bry45

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but we applied 31/5/2016 and are still waiting to be appointed a case officer. 

On 4/12/2018 at 00:38, gafuk said:

Thanks for the best wishes !.

I am shopping for rates on transfers. TORFX ACCENDO and MONEYCORP totally different figures.Moneycorp best by a few hundred dollars ?? on £48,000

Are they all "Safe" firstly and anyone had good/bad experience ? Ive not used moneycorp before , it's alot of money to make a mistake with

 

Hi gafuk

Firstly, huge congrats on your visa news.

Regarding money transfers, we used Westpac and can not fault them. They advised us to open an account with their london (UK)  branch, which we did by phone. We were then appointed a personal bank rep who still email every month or so for an update. He guided us through what to do when we landed and we duly opened our Westpac oz account at our local branch.

You can transfer as much or as little as you wish, but the minimum to get the best rate is £5000. As we didn't need all our pounds at once, we decided to watch the exchange rate, so all we have to do now is transfer whatever amount we want to their london branch and they will automatically transfer it into our Westpac OZ account at 1 point below current exchange rate, with  no fees. 

We personally cannot recommend them highly enough.

Regards

13 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

Signed!, 

Signed

On 16/03/2018 at 22:21, Kathss56 said:

Loving every precious minute. Will be hitting that submit button on the 600 when I get back for sure!!!

BLOODY BELTIN kATH

13 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

You were obviously contacted early to prepare youselves lol

 as your date is 5.5.15 a while to go yet me thinks, wouldn’t be worrying they’ve not contacted you

way ahead of a lot of others 

Looks like a big wave of visas will soon arrive by reading all yr posts!!!! BTW don’t desert all us waiting room gang will you?!

2nd day in Oz and I don’t want to go home already!  ?

Welcome back to OZ Kath,

Hope all goes well for you.

19 hours ago, elnak said:

Hi Guys and Gals

Just wanted to let you know that we got our visa grant today. 

Thank you so very much for all your love and support troughout the whole process.

Well done to you both, let the fun begin

18 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

Hopefully around the 33mth mark they will request it. But that brings us nearer to Xmas so fingers crossed they ask way before My medical will be done in Oz as hoping to go over in June 

Grandson  born today so I can’t wait to get there now!!!??

Congrats on the new addition Kath, beltin news

On 14/02/2018 at 22:33, Ian Ireland said:

Thanks for the good report on PSS. We are waiting to do a video survey. That will be interesting!

Hi Ian

We used PSS and they were spot on. Their prices were also very good. Told us our goods would be here within 12 weeks from them picking them up and we received them 10 weeks later. Only extra cost to us was the customs charge ($250 I think). Highly recommend them.

16 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

@Trudyandandrew I would be in the same boat really re housing. If I bought it would have to be so far away from my daughter to be affordable and I wouldn’t see her and grandchild often enough and would probably be lonely!

So, we have decided to go down the big house/granny annexe option! 

Us too Kath, 

On 04/12/2017 at 23:24, SusieRoo said:

Transferwise charge 0.45% plus £1 for each transaction, so for £1,000 it would cost £5.50 (£4.50 in fees plus £1) and for £10,000 it would cost £46 (£45 in fees plus £1). But you get the full 'Mid Market' rate (fixed for 24 hours) and it's all very transparent easy to see exactly what everything is.

Basically if you google the exchange rate, then that's what you get with Transferwise. And because the rate is better than a no fee service, it sill works out favorably overall.

I think you do have to register online to get a quote, but this is free with no strings attached.

I personally dislike and distrust banks and believe they deliberately make their products confusing to maximise profits. So Transferwise is like a breath of fresh air, nothing hidden and very simple to use (and no sales calls or getting bombarded with emails).

I did once have to contact my uk bank before they released a payment, just to confirm it was genuine (which was reassuring).

