oz bound pom

...politicians feathering their own nests is not exclusive to the UK.

And whilst it may not be morally right to claim for what they do, on the flip side i'd rather them be claiming for a bit of gas and eleccy rather than some countries politicians who would be using our taxes to fund their own private armies to wipe out anyone that disagrees with them. As repugnant as some of the claims are, hopefully the more transparent these facts become the greater the pressure will be to change the system.

Politicians are human, hence they are not perfect. We expect them to do the right thing but they need to be prodded in the right direction every now and again. If your mp is listed there and people do not vote they only have themselves to blame. Democracy is great but it's also painfully slow sometimes. Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that.

now you have transferred don't look at the exchange rate again until you have to, otherwise you'll be forever playing the 'if only we'd waited another week game!'

where would you return to in the UK? if you miss green, an't you move somewhere greener in Oz? We may have had a nice (albeit brief summer) here but there aint nothing green about some of the grey wet dismal winters we've been having. I can safely say the points listed in your OP are not the sole reserve of Australia. You just have to find a place that makes you happy.

I wouldn't go as far as saying it would be 'rich', to me that means having pretty much more money than you know what to do with and never having to worry about financial issues ever again.

I do think it is, depending on where you live (i note milliband qualifies his statement by referencing living in the SE) enough to make most people fall into the very comfortable bracket and that in most peoples cases it is only the desire to keep up with the joneses, or spend/waste* (delete as applicable) their income on the latest gadget etc that makes them feel 'poor'.

I realise that migrating is a huge expense to most people but it is a choice, not a right as are most things in life. I mean there is a guy in the office who is seriously contemplating spending £80quid a month so he can have a nice shiny gold (oh please) iphone 5s for a tenner, yet complains he doesn't get paid enough and ''can't afford his own place''. So glad to see so many people have their priorities right.

No matter how much you earn unless you know the value of money, enough is never enough.

I think than mankind has more chance of unravelling all of the secrets of the universe before we ever find out the truth to stories like this. In fact, discovering 'the truth' probably ranks up there with 'how does the female mind work?' ;-)

Hi, might sound a silly question but here goes....

We have a lot of make-up, skincare, perfumes, aftershaves, candles etc etc that we were planning on bringing to Australia which won't fit in our suitcases.

 

If we put it in the container, will it all be ruined on the way?

Does anyone have experience of things that have gone-off, melted, been un-useable on arrival??

 

Thanks in advance

Lou

Candles- isn't beeswax prohibited?

As for the rest I may be corrected but would imagine most of the stuff has made the trip to the uk in containers at some point in its life and if everything perished so easily on the voyage, china would be out of business. not sent our stuff yet, will let you know when it gets there!

Our house has been up for sale since may in glasgow , we have had 2 viewers. The estate agent in our opinion hasn't tried very hard.especially as other houses have sold within a few weeks. It's very frustrating. We are now having to rent our house out.Not really what we planned but we don't have much choice as we fly out to Australia 9th September.xx

Don't forget your agent is just that, YOUR agent. If they seem useless sack them off and get one that works for you. We got the top four in the area in, listened to their sales patter but went with the one that had the best local knowledge. My wife did the viewings as no one knows the property like you do. Word of advice to sellers, sell to the female, they do the buying with their hearts and takes a brave man to come between their wife and dream home.

feel sorry for people stuck tho, we bought at the peak of the market, set new ceiling price for the road, thought we would break even at best but so far have had offers over the asking price and looking good for a tidy profit although we always treated it as a home, not an investment. Market is definitely moving.

hope things take turn for the better for you OP.

Despite all the horror stories you may hear, kids probably more readily adapt than adults. Our 2 1/2 year old suffered more with the sudden heat/humidity than jet lag, just try and get them onto local time even if means a day or so of grumpy kids (and grumpier adults) but we honestly found things to be fine.

There are a couple of excellent threads on here for QROPS tranfers, have a look in the finance forums.

you have 6 months to transfer to Au super scheme without penalty, after that you'll start to pay tax on the increase in value since you left. Or something along those lines. Don't be panicked into the 6 month ruling thing, it's not necessarily as onerous as some people would have you believe.

lots of specialists in this field (but they will charge you so depending on the size of your pension fund it might not be worthwhile doing) but you can do it yourself with a bit of research and paperwork, not done it myself yet but think it's probably worth a go once we get over.

