DeeTowers

1 hour ago, Chortlepuss said:

Hi - Has anyone experience of transiting Singapore Airport with controlled drugs? We are heading back to UK from Australia for a holiday and will be stopping at Singapore - my son is on some pretty heavy medication due to bipolar/ADHD - some of which is not allowed into Singapore without permission. We are not leaving the airport and will get Dr's letter and ensure all medication is labelled - anything else we should be wary of? 

Many thanks for any advice 

Hi there, Not Singapore but I traveled to Mauritius in May carrying Tramadol and Endone (which is prohibited there) and had to get permission from the Mauritian Health Minister to bring them into the country prior to travel. I was given written authority and then had to declare it in the red channel upon landing, then they let me in with it. I also had to carry a Dr's letter and a copy of the original prescription too.

 Appreciate its a different country but I would check with the Singapore health authority on what the process is especially if it is prohibited there. Good luck  

Does the $120k include or exclude super? if its included that annual salary will be 9.5% less = $108,600 per year.

We are originally for the UK and after over 7 years of living in Sydney we are looking to move up to the Gold Coast and was looking for feedback/recommendations of best places to live.

We are a married couple in our 40's, no kids, love being outside and eating and drinking out too. We have a 2 bed townhouse on the harbour in Sydney's Inner West and are looking to cash in, up size to a pad with 3/4 beds, modern, pool etc.... 

Have been looking at properties online in Broadbeach Waters, Mermaid Waters and just wondered what the areas are like or if there are other we should be looking at.

We are spoilt with the Sydney ferries, pubs, bars, restaurants on our doorstep and we love walking out and about in our neighborhood along the foreshore, bur we have been to the gold coast many times and have always said we would like to swap city living for beach living.

With the money in our current house and being able to do our jobs from anywhere we though early next year was the time to change. Would love to hear stories/recommendations good or bad!

Thanks

We opened accounts with ANZ in the UK, transferred money over and then went into the branch when we arrived to collect cards etc...

https://www.anz.com.au/personal/bank-accounts/moving-to-australia/en/

We stayed in a villa with private pool in a place called Niramaya - You can book direct with them or some of the villas are privately owned and advertised on Stayz.

Nice Balinese style villas, 5 min drive from the main town. Fully equipped and amazing to chill by your private pool.

We got taxi's or Ubers to town if we were going to be eating and drinking out - Very cheap for the short ride in.

Oh for the kids (and the big kids) cane toad racing at the Iron Bar in town!

Enjoy

All done - We are now proud citizens!

Applied - 11th Nov 17

Interview/Test - 31st Aug 18

Ceremony - 17th Oct 18

14 minutes ago, whtzau said:

are you from council of city of sydney ?

Inner west Sydney

On 09/10/2018 at 14:56, whtzau said:

Hi mate, congratulation, may i know when you received ur letter of ceremony invitation ?

Can't remember exact date but beginning of Oct for ceremony 17th of Oct.

However I got a letter yesterday saying my citizenship was approved and the next step was for a ceremony which could take 6 months - This letter was dated 31st Aug but only got it yesterday, i had already received my invite to ceremony..... all around the wrong way!

I knew i was approved though as I logged into my immi account on the day after my test and it changed to approved that day.

Applied - 11th Nov 17

Interview/Test - 31st Aug 18

Ceremony - 17th Oct 18 (Next Week..... Ekkkkkkkk!)

Sydney NSW

1 hour ago, ahad12 said:

Even my husband is still waiting, he appeared on 16th aug

Wowzers! All the best!

16 hours ago, Zet01 said:

Mine was approved after 2 days, husband got his approval 20 days after.

Are you from which state? Ours is in Victoria.

Congrats on your approval, hopefully your husband will get his approval soon.

Ahhh that's good to know that they have not singled him out! 

Thank you - NSW - Sydney

Congrats too!

2 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

That's the common belief, but I suspect some of it is the health funds (and the government) trying to scare us all into getting private health insurance.

For instance, I lost my voice and was referred to a private throat specialist.  He was a horrible man, but he diagnosed a possible cancerous growth and was about to book me in for an op.  He asked me what health fund i was in and when I said I didn't have health insurance, he said, "In that case I'll refer you to the public system".  I didn't trust or like him, so although I thought it would mean a long wait, I decided to take the referral.  Only three weeks later, I saw a doctor at Randwick Hospital. He diagnosed a fungal infection and I was right as rain in a couple of days.

Another example - I had a spinal fusion, too, and I also went to a private neurosurgeon.  I'm very happy with the result even though I was out of pocket almost $10,000.  However, just a few months later, my friend's father had exactly the same op on the public system.  He waited four weeks, and it cost him absolutely nothing.

