NicF

My husband scores cricket a lot, although this year he has been sat inside so no sun issues. I think the matches he has scored the scorers have been situated in the shade out of the sun which helps. He has also used an iPad in the past which I think is a bit easier to see outside than a laptop screen. Are you able to sit yourself in a shady spot or take a gazebo or similar to sit under?

The other thing to consider is that having a car loan will reduce the amount you can borrow on a mortgage. (As will having credit card even if you don't owe anything on it). Banks will look at your expenses, outgoings and financial commitments when deciding how much they will allow you to borrow.

I got one in April. It's a pretty straightforward process and much quicker than getting your actual passport, especially if you live close enough to an embassy to go and pick it up (mine was couriered from Singapore which took about 5 days). The actual processing takes about 2 days so you need to ensure you leave enough time for it to be processed and go and go get it or have it delivered. Hopefully though your husbands passport will be here in time and you won't need one.

When I applied for my ETD it was done in Singapore. It takes up to two days for them to process the application and you can then have it couriered, which takes up to 6 six days because it's coming from Singapore, or you can arrange to pick it up from Melbourne as soon as it's ready (apparently, although living in Adelaide I wasn't able to actually test this). Why they can't courier them from Melbourne I don't know.

Email address for enquiries about emergency passports - etd.centre1@fcdo.gov.uk

Official site with what you need to know about emergency passports. Never rely on third party sites. https://www.gov.uk/emergency-travel-document Oh, and you can't talk to anyone at the Melbourne embassy. Believe me we tried. There is a help line that is based in the UK I think that can answer all your questions and all the numbers we tried were directed to this helpline.

I had to apply passport recently after my mum died and my passport was still being renewed in the UK. I'm not sure it would cover you for a trip around Europe even if you didn't have the visa issues described by Paul above - you have to give them the route you are taking and it only covers you for that route. If you get an emergency British passport you will need to link your Australian visa to it via the VEVO system. There is no point in you turning up to the Embassy in Melbourne. They do not issue passports but you can pick up an emergency passport from there. You will also not be able to talk to anyone in Melbourne. When I was getting my emergency passport the nearest person I actually got to speak to was in Singapore and they called me.

Have to agree. I don't have a mortgage but support myself, husband, two kids at Uni and a dog on about $4k a month. And we have only just put solar on, don't get free bus travel and don't have anyone giving us meat occasionally to reduce our costs either. I do however agree with Quoll that parents should not move over just because the kids want them to.

In Australia at least this isn't entirely true. If a student is getting a HECS loan then they are a commonwealth supported student and the government fess a portion of the fees and the HECS loan pays the rest. Even if someone was to pay the HECS loan back in full as soon as they left, or was to pay the fees rather than taking a HECS loan (as students with PR would do) the government will still pay a portion of the fees.

Umm, not in my experience. I've never had a refund back in a week, it's usually more like 3 weeks. And my tax return is usually no more complicated than submitting what has been prefilled for me. OP how quickly you get your refund will probably depend a bit on when you submit your return and how busy the ATO are at the time and maybe how complicated your return is and if there are any queries. I've never used a tax agent though so maybe they get refunds back sooner, but they also have longer to submit returns.

The other advantage of citizenship over a PR visa is that they will be eligible for loans for University fees in Australia (PR visa holders are not eligible for loans) and they will be eligible to apply for jobs in defence (and other federal government roles where you have to be a citizen).

We have a smart meter but it was installed when we got solar panels put on so our tariff changed anyway. I love it - our daily usage gets loaded to our supplier and I can see how much electricity we have used down to each hour and how much it has cost us. It also shows me how much excess solar power we have used. Our old meter was really old (think moving wheels old) so was due for an upgrade anyway. It seems a bit weird that they would change your tariff just because your meter changed, especially if they are the ones wanting to change it.

Bio security is really strong on Australian borders - you can’t even bring in soil on your shoes or dried pine cones so there is no way they would let you bring a live plant in.

Including by yourself. Where do DIBP state that they do keep processing citizenship applications while you are out of the country?

If your oldest would only have 3 months before GCSEs finish I'd just skip it and send her off to the local 6th form college or technology college the following school year to do some GCSEs. It's a long time since but I had a friend who did badly in her GCSEs and redid them at the local technical college in a year. Your eldest could potentially do the same. She would only need to do what ever the minimum was to then do A levels or what ever she wants to do (BTEC could be a possibility as well). It all feels like it's critical to get a good education and get it now but to be honest it's not the end of the world of they don't get all the results you would like right now. As long as they can get what they need to do what they want to do next the qualifications they do or don't get at 16 will be irrelevant by the time they are in their 20s.