Nemesis

I've always been so glad I went to university in the UK for precisely that reason. We did have one person who lived at home and I remember her saying she wished she was in Halls as we seemed to have a much better social life. I couldn't imagine living at home while doing my degree, I would have missed out on so much due to pressure from parents to stay home and study, mind younger siblings in the evenings etc. Always found it odd that so many students were leaving college in Aus and starting jobs with no experience at all of being independent. We had some at work and had to explain the basics of living to them, even down to how to do supermarket shops and open bank accounts, parents had always done everything for them.

Sounds very similar to my experience. Bring in the newbies who last 5 minutes, whilst those with the knowledge and experience get sidelined

Your PR visa does not expire. Only the travel facility expires. If you stay onshore it is valid for life. My sister in law had a PR visa for 25 years before she decided to become a citizen. She never left the country so didn't need a RRV. She had a TFN and everything else that goes with being a permanent resident. Where are the documents that you used to get PR in the first place?

Sorry but your post is a bit confusing. If your residency visa expired in 2019, what is your current status in Australia? Are you on a Bridging Visa? Are you there illegally? You can't get a RRV if you don't have a current PR visa. What visa were you on in 2019? Do you mean that the travel portion of your visa expired in 2019?

The last place I worked in Australia had a team of people highly skilled in their field, we were all well-respected for our roles in a niche area of public service, but over the years several people moved on and younger ones joined, with a very different work ethic - usually just "do the job and do home" with no intention of going the extra mile like those of us who'd been there upwards of 10 years. In 2020 one of my colleagues decided to retire for personal reasons. Whilst the bosses were interviewing for a replacement, this statement was overheard by a colleague in another area - "Make sure you employ someone young, we've only got 3 dinosaurs to get rid of now and that shouldn't be too hard." Said "dinosaurs" were me and 2 Aussies guys, all aged in our late 50s. We all kept our ears to the ground after that, and it soon became clear that the department was doing its best to edge us out by any means, fair or foul. Nothing to do with a lack of skills, we were the ones teaching the skills to the newbies. All to do with poorly-disguised ageism.

If you don't intend to ever leave/enter Australia, you don't need a passport. However if you plan to leave/return you definitely need an Aus passport

I never settled in Australia, but equally I never phoned home, rarely sent emails (this was in the days before smartphones. The family refused to spend time doing phone calls, or Facetime etc when that became popular, so in between visits home I had so little contact with my family that it would take a couple of days to catch up on the major events when I did get to visit. It wasn't restlessness that drove me to spend my holidays back in the UK, it was the fact I didn't like living in Australia, that simple, and my escapes to the UK were the only way I could stay sane, with a failing marriage and nothing else going on except work.

I had a lot of friends in the Logan area, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Lots of vests, grubby shorts, mullets, drugged up hoons. It used to amaze me when going to a pub down that way with friends - we would never have dreamt of going down the garden dressed like some of them, never mind the pub! I also had some Aussie mates in a couple of places up the Sunshine Coast near Gympie, and they were the same when it came to going out. "Dressing up" for one guy consisted of putting on a baseball cap I have to say that I've really enjoyed your reflections on your trip, and think that by doing them this way - the good, and the not-so-good, it does show quite a balanced outlook. No rose-tinted-specs on show here. Obviously everyone sees things differently, but as you say, the whole point of forums like this is to allow everyone to give an opinion.

I can't remember the exact wording on the forms, but they ask about any treatment that the child may be receiving, any medication, any specialist reports that have been done, all that kind of thing.

Please be careful with the old chestnuts about "better work-life balance" and "better quality of life"- especially if you have never been to Australia, even on holiday. Do yourself a favour and read recent threads on here and on similar websites - and make sure they are recent as many things about living in Australia are now very different from life there 10 or even 5 years ago. I was always glad I don't have a family, as my work-life balance was a work-work balance, and though I could have afforded to have kids I would have had no time to spend with them. I do hope you would be able to spend time with your kids instead of "working like crazy" but that not the experience of many families, with kids in long hours of childcare & after-school care - and often huddled indoors because the weather is simply too hot to lay outside. You can dress up in cold weather, not so easy when its hot. Your comments on Medicare - its not all taken from your wages. Finding a bulk-billing doctor now is like finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So even though you pay for it out of your wages, you are still paying to see doctors, paying gap fees for treatment, paying higher prescription fees. Its NOT the NHS. Good luck - just make sure you have your eyes open

I think you'll find that its not a case of people being cranky, some of us have actually tried to help by pointing out that you CAN get on a flight without a passport, but it can mean hassles and delays. I certainly appreciate that not everyone does as much research as I did before becoming a citizen - have to say the sole reason I did it was because research proved that for me a passport was cheaper than repeated RRVs. Personally speaking it wasn't so much a "privilege" as a necessary evil. I've also answered the questions about other countries insisting on their own passport use, as I know that not known by everyone. It may well be when the UK introduces its e-visa system in the next couple of years that things will change for UK citizens and we will possibly have to leave and enter on UK passports, which will be info widely shared on here and similar forums, I'm sure. Thats all help and info shared because many of us appreciate that not everyone is aware of info that some of us take for granted. If you call giving out info like that "crankiness" then maybe I'll just stop and let people go back to muddling their own way through.