So, while I'm sure there are long waiting lists in the public system for some things, it's by no means true for everything.

That's really interesting to hear - it was my doctor that said it would be quicker and gave me 3 neurosurgeon names to choose from so I did my research and went with the best but all 3 their admin staff said they were private only.

I am glad I had it done quickly when I did but it would have been interesting to know if I had done it public how long I would have had to wait. I know I will need more at some point so will keep that in mind - thank you!

Glad you are ok and the throat thing was not a growth! How wrong could he have been - yikes!

Like i said it took me ages to understand it all, perhaps I never will ha ha! 

All the best!

Did my interview and test on Friday (31Aug), 100% on the test and my immi account changed to Approved straight after. My husband did his yesterday (3 Sept), 100% but he is still showing as received in the immi account. Both the same application, same country, same docs etc.... weird!  

To give you some other context I have had 2 spinal surgeries in the last year and was refereed to a Neurosurgeon who does not work in the public system - most don't but if they do there will be a long wait.

Medicare have codes and set fees for each procedure and rebates you 75% or 85% for that procedure depending on your status - Your private health fund is there to cover the remaining 25/15% gap - However a specialist can charge whatever they like so for example my first surgery my surgeon charged over $7500, I got about $2800 back from medicare and my private health fund. Also there was the anaesthetist, assistant surgeon, etc... who all charge their own fees - so after claiming back from medicare and from my private health fund I was still out of pocket just over $9500 for one procedure - not to mention the many CT scans too!!

My private health fund did pay fully for a private hospital room, the theatre, intensive care etc... for a one off excess of $450.

Due to the severity of my spinal symptoms, waiting was not an option - 2 weeks later and procedure number 1 was done. 

8months later I did it all again..... I have spent a lot of money but I have had the best Neurosurgeon and team look after me and have not had to wait in crippling conditions for the procedures. If I was in the UK I would still be waiting for my first procedure on the NHS.

It took ages for me to get my head around it all as I had private healthcare in the UK which covered everything with no extra out of pocket expenses - the whole medicare/health fund/Gap thing took some understanding to say the least!

We had a set fee which didn't include the visa or flights, they paid for them separately. The fee was to set ourselves up here whatever way we wanted to - we just had to spend the money from our own pocket and claim it back which didn't take long at all.

We used the money for the first 3 weeks accommodation and then when we got our rental (which we paid for) we furnished it fully with the relocation money. This meant we came with just checked/carry on bags and cases (10 in total).

We rented out our UK home and put our belongings and furniture in storage until 5 years later when we sold the UK home and purchased here.

We (husband and I) got emails about 24 hours apart inviting us for our interviews and tests in Sydney - I have mine booked for this Friday and his is on Monday - we linked the applications and asked for the ceremony to be together so lets hope it is!!! ha ha! 

6 hours ago, crunchy said:

Hi Guys , 

Anyone waiting for a test invites fro November 2017 ? I applied in last week of November and haven't heard anything since .

 

Yes I applied 11th of Nov, got an email earlier this week for tests beginning of Aug - Sydney CBD.

• Applied 12th Nov 17 
• Email received today (13 Jul 18) with test date on the 3rd of Aug 18
• Moved Test to the 31st of Aug as we are away.
• Sydney CBD

Nearly there

1 hour ago, GB1978 said:

Hi everyone, my wife and I have recently decided to trial a move to Perth next year and are now starting to get deep into planning. However before we get into some of the move specifics, I wanted to check on the impact of our move on my UK mortgage.

The fixed 5 year period for the mortgage on my current home is expiring in a couple of months and I am trying to arrange a new fixed rate deal, probably for 3 years. The intention would be to rent out this property from next year whilst we trial the Australia move and then potentially sell if we think we want to make a permanent move or return to have as our home again if we return. I have read a few things around mortgages of UK property on this forum and some of the complexities of being non resident and therefore just wanted to check something.

I did mention to my mortgage provider our potential plan to move abroad, and they said that I would have to apply for consent to let at the time but they did not see any particular issue with me being based in Australia for part of my mortgage period.

Therefore is the UK mortgage complexity that some people on this forum have referred to caused by the fact that they are a UK non resident at the time they need to arrange their mortgage rather than the fact they may have a UK mortgage and then moved to Australia?

