Fisher1

Just as a matter of interest, “Choice,” the Australian consumer group, produced a really helpful report/ summary of health insurance options a couple of years ago. You have to be a member to view it, but as newcomers we found it really helpful.

You could well be surprised at the amount of junk you’ve got ...

Hi. I sent mine off on April 6th. Thought it would take forever, but it was due to expire on June 22nd and I couldn’t see the situation ending any time soon, so I sent it off. I got an email about four weeks later to say they had received it, then two emails apologizing for the delay at approx two week intervals, then an email saying my application had been accepted and my passport was being printed. Then the other day has an email saying it has been sent off to me.. So they do at least keep you informed!

Actually it’s happened before - we had a Christmas 2018 card from my neice that turned up in JUNE 2019. The good news is, I’ve finally had an email from the UK passport office to say that my passport is on it’s way. It hasn’t arrived of course, but at least I know they’ve sent it. I was a bit bemused when they emailed to tell me my application for a new passport had been accepted ... I had hoped there was no doubt about that part!

Yep, I got an Easter card from the UK a couple of weeks ago.

I’m not sure of the answer to that either Ramot ... like you we intend to apply for citizenship ASAP becaus it seems the natural next step. I think there’s a small benefit in not having to pay for residents return visas when you leave the country. For me I’d just feel that I didn’t properly belong here without it. (Also, having neglected to get Luxembourgish citizenship decades ago because there didn’t seem any need, I’m now kicking myself for that omission!). Seriously though, it seems right and sensible.

I was actually surprised to be about £25 a month better off - we’d only been here two years!

Oh yes, we were back last year and claimed then. Every penny, even if it isn’t very much yet - it’s a principle!

Fair enough

Oh sorry I didn’t realise - that must be a real drag.

If you are thinking of contributing to the UK pension for a number of years, be careful because it may not be worth it. Nobody on here has mentioned frozen pensions? Are you aware that if you live in Australia your UK state pension is ‘frozen?’ In my case, as a recent immigrant here, that means that from the day I left the UK I receive no further cost of living rises. In the case of someone contributing from here and resident at the time the pension falls due, the pension payable is frozen - I’m not sure at what point the freeze is applied to your (potential) payment but I know it makes a big difference. There’s a group called British Pensioners in Australia who have a facebook page - this is a really helpful group and if you post your question on there I’m sure someone will be able to tell you more. Of course, if you are at all likely to re-settle in the UK at some point in the future you should probably make the contributions because you won’t get an Australian pension paid outside Australia, even if you are otherwise entitled to one. The current UK pension is round about £8,000 a year (depending on your contributions) and is one of the meanest in Europe. Currently it is paid at age sixty six, but this age is set to increase. I’m not saying don’t pay, but do check first because the UK govt don’t tell you. If it were me, I’d top up to ten years so that my previous payments weren’t wasted and leave it at that. good luck!

I’m sure you know that UK stat pensions are frozen when you move to Australia, so if there’s any chance at all that you might change your mind and move back to Oz, it wont’t be worth paying extra into your UK state pension. Otherwise, I’d investigate the possibility.

Yep, Thirroul is nice but so expensive.

We live in KIama which is a lovely little seaside town half an hour further out than Wollongong. I shop in Wollongong a lot and I’d say it was a town of two halves. North Wollongong seems nice, fairly quiet, near the beach. The city centre is a bit rough, nice shopping centre but the streets around full of nothing very much. I’d live in north Wollongong but not the city centre. If you’re considering a commute from Sydney to Newcastle, why not consider a commute from Sydney to Kiama - two hours by direct train which runs once an hour.

Hmm Yes, If travel restrictions are lifted I may ring and tell them I need to come back to the UK urgently! What annoys me is that we have to wait, but they have to take the money right away.

You are probably very wise! I sent my soon-to - expire passport back to the UK on April 6th. It took four weeks or so to get there because they emailed me when it arrived. Since then, one email saying to expect delays. It officially expires next week ... just as well we can’t travel anywhere!

Yes, the figures are a bit eye watering - we filled in tax returns from the word go - yet somehow Australia omitted to send our 2017-18 bill till May this year. Imagine my shock when I logged in to pay my tax instalment for the quarter and found this enormous bill! However, we comfort ourselves with our opal cards

Hi Toots, you’re right, I haven’t been on here for ages, been too busy with grandchildren, the Probus group, the writing group ... even during lockdown I was busy editing my dad’s memoirs (theyve only been lying round for thirty years) ... but I suddenly thought about this forum yesterday and thought I’d see how everyone was doing ...

