Sagada

Great thanks for the tips. Much appreciated.

Hi folks, I know this used to be a 'thing' but is it still the case where you can land a nursing job through an Australian agency and they will cover some of your shipping/relocation costs? Has anyone got first hand experience? Do some of them even cover flights and initial rent periods (again, I kmow some more rural jobs used to include this type of package)? I'm a mental health nurse, seeking to be re-employed on a 457 visa. I was on a previous 457 in Melbourne and i'm now hoping to work in Australia again, preferably with the added benefit of relocation assistance. Thanks in advance.

Anyone? Ta

It's not being cancelled though. My workplace is allowing a 'zero hours' contract where I can stay as an employee on their books and therefore not lose my visa.

Hi folks, I'm on a 457 visa and I am planning to go travelling for a year with my girlfriend next month. We are looking at travel insurance but we're unsure of a few things... For insurance purposes are we counted as residents of Australia or England (Finland for my girlfriend)? We are obviously residing in Australia but we are both citizens within Europe. Its seems where insurers are concerned that we are in limbo! So should we be looking at getting travel insurance from an Australian site or online through European companies? Also, can you guys point me in the right direction for a reliable and reasonably priced company who would cover a full RTW trip with minimal excess and good cover for expensive individual items? Any advice much appreciated. :cool: ps apologies if this has been posted before, I did run a search with no joy!

Hi, I'm currently using the NAB savings account which is set at the standard variable interest rate (currently 2.50%). Do you guys have a much better deal on your savings accounts? I've tried looking at ANZ who I also bank with and their site is very cryptic. Any tips or hints appreciated.

Thank you for the replies folks. I'm actually very happy with the amount but I just wanted to check if what i'd heard was true or not....and much like the myth of "living away from your home country for 7 years enables all your student debt to be wiped" - it seems you guys have been my money myth busters! I used that tax calculator and they seem to have it spot on. According to that I should have been taxed $9817.82 so having been taxed a total of $12,675 its left me with around $2,400 (then I have the charity payments which bump it up to 2500). Thanks again for your posts...and i'll make sure to use these accountants again next year, especially as their fee is only $40.

Hi folks, I love the concept of this forum, and as soon as I had my tax rebate estimate sent to me I guessed this would be a good place to ask. So...I'm sponsored as a psychiatric nurse in Victoria. I have been sponsored here since early April this year and prior to that I was working full time as a psych nurse on my 2nd working holiday visa. So I went through an online tax agents based in Sydney who did my tax rebate last year. They got me $1800 for 2012/13 which seemed right. I used them again this time though, and I've had an estimate of around $2,500 which seems a lot less than what I was expecting. I paid $12676 in tax, union fees, nursing registration fees and tax deductible charity payments. So I was under the impression that when on the working holiday visa, for which I paid the majority of my tax at $8,406, I would get most of this back as I'd heard that the working holiday visa entitles you to all of your paid tax back? Though is this only the case if you are earning 'backpacker wages' and fit the criteria for 'low income offset'? Any advice would be much appreciated. Also if anyone knows of a free tax estimate app or online program that would be great too? Or better still, a cheapish tax agents/accountant details who are known to get as much of your expected cash back as possible..? Thanks ps should I post this in a different busy sub-forum as well for more advice?