BandC

Hi Linday

If you look at it philosofically or whet ever:confused:, if we can survive in what one might call the great depression for us, which is now, (well those that have just gone who I hope to be joining very soon) we can survive when things get bad for Aus and the Aus$ weakens giving us the luxury of jam on our bread (or vegemite Or marmite). I like this site as someone said, you can interject with mindless rubbish without being told off.:biglaugh: To all with indecision, we are all in this together, supporting each other and I, for one, truly hope all arrive in Oz when the time is right to live out the rest of our lives with the ones we love. Now hands up all those who in public, at work and with mates said "no problem" and in private were actually very ill at ease. Mines first!!:chatterbox:

Oh PS keep a seat warm for me at the PIPS luncheons, I may only be able to afford bread and water but we are coming anyway.

We will definitely save you a seat at the PIPS lunches and have started to review all our eateries for evryones information and of course bearing in mind the budget! We had lunch today at Quinns Rock, a new venue, which lasted 3 and a half hours as we enjoy a good natter exchanging ideas and of course a laugh or two. Get on Perth Poms and you will find a readymade support group.

Look forward to seeing you there

:arghh:congratulations we got ours last week what a wonderful feeling even more so when we had the label put in passports

 

sylvia

Hi Sylvia,

Come and join us Parents in Perth (PIPS) on facebook we will welcome everyone who will be coming to WA

Barbara

Hi everyone,

Just popped in as we have now been in Perth for a whirlwind 3 weeks and found out that if you apply for a seniors card before you apply for your driving licence you get it discounted possibly for 50%.

Also the first meeting up of the PIPS (Parents in Perth) happened last Thursday and lasted 5 hours. There really are some very nice people on this thread. Anyone else going to WA who wants some new friends - we are on Facebook as PIPS

Congratulations to all of you who have your visas recently it really is only the beginning.

hi Clubby,

Just a hiccup and you will have that letter sooner rather than later

So exciting! Maybe we will see you there. We are hoping to get our CO around June, maybe sooner and will be visiting our new granddaughter.

Have sent you a PM

Barbara

Hi there Barbara

Hope you have a safe journey will look forward to hearing about it on here.

We will hopefully be leaving in the summer off to the Gold Coast to see my Grand Daughter for the first time, in the flesh so to speak, she was 1 in January, cant wait.

 

Wilma x

Hi Wilma you must be beside yourself wanting to cuddle that little one. We are due our first grandchild at the end of June. All planned I might add - can't wait to be a Nanna. We have such a lot to look forward to.

To those that are paying their final vac at the moment the pain of the exchange rate does go away when you start planning your exit. Sitting surrounded by brown boxes and the anticipation is so exciting yet unbelievable. The waiting and journey is coming to an end or is the BEGINNING? Good Luck Wilma x

I know what you mean Steve we have waited, what seems a long time for THE LABEL so I want it there just for my own satisfaction, even if we dont need it !!

 

Thanks Wilma

Its a lovely big label and covers a whole page. Makes you feel legal....... Someone who hasn't got access to a chip checker might want to see it and you don't want to carry your letter around all the time!

Best Wishes to you and we are off to Perth 24th Feb and getting excited now it is only 21 sleeps

Barbara N:jiggy:

Hope you are all ok we hear it has been awful - thinking of you all

Visa Evidencing

Hi everyone when I got the email to say a needed to pay 2nd VAC they also asked which overseas mission I would get my visa evidencing of the visa grants into my passport.

 

I email Australia House in London to see if we could send the passports or would we have to go in in person, the reply I got was that they no longer put a label in your passport it is all done though your passport number, I emailed my CO just to check this was the case and she replied that yes, some countries have started to use the electronic number system which includes the UK, but she did say that we can still get the label put in the passport if we wish as some people including me like the piece of mind knowing it is there. I just have to follow the instructions on the visa grant letter when we get it.

 

Maybe some of you knew this already but I didn't and I like hard proof that it there before I go to the airport.

 

Wilma

Hi Wilma,

We have just in the last week sent our passports together with a copy of our Visa Grant Letter together with a stamped addressed envelope as per the instructions in the reply email as follows

Dear Barbara

Thank you for your enquiry. If you would like a visa label placed in your passport you can queue for assistance at the counter between 9:00am and 11:00am from Monday to Friday except for public holidays as observed by the Australian High Commission.