Way back in 2004 our daughter went backpacking to Sydney on a one year young persons’ visa. We were then in our early fifties. She was lucky enough to get a permanent job and a PR visa, and we began to discover the joys of the 24 hour flight to Australia. Eventually, exhausted by years of bawling in foreign airports, we joined the waiting list for a parent visa, my unenthused husband vastly comforted by the proposed twenty year wait. (Pause for more howling in foreign airports). Then our grandson was born and everything changed. We changed our application. We were now contributing. Things moved on a pace. Suddenly an email from PVC hit my inbox. I wondered why someone was trying to sell me plastic and almost deleted it ... Parent Visa Centre pinged into my head at the last second and I discovered that on the eve of a ten day holiday in London - with no internet - we had lots of lovely new hoops to jump through, with only three weeks to do it. The medical went well, we got the police clearance, filled in the dreaded form eighty and interrupted our long planned holiday in Sydney with a week in New Zealand so they could issue the visa while we were off shore. (????). Suddenly, we were entitled to stay. I remember thinking “bloody hell, we’ve done it!” ... but sadly no wild euphoria, none of the bottles of Champaigne I had envisaged ... because we still had to go back to the UK ... and by this time my mum was too ill to leave. Mum died the following year, and we moved over six months later. Thanks to mum leaving us a little bit of money, we travelled out business class and toasted her as the plane lifted off. Mum also paid for our new car. I swear she was cheering us on. Living here is simple compared to not living here. Our grand daughter was born the week we arrived. We found a place to rent after three weeks at my daughter’s house and bought our own place ten months later. We love being near our only child and her family, but we don’t live in their pockets - we live two hours away on the South Coast in a town we chose the year we got our visas. We’ve had ups and downs of course ... possibly the worst was the incorrect UK tax bill for £65,000 - actually they owed us money... we’ve had a couple of health problems, but are appreciative of the short waiting times we’ve encountered so far. I don’t like the Aussie tax system because I have to pay more than I did in the UK, but then we’re not forking out huge sums for holidays in Australia any more. I hate the UK government for freezing my pension ... I love being able to walk to the beach every day ... I hate being without my lifelong friends ... I love FaceTime. It’s a balance, and we both love the way we’ve been accepted by everyone we’ve met. Best of all, I love just hanging out with my daughter and her kids and not having to make it ‘special’ all the time. It’s a good life, and we are so very lucky to be here. Even my originally unenthused husband says so.

I’m currently without a passport. Sent my old one back April 6th... I know they received it, had the email. Since then one apology for the delay, about three weeks ago ... just as well we can’t travel anywhere. !

I have paid all my income tax here in Oz from the day I arrived and have paid no UK tax since that time, even though all my income arises from pensions in the UK. I had completed our UK tax returns for years, so I felt reasonably confident of my ability to file the first UK form after we arrived in Australia ... misplaced confidence. Whatever you do, don’t contact the UK tax office for advice! I did, and followed their incorrect advice. They then fined me for doing what they had told me to do. It’s a measure of the frustration and/ or worry the whole business caused me that I just paid the fine instead of fighting it. Alan Collet saved the day. Saved us a substantial amount of money too.

Thanks for the info - sorry I cant help with your concerns, you are further down the road than me. Good luck with it all.

Hi Ive been looking at the eligibility requirements for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card. It seems my husband’s income is below the limit to apply for this card, but mine isnt. Our joint income is too high to apply as a couple. Does anyone know if my husband is allowed to apply on his own account or do you have to apply as a couple? Thanks

Hi Liam. I’ve just sent for a new UK passport - God knows when that will arrive - but reading your mail made me realise that I will need to link my new passport to my PR visa?? If the link hasn’t been made and you need to travel, do you have to take a paper copy of your visa with you?

I think you are mistaken - we are entitled to have our pension upgraded while we are here on holiday so we have no need to prove we are living here - we aren’t! We can produce copies of our e- tickets for the flights if we must, naturally we have our NI numbers and the reason we are here is that we are on holiday! All we need to do is speak to someone but they are proving difficult to cont@ct.