tax and contracts

[mellonclan]

Hi

My husband is an officer in the merchant navy and is on a ship in Australian waters at the moment. The management of the vessel has just been given to an Australian company and he has been offered a contract with them because he is a senior officer. They are willing to offer him one of 2 types of contract:
Permanent and casual. Many of the Australians are on the casual as it pays 12% more. The only difference is that when they have used up their leave at home (they work 5 weeks and have 5 weeks off) then the casuals are not paid until they rejoin a ship but the others do. As the officers work back to back with their countrparts this does not happen. My query is about us going to live in Australia. Can we do that on both contracts or just the permanent one?
MY next query is about tax. We aren't sure if he will be paid into a British bank account net and then pay UK tax or if they will pay inot and Australian account and he would be liable for Australian tax. If the latter can he claim the tax back and pay UK tax while still living here? We will not move for about 6 to 9 months.
I have 2 further questions:
1 I have a son who is about to go to uni in Sept. Can he transfer to an Australian uni to be with us? Or beca\use of his age would he have to come out as an adult with us sponsoring him later?
2 My final question is about me! I am a primary school teacher and would like to teach in Australia. IS this possible if I come to Australia becuase my husband works there? Is it easy to get a job and will my qualifications be accepted?

Any help would be great, so thanks in advance to everyone.

[BullcreekBob]

G'day

Welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure but I think that you'll find your husband being offered a job on a boat managed by an Australian company will not automatically give you, he or your children the right to live in Australia. He will still need to apply for a visa to live here and the type of visa will determine many things like if your son can attend uni or if you can work here and what the tax situation will be.

It sounds like the new management company will sponsor him, but whether it is for a temporary visa or a permanent visa is something you'll need to find out. You need to do first things (visa) first, then your other quetions can start to be answered.

[mellonclan]

Thanks for the reply. We are waiting until the new year to get more details from the company, but we are led to believe that such employment will allow us to live in Australia, but obviously this is something we will be checking.

Thanks again for your help and I hope others reply to answer my other queries.

[Gollywobbler]

Hi there

Be careful about this.

Under NO circs do you want Hubby to be landed with a Maritime Crew Visa, I firmly suggest, and it later emerging that that is not what you hoped for at all. Shipping companies can he horribly artful so if it were me, I'd tell them my list of demands up front and say, "Take it or leave it."

Please see the link below (the better not to have to consider it twice, I suggest):

Search Results - Department of Immigration and Citizenship

Bob - if this company is willing to provide an Employer Nominated PR visa instead, and the ship operates outside Australian territorial waters as well as within them, do you think Hubby might be able to claim to be non-resident for Income Tax purposes, bearing in mind that if the ship is Australian-registered (which it might well not be) then it is technically Australian soil?

Australian Income Tax Law is not necessarily driven by the international Conventions (and Australian domestic law) of Merchant Shipping, I suspect.

Cheers

Gill

[mellonclan]

Hi Gill,

Thanks for the reply. I will look at the link you have given me. Seems to be lots to read!
You seem to know a lot about this and yet you are based in Southampton. How come?
As I said in my reply to Bob, we are waiting for the new year to see what the details are but again any advice etc. is great so we are in a much more knowledgeable position.

Thanks again