Hi all

Sorry for not having posted or a while, been following all your posts and keeping up with the progress, just been very busy since we landed.

Regarding this topic, we use Westpak and I highly recommend them. All we had to do was open an account with their London office, which we did on line with £5000. In fact, they did it for us, all I did was call them.This gives you a Westpak Uk account. We then went into the local Westpak branch to where we are staying in OZ and registered for our Westpak AU account and bank cards. The London branch gave us a personal account manager who handles all our money transfers and you can transfer as much or as little as you want to without charges.

The London account does not earn interest, so we leave our money in our original Uk bank until we need some cash and all I do now is keep an eye on the exchange rate as I don't want to transfer all our money at once and when we need some AUD, we transfer the equivalent GBP amount into our Westpak Uk account, they then transfer that amount into our OZ account and providing we transfer a minimum of £5000, we get an exchange rate at 1 point below current and no fees and the money is in our AU account the following day. 

They could not be more helpful and considering the fluctuating exchange rate, this works great for us as we don't need all our money transferred just yet. I realise we are all in different positions however, whether you need to transfer all your monies or not, its free.

By the way, Its great reading that allot of you are at or through the exit door of the waiting room.

25 minutes ago, Fisher1 said:

Great news, and Good Luck! we are twelve days ahead of you and awaiting second grandchild any day now. We found the guys from PSS brilliant as well - hoping they will be just as good at this end.  Where are you headed?

 

Hi Fisher

We too are hoping they will be just as good in OZ, we're headed to the gold coast, hope everything goes well with your second bambino, I'm sure all will be OK

Hi everyone

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, things have been hectic for the last few weeks. I've been reading all your posts with the various ups and downs and its good to see at least some of us poms are no longer waiting.

Anyway, our latest update shouldn't change, flights are booked and we're off on Sep 5th. PSS (brilliant) picked up everything the boss said had to be shipped last Friday and the bags are packed. Looking forward to the new adventure and our granddaughter is now crawling, so me and her grandma will be kept fit and active for the foreseeable.. That's it I suppose, I'll post again when we get there.

2 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

We chose PSS because they did a home visit and were substantially cheaper than our other quote. Didn't have time to do three as we are leaving on August 18th. We had to hang on and hang on for exchange of contracts on the house and then suddenly it's all rush rush ... But like waiting for the visa really ... I agree with you AMP it's like our special club in this thread   

Travel tip coming up for anyone who, like us, has decided that they deserve a bit of luxury on the journey out - after all the rushing round.  We decided that for once in our lives we'd do business class, and hang the money that should be going to our new life, house, expenses etcetera.   Now I once read that it was cheaper to fly long haul from an airport outside the UK so I had a look on sky scanner, using Singapore air from LHR and from Helsinki (don't ask). £5600 for two from LHR and no appreciable difference from Finland. Then I tried again with Amsterdam, and again no appreciable difference. I had one last try with Paris. .....

LHR - SYDNEY =£5600

Paris CdG - SYDNEY = £4002

I couldn't quite believe it, but we've booked, are going over the day before and are having an evening in Paris before we fly. Just in case anyone else is bonkers enough to travel to Paris with two great big suitcases ...

 

We have also gone with PSS. Very nice on the phone, told them we'd had a quote from seven seas for a move cube. Our "move manager" emailed us almost immediately and was very helpful, explained that as long as we have a visa that allows us to stay in OZ for 12 months, there will be no issues with shipping. Even better was the fact that they were £300 cheaper. So far, so good, I'll update again when our stuff has been picked up.

Hi all, not posted for a couple of weeks due to some family stuff, but all Ok as our daughter and 7 month old granddaughter are back in the UK for a month visiting, Grandmother is ecstatic and I've now got a new walking buddy.

Anyway, we've been talking about our caravan and possibly taking it with us. Its an older model (1995 Abbey Vogue 215 GTS) and only worth about £1500 , but we love it and its in great condition and ideal for our little trips. We were wondering if anyone has any info on whether or not we could take an older model and how much to ship.

