dianaos

I have just found this on the citizen website which clarifies that e visas (visitor visas) are not included as part of the 4 year continuous residence requirements even if it was held prior and continuos with the temporary or permanent resident visas. But could be if the e visa was to replace an expired resident return visa (which means the applicant must have held a temporary resident visa before the e visa. See below Australian Citizenship Act 2007 Residence Requirements To satisfy the residence requirements you must have: 4 years lawful residence in Australia. This period must include 12 months as a permanent resident immediately before making an application for Australian citizenship and absences from Australia of no more than 12 months in total in the 4 years prior to application, including not more than 90 days in the 12 months immediately prior to application. Lawful residence means residence in Australia on a temporary or permanent visa. If any of the following applied to you in the past 4 years, please telephone the Citizenship Information Line on 131 880 during business hours to discuss your circumstances. You obtained an e-visa to replace an expired Resident Return Visa (RRV) You obtained a bridging visa of any type You lodged an onshore application for a permanent visa then travelled overseas on your temporary visa You are a New Zealand citizen on a Special Category Visa (SCV) I hope this helps everyone as the original post definitely had me confused and maybe even a tad excited...but ho hum we will just have to wait:(

Thank you everyone and yes we are definitely enjoying it. Hubby's son is arriving for a holiday on the 27th so looking forward to spending time with him and a UK friend who is coming with him. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year. :ssign4:

Well this will be our second Christmas in Oz having arrived just before Christmas in 2012. We have now settled in Melbourne, still in a rental but it is lovely having all this space... The house is about 3 times the size of our house in the UK. We live on the outskirts of Melbourne which really suits me because I am a country girl at heart. There is only the two of us but we have a lounge room each (and TV each), a study each, a large ensuite and dressing room with plenty of space for all our clothes and even two guest double bedrooms. Of course there is also the double garage for the hubby to tinker around in on his days off. He loves it. We both have good jobs and earning more than we possibly could in the UK. It did takes us a while. Hubby got a job very quickly but it was not highly paid for his 20 years experience so he just kept searching for a better paid job. It did take a little while but finally started a new job in September that is equal to his experience. I also had trouble finding work. Aussies really don't trust "foreign" experience and to top it off I was told by an agent that I was also a female and over 50 so would struggle to get work. Interestingly he himself was Scottish! I did spend a little while contemplating changing careers but finally gained some contract work and have now been taken on permanently. What we have realised is that our standard of living on one wage here in Oz is the same as it was in the UK on two wages! (This is relative to the amount of disposable income we had and what we could do with it). I think it all depends on what jobs you do because it seems some jobs are better paid than others but even the minimum wage is better. I think the UK minimum wage is a bit over £6/hr while is Oz it is a bit over $20/hr. There is no doubt everything costs more especially so if you like to eat pub meals often, but we are happy to cook at home and I now also have a very productive veggie garden. (Just waiting for my tomatoes so I can make some yummy tomato relish). Food is on the whole more expensive, but the fruit and vegies are much fresher and tastier and meat is about the same price or cheaper. Processed and prepared food is definitely more expensive but if you prepare and cook your own meals with fresh meat and vegies then the cost of food can be kept down and is healthier as well. The biggest cost is housing and that price obviously depends on where you live. If you want inner metropolitan housing then you will pay a premium or have to accept apartment living. If you are happy with a house in an outer metropolitan area then you can get a new large 4 bed house for $500k. However if you are prepared to move outside the capital cities then prices are dramatically reduced. Which I suppose it not much different between the cost of London property and one in the north of the UK or in Wales. It is the land that costs more so than the house that is on it. As they say...'Location, location, location"! The other items that cost a lot is electrical or tech items. When you compare the costs of items in the UK or in the US, they are much higher in Oz, even with exchange rates taken into account. While, there is of course overhead costs to be taken into account the prices are still much higher, but I suppose it is all down to disposable income and demand. There has been lots of talk in the news here about the demise of the car industry in Oz. The reality is that the industry her in Oz can't compete in a global market as wages and other overheads are so much higher here in Oz. Cars can be built more cheaply in China and even in the UK. Fortunately we have friends coming across for a holiday so they are bringing me some items across with them. There is of course customs duty to pay over about $900 per person so we are making sure it is under that. We brought our cats with us to Oz but the puppies had to stay behind, together with the guinea pigs and the fish. They have all found new homes but that was quite hard to leave them behind. The cats love their new place with all that floor to lounge over and probably no dogs to have to share it with. They even have their own sofa. We have added to the family and have some new fish and two new cockatiels although we have keep telling the cats to stop licking their lips as they are not dinner! We have made some lovely friends but obviously still miss all our friends in the UK and my hubby also has a son in the UK. I think that is one of the hardest things about the move. It takes a while to get to know people and develop close relationships. It helps that I have family here in Oz, although not here in Victoria and we also keep in contact over the internet with friends and family. I also miss the English countryside and the 'green' of the landscape. Australia is lovely but the landscape is much harsher. Hubby loves it and the heat whereas I probably prefer the green and the cooler weather but to get the green you have to put up with the rain! Well with all the positives and negatives we are still glad we made the move.

