chandi

In spite of the vehicle not being officially registered in your name yet?? Would you mind quoting the reply if it was an email? I am quoting what i was told here: Q. For the purpose of satisfying the minimal length of ownership ofthe vehicle, does ownership begin from the date of purchase (wherethe date of registration is two weeks later), as shown on the dealer'sinvoice? A. The 12 months will start from date of registration.

Yes, that is true for my wife's car, since we had it for almost 2yrs. Just submitted the application for that last week. The issue is with my car, and will let you know how it goes. Thanks for all the tips and info.

I did check with DIT some time back and they are the ones who said overseas travel time needs to be compensated for. (However, I was referring to my wife's case which was a 3month+ absence due to labour). When I mentioned their brochure "Importing Vehicles to Australia"(VSB10) has an example of an applicant who qualifies for the permit "in spite of infrequent use", I was told to mention that when I apply! (which means I won't get a clarification before that) Anyway, I emailed them today and asked how it works in my case. Let's see what they have to say. The problem with this observation is, like you have pointed out, most people don't cut things this close, and thus they have some extra time to compensate for a few short trips. Hence, they will never know.

Hi, thanks a lot for the elaborate reply. Just need to confirm: when you say "no trouble", do you mean they wouldn't ask for compensation with extra time (in the UK in your example)? I have done two trips, 7days(to Melb for visa activation) and 12days(baby born overseas) each...It would mean a lot if i didn't need to. But again, we'll only know for sure by applying and then it would be too late?

Hi! I know this is what DIT will tell you if you ask them, but hypothetically, would it not be possible for Jo to apply, say, one month before he qualifies, anticipating the processing (waiting) time? Or would they actually need the passport copies taken after the end of the "qualifying period"? In this kind of borderline case, it is pretty risky to move before they give the ok coz there is no coming back. Factors that might affect the ultimate decision : 1. International travel that wasn't compensated for (Jo> yes, they ask for that(*), which means no more travel for you till you relocate if you need to stick with the given schedule!) 2. Date of purchase is earlier than the date of registration, and the date of purchase was used for calculating the qualifying period by the client (but DIT would start counting from the date of registration (?)) * This has affected my plans a lot, and I am pretty pissed off coz they never mentioned compensation. I am drafting a letter of objection right now about this, and would love to have more signatures on it. Jo> Please PM/email me and lets talk about it.

Is that so ALL the time? At least for SEVs, I heard they don't revalue unless the invoice is at an unreasonably low price??

Hi there, it's not just a tax issue, you just won't be "qualified" to import anything other than what you've owned for more than 12 months, Period. Exception: Vehicles on the list below may be imported under a special license. http://rvcs-prodweb.dot.gov.au/sevs/sevsindex.htm

I am glad to hear you got your answer from Australia house without much hassle. Did they tell you anything about current processing times? Please update once you got the visa. All the best!

To put things into perspective, I do not have experience applying for the visa (yet), so I don't have concrete advice to offer. Baby is due in two weeks. However, I've been researching this for months (and I'm no newbie when it comes to dealing with DIAC), so just wanted to say that it's not so easy as it should actually be (and as any person with common sense would presume it to be)! > There is no way that this visa will be turned down. Agreed. But the processing times given are very long, so it could easily interfere with one's plans to migrate.

Sorry to hurt your feelings, but the fact of the matter is the ex-CO wouldn't be interested and would tell you that he doesn't know about 101 visas. You would be asked to contact DIMA or the embassy. Unfortunately, the 101 visa can only be applied for at your local embassy/high commission. It seems that they have the final say as well, and thus DIMA doesn't want to give full details. There was a discrepancy between what the officer at the Aussie embassy in Bangkok and DIMA told me, and when I asked for the name of the DIMA officer (so as to get to the bottom of it with the embassy officer) they never replied again. It's a total nightmare compared to eVisa.

Aha! I guess I'd have to do some research on these 'experts' when the time comes. Thanks again for enlightening me in time! Yeah, I totally get that. That's why I am not going to bet much on that. However, if one wishes to challenge them (I don't think I am), I believe there is considerable legal ground, as this is a hypothetical example meant for enlightening importers and thus should have been unambiguous. ie. they should have explicitly stated the pilot was in the US for a total of 12 months. "Infrequent use" doesn't suggest 12/18 AND "despite" implies they don't even care how infrequent. btw, US immigration doesn't stamp the passport at departure last time I checked. 'wonder how they get around that.