Subclass 100 granted 28/9/12 :biggrin:

Just wanted to ask, we would like a long lead in time

 

Hello, congrats on being nearly ready to apply. Unless I've missed something, why don't you just wait a couple of months rather than rely on a long lead time/CO remembering to issue late on? If time is on your side submitting in Aug/Sept/Oct will mean granting in plenty of time for next next July, and you'll have a bit of time spare just in case your plans move back a months or so?

Good luck.

You'll be fine, I think marriage is the main qualifying factor along with length of relationship. I honestly don't think its all as hard for genuine relationships as some people fear. i was a bit nervous that I'd not sent as we don't keep stacks of personal paperwork or anything like that, some people say we sent holiday iternieries from X yrs ago, blimey, we bin them when we get back from hols! they don't really care about photos and stuff, unless they clearly show a timeline as it's amazingly easy to 'stage' pics etc hard facts have far more weight so judging by what we submitted and what you've said as long as the meds come back ok you should be fine.

CO is MT

And I'm being assessed for subclass 100 - Happy Days!! - i think this is weighted in our favour as we've been married nearly 3yrs and have got a child so would have been disappointed with 390 but wouldn't have been end of world

Any partner visa 309/100 applications rejected??

 

This forum/thread is really useful and reassuring.

 

I am married to an Australian and we are hoping to move over after Christmas. We finally collated all the documentation required, completed the forms, stat decs etc and submitted the application by post to London on 2/5/2012. Payment was taken on 4/5/2012, CO assigned (LG) and a letter requesting some further information and that I undertake a medical to be submitted electronically. I had my medical and x-ray today in Maidenhead - can't recommend the clinic enough, they were very reassuring and answered all my questions (and gave me a bit of ad hoc unrelated medical advice!), so pending the clear blood test I think the medical will be fine. I submitted the police check with the original application.

 

I have also submitted all the additional information required although we were concerned that we have nothing in joint names. We have been together for 3 and a half years (living together 3 years 5 months!), married for 2 years. Husband has rented the same flat for 17 years and I own a house that I now rent out. No reason to change any of this (why would we change the lease or mortgage - it just costs money!) and I have explained all this and provided evidence that we share household expenses etc but looking at some of the information/documentation people submit, it worries me a little. Our statements were long and detaied, but other documentation was limited as we did not start planning this move until last summer.

 

I provided the further documentation requested and received an email stating "No further information was required apart from the medical".

 

Time is not an issue - we are expecting to wait 5-6 months but will we have to wait this long to find out whether it is approved? And does anyone know of any spouse visa rejections and the reasons? I have had a look but can't find anything on here (or anywhere else). I am just panicking a bit it's a long time to wait to only find out your plans are not going to pan out - we are both in our 40s (no kids) and we haven't got time to waste and if there is a chance we are rejected we want to start looking at other options. I'm hoping I'm being overly cautious...... :-)

 

Thank you to anyone that can help.

All sounds about standard so far. I think if they have any concerns they will ask for any info sooner rather than later. I have just had an email saying that my visa should be finalised in sept and my CO has just got medical results back so depending how forthcoming your Co is you shouldn't have to wait the full 5-6 months to find out the results. I don't know anyone who has failed to get it, although I'm sure there are. If you are genuine I wouldn't worry about joint bills etc, we hardly had any either but if you can show some evidence of your relationship I think you'll be fine. I don't think spouse visas are restricted so there is no real pressure to keep numbers down. Where are you planning to move to? All being well we'll be in Perth within next 12 months. Good luck!

 

''Anyhow, we took all 5 files to the first counter''

Strewth! If all applications where that big none of us would ever get to Oz! :wink: still I know how frustrating it can be deciding what to put in, what to leave out etc still it's all done now, now you can just sit back and wait for the visa to be granted (they can't ask for anymore!!)

Anyhoooos..... Email from CO today, medical clear, expect visa early September! That would be around 5months for me :biggrin: I'm off to ask nicely if its 309 or 100, fingers crossed

Partner visa posted 10/4/12

Payment taken 11/4/12

C/O requests medical and police check 16/4/12

C/O is MT.

Hi Dave S,

 

If it's Aussie citizenship by descent you need for your son, just got my 2 kids citizenship by descent three weeks ago, was super quick, I posted it Monday, citizenship certificates arrived on Friday!! That was London office.

I'll second that, our son's came back in a matter of days. If only the visa was done that quickly!

Partner visa posted 10/4/12

Payment taken 11/4/12 (is this the first page they turn to? :eek:

will fill in the rest of the dates as soon as I get them, most importantly the last one!

good luck to everyone who is waiting...