Alaska
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Everything posted by Alaska
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Go Matilda have a very good reputation so they would be a good agency to contact to see your options. They were very upfront with us about our (limited at that point) options, so I would trust their opinion.
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I didn't use them for visas as DH's company employed someone different unfortunately but they have been the source of a lot of priceless information for us over the years - in fact even when the agents we were using had no clue, Alan was very helpful with information. We have used their tax company - GM Tax - this last year as we had a very complicated situation with selling 2 houses in the UK and getting PR, and they have been very knowledgeable and it's gone very well.
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Just to point out I am not a "cat hater" or the like. I am definitely a cat person and would love one, but I have changed my mind about the benefit of owning one here. Yes ticks as well. I look for the article in a second but remember reading that they think feral cats destroy 75 million native animals a night! That's a lot of native animals! I certainly don't have an agenda here as I would love one but I am just not convinced about it any more. Here we are; http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/feral-cats-re-write-the-australian-story/5802204
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Off topic a little but, but related. I had ideas that we might get a cat over here as I grew up with cats and love them but since living here I have changed my mind. I have had friends' and neighbours' cats get stuck down the big drains and been bitten by snakes, and the damage they do to the local wildlife is immense. Australia has an absolutely massive wild cat problem these days. The other alternative is to keep the cat indoors all the time of course, but I wouldn't have been happy doing that. It's a personal decision, but we decided that having a cat in Australia wasn't right for us.
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Good luck. Please make sure they are MARA registered agents! There are unfortunately some cowboys out there.
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If your wife isn't keen then chances are it wouldn't work out anyway. You don't mention extended family but if she is close to them then the chances of it failing (with her not being keen anyway) are extremely high. It's normal for people to have doubts before coming but it depends how deep hers run. Also, what is it that makes you think Australia is for you? We love it here but were very realistic about the pros and cons and potential pitfalls (which were huge for us as we were on a 457 visa for the first 2 years). If you do come, then you have a lot to work out first as there could be a lot of resentment down the line if she feels she was pressured.
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Yes - that's right. I remember it explicitly said that you can't update the address if you live abroad (I went to change it when we left) so you shouldn't have to worry about fines.
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I am not sure if this question was aimed at me? If so, I'm really not sure. We got our PR last year and sold our properties soon afterwards. It is all a bit complicated as one we bought to renovate and sell and went into negative equity, the other we lived in until we left in 2009. I have always done our taxes ourselves even living here and renting out in the UK, but this was a step too far for me, hence employing GMTax for this one. Alan especially has always been really helpful with advice on here so I figured we would be in good hands.
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That is currently being sorted out by Alan's company GMTax :notworthy:
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We sold two properties last year after receiving our PR. It was very straightforward. We didn't do anything regarding PoA (in fact I only just heard about it on this thread!) and didn't have any issues at all.
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I find it's all down to the individual that is dealing with your account rather than the company. When we first let out years ago, I had a few around. One woman really impressed me - had been there for ages, really thorough and knew her stuff. Agreed the deal. She left the next week and never saw her again! The person who took over was appalling. When we emigrated we went with a small company who were known to us. They were generally fantastic and a much much better and more personal service than the larger company we had previously dealt with (who overpaid us, underpaid us, did no inspections, sent us the wrong statements, renewed a lease without asking us (!!!!) etc). The other thing is to make sure you arrange your mortgage so you can let out. Our lender did a "consent to let" which we could have until the end of the fixed term at the same rate (with a small set up charge). It's also worth doing the taxes yourself and doing the paperwork to do this so the agent doesn't take out the percentage automatically. We found it much better to do it ourselves financialy. Good luck.
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There has been some examples quoted on here especially if under a certain threshold so worth doing a search. Good luck.
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I think it's all to do with the insulation. Our brick rental was really cold in winter and really hot in summer (basically it was always several degrees warmer than the outside temp). Only advantage is that it cooled down quickly when the sun went down. The brick house we bought it much better insulated and it doesn't get as hot or as cold. The only disadvantage is that it doesn't cool down as quickly at night so the summer nights stay hotter.
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Have you contacted the agent for an update? We heard nothing about anything and when I contacted them, I found out that the nomination had been approved and we had a CO but they didn't bother to tell us. After I chased it, the MA emailed the CO for an update and it was granted the same day. I wonder if we would still be waiting if we hadn't chased it up. I think ours was held up a little bit as we made a mistake on the form that we needed to correct it was a bit complicated. It was eventually approved by a "Senior Case Officer" - not sure if that is usual process or not.
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What a pain Paisleylass! Will be worth it in the end.
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So, I won't quite believe this until I have the grant email in my hand, but we got an email from the MA last night saying our PR has been granted! So timeline was: 27 March - Nomination and Application uploaded with all documents (medicals, police checks etc). ENS 186 Transition Stream. late June - Nomination approved and CO assigned. 4 July - Visa granted. Over the moon!
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So I emailed the MA. I actually suspect she has left as someone else replied (without CCing her in). The nomination has been approved and we have a case officer. Would've been nice to be informed! I have emailed back asking when the CO was assigned. I think they will want to double check our form as we inadvertently made a mistake on the form and had to do another form with the correction. They may require further information I think. ETA: The CO was allocated last week.
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Somebody posted on another forum that the automated email states "Please note that we are currently allocating ENS applications that were lodged in April 2014 and RSMS applications that were lodged in May." I have sent an email to my MA to see if she has heard anything as we were March, medicals, police checks and everything submitted and from a low risk country.
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Great news emperor! I wonder if there are different "queues" for Direct Stream and Transition Stream? Does anyone know. Ours was submitted on 27 March and have had no word at all. I am slightly nervous as our MA was completely useless and we had to correct her on numerous things. Just hope she submitted everything correctly.
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That explains why things seem to have slowed down. Just hope nothing changes on 1 July that affects us!
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Yes, it is a bit random it seems. We haven't heard anything yet either.
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Hopefully although there may be one or two things they want additional information about. Realised it actually went in 27 March so it may not be long until we hear something.
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That's good news Huttu. Hope the rest comes through quickly. All our paperwork went in on the 29 March so hoping we hear something in the next week or two!
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Congrats Petrova! Must be a great feeling. I wonder why yours took a bit longer. Which country are you from? Ours went in 10 weeks ago this coming Thursday, so really hoping we hear something in the next few weeks.
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Great news PL. Ours went in on 29 March so maybe we will hear something in the next few weeks. Hope so.