DeeTowers

We transferred a hefty some from the sale of our UK home using TorFX - Great service, super quick. There was no tax implications for us as it was our only home that we had lived in and owned for 15+ years - We got a good rate (prior to Brexit!). The money went straight into our TorFX account after settlement, It sat there for a few days while we watched the rate go higher and then authorised the transfer to our AU account. We have since purchased a house in Sydney. Good Luck!

I used Australia Post here in Sydney when I needed to inform immigration of my new uk passport for my current visa and It was accepted.

Thank you so much!

Thank you! :-)

Another question all - sorry if its been asked before: Page 17 of the online citizenship form - i have lived in AU since July 2011, previous to that was the UK. Do I have to list all my holidays I had in the UK or is the first part of this question if you were living in AU since the age of 18???? Thanks in advance! Dee Countries resided / visited Since the age of 18, has the applicant lived or travelled outside of Australia? Since the age of 18, has the applicant lived or travelled outside of Australia?YesNo Give details of all countries that the applicant has lived in or travelled to since turning the age of 18, include: Work or study outside of Australia Holiday or leisure, including visits to the applicants country of origin Business Military deployment

Thanks for the response! appreciate it!

I am just submitting mine and my husbands citizen applications but had a couple of Q’s: 1. I have an immi account - do I submit both applications seperately via my account? 2. Can you lodge a joint application? I started my application but could not see how to add another application? sorry if these are basic questions! Thanks

1. Your local council will coordinate your citizenship ceremony. Usually your ceremony will be held within six months from the time your application is approved, but waiting times vary. 2. See below: Do I need an overseas penal clearance certificate? Requirements for applications for Australian citizenship The following requirements apply to the period of time you have held a permanent Australian visa. You need penal clearance certificates from overseas countries if: you lived or travelled overseas since the age of 18 years or over, and the total time spent overseas added up to 12 months or more, and the time spent in any one country was more than 90 days, or you are requested to do so by the department. Provide a penal clearance certificate from every country that you spent more than 90 days in.

There is also this too: Travelling before your ceremony You cannot get an Australian passport until you have made the pledge and officially become an Australian citizen. If you need to travel outside Australia after you have been approved for citizenship but before your ceremony, you must travel on your current passport. This will not affect your ability to attend your ceremony or become an Australian citizen. Before you depart you must ensure you have a visa that allows you to re-enter Australia for your ceremony. If the travel validity period on your permanent visa has expired, or is about to expire, you will need to apply for a Resident Return Visa. If you do plan to travel outside Australia before your ceremony, please let us know. Contact the Citizenship Information Line.Telephone: 131 880 between 8.30am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday. http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Citi/pathways-processes/Citi/Attending-your-ceremony

I checked this out the other day an on the Boarder website the following is stated: Travelling outside Australia You can apply if you are in or outside Australia but, in most circumstances, your application cannot be approved while you are outside Australia. If you need to travel outside Australia while your application is being processed, contact us. Before you depart, ensure you have a valid passport and Resident Return Visa http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Citi/pathways-processes/application-options/migrant-with-permanent-residence/apply

Just under $140k for me in Sydney, with LMI for 2 bed house in the inner west :-o

Hi There - You can find the info here http://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/186- Currently anywhere between 8-13 months depending on how your apply.

Also forgot to mention as a non resident you will also need FIRB approval which can be costly - We paid $10k to gain authorisation to buy a house in Sydney without our PR. If its a joint application you will more than likely need to gain approval too even though your other half has PR. Again research because if you do get a house without approval and it is required you could have to sell the property.

Hi There, I am not a financial adviser but from experience you will find it hard to get a mortgage with less than 20% deposit on a 457, If your other half applies on their own then it is a sole application so only their salary will be taken into account. Also on a 457 you are not entitled to the 1st time home buyer and stamp duty benefits so double check if you are eligible even with a joint application - I'm not sure you will be but I could be wrong - you must have PR to be eligible. Good Luck!

All the best and good luck!

Hey @Melanie GW - Welcome and congrats on lodging your PR sponsorship! Sounds like your 457 journey was pretty smooth and now you have PR in your sight which is amazing and doesn't always happen for a lot of 457 holders. It took us 3 x 457's and 5 years before we could apply for PR due to redundancies but we go there and its an amazing feeling! We got ours last year and were prepared for a long wait 6-9 months which they were saying but for some reason it took 3 months and 2 days from submission to approval - I have no idea why, maybe luck was on our side OR they picked up the wrong file - All i know is that feeling of PR granted is the best! Stay strong!!!!!

@TommyC - We did not pay for it, it was via my husbands company. However the fee would not have be reduced because we got the docs together beforehand, they still have to check them and then submitted them as application ready. The agent also had to generate the reference numbers we needed for the medicals. I would always go via an agent though even if I had to pay for it myself - to me I wanted it to all go smoothly and it did, we also got our PR in just over 3 months were others were taking 6-9 months. All the best!

For transition yes, you have to be on the visa for 2 years in the same position as you have stated. There is nothing to stop you from preparing and speaking to your agent (if using one) so you are ready. We got all our info together, did medicals, police checks, completed the forms etc.... gave them all to our agent beforehand and exactly a day after our 2 year qualifying period so to speak she submitted them for us as a full application so were not asked for anything else during the process and it was approved in 3 months - This was last year. Good Luck!

