however I spoke with my accountant quickly at tax time this year ref our house in the uk which at the time we were renting and what we may be liable for ref CGT. I was of the belief that as it was my main residence and did not own another property in Oz then I would not be liable for CGT. I don't recall why I thought that but I did none the less.... He stopped me there and asked if I had done some research on the subject, I had not. He then told me that once we sold the house ( WHICH WE HAVE JUST DONE AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS !!!! HOO BLOODY RAY) then we had to see him again and all would be explained and formally written down so as no mistakes could be made..... He would not talk about it any more - mostly because he was doing my tax return and secondly he did not have the full facts of our tax situation to consider the options.. This most certainly got me thinking as at the time we had not sold our house. I spoke with a mate who is a bit of a property investor, and he explained it like this: It is irrelevant if it was your only residence as you now rent it out to make or lose money. calculations will be made based on the purchase price, sale price and the dates of ownership / rental etc. so say like us we rented it for around 18 months then we will be liable for CGT for that 18 months based on their calculations of sale price etc. so essentially I now believe I will pay some form of CGT, and I fully expect and believe my accountant will absolutely minimise in any way he can the amount we are due to pay. I am ok with this as my mate said..... paying tax isn't a bad thing - it means you have made money, you generally don't pay tax on losses and god knows the aussies like to negative gear to the enth degree. hope this helps and once I get the money from the sale to Oz and see my accountant I will let you know exactly what happened.

We flew with them from HEathrow to hong Kong then onto Perth. WE had 2 kids and 8 bags between us - the bags were well over weight but they didn't say a word. I think their service was fantastic and I think the fact the seats don't recline is great as you always keep your space in front of you. I don't sleep on planes in any case so being uncomfortable is part and parcel of flying - if you want to be super comfortable then upgrade imo. We waited till everyone had left the plane before we grabbed all our bags and the attendants helped us with the kids by holding their hands while heading to the bagge collection. We all have different likes and dislikes but I am happy to recommend them and wouldn't hesitate to fly with them again if they were the cheapest - lets be honest thats what it came down to in the end for us - who gave us the best flight connections at the best price...

Funnilly we had the exact same issue yesterday. I looked on travel supermarket.com but reading the policy documents they all stated the journey must start and end in the UK which obviously isn't happening so therefore if you were to claim they would want proof of your home journey and more than likely refuse to pay out. I called a couple of insurers and they didn't do migrant insurance - there is a specific company go australia or something like that but they were £150 for a family of 4 for 21 days cover. Eventually I called Virgin insurance and we got cover for about £60 which covers cancellation - baggage etc until such point you pass immigration in Oz where you then become a resident and do not require any further cover. Its the best we could find on a budget - I can bear £60 but £150 was pushing it for us. For some unknown reason I do have a soft spot for Richard Branson even though he is a billionaire - the Virgin rep was pleasant and easy to deal with. Best of luck and hope that helps a bit - if you google migrant insurance you will get a few responses to give you a few more options

We just got stung £36 for a gift my mum sent my Daughter. not best pleased and its the first time in 12 years it has happened to us.

we are flying with cathay pacific - only my wife has a partner visa and they won't give her any extra baggage allowance. they best have a good service or I shall not be pleased.

ours were a page and a half. mine was almost bullet point type. i.e we met here, went there, moved in together, got engaged on this date, married on that date, I love her etc etc. I can only suggest - don't over think it. My good lady and I had been together 11 odd years when we applied and I took the opinion that if they didn't think the relationship was genuine after that length of time then they could stick the visa. With 9 years together I reckon not much weight is placed on a self written document that quite frankly anyone can make it up. I think things like that are more for high risk countries but it is used in all partner visa applications. Best of Luck

It's a trick by the Oz govt - lul the dopey people into thinking there is 340 days of sunshine and those who believe it, think of nothing else get there after spending thousands on visas and no research , they will leave quickly after using no services and paying a bit of tax - who is the winner ????? the Govt and local businesses...... win win really, less dopey people thinking it is nothing but sunshine - IT IS TV PEOPLE IT IS NOT REAL.... IT RAINS AND SNOWS IN SOME PARTS.... THINK ABOUT IT FOR JUST A MINUTE

It seems you have dual nationality and all you will have to do is get a national insurance number, join the NHS , then bobs your uncle essentially. You shouldn't have to pay anything beczse of the recripical agreement between Oz and the UK. Then comes the rental - buyng a house etc etc and opening a bank account but it is no more more difficult than doing it it Oz. By the sea side I can only suggest - from experience - Poole - Sandbanks.. only the best will do ...