We have just arrived (25-11-2012) and flew Singapore Airlines. As a dual national and my partner on a PMV I did not plan for taking anymore than 20kgs each of checked luggage, although we did have a lot more but were putting the additional through excess baggage. However at check-in we were told they would give us 60kgs or 3 suitcases (which was more like 65kgs!). So a big thank you to Singapore Airlines as we then had only 3 items to put through excess baggage. They were also fantastic on the flight and the food far better than most airlines.

Some photos of the Tamar River from my parents back garden and of the cataract gorge in flood.

That must be extremely rare occurrence. I have lived with huntsman spiders for 40years and have never heard of anyone getting bitten. I too leave them alone in the house and have had pet names for them. As I said previously they eat mosquitoes and since I have had Ross River Virus which I caught from mosquitoes I would prefer the spider to the mosquitoes!

I LOVE huntsman spiders because the eat mosquitoes and I HATE mosquitoes! the funniest location I have found one is at my mum and dad's in Tassie. We were cooking (Christmas dinner) and open the oven and out ambled the huntsman. Glad we didn't turn the oven on first. :biggrin:

You could always try other companies such as the excess baggage company or cargo force. They can either collect from your door or departure airport and deliver it to you destination airport. I think they do it from Manchester airport but you would need to check. However they put it on the next available flight with spare cargo room so it can take a few extra days to get to your destination.

Well suitcases packed. We can only take 20kg each as I am a dual national and my partner on a PMV, but I have packed out my 7kg carry-on, and my laptop bag and my big handbag. (We are not flying out for another week but need to sort what needs to go with the shipping.) We have each packed another big suitcase which we will send air cargo. (We are also sending a few other necessary bits and pieces together with the cat gear as they will get out of quarantine before the shipping arrives). The rest of our clothes and shoes are being shipped (we have packed 4 more large suitcases and 6 large bags and that is just clothes!). White and Co will be here tomorrow to pack for the container, so have also been busy cleaning boots, bikes and garden tools until they are thoroughly clean. Still have to do the dyson Hoover and the tumble dryer but they are currently in use. :arghh: I'm sure we will get there. :skeptical:

Fiona, some people edit their posting, deleting what was originally written and writing something completely new. That may have been what has happened here. I haven't been following this thread so can't tell you for sure but this may have been why you think postings have been deleted.

Launceston (pronounced Lon-ses-th and nicknamed Lonnie) is my home town. I was born there and my parents still live there. My parents live just down the Tamar River which is a lovely place to live. If you are looking for a place to live with the potential of good schooling as well, I would suggest the West Tamar from Riverside down through Legana, Gravelly Beach and Swan Point. I am not sure about child care but that will also depend on where you are working. What are your plans re work etc? Launceston is only a small city but the city centre has most of the main department stores and there are the normal supermarkets in small malls in the outer suburbs. The roads are generally wide and easy to traverse but many of the CBD roads are one way. (they confuse me as well because they have changed since I lived there) One of the good things about Lonnie is that it is only a 50min flight to Melbourne and a 2hr drive to Hobart. Lonnie has some wonderful scenery within the city limits with the Cataract Gorge on the South Esk River which used to have a hydro power station. There are also some great beaches a short distance away at the head of the Tamar River, such as Greens Beach (West Tamar) and Low Head (East Tamar). Further afield there are plenty of hikes through mountains and temperate rain forests such as Cradle Mt and the Walls of Jerusalem. Ben Lomond (mountain) which is about an hour away, is open in the winter as ski fields.

I am an Aussie and have had second thoughts about moving over. My partner and I both had good jobs so it is a worry when we are resigning from those good jobs and moving out where neither of has a job. The only thing I can say is my partner loves Oz and if we don't go, we will never know if we can make a good life there for us. I do have family in Oz, but equally we have family and lots of friends here in the UK, so it is a very difficult decision. We leave next week and the furniture leaves tomorrow so it is probably too late to change our minds!

I get very sick of it, especially when an interesting and/or helpful thread is hijacked. I have no problem when someone talks about their joy or their troubles in the UK or Oz but it should not be an attack on a people or a culture. We have all read the threads that call Poms "whingers" or Aussies having "a chip on their shoulder". This obviously creates a negative reaction and to me is how a bully behaves and should not be allowed on a forum such as PIO. its a bit like calling people pakis or niggers, which rightly so is not allowed so why do we allow other name calling for the British or Aussies. The other thing that grates in the UK v Oz debates is when a poster takes the view that one country is ALL bad...the weather, the culture, the food, the beer, the job situation, the cost of living...and probably even religion and politics! It is never all bad or all good and a bit of realism in some of the postings would be good but seems impossible for some posters to master.

There is no right or wrong. Everyone has to do what is best for them.

It is quite common these days, with all the new digital checking, that customs officers will ask for your "other" passport as their screen will flash that you are a dual national. This has happened to me on a number of occasions and also my daughter who tried to travel on just one passport and was nearly refused entry! I therefore, always travel with both passports now.