DivingMissDaisy

Hi all Working my way through the citizenship application and now at the countries visited question. I can barely remember what I had for dinner last week, far less dates & countries I have visited since I was 18!! What can I do? Put in a few and hope for the best or is there a Gov contact point in the UK that can send me exit/entry dates? Didn’t think this would be so detailed!! Thanks again Audrey

Thank you [emoji106][emoji2533][emoji106][emoji2533]

Just started working through the very lengthy Citizenship application. It hasn’t yet asked me for my husbands details. Do we need to apply separately? Thanks

Thanks for the link. I had already checked with them and they only do parcels, not regular mail. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi all I've been having my UK mail sent to a friend, but she has now moved back to her mum's and I don't want my mail going there. Does anyone use a Mail Forwarding company for general mail, that will scan and send on and post out new bank cards, etc? Thanks X Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's right, you need a transaction account and you need to do one tap transaction a month. I did that for a while and just bought one coffee a week using the paypass. To have funds at call and be getting over 3% is worth it. Some accounts like this only offer the bonus rate of interest for 3 months, where as there's no introduction period for this. Just tap a transaction a week and the extra 1.75% is yours. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I use them, transaction & savings. No complaints from me. Always quick & helpful on the phone and great bonus rate on the savings account. Refunds for any ATM charges. All good. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's fab AJ!! I hadn't even thought about your situation, glad it helped. You're right though, so many more people could be affected. Immigration emailed me back the record within a couple of hours, though I did mark it as an urgent request and the reason. Longest part was getting a JP to sign it!

Just a quick update in case anyone is ever in the same situation as me - I've managed to get the loading removed!!! :jiggy: Emailed the form http://www.border.gov.au/forms/Documents/1359.pdf to request.movement@border.gov.au and got my record back within a couple of hours, much to my amazement. Requested a copy of my Medicare Registration letter over the phone on 132 011 and once that arrived, I emailed them both to the Health Insurance. There's a calculator here http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/footer/tools/lhcc.htm and it can work out if you are actually due to have loading or not. Whilst I feel very lucky to have this removed, I certainly wouldn't recommend getting your Medicare card when you come out on a holiday. It just wont be worth the expense if you don't get it removed. Audrey

Thanks NicF Spoke to the insurance company again today as I'd escalated it, they still don't know!! I've sent off the request for my movements, but no idea how long that will take to come back. The only thing that's making me feel better at the moment is that I completed the online loading calculator which says that as I wasn't in the country in the anniversary of my Medicare registration and that I wasn't here over 90 days in one trip, that I'm not liable for loading! So think this backs up what you said and hopefully get it sorted.

Hi I've been hit for Lifetime Loading on my Health Insurance. To get this off I need to send them a Medicare Registration Letter, however that's where the issue lies. We came to validate our Visa in 2011 and as our Daughter needed medical treatment, we had our PR, so applied for Medicare to cover. We came out again on holiday in 2013, but only actually moved here in November last year. I know you get a year to get private health insurance, so have tried to call Medicare today to see what they can do to help and I was told it was an ATO issue. Called ATO and they have no idea and have put in a request for a specialist to look into it and call me back. I've googled and found this - http://www.privatehealth.gov.au/healthinsurance/incentivessurcharges/lifetimehealthcover.htm But wondering if anyone has ever been in the same situation as me and how they got round it. If I apply for an International Movements form to show that we've not been in the country since we got the Medicare cover, is that enough to get the loading off or is there another route that I should be going down? I've had a search on here, but can't see what I'm looking for. Thanks

I never thought I would get $2.4, as no one is going to give themselves a low return for sending cash to the UK. I can understand the best available now rate and even the better requested if you're transferring a lump sum, but there are all these other rates right up to $2.5. Just wondered if there was anyone who had used a better rate than the better requested one.

