Bridgeman
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Everything posted by Bridgeman
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When your parents are granted their visa they will be entitled to full Medicare rights. They will have to pay for their prescriptions though , but may be entitled to a Commonwelath Seniors Health card after 2 years, which gives discounted prescriptions. You might want to take some advice as to whether they would both pass the medical. And yes, after 10 years they would be entitled to an Australian state pension, but this is means tested.
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Hi There is a parent visa thread which is a sticky at the top of the immigration forum which you might find helpful. Someone on there who applied for their 143 visa in Jun 2013 just got their visa granted 23rd Jan this year so you can do the maths. The 173 might be slightly quicker given that you do not need to go through the AOS process. http://www.weekendnotes.com/splashfest-swanbourne-reserve/?sb=1&i=1&j=3&k=2&wemid=48693&wuid=151973&ap=MHrJmo4RhQ
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Not sure if you would be able to afford it but the best thing might be to actually pay the fine and then sort out the appeal afterwards. At least it would give you a breathing space. I got fined for a late tax return a couple of years ago, which was not my fault, as I had filed on time, but they sent the whole lot back to me saying there was an extra form I needed to fill in. They did give me an extension till end of January, however I didn't receive the letter till 25th January (posted in the UK on Christmas Eve!), so no way was it going to get to them in time. I paid the fine and then appealed afterwards and they let me off 'as a gesture of goodwill'. Fortunately I had kept all the correspondence including envelopes with date stamps etc.
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Actually, just a technicality, you can lodge your 143 application while still in Australia, but you will not get a bridging visa when your original visitor visa ends and you will need to be offshore when your visa is granted. You can still visit Australia on a visitor visa while waiting for the 143 to be processed.
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If you look at your visa grant letter for the 143 it should have a 'Must not enter after...' date on it which should be 5 years from the date of the 143 visa grant.
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Yes, you can apply for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card when you have been a permanent resident in Australia for 2 years, and you need to be over 65 and it is means tested. It is useful as you get discounted prescriptions (around $6 I think - not sure as I have only just got mine). You can also get discounts at the pharmacy off most other things. You can also get bulk billed at some doctors and get discounts of things like water, rates etc although this does vary from state to state. It is confusing as there is also a Health Card which is issued by Centrelink, which gives entitlement to a lot more, but you need to be on a pension for this I think. As soon as you become a permanent resident in Australia, you can apply for the relevant state Seniors card (there are conditions which again varies from state to state, for example in WA you need to be over 60 and working less than 20 hrs a week.) Again what you can get varies, in WA we get free travel on all Transperth uses, trains and ferries, a small discount on electricity, rates etc. We also get discounts in cafes, shops and other businesses. It's worth checking out the seniors card information for the state you are going to settle in.
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I would just like to add one other word of caution/advice re following your offspring to Australia. In this day and age of the upwardly mobile, mobile being the operative word, it might be an idea to have a conversation with them as to whether they are going to stay settled where they are. Or if not would you be prepared to uproot again and follow them? And what if it's somewhere you don't like? Moving house here is extremely expensive, and due to stamp duty, settlement fees and removal costs etc you stand to lose quite a lot. We have been in Australia in WA for nearly 4 years and due partly to the exchange rate and the fact family might relocate within Perth due to s-i-l's job had not bought a house here yet. We really now want to buy and settle as we feel we have been in limbo long enough, but DD has now informed us she doesn't want us to buy a house in WA as they 'probably will move over East at some point'. Where or when is anybody's guess and will depend on s-I-law's job prospects. We are now considering our options.
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We brought a UK private pension over from the UK and invested it in a Oz Super from which I am now drawing a pension. We were told that if we returned to the UK within 2 years of starting to draw the pension tax free then we would have to repay all the tax which would have been due on it. Can anyone confirm this?
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Eligibility Generally to be eligible to the Australian Age Pension you will need to be in Australia and a permanent resident/citizen at the time of applying and generally need to have been in Australia for a continuous period for at least 10 years or for a number of periods that total more than 10 years with one of the periods totally more than five years. Hi, I am just wondering whether you could clarify the eligibility period, ie do they take into consideration time spent on a temporary/provisional visa in the ten years? For example we came over on a temporary 173 Contributory Parent visa (which I was told was actually a provisional visa as it did not exempt us from the Medicare levy payment or the necessity of paying tax on our pension transfer) and after a year were granted a permanent CPV. Would the first year spent in Australia count or do they only count permanent residency? The above seems to indicate that they would count temporary residency but it is not clear. And what about periods spent out of the country, eg for holidays etc - I know these are not included in the time to be eligible for citizenship.