1 hour ago, SusieRoo said:

Thank you Fisher1 for the info.

I thought this looked too good to be true.

So it's just the aged 804 that's 'on-shore' and qualifies for the bridging visa. Still sounds like a good option for any over 65’s (in fact, there would be little point applying for any other visa). We may still have to consider this if our 173 queue grows much longer.

I would also be interested to hear more about clakesville1’s 60k investment visa.

Hope your move is all going smoothly.

I'm also interested in this 60K investment visa if anyone has any info

2 minutes ago, Catlady2014 said:

Height, weight, blood pressure, urine test, blood test for HIV, chest x-ray, eye test, discussion of any conditions and current medications revealed by answers to prior questions, examine for skin cancers and signs of  drug misuse, touch toes, squat - nothing too terrible.  

Beltin info Catlady, but I'm a tad worried about the squat bit, having just had a replacement knee. That said, we're only a year in to our wait, by the time our medicals come round, my new knee will be old

1 hour ago, SusieRoo said:

I agree it’s important not to trivialise the hardships endured by many Ten Pound Poms.

But would you not swap places today? Roughly £500 (allowing for inflation) for an eight-week cruise and an Australian visa stamp in your passport.  Or $100k and a four-year wait for a CPV.

When you put it like that, on the other hand, had we been Ten Pound Poms, I assume we'd be worm fodder by now, so as frustrated as we all are at the queue times, at least we're in it and one day we'll all be there enjoying our new adventures. 

38 minutes ago, gafuk said:

Hi all, just stumbled on this bit of info L dated 14/06/17

waiting time  for cpv 143 = 75% now 35 months.   90 % now 39 months !

( hope I have this wrong ! )

 

                      

Sorry to say Gafuk, unfortunately, your absolutely right, 

We've all been banging on about it since the news broke

29 minutes ago, SusieRoo said:

$5k is a big disadvantage!

And I think you are right to consider a 600, if it’s just for a few months.

Unfortunately, I’m probably too cautious by nature, I keep thinking - if something can go wrong, it may cost a lot more in time and emotional hassle.

The one standout thing I have learned in the last couple of years, while engaging in the Australian visa system is – Don’t’ take anything for granted. Nothing is fixed in stone and what is ‘normal’ today can change very quickly.

I had originally assumed that parent visas were sedentary and would stay the same, year after year. I had no idea how fluid and precarious the whole thing is. It feels like one of those films where someone is trying to slide under a door as it closes.

When I hear stories about ‘Ten Pound Pom’ tickets, I think how fortunate they were back then. I just can’t help thinking, even with the current cost in time and money, we may also be considered ‘jammy’ by future generations.

No wonder they call it “The Lucky Country”

Not sure I agree about "Ten Pound Pom" ticket holders being lucky, when they were being offered, the trip involved a two month+ boat trip and worse than that, I assume when the Ten Pound Poms landed, they wouldn't have had the luxury of air conditioning or a car.

25 minutes ago, Kpnuts said:

Yep, well I also selected the Tourist/Visit family stream but ended up with 5 conditions applied:

No further stay

Provision of private health

No work

Limited Study

To only remain in Aus for 12 months in any 18 month period.

 

I would like to know why different migration officers apply different conditions? I also wonder why they make things so difficult especially when we tell them that a 143 is in the pipeline. They must surely be able to see how far down the list people are and make sensible judgement.

 

 

Sent using Poms in Oz mobile app

There are many aspects they consider before making their decisions, travel history being one of them and we must remember they don't know us from Adam. I could be wrong, but I think the fact that our immi account showed we have been on 4 previous occasions over the last 5 years without breaking our visa conditions helped us. 