Alternatively you can post your passports and a stamped, self addressed envelope to:

Migration Branch

Australian High Commission

Strand London WC2B 4LA

Hope this helps. For the cost of a couple of stamps we now have a visible label in our passports.

Hi Guys,

Can anyone remember the Global Pensions guy that was recommended on the other thread as we must start comparing costs for transferring the jolly old private pension. This seems to be a minefield !

CONGRATULATIONS - nearly there now

Congratulations - a CO is a milestone and 28 days goes so quickly the end is in sight. Yes we are all here and we can carry on in our happy little way without interference.

Happy days!

Thats it, we arrived in Brisbane at 07.15 this morning!! Had a busy day so far, bought a car by 13.30, I had several lined up and they came out to us, been to the bank with Tax Numbers and had to replace all Oz pay as you go sim cards as they had been disconnected as they had not been used for a year!! Still a couple of jobs to complete tomorrow, then the weekend off!

 

Yes I feel good already,

 

Matt

Great to hear your step by step, as we like to know whats ahead of us - keep it up Matt although don't know if we will be so organised. They brought the car to you which sites did you use to look at them?

thanks for the information.just returned home after 3rd visit and cant wait to go back.

Know just how you feel. Its good to plan and look forward to the next time.:biggrin:

hello every one have not been on here for very long time, but have a question can anyone help,we have 4 grown up children 3 married with children of there own one lives in aus with husband and children 2 in england with there children and 1 who is in aus working on a farm to get 2nd years visa and who hopes to apply for permenent visa like sister, they want us to come over to live but have heard that to get parents visa you have to have £450,000 pounds is this true?

I think someone is quoting for the Retirement Visa which was recently talked about on "Wanted Down Under" recently. The Contributory Parent Visa 143 requires 50% of your children resident in Aus and takes up to two years to be granted a permanent visa.

Hi there MKF,

Just over a month to go and OH still anxious that we won't have enough money, exchange rate awful etc etc. It is such an enormous thing to do but soooooo brave. There are those that talk and talk about and there are those that do. We lodged our application on June 2nd 2009 got a CO Oct 2010 and permanent visa granted 9th December after asking for a month's extension (exchange rate) We had an emigration agent based in Perth and it was she who advised us to go straight for the permanent visa. Our girls are beside themselves with excitement and our eldest daughter is expecting our first grandchild at the end of June so there is so much to look forward to.

"LEAP and the net will appear!"

www.gainwave.co.ukwill show you timescales - look for Sandch on the thread and he can put you in the waiting room once you have lodged your application.:fish: Which part of Aus do you want to settle in?

Tomorrow is the BIG day, all bags are packed and weighed, monies counted, just wondering when it will actually feel like we are actually going!!

 

Cheers

 

Matt

Hi Matt, So happy for you when you get to the Airport you can get excited! Am going through the same process now to leave on February 24th. Its quite difficult logistically , what to send off now what we will need to last four weeks, Everything will go into the last minute boxes I expect. Doesn't help when a daughter suddenly puts a spanner in the works and orders a 7 piece nursery set. Cot/bed. wardrobe, changing station, toy box, chair all flat packed to be delivered Monday? Shippers packing final boxes for container and taking it all away on Tuesday. Stressed? I can't wait to get to that airport. Any last minute advice Matt? Can just imagine you sitting on your cases waiting........................................

I don't think that is correct - so long as the work test can be satisfied it is possible to transfer UK pension benefits into an Australian superannuation fund, and derive the resulting tax benefits.

 

Note that a transfer of UK pension benefits into Aussie super cannot take place once a pension is in the payment or annuity phase.

 

Best regards.

I believe that your private pension must be transferred within six months of arrival which is when the pension is due to start payment. Has anyone had any super company recommended to them. This to me seems to be a minefield as Companies that arrange it for you get commission paid to them and I don't know if this will lessen the amount of money you receive.

Depending on which State you settle in, you have to apply, (online, or an application form) to the State Government.

 

If you Google, Google Australia and then look up Senior Card, it will take you to where you want to be.

 

We applied for our Seniors Cards (for Queensland) a month ago, using our daughter's address and they have been delivered, ready for when we arrive next month. The ones I applied for have the seniors card one side & the Go Card (for bus travel) on the other. I am not sure if you get discount on medication, I don't think you do. Maybe someone else can answer that?

