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He's only Scottish when he loses. When he wins he's British.

Yes a lot of the Sydney suburbs that traditionally people would avoid - say Marrickville - are now some of the trendiest. As @Maisawright has pointed out the inner west is perfectly civilised. Once upon a time there was a sort of bastion of poshness in Strathfield and otherwise everything between Strathfield and the City was industrial/working class, but it's very different now, the inner west is now almost entirely leafy suburbs with done up houses and nice cafes (etc). The south is also nicer than it used to be - even the Sutherland Shire is not the backwater it used to be. Things have changed a lot in recent decades! That said, personally I wouldn't live further west than around Ryde/Concord/Strathfield. There's a sort of 'no man's land' of uninhabited land between the inner and outer west (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_West) and it's a completely different feel once you cross that divide. The northwest (beyond Ryde/Parramatta) also has transport issues - permanent traffic jams. If you need a mortgage, be aware that the length of your expected working life will play a part in how much you can borrow as well.

Not sure if this applies to credit cards but I've found that banks with cross border operations (eg HSBC) are generally friendlier to the fact that you might have income / assets overseas, compared to local Australian banks who always seem shocked that anyone might have money outside Australia.

There was a photo in the paper of the bath where supposedly hanky panky took place. The bath looked very small and not that easy to imagine such activity occurring.

Wasn't Wymeswold a movie starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey?

All persons who are interested: send a private message to me if you'd like the name and contact details of my go to person on the voluntary NICs question. Best regards.

option to withdraw (high tax rate though) if you are not a permanent resident or citizen I imagine you probably are though..

A) - Yes B) - Without knowing the particulars I can't be sure, but it was worth it for me. C) - I believe this is if you get gaps in the 17 year run. I don't believe this would apply to you.

That’s correct … my general advice is to put a visitor visa in place before lodging the offshore partner visa, for a number of reasons.

There are certain limited and specific circumstances where an 801 can be granted after the relationship has ended. I recommend you seek some professional advice on next steps, either way.

He will be doing the ground work for HSC when he starts in year 11. UK tends to be ahead of Australia in terms of skill acquisition so I wouldn't worry too much.

I think if you read back you might see you've got this one all wrong. Paul, who is a respected and very helpful migration agent responded to your specific point about the charge from your agent, agreeing that it seemed high. You responded to that in a somewhat sarcastic manner, and he came back with a more verbose response. For his efforts you've rewarded him with name calling and have dismissed him from further input. I can't see anything in the content nor tone of his response that you might take offence at. You've come here for advice and whilst the rest of us are well-meaning amateurs sharing what we know based on our experiences, he is literally an expert. One I've personally used and would highly recommend.

Iknowcb...I havent been on here much (well I dont really post on here anymore) but thought I would update those who are still following my journey VISAS GRANTED!! Our 491 visas were granted late December (when we thought immi had shut for the holidays, nope lol). Obviously gotta do the 3 years regional until we get PR that is fine by us as we don't want to live in a capital city anyway Heading out in June and starting to apply for jobs and get things organised now Dreams really do come true, just gotta put in the work and persevere PS: we used the Down Under Centre who are excellent at what they do!

They are good at it, but it's designed to get houses off the agent's books quickly, NOT to get the best price. For the agent, an auction lets them get a property on and off their books within six weeks, AND the seller pay all the advertising and all the fees. Whereas if you opt for an ordinary sale, they have to keep advertising at their expense until it's sold, and they have to keep supplying staff to conduct inspections, and that can go on for weeks or months -- because the owner is holding out for the price they really want. It works like this: Agent views the house and tells you it will definitely sell for the price you want. He talks you into selling by auction, saying it's the best way to build excitement, people get carried away and bid more, etc etc They run a six-week campaign. During this campaign, the home is open for inspection at least once a week. After each inspection, he contacts you to tell you all the NEGATIVE things that potential buyers have said, and tells you about all low price estimates people gave him (which they did because he told them a low figure, of course). Auction day arrives. Just before the auction, he asks you what reserve price you want to set. If (as you probably will) you nominate a price he thinks is too high, he'll remind you of all the negatives people came up with. Bythis time you're losing confidence in your price anyway, so you may agree to set it a bit lower. The auction proceeds. The property doesn't meet reserve. The auctioneer announces they're going to consult the seller. The agent comes and tries to sweet-talk you into lowering the reserve, while his sidekick goes and tries to talk the bidder into increasing his bid. The bidder increase his bid. The agent standing beside the seller gives another pep talk. Ditto the agent with the bidder. Eventually, the seller goes, "Oh f***, I just want to get this over with" and agrees to put the property on the market. To sum up: because the bidder was given a low estimate before the auction, he's peeved because he bid more than he wanted. Whereas the seller is peeved because he got less than he really wanted. The agent says, "Well, you can only sell for what the market value is at the time", which is total nonsense.

Our old girl went over the rainbow bridge yesterday. Even though she was 14 and had been deteriorating it still seems too soon and was a shock. Been with us for over 12 years. She just couldn't cope with life anymore. In a way glad she went of her own accord and we were spared making the call but nonetheless she suffered for a few hours. We kept her at home overnight which was painful but comforting and took her to the pet crem this morning. Trying to make sense of it. I know it's quite clear cut but it doesn't feel that way right now. RIP Tilly 2008-2023.