Bridgeman

Sorry for the typo - I am sure you know by now that it's $46,300 pp (trying to type with granddaughter leaning on my knee!) I don't think they are trying to hide it, it's just that the visa charges table is not in a very clear format any longer - used to be much clearer than it is now. That's why it's the 'Contributory' parent visa - and it is getting very expensive now unfortunately.

That's probably just the initial Visa application charge. The second instalment is $43,60 per peron if I have read the table right: http://www.immi.gov.au/Help/Pages/fees-charges/visa.aspx You do need to plough through the notes at the bottom.

I am looking to move my money from one bonus savings account to another bonus account as the bonus is expiring soon. I haveal ready had a bonus account with the institution offering the best rate and when I moved the money about 9 months ago I left a small amount in there. These bonus accounts are always for 'new' customers. What counts as a new customer? Does anyone know, if I close the account, what the normal waiting period is before I can open another bonus account with them.

Danny 842003 I would think this is very relevant, given that the changes were announced in the budget, presumably to save the government money. If they don't want them then why not prevent all parents from emigrating unless they pay the large CPV charge? Why just pick on one section of parents, and overlook another larger section who will in the long run cost more money? And I am not talking about migrants who are allowed in on humanitarian grounds, of course, I am not suggesting this is wrong. I am talking about people who come over on skilled visas, but who, because they financially support their parents, are allowed to add them to the applications as dependants. Danny

I have just been reminded of something which I have found extremely unfair for a long time. Bearing in mind that the majority of immigrants to Australia are now not from the UK and to be fair, if they don’t want the parents to come, if the government wanted to save money maybe they should look at not allowing immigrants to add parents as dependents to their applications. There are lots of parents from non-welfare states who come over on their offspring’s visa and, as they have no income, after 2 years are entitled to various benefits, and of course Medicare as soon as they land. Those from a welfare state who have pensions and so probably not entitled to any benefits are discriminated against and even more so now with the removal of the parent visa. This will not stop those other parents, who will cost the state even more, from coming over.

The 884 and the 864 are not affected by the current changes as they are 'contributory' visas.

I would just like to add it might be worth considering using a courier for the documents due to the urgency as the post may not be completely reliable. We sent our stuff to our daughter via DHL - cost us about fifty quid and only took 2 days about 2 years ago - she then added her sponsor form and couriered the application to the Parent Visa Centre. I know it's extra money but might be worth it in the end for peace of mind.

I will try and answer some of your questions, although we applied for the 173 and then the 143 as we were under 65, but I would imagine it's similar. With regard to the 'No Further Stay' condition, I am not sure, but I think it is up to DIBC as to whether they impose this condition on the visa. I don't think the ETA normally has this condition on it. You don't actually 'convert' to the permanent visa. It's a new visa application. However, the parent normally does not need to redo the medicals, although they may need to submit an Australian police check if they have been in Australia for at least 12 months. This also includes time spent on visits. The AOS is only required for the permanent visa and not the temporary. So you would apply for the permanent visa, and then wait for DIBC to request that you arrange the AOS. In our case it took about 5 months after application for them to request it and it took Centrelink about 10 weeks to sort it out, but they were particularly slow. The normally quote 4-6 months for the whole process. As I said you apply for the temporary visa first and will pay a portion of the high second VAC. You need to apply for the permanent visa within 2 years and then you pay the AOS and when that is sorted they will request the remainder of the large second VAC, at the rate that is in force at the time of application. The exact current fees are here: http://www.immi.gov.au/fees-charges/_pdf/visa-pricing-table.pdf somewhere around page 23 I think, you do need to plough through it. Don't know whether it is yet to be approved, but I think DIBC pretty much do as they like. It seems pretty certain it's going ahead, the only question is when they will stop accepting new applications. Hope this helps.

Maybe, but I was alluding to the title of this thread which refers to people being forced to return to the UK. If this wasn't the case then why would this thread exist? I don't have statistics to hand but maybe if you multiplied my example, then maybe the country wouldn't get over it, if lots of skilled workers suddenly decided to leave the country.

I agree entirely. We provide a lot of support to our family, not least of which is childcare. One of the main reasons for people leaving Australia is that they miss their families and the support they can offer particularly in WA where many of the main breadwinners work away from home, leaving the wife to cope alone with the children. We were lucky enough to afford the CPV (only just, although we are struggling to afford a house here and I don't think we could afford the CPV now) but would have been devastated had we not been able to join our family in Australia. I doubt if our family would have come to Australia without the prospect of us being able to join them and the country would have been poorer by two very skilled workers.

I understand that it is normally possible to add a partner to the 103 application after it has been lodged, but not processed. I wonder, will this still be the case if the application is lodged before the end of June, but then the visa is scrapped, would it still be possible to add a partner after June? Just posting for a friend.

We came to Oz to join our daughter and family 3 years ago under the impression that our other child would be following soon. He still hasn't moved over and not sure if he will now. We miss him a lot and are not in a position to travel back and forth regularly, so it's very difficult. I think we miss him more than he misses us. Hoping to meet up with him soon somewhere halfway but it is heartbreaking.