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We are planning a long 2 month holiday abroad and leaving our rental and won't have a permanent address when we return, in fact we are not sure where we will be staying yet. However, I have seen that it is a requirement to inform the Department of Transport of your new address within 21 days of leaving your old address and it is an offence not to do so. What happens if we just leave and don't tell them? Can they fine us? I assume the rule is so that they can send any speeding fines etc, but as we won't be in the country then we obviously won't be committing any offences.
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Oh OK, not sure what the delay might be. After we had paid our AOS, we got the request for the second VAC within 2 weeks. Maybe the process is taking longer now.
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When you say 'lodged the AOS' I assume you mean their sponsor submitted the paperwork to Centrelink ? It is generally down to the time each individual Centrelink office takes to process it and this varies depending on where the sponsor is. In our case it took 10 weeks in SE Queensland. Maybe get the sponsor to check with Centrelink to see what's going on?
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If they pass the Balance of Family test, ie at least half their children are in Australia as permanent residents, and one of them is settled, been here around 2 years, then they would be eligible for a Parent Visa. It would have to be the Contributory Parent Visa which is expensive, around 60 K for a couple currently I think and with a processing time of 18 months to 2 years.
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This used to be possible a few years ago. Unfortunately DIBP have now closed this loophole and it is not possible for a CPV holder to sponsor someone for a partner visa for five years. It is really meant for the CPV holder to sponsor a new partner.
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Yes, you will have to pay for prescriptions: have a look here http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/uk-visitors/Pages/accessing-nhs-services.aspx
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When you apply all you will pay is the initial VAC. The Assurance of Support is not paid until just before visa grant, followed by the second, final visa application charge. If you have applied for a 103 and then decide to apply for a 143, then you will need to cancel the 103 and make a new application for a 143 and again pay the initial visa application charge. Unfortunately the initial visa application charge for the 103 will not be refunded. However, they will take into consideration the time spent waiting on the 103 when they process the 143.
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There used to be a separate thread on this somewhere on here, but it would be a bit old now after the visas were withdrawn but may have started up again when they were reinstated. If you do a search on here for 804 or aged parent visa I am sure it will come up. I assume you are aware that there may only be a small window of opportunity to apply for this visa as the government will probably try to withdraw them again in a few months.
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As long as you satisfy the Balance of Family test and your offspring is settled - usually 2 years permanent residency - you can apply for a parent visa at any age. I don't know why you say their chances of getting a visa are slim? If they satisfy the criteria they stand as much chance as anyone. The only downside is paying the contributory cost in order to speed up the process. The cost can be split by going for the temporary 173 first. Most people need to sell their house to cover the cost of the visa, Alternatively, there is the 103 non-contributory parent visa which has just been reinstated for a short time but which is considerably cheaper. They would need to get a move on before the government close it again. Yes, there is a long waiting list and it may take some time but I don't think it is anywhere near the time stated on the website and when it is closed again there will be no more new applicants. They could cover themselves by applying and then see where they are further down the line - nothing to lose except the initial VAC. If all fails, the OP may be interested to know that parents can visit for up to a year in any 18 month period, which may not be of use now, but probably later.
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As long as they pass the Balance of Family Test and their offspring is settled -usually 2 years - they can apply for the CPV at any age if they are willing to pay the Contributory cost. Not sure why you say their chances of getting a visa are slim?
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You may have to fill in a self assessment form for the relevant tax years.
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They take the time you have been waiting in the queue for the 103 into consideration - hence the seemingly shorter wait. They did this with us as well.
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http://www.taxpayer.com.au/KnowledgeBase/10121/Individuals-Tax-Super/Senior_Australian_and_Pensioner_Tax_Offset
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We have also discovered that there are other subtle ways in which we are penalised financially for not being able to draw an Oz state pension at the moment. There are various household and medical rebates which are only available to those drawing an Oz state pension, although this does depend on the state. In addition we have discovered that Seniors drawing an Oz state pension are entitled to a larger tax allowance, which of course we currently are not. An expensive business this parent visa lark!
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Transferring large sum of money - how to get round transfer limit?
Bridgeman replied to Bridgeman's topic in Money & Finance
Yes, I don't know if it is just a UK thing, or just an HSBC thing. After doing some research I have discovered that the transfer limit is up to the individual bank and that HSBC are one of the worst. Some banks will allow 50,000. Ironically I have just transferred a large sum of money from ME bank in Australia to another bank in Australia. I also had a transfer limit of $10,000. I phoned them and asked if there was any way round it and they said 'No Problem' - told me to download a Direct Credit Transfer form from their website, to fill it in, sign it, scan it and email to them and they would action immediately. The money will be in the other account in a couple of days. I would award them a gold star for excellent customer service. On the other hand we have had nothing but misinformation and poor advice from HSBC. I will be looking to see if I can switch to another bank (after I have my money of course) but don't know how easy this would be not being in the UK.