Hi Looking at the rates on CurrencyFair, in the MarketPlace in particular. Has anyone ever used this? From what I read there they can offer better than Market Rates due to offering to exchange the opposite direction. But transferring £10,000 at a rate of $2.4 just seems too good to be true. I'll give them a call tomorrow, but just looking to see if anyone has ever tried to book one of these MarketPlace deals before. Thanks Audrey

Is there any insight into what the coming weeks hold? I have a lump sum to move and wondering if I should move now or later.

Haven't heard of that one, usually use HiFX. Are they easy to use? Not in any rush to bring money over, but wish I had a crystal ball on how the rate will go! [emoji6]

Good luck with the move! We moved to Sydney, from Glasgow, last November and I miss it so much. The kids have settled well here though and that's the main thing. The schools there start back mid-August though, so it might be worth heading out so they can start the first day of the new school year.

Hi Neil We're in St Ives, 2 kids and similar income. We don't drink, smoke or spend a lot of money eating out, so we can afford your rental budget. All the extra's do add up, especially all the clubs the kids join. Good luck!

Hi Fleks - we just arrives the last week in Nov, so just went through it all and still feeling at a loss. Thought coming when the kids were on holiday would be a good idea, but I actually think they need the routine back in their lives. Where are you? Thanks for all the replies and it's amazing how different everyone is. We brought our daughters MacBook over, but it didn't make the journey in the container and not sure if it can be fixed or not. She'll need to take ours till we get a replacement. Just didn't think they'd need one for year 5!! Just don't really need the expense just now after the move.

Thanks - that was my worry, nothing is mentioned anywhere about exercise books. I have the list for a laptop, pen drive, glue sticks, paint shirt, display folder, etc. But no exercise books, so I wasn't sure if I'm supposed to buy them or not?

So we moved to Sydney just before the schools finished up here and got the girls registered in yr3 & yr5. We got uniforms & bag from the school uniform shop and thought we were sorted. We then toddled off to Smiggle and spent a fortune on smelly pencils, fancy rubbers, etc. Anyway, we were in Kmart yesterday buying a lunch bag and was amazed by the selection of stationary that it made me google...... So the school has a specific stationary list, which our expensive trip to Smiggle doesn't really match. :-( Who knew you had to send your kids to school with 2 boxes of tissues & a 250 pack of baby wipes!!! So my question is, what other unknowns are there out there when it comes to school? Do you have to buy your own jotters? I can see on the school newsletter a link about school books, so I'll do that. I've also got a copy of what last years term 4 accounts were, so have an idea of that. I also didn't know before we came out that the canteen was only open 3 days a week and anything the girls wanted had to be pre-ordered & paid for online. I also found out that I have to take a turn going canteen lady duty/kiss & drop supervisor/uniform shop or we get a fee added to our term account!! Guess it's the little things that we don't know that add up. Audrey

Hi We've been in Sydney for about 6 weeks now & living in the St Ives area. If there's anyone about for a get together, let me know. Whilst we're loving it here, I'm not finding leaving my loved ones back home easy. Never thought it would be, but you know what I mean.

Yip, I had this - 2 days before my wedding!! It was a nightmare. Went to the doctor & he gave me a steroid cream & told me to sleep propped up in bed. The salon was closed the next day & we got married the day after. Wedding pictures are a mess as my neck was wider than my face!! Took about 2-3 wks to die down, but we were away for 4, so I was fine when I got back. Did mention it on my next visit, but that girl had left & I didn't make an issue of it.

Yes, we're sitting here in a bare living room with a TV & 4 camping chairs!! I bought some new pots, mattress etc to send off in the container and using what we'll eventually throw out.

We're shipping ours to my Mother-in-Law's. I remember reading though if you give a rough area destination, you're okay for a set number of miles around that area, over that and it'll cost. Guess you'd need to check with your shippers though. Good luck!! X

Hi Our container left on Tuesday and we haven't even booked flights yet! Probably go in a few weeks, but we are posting Xmas presents as we don't think the container will clear customs before then. We've got two medium sized moving boxes from the shippers, which are actually quite big. Just over 20kgs each and they're going to cost about £90 each to post. This is on a 3-4 day service. We use Parcel Monkey to get the best price. Hope this helps.