Hi all

There seems to be a fair amount of confusion between us all regarding who gets what conditions applied to their 600. So before I applied for ours and knowing we ideally wanted visa's without a no further stay condition, I did allot of reading before I applied to see how best to go about it to give us the best shot. For the benefit of others who are thinking of, or are about to apply, this is what I did for ours.

Firstly, I found out that there are differing types of the 600 visa, 3 of which come with a mandatory 8503 condition (below) 

Condition 8503 is a mandatory condition on the following visas:

• Visitor visa (subclass 600) (Sponsored Family stream)
• Visitor visa (subclass 600) (Approved Destination stream)
• Visitor visa (subclass 600) (Tourist stream) if sponsorship has been imposed on it

I then found that there was a fourth option, 

Condition 8503 is discretionary on the following visa

• Visitor visa (subclass 600) (Tourism/visit family or friends)

I therefore chose this option when filling out the application via our immi account. Luckily for us, the 8503 was not imposed. Having done some further reading, we can apply to extend whilst onshore. At the time of applying, we had hoped to have our 143's by the end of  our 12 months, but reading Wishfull's latest post stating the 143 queue is now at 39 months, it looks like applying for an extension will be inevitable.

Hope this is helpful 

2 hours ago, Suzyq said:

I wonder how the immigration people make their decision as to what conditions they apply to each 600?!?!

This is the wording of my response regarding the conditions applied:

""Dear Sirs, 

I understand the following Conditions and agree :

 Condition 8558 - I must not spend more than 12 months in Australia in any 18-month period;

 Condition 8501 – I must maintain private health insurance whilst I am onshore;and

 Condition 8503 – I must not lodge any further visa applications whilst I am onshore;

I have quotations from various Health Insurance providers and will activate this as soon as my travel arrangements have been secured.""

 

This is a 3 year visa, so I doubt I can reapply for another until those 3 years have elapsed. If anyone knows anything different please let me know! My current plan is to return to UK for 3 months every year, which is a lot and very inconvenient! But we can't think of any other way around it!

Bry45, what conditions did you have attached to your 600?

 

Hi Suzyq

Our 600's state: -

Visa Conditions - 8101 - NO WORK

                            8201 - MAXIMUM 3 MONTHS STUDY

9 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

My take on that is if you don't pop out of Oz before the 12mths is up you then have to wait 6mths to re apply  so leave on 11mths then re apply, have heard it only takes 2-5days to renew?? There was a post a while ago. 

That's exactly what we've decided to do, we too have a multi entry visa valid till 31/5/18 so we're going in Feb, then will leave and return just before May 31st which gives us a further 12 months, if we haven't got our 143 by the end of May 2019, we will apply to extend because we don't have the 8053 no further stay condition on our 600. Or at least that's what I understand we can do according to the immi 600 fact sheet. Whether or not they will take in to account our 143 queue time (which by then will be 36 months) is another matter.

But hey ho, its an adventure, so if we do have to leave for whatever period, we'll consider it part of the adventure. Truth is it will probably be time for a grandma/granddad holiday by then anyway. What will be will be, as long as we keep waking up breathing every day, the rest is a bonus. 

2 hours ago, Suzyq said:

Hi Bri45, I still haven't heard anything from my agent other than when I was asked to sign and return my agreement to the terms of the visa but we don't fly to Aus until 27th so perhaps it won't get granted til closer to that date. I will chase later today though, just in case something has gone awry.

I am still a tad worried about the interpretation of the "12 months stay in every 18 months" statement, but whatever the outcome, I will work around it. I wonder who can formally explain that?!

Hi Suzyq

I applied for our 600's on line via my immi account, took about an hour an half to fill in. It was immediately acknowledged and issued within a week. It maybe taking longer because you are using an agent, but hang in there, I;m sure it will come.

On 2017-5-31 at 16:34, Suzyq said:

Blimey that was quick! I sent mine through my agent, I also sent to them on 23rd finally - let's see when I get mine!

Hey Suzyq

Did your 600 come through?