My memory is a little hazy as it was a few years ago, but I'm sure I was given a list of things that I needed to be aware of, like "responsibilities of a citizen" which included the passport issue, as well as being given a form to enrol to vote, when I went to the ceremony - even though I already knew about both of them from being on forums like this for many years

The USA is the same - and I believe enforces it even more strictly than Australia - no simply wave your citizenship certificate & make a phone call, its no Passport = No Entry. Canada has gone down the same road in the last few years too. If you are a Canadian citizen, you need an Canadian passport.

They've always done it, I have friends who had to do it about ten years back owing to a sudden family death, and I'm in a facebook group where people have done it this year - in their case they didn't realise being citizen meant they should get a passport, similar to the poster above.

I am hoping my experience was unusual, that's the reason I won't name the company, suffice to say it was quite clear us peasants aren't really worth the large companies spending time on us! I'd never give anyone advice on what to do with their own super (or money in general), cos everyone's situation is unique; I can only outline what I did and the fact I managed it without having to pay for help in the end. Suited me, as I had reasons for having to come back on a short timeline, and while in the long run it might well have made more financial sense to stay in Australia longer, mentally, emotionally and even physically I think departing when I did was the best route, and so I had to do the best I could with the money at the time.

It can be done, but it takes time, turning up with British passport, citizenship certificate and plenty of time can achieve it, as the check in staff then check with Aus Immigration as to your status. But it takes up everyone's time and makes you very unpopular not just at check in, but t all transit stops and when coming through Immigration to enter Australia.

The Australian government can't possibly add anything to a British passport chip - that's down to the British government to do, its their property. The Aus government doesn't even need to tell the British government when you become a citizen, its outside their remit. The onus has to be on the new citizen to look up their responsibilities - such as things like enrolling to vote, as well as getting a passport.

I'm confused by that too, why would she have to stay an extra year? She'd get the PR 801 straight away and it they got on with it and applied quick t may well come through by the end of this year. Seems crazy to be trying to do the year on 3 month tourist visas. Trying to leave and re-enter every three months when the rest of the family are Ozzies is almost begging for a refusal as there's a good chance they won't believe she's a genuine tourist.

I moved back last March, the money moved the month before, while I was still working in Oz, renting there etc. Didn't have to do a UK return as I had only been back two weeks, so had no UK income or anything, I was just unemployed. Even though I'm working a bit now I'm still below the tax threshold. I just did the usual ATO return in July, but in my departure date and told them I wouldn't be doing another one - ever! That was a good feeling

I tried to do that, but the respected (??) company I spoke to basically lost all interest when they discovered I had under $500k. So I spent some hours on the internet, talked with an advisor at my UK bank & just withdrew the lot into savings, then transferred it all to a UK bank account as "savings" before I left Australia. I didn't have any property or assets in the UK before I arrived so my tax residency was very clear. I was even still doing my normal job in Oz when the money was moved.

It means what it says, its been received.

Finding an employer for a 482 can take some considerable time and you cannot apply for the 482 until they have sorted out the sponsorship side of it. That can take considerably more than 3 months. And if this is the same person who wants to apply for a Protection Visa, and get working rights on a Bridging Visa to that, then that person seriously needs professional advice from a MARA agent.

No problem, hope your move goes as smoothly as mine did! All mu communication with Chess was by email and I did get the feeling that no question was too stupid! They were always helpful.

I moved from Brisbane to the the UK a year ago and used Chess. They were excellent, no complaints at all. Efficient, polite, good communications, lovely helpful people who came to do the actual packing up. Thoroughly recommend them. They used Britannia in the UK to do the delivery, and they were equally good. I did most pf the actual packing into boxes myself, but they wrapped furniture items for me and everything was fine, all unwrapped this end and no damage to anything. I had shipping nightmares on the way out, so was well prepared for trouble, but I was very pleasantly surprised!

There have been cases (some n here) where Oz/UK dual citizens living in the UK have let their Oz passport expire, and they assume they can travel to Australia by getting a tourist visa. They can't. They need to renew their Oz passport. Canada and the US are the same, and there's a strong chance that the UK will be the same, when they introduce the ETA system over the next year or so,