Cez

On street parking in newtown is v limited. We lived in stanmore for two yrs and loved it. The plane noise is bad, but it is in newtown too! Camper down is ok, not been there much, think it has less of a village atmosphere than newtown and stanmore but better access to parramatta rd. Do you need to have two cars? Stanmore and newtown are both v handy for commuting by train to penrith. There's an express train from redfern which may call at strathfield, both handy from the inner west.

I believe this is the form you would need to complete. Take a look and see what you think. I Agree with Rupert. http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/working-holiday/417/request-whm-extension.doc

Just note that your new partner will not be granted PR straightaway as you have not been in a relationship for long enough. Instead it will be a provisional visa for two years with further proof required before she is granted PR two years or so after applying. If the relationship ends before PR is granted, she has 28 days to get a new visa or leave Australia. Just so you know. Good luck!

Agree that there's no issue with people having different opinions, however this isn't a matter of opinion - it is not illegal to claim asylum, even if you arrive by boat. There's no two ways about it - either something is legal or illegal. Simple!

Jervis Bay is beautiful and has great beaches. Narooma is really nice as well. You could drive back through the Southern Highlands / Kangaroo Valley. There's some great waterfalls in the southern highlands. Enjoy!

My partner and I both use citibank, the citibank plus account is fee free (well, there are no monthly fees and no minimum monthly deposit required). There's not many physical branches but you can withdraw cash for free from any citibank, westpac, st George and I think Bank SA ATMS. I've only needed to go into the physical branch once to open the account, so I don't find that as being an issue. Each to their own!

You can only apply offshore for a whv, so no - you would need to fly to NZ or somewhere and then apply. Time frames vary depending on if you have health problems, criminal record etc... But most whvs are issued in less than a week.

My understanding is that australian prs can live and work in NZ as prs as well, so he should be fine to work in NZ until December. As you said he needs to be back in Oz by may 2014 or he will be in a right pickle, not technically qualifying for a resident return visa.

I'm not sure it really matters - I was in the same boat and applied for a non-resident tfn but then put on my employee declaration thingo that I was resident for tax purposes. I was taxed at the tax resident rate. If you know you're going to be in the one place, there's no harm in applying for a tfn as a tax resident, surely. You don't want to be paying non resident tax for a long time, even if you get to claim it back. Ouch!

agreed. Australia doesn't care if you think your situation is NZ immigrations fault, if you overstay your tourist visa hereyou'll simply be hit with a three year ban from Aus which applies to all temporary visas, eg tourist visas for visiting family. If you can't afford a flight to the UK, maybe you can look at a cheap flight to Asia or anywhere to prevent you from being unlawful in Aus.

You might find it helpful to stop comparing everything to London. As many of us find out, that way madness leads! Especially with prices of things, groan. Embrace the weird differences!

We had a horrendous experience renting from LJ too, to be honest I think the agents were worse than the landlords. W lived in a place where the bathroom would flood with raw sewage when it rained extremely heavily.the first time it happened we called the agents asking for a forensic style clean of the bathroom - we had no other toilet. This was on a Friday and the letting agent asked if we could wait until Monday for the clean in case it flooded again. Ie would we mind wading through raw sewage all weekend? Uh, yes, we did mind. There were other issues with the place like a thick layer of black mould which gave me some problems with my sinuses but we were too scared to complain in case it meant the agent would give us a bad reference and we would find it hard to rent anywhere else. It was a nightmare!

To be fair it's not uncommon for potential tenants in Sydney to offer more than the asking rent. We found this when we were looking at the start of last year, before we bought our current property. The rental market there, especially in the popular inner suburbs, is pretty tight. We've rented t our unit now as we've temporarily relocated to singapore, but we want our tenants to be happy and also want them to look after our home. It's a two way street, some people tend to forget that.

I was living in NSW so can't tell you too much about who can register a relationship in QLD, hopefully someone who knows more about how things work there will be along soon. It's kind of like a sign of a proper defacto relationship. Partner visas are for people who are married or in proper defacto relationships, ie essentially married but without the piece of paper. Also the law here means that once you've been living together for a set period of time, I think it's two years in NSW at least, then you're automatically defacto and your partner may have basis for claim on your assets and vice versa. With a partner visa you are committing to being financially responsible for your partner for two years, your other half won't be entitled to government benefits. i don't want to scare you, just wanted to explain some of the implications of a defacto relationship. You can always wait until closer until the end of the 12 month working holiday visa befor registering, but it would help you meet the criteria if your defacto relationship looks like it won't fully meet the 12 month criteria for the visa. our relationship registration paperwork is in a file somewhere, but at one stage we were looking at hanging the certificate in the bathroom ;-)

Why don't you want to register the relationship, if you don't mind me asking?

Which state do you live in?

Sorry just checked - all offshore partner visas are processed in Brisbane, all onshore partner visas are processed in Melb.

I think all permanent partner visas are now processed in Melbourne, regardless of where you apply. My820 wasn't eased in Sydney but my permanent visa was processed in Melb. Hopefully this will means more uniform process for everyone applying!

I registered our relationship, made no real difference - still took 11 months to get my visa and still sent heaps of other evidence too. Remember there is a 28 day cooling off period before they send you the certificate too. I did it as a safeguard a we'd been living together in Aus for 11 months 28 days, and also on and off in the UK. I think it's mostly useful if you don't meet the 12 month living together criteria or if its a bit sketchy. Otherwise I'd save the $140ish cost.

With the 801 visa I think the application letter said it would take either 60 or 90 days, I can't remember which. It actually took six weeks and one day. This was in April this year with no additional change of information, ie no new medical issues or police involvement.

From memory it was pretty quick, less than four weeks. You'll get a temporary paper Medicare receipt with your number on when you apply at the centre, and you can use this to register with a GP. If you move out before the Medicare card arrives, just go back to a Medicare shop and ask for them to be reissued. I recently had to do this, no problems.

Reading. At least it's not Slough.

No worries! It appears that a forum which concerns Brits rather than Poms has some specific advise on this one. Try googling uk partner eligibility 18600 to see what I mean.

I've been living in Oz for 3.5 years and still read the local paper from where I used to live. Can't say it's ever made me want to move back or has made me feel unsettled.

It might be better to look at a forum which specialises in people emigrating to the UK as most people here are unlikely to know, as we're looking to move to Aus? He would most likely need to get a valid UK passport then look at your visa options. I understand the UK has recently made it harder for partners to migrate there, and he may need to go ahead. I think he needs to prove he is earning a specific sum, about £18k I think, before he can sponsor you to move there. I'm really not sure, but good luck.