 

Try one of these:-

Seniors Card - Community Services (Queensland Government)

Seniors Card travel, transport and business discounts program

Seniors Card - Department of Planning and Community Development

Seniors Card - Service Areas

Seniors Card - Government of South Australia

Seniors Card ACT - Home

 

Cheers

 

Matt

Thanks Matt so informative as usual! Seems to get reduced charges for medication you have to have been two years in residence. Seniors card sounds handy tho.

:notworthy:

Hi, Glad to join in. We are just about to start the process of applying for CPV at a total cost of $95,165. We will have all our family living in Oz by the middle of this year, so don't have any choice really but to go ourselves. I am a nurse(with Aus registration) so hopefully will get work when I get there to pay some of this back. Very hard to get sponsorship at my age (56).

If there are any other parents in the same position , we would love to hear from you. This is such a life changing decision.

MKF

Hello and Welcome MKF,

It is a life changing decision but the best one you could make and is there any other choice than to be with all of your lovely family. I also have 100% family in Perth and have just got my visa and moving in Feb. Of course you will get the colly wobbles but be positive and brave. You will be surprised at how many people say they envy you :wink:

Hi everyone,

 

There you all are - thank goodness for that! The exchange rate is awful but we have our visas peeps just think of Audie and eat bread and jam and live in a caravan

if you have to. Seriously it will get better and a HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

I was so happy to find familiar friends forgot to ask the question. How do you get Senior Card and does that give you discount towards medication?

Hi everyone,

There you all are - thank goodness for that! The exchange rate is awful but we have our visas peeps just think of Audie and eat bread and jam and live in a caravan

if you have to. Seriously it will get better and a HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Hi there I have had no word about a co yet should I be getting worried, thought I would of heard by now,going by Steve's tracker we are next on that list.

Wilma.

Anyday now Welma:wink: I feel sure.....

Same here - we're waiting for our 2nd VAC demand. I'm checking with Reuters daily and UKForex - although Realtime forex have some worthwhile tips on GBP/AUD (trader tips) - I'm no expert but you start to get the hang of it after watching it for a week or two! Expect the spending review today will sway the rate wildly - one way or another - but could be a good time to get a better rate?? Who knows?

We have gained a 28 day extension but I am finding the wait and watching the rate excruciatingly difficult and we still have another month to watch and wait....:chatterbox:

Hello Gill

 

There's a currency "war" going on. Each country is trying to keep the value of its currency down so that its home-produced goods and services will look attractive, in an effort to export their various ways out of the mess and start to grow their economies. The currency is made unattractive by keeping interest rates low, so investors look elsewhere. Australia has opted out of the "war" because its economy is so robust it doesn't need to join in - so investors buy the currency to earn good interest rates and demand pushes up the price (cost of buying a dollar).

 

China was not expected to raise rates, but the implication is that it is now trying to cool its economy, dampen domestic demand, and thus Australia will be adversely affected as China is a key export customer. Not sure it'll make a lot of difference really as China is just so huge - but there was a bit of a knee jerk reaction today to the news.

 

It's all a bit exhausting - think I'll go and have a cuppa.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

Thank you Steve, even I understood your explanation. Never mind the tea have a glass or two of your fav tipple it is that time of day.

Hi Steve & Les

 

The other day, Mum & I talked on the phone and she remarked that the exchange rate is/was lousy.

 

Earlier today I was reading the British Expats thread about CPVs. Steve said that the People's Bank of China have done something in the last 24 hours and that the effect has been to depress the AUD a bit. Well done to the Chinese, say I!!

 

What has happened, please? I don't know where to go to find out about this by myself.

 

Is it likely to last?

 

I've been aware for the last few days that the sterling/AUD rate has dropped so low that it is almost worth paying the 2nd Instalment visa Oz House in London again?

 

Why are the British Government so keen on having an uncompetitive currency with which to start paying off the debt to the IMF? This is not making a whole lot of sense to me? Why are they talking sterling down instead of talking it up?

 

I will be very grateful for any explanations because I don't understand how the currency market works.

 

Many thanks :notworthy:

 

Gill

Me too guys as I have final VAC to pay before end of November?