This is another tricky one. On the one hand, customs.gov.au says "transaction value" (purchase price) is the first priority in determining the value of goods. Howvever, it is apparently not used when "The importer cannot demonstrate that the purchase took place for the sole purpose of exporting the road vehicle to Australia, an example to illustrate this is when the exported road vehicle has been used overseas prior to making the decision to export it to Australia". While this is generally reasonable, time usually devalues vehicles, thus using a purchase price from an year earlier only makes it unfair by the importer. If the importer does not mind this, replacing this value with an even higher one sounds a bit absurd. I checked this with a friend who did a personal import from Japan 3-4yrs ago, who says he used a 5yr old invoice at the time. No questions asked. Is customs getting harder to deal with recently too? Common sense says a very low invoice might raise some eyebrows. I'd hope a reasonable invoice would pass safely and we wouldn't have to pay for an 'expert' (and almost certainly higher) appraisal. http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/ValuationImportedRoadVehicles.pdf

Hey Iron Chef, Thanks a lot for the quick replies! This (quite unforeseen) issue pretty much ruins the plan for us, so I rang DIT to find out more. Firstly, you were spot on about it, but when I insisted that there web explanations/examples do not necessarily suggest so (*), thay asked me to quote that in my application. (I wouldn't be placing any bets on that working out right though) Alternatively, we could switch cars when we apply (no problem as long as we have a marriage certificate), and my wife could claim 12 months for the Z4 we had from last year. This is probably what I would do, but would still love to have them go easy on short visits overseas as I may be away for 2-3wks when our baby comes (perfectly reasonable excuse imho!). Must say that DIT seemed an ok place to call and discuss your situation, and they're much amiable than, say, centrelink! Of course, not a substitute for insider info from Iron Chef though. (*) http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/importing_vehicles/general/EligibilityCriteria_2.aspx#five Ex1: The applicant qualifies under the Personal Imports Scheme to import the car into Australia, despite the infrequent use of the vehicle in the U.S.

Hi, I fully understand your situation. The only way out if you need to apply now is: 1.Apply for a bank account online and try to get a TFN (25 each) 2. get at least one of the 50 point docs. If your house doesn't sell soon, a rental contract from someone in Oz is the best shot in my opinion, even family should be fine (but please check with DIT beforehand) Visa grant letter doesn't seem to count. The problem is that this scheme is not specifically intended for migrants.

Hi Iron Chef, Great thread and I learnt a lot from it. 'figured I'd ask your opinion as you seem to have experience importing from JP as well. I have owned a Z4 for a year now and recently purchased a Merc E500 and registered in wife's name, both in Japan. We plan to move as soon as the Merc's done its one year, and are planning to import both vehicles. The Z4 should be fine, but there are a few complications with the Merc. 1. My wife is going to be out of Japan for ~3months when she is to deliver at home in Thailand this winter. I believed this was acceptable as long as her residency was deemed to be in Japan. However, I saw your comment somewhere in the thread to the effect that absences have to be compensated with time from previous year. The DIT explanations do not necessarily suggest so. Are you sure about this? 2. My wife drives with an international drivers license in Japan, which would cease to be valid if she were not to go to Thailand. However, if she were to stay outside Japan for 3 months, she could use a new intl license for another year upon return, under Japanese law. Thus, technically she would be able to drive while she is in Japan. Would DIT understand this? 3. We prefer to move as early as possible in May2012 due to other involvements. Disregarding #1, would the Merc be eligible for import if we deregister exactly one year from the date it was bought, but 11 days short of the registration date? (After all, the condition is 1year ownership) However, it wasn't registered to anyone at the time of purchase, meaning it wasn't "roadworthy" at the time, even thought this is not obvious from the reg. docs. 4. Last, but not least, what's your take on these two cars' market in Aussie? I've done my homework, and given that I bought them dirt cheap, I plan to make some profit. Frankly, the price difference is too good to be true, so it would be really nice to know if there are any unforeseen glitches in importing German cars from Japan... Thanks a lot in advance!