At the risk of being jumped on by less sympathetic members of this forum I would like to add my support for the OP. I agree to some extent with what she is saying and being in a similar situation ourselves can understand her frustration at the dilemma she is in. I empathise with her feelings of feeling trapped. We already had family here and also encouraged our children to come to Australia in the belief that it would offer a better life for them. We were fortunate enough to be able to join one of our children – the other one has not made the final decision and we left them behind and they are now in Europe. However, we weren’t expecting to end up in WA which does not really suit us and is expensive. So we have a dilemma and some very tough choices. Stay here where our family needs our support but are not really happy or move elsewhere away from family and grandchildren and still be unhappy. It is not so easy just to go back to the UK or elsewhere.

Just an update. Having spoken to several banks in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man we were informed that Australia does not allow residents to open offshore bank accounts. It doesn't matter that the money is in the UK they would not allow us to open an account as we are currently in Australia.

We are permanent residents in Australia, but not citizens and still have money in a savings account in the UK. Due to the rubbish interest rates we were thinking of an offshore account. However I have heard that the offshore banks do not allow Australians to open offshore accounts. Does this mean we would not be able to open an offshore account? Does anyone know if this is true and what the definition of 'Australian' would be - do they mean citizens or would be be allowed to open an account as we still have British passports.

Does anyone know a way to watch live UK football matches in Australia? Either free or through a small subscription.

Yes, you get a year to validate, but no, you don't get 5 years to move out. The 173 is a temporary visa for 2 years only and you need to apply for the 143 permanent visa before the 2 years are up.

When you get your CPV permanent visa you have 5 years to settle here. During this time you can come and go as you please. If you leave after this time, and are not a citizen with an Australian passport, you need to apply for a Resident Return visa in order to re-enter Australia. In order to get this there are rules and regulations about how long you have to have spent in Australia. So, basically, if we were to return to the UK without having got citizenship, we may have difficulty getting back into Australia at a later date. If both our kids were here, we might want to retunr at a later date, so having citizenship would allow us to do that.

I do know that there is some talk of the UK government maybe rethinking freezing the state pension for those living in Australia, not that I think it will make a lot of difference. This is because so many pensioners are returning to the UK as they can no longer afford to live here. This of course puts pressure on the Health Service and Social Security. We loved it here after coming on holiday for many years and when we forked out for the CPV it was with the intention of staying here. Since starting the process, however, the exchange rate has gone pear shaped, so we still haven't bought a house here - OH isn' really happy with the style and quality of Australian houses - and if we do will have to set our sights a lot lower than we had anticipated when we first started this process.. We are finding it very expensive here especially in WA and are not able to live the lifestyle that we had anticipated and are aware that we could have a much better standard of living back in the UK. It's not something you can really gauge till you live here. Having said that we still have a couple of pensions which we have not yet started to draw, so I guess the crunch will be to see how we go and whether the exchange rate bucks up. We love being with our family and young grandchildren and that's priceless, but don't feel entirely at home here. I know some people have said they don't care about living frugally as long as they can be with their family. However, we still have a daughter in the UK, but she has expressed an interest in moving to Australia maybe some time in the future, so we would like to stay here and see if we can get citizenship to keep our options open. It wouldn't be spending the money that would cause us to make more of an effort, but the fact that we had both our kids here. We do feel torn at the moment but if we can get citizenship then spending the money won't have been in vain.

Hi I will try and answer your questions: 1. If you want to apply for a 143 Contributory Parent Visa (or from the remainder of your post I assume it is your mother who will be applying)then you will need to cancel you 103 application and put in a new application, which will also involve paying the initial VAC again. However, the application date will be the date that she initially applied for the 103, ie the time she has spent waiting on the 103 will be taken into consideration when waiting for a CO. 2. I think you may be getting confused between the second large VAC and the Assurance of Support. The second large VAC is payable just before the visa is granted and is not refundable. The Assurance of Support ($10,000 for a single and $14,000 for a couple) is refundable in full after 10 years, and you will also get interest on it in the meantime). 3. Have a look at the following link which tells you what payments are recoverable from the AOS. In reality there are not many which would apply to parents. http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/factors/assurance_support.htm 4, She will still be able to come to Australia on a visitor visa once she has applied for the CPV. I assume this also applies to the 103. With the CPV timing is crucial as this is an offshore visa and she does not want to find herself in Australia when the visa is granted. it is vital to keep DIAC informed of any visits to Australia so they can contact her and she can then arrange to go offshore for the visa to be granted. 5. She will need to have spent four years in Australia under the normal rules to apply for citizenship. She will need to wait at least 2 years to be eligible for any benefits. See the following link: http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/settle_pay_permres.htm http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/factors/newly_arrived.htm I hope this helps. If you have any more queries it might be an idea to post them in the parent visa thread which is a sticky at the top of the immigration thread. There are lots of helpful, knowledgeable people who post on there.