Sounds like you have your head switched on and have done your research etc.... exactly what we did! We treated it as a temporary experience but I won't lie, the longer you are here and the more settled you are it's hard to face going back if you have no other choice - we were close to it twice! We have not paid for any of our visas and still had 2 redundancies - when we moved here with the first visa we too had a full relocation package so came here with the clothes on our back (and several suitcases), no furniture or anything as we used the package for rent, car, furniture etc.... my husband was only a few months in when he got the redundancy news so it doesn't matter how much a company has paid for you, if they don't want you or it's cheaper to offshore your job then they will do it regardless. All the best and I hope it all works out for you - enjoy the adventure!! :-)

Hey there, Sounds like an exciting time for you but as a previous 457 visa holder I would strongly recommend not selling your house if you do not need to - Can you rent it out? You know the 457 is temporary so will not harp on about that as you have done your research but what if you do not get PR? What if your husband gets made redundant and cant get another sponsor??? I speak from experience, we came over 6+ years ago on my husbands 457 and within months they told him he was being made redundant. The only saving grace was that it was not immediate and he had 6 months to help them transition the department overseas and then would need to leave - he also was offered a golden carrot for staying the 6 months so we stuck it out and in the last couple of months he started looking for a new sponsor - If he didn't get one we had 28 days to leave! Thankfully the company I worked for (defacto 457) agreed to sponsor me for my own 457 so we did that and I became the main visa holder and husband the defacto - We were saved! YAY...................... nearly 2 years went by and I was about to speak to my company about PR sponsorship via the pathway (had to be on the 457 for 2 years in the same job/company) and guess what.... I was made redundant!!!! Thankfully the rules had changed and we have 3 months to find another sponsor or go back to the UK. My husband had been with this employer on the defacto 457 for 2 years since his last redundancy and spoke to them about being sponsored for a 457 - and guess what they sponsored us ........... Are you keeping up? We were 3 years in and on our 3rd 457, but the clock for PR started again as it was a new 457/applicant /company.... it meant we could not apply for PR for another 2 years and had no idea if the company would even sponsor us for PR after that time. We decided this was our last shot, we loved living here in Sydney but it was too stressful and the uncertainty was awful - We knew the pitfalls, we knew it was not permanent SO we rented out our UK house, put our furniture in the attic and shed locked away from tenants and put our car in storage - IF it all failed in OZ we have EVERYTHING to go back to albeit jobs. I would never come out here on a temporary visa and selling up - there is too much risk but most people think it wont happen to them - we thought it would not happen to us but it did and were were covered if we had to leave. Anyhoo..... that's my 457 story but there was a silver lining - After 2 years on his 457 visa my husbands company sponsored us - We got our PR!!!! We have since sold our UK house and have our own piece of Sydney real estate - Loving life right now! So not only do we have the experience in the pitfalls of the 457, we are also a success story in gaining PR from a 457 albeit with a bit of stress along the way! By keeping the UK house and all our possessions it made the stress easier knowing we had it all to go back to. If you can rent it out I would strongly recommend it as security especially with children, but I know some people can't due to personal circumstances. All the best and enjoy your journey!!!!!!

Hi @remeadows, Sorry to hear about your situation - unfortunately it is the main issue with the 457 visa being only a temporary visa. My husband and I had 3 of them prior to getting PR as we both got made redundant and then jumped on the others back and forth! Its a very stressful time especially when you have commitments likes rentals, cars etc... - I do feel for you as we have been there! It sounds like there is not much you can do with the company that got you out here so my only advice is to try and find another company that can sponsor you. My husband got made redundant first and it was the old rules of 28days to find a new sponsor or go, thankfully my company sponsored me, but 2 years later they made me redundant so my husbands new company sponsored us - We knew all along that it was a temporary visa and if we could not get re-sponsored then we would look back on our Aussie memories and return to the UK. We were however lucky as we are now PR thanks to the last 457 and the company sponsoring us for PR after the qualifying period but until that happened we were always temporary and if we had to leave then we knew the consequences of rentals, cars etc... here. I hope it works out for you!

Hi and welcome, We rented our house out in the UK for nearly 5 years and during that time it came out of its fixed period and we did not re-fix. We sold the house in Aug 2015, brought the money over with a good exchange rate (prior to brexit) and set ourselves a year savings plan to top up the money - We then gained PR last year and brought our first Aussie house. I would never have come out here on a 457 and sold the house straight away as a 457 is temporary so we rented it out, locked our possessions in the loft and shed away from the tenants, put the car in storage so that if it all went wrong out here and we didn't get PR we had everything to go back to minus jobs but that would have been ok. So many people sell up lock stock and come over on a 457 visa not understanding that it doesn't always end in PR, and now with the new changes it may never end in PR depending on your role - We were lucky but we had our challenges of redundancy and having to get re-sponsored twice - we nearly went back to the UK but it worked out for us in the end and we have been here for 6 years now with 1 year PR and our own Aussie home. Good Luck!

So @Kerri Lawrence, have you looked to see if your husbands occupation is on the long term or short term lists? If not check the link below for more information - I can't see that it is but it may fall under something else - this is your first step before anything else. https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/189-?modal=/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists

Thanks @snifter, yes exactly why I was asking and also to make sure I give advice that is relevant. I guest what the OP really needs to find out first is whether they qualify for a visa and if so which one as all the other info being requested is irrelevant otherwise.

Court? Why do you need to present the case in court?