NickyNook

Oh right. I understand completely now why the Australian years are important. I’d hope that the ATO could help. Looks like you need a copy of your Tax Statements for the years you were here. Not too onerous for them to provide, hopefully. Good luck with it.

If you're claiming the State Pension now then you're what age? - 66? 67? If so, - assuming you worked in the UK for the remainder of your working life - then you probably have somewhere between 47 and 50 qualifying years on your NI record. I think they normally start counting from the age of 16 regardless whether you worked at that age. You only need 35 qualifying years to get a full pension so even if you've lost three potential years because you were living and working in Australia it shouldn't make any difference to the pension amount received. That's probably why DWP didn't need any Australian information - you'd easily reached the maximum period without it.

It is true for some people from some countries. People who only have a passport from countries that do not qualify for any type of e-visa can only apply for a 600 visitor visa if they want to visit Australia. One of the things they have to do to get this visa is prove that they're a genuine visitor - and they do this by providing various bits of documentation one of which is an invitation from a relative or friend in Australia.

Same here! There are kids everywhere after school and on weekends and holidays. The number of children at the beaches on Sunday mornings doing nippers is unbelievable, the sports fields are always busy with after-school sport, parks are teeming with kids on bikes, skateboards and scooters. The number and amount of outdoor activities available to children is extensive. This is in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. I've lived here for over 40 years and it's never been any different.

You don’t need to apply for citizenship for your son. He is already a citizen as he was born in Australia to a parent with PR. He just needs a citizenship certificate to prove it. Can you modify your own citizenship application to remove him from it? I’d have thought it will only cause confusion all round otherwise.

You should be going for the first option. You need to get an Australian Citizenship certificate for your child.

Sadly not now. The one I used was called CMS Global, based in Melbourne but they don't seem to exist any more. Probably got taken over by some other company.

I'm now retired but was an IT contractor for many years. Initially I had my own company but once the ATO started cracking down on all the traditional advantages (ie lurks like income splitting, paying lower-rate company tax on 'profits' etc ) it no longer became viable. The paperwork and costs were just too onerous for zero benefit so I wound up my company and thereafter worked via a contractor umbrella company. I was not alone in doing this - most IT contractors I knew at the time did the same. Unless it's changed enormously in the las 10 years, I'd say that most IT contractors work via umbrella companies and are not Sole Traders.

Except that NSW did have a breach last Christmas which was effectively dealt with by NOT locking down the whole city. The Avalon outbreak did spread out slightly but it was sorted by locking down the Northern Beaches hard and leaving the rest of the city free to have a normal Christmas. Gladys strategy was always to find a middle ground by locking down minimally and allowing the economy to function as much as possible. That strategy worked fine until Delta arrived.

Really? Curious now - who else has escaped the royal family for the sake of their sanity?

Not so. Citizenship applications cost about $285. It's the Partner visa that costs over $7k.

This thread is quite old. Nemesis wrote that over a year ago when things here in Australia were very different. It certainly wasn’t bollox at the time.

Petrol prices will always be sky-high in the week prior to Easter. You can count on it as they know people try to get away for the long weekend. So make sure you fill up the week before because the price will not fall until Easter is over.

As noted above, you just need to apply for a British passport for your son. It's exactly what we did for our sons and countless other parents have done for their children. However, if you travel to the UK with your son and he only has an Australian passport then you don't need to apply for any UK visa for him beforehand. Australians get automatic permission to stay for 6 months on arrival in the UK, no visa required. Obviously it is best for him to travel on two passports - and you do exactly as you outlined. Use the Australian one to exit and enter Australia and use the British one to enter and exit the UK.

Not all religious schools are the same. Be wary of some small 'christian' schools. Particularly those with the word Christian in their names. Some of these schools can be a bit fundamentalist and their version of science might not agree with yours. The old well-established Anglican, Presbyterian etc schools are completely different as they cater for all (and no) religions and are far more mainstream.