Any perspectives from those familiar with this topic would be really appreciated!! Many thanks

Hi there and welcome!  We (husband and I) came over on sponsored visas in 2011 to see what life in oz what’s like - as we were only on sponsored visas we rented out our UK house and put our car and possessions in storage just in case it didn’t work out or we could not get PR. We had to get permission from our mortgage provider to rent the property which was ok and and they provided a letter of consent - we then rented it out via an agent with no issues from the mortgage provider.

Our plan was to experience Oz for a year but we settled in and despite being made redundant a few times on our temporary visas, Lady Luck was with us and we got sponsored for permanent residency which we received in 2015. Also in 2015 we sold the uk house as we wanted to buy here in Sydney - we gave the tenants 2 months notice at the end of the lease saying we would not be renewing the lease as we were selling, our selling real estate agent arranged viewings when convenient with the tenant and we got an offer which we accepted. The tenants moved out at the end of the lease, we flew back, cleared all our stuff, shipped stuff to Oz and the sale went through without any hitches. We sent the money via a forex company to Oz and we then purchased a property here within weeks.

Please note if you do not have PR and want to purchase a house in Oz you will need FIRB approval and it costs a fair bit - if you do not have PR you are considered as a foreign investor. Also some banks won’t lend to non PR’s - I know this because we started looking for a house a couple of months before we got our PR but did everything by the book in case we found something so paid a lot for FIRB approval to buy as we were non residents at that time.

As for the uk house renting it out and selling it, we had no issues - even when it came out of the fixed period for the last year we owned it. If you are coming on a temporary visa I would highly recommend NOT selling the uk home until you have PR as it’s getting harder to get PR from temp visas. However if you are coming on a PR visa, I would keep the uk house for a year or two (if you can) just to make sure you love it here enough to give that up - we rented here for 5 years while keeping the uk house and it’s the best thing we did as we had the security in case we could not get PR but also while immersing ourselves in Australia we knew we could go back to our lives, house, car, belongings IF one of us could not settle.

thankfully it worked our well for both and we love it here - would not change anything or the way we did it!

all the best and good luck - feel free to reach out if you have more Q’s

:-)

28 minutes ago, snifter said:

I'm not sure now its a 10 days stay they give out updates. Plus they all go to Melbourne so not sure they'd have time to update people on individual animals. You could always call them or email now ahead of the dog departing and enquire as to what you can do. 

I don't think visits are allowed anymore as its only 10 days in quarantine, not 30. 

Ahhhh I didn't know the duration had changed - mine were in for 30 days but that was about 5 years ago! It was nice to get an update that they were ok after the long flight but a visit is silly if its 10days - that's a breeze! :-D

I was able to call NSW when my cats arrived, they were really good and let me know how they were and then booked me in for a visit. 

8 minutes ago, partnership said:

Looked at firb site and don't need if joint tenants and in relationship. Woohoo relieved

Awesome!

Make sure you contact the FIRB to check because if you purchase a home and you need approval but didn't get it they will make you sell the home. I had to get FIRB approval as I was on a temporary visa and it was $10k for approval. I had to show the estate agent and the mortgage provider the official approval document to proceed. http://firb.gov.au/

Yep second what @rammygirl says - If you are not a permanent resident you have to apply for approval as she will be a foreign investor.

I did it in Sydney for approval to go to auction - there are 2 types of approval, one for an auction pass which means you can go to multiple auctions until you secure a property. The other is for an actual named dwelling that you are buying not at auction. Do your research because they can make you sell your house if you don't get the correct approval to purchase it as a foreign investor! Its also quite expensive to get approval and can take 2-4 weeks.

I now have PR so if I buy again I don't need approval.

Good luck! 

On 18/03/2018 at 05:10, vickig80 said:

Hi, 

Looking for some advice in regards to transporting our cats from UK to Australia. Just wondering if anyone with some experience of this can advise the best time to send them, not sure whether to send them a week or so before we leave or leave it closer to our move date. Also, does anyone know how long are they in quarantine or does this depend on the pet?

Our move date isn't for another couple of years due to commitments in UK, so just trying to get organised and do some research but couldn't seem to find this info on the airpets website. Any advice gratefully received. 

Thanks in advance

 

Hi There,

I moved over nearly 7 years ago so rules and regs have probably changed since then but the best advice I can give is if you can arrive before the cats it takes some of the pressure off. My 2 kitties stayed with a good friend for a couple of months while we got sorted with a pet friendly rental in Sydney, once settled we arranged everything through a pet travel agency and all my friend had to do was get their vacs done and be there for when they were collected - the agency did everything else, they flew BA via Singapore and had 30 days in quarantine on arrival. Once clear they came home to the new pet friendly rental and have been enjoying their time ever since! 

All the best! :-)