cch

I live in a unit and had German roaches from the get-go. It was empty for over a week before we moved in and bombed by the landlord twice - the second time was after we complained. So it was empty of furniture, no food or water and they still came back. Over the course of a month after we moved in, I waged war, used Mortein traps and loads of spray both direct and surface, kept the place spotless, removed traces of water, etc. They kept coming back, I had to kill 3-4 every evening.

After reading that these buggers can nest in your electrical appliances and having had a few run out of the dishwasher seals, ended up getting a pest control guy in off my own back and haven't seen any for 2 months now. 200$ well spent!

Granted today too! Applied on 28th August, so 9 months and 1 day. Huge surprise that it came so early and such a relief after months of waiting and fretting!

Same issue here and I've engaged with a couple of tax advisors, but in the initial conversations I've had conflicting information about how the situation could work, should my employer continue to pay me in the UK. I now just want to pay a proper, respectable international tax advisor, to tell me how this stuff should work. Can anyone recommend?

Well, if it said 9-12 in the letter, then that's the SLA that they're working to. Mine said 10-14 so it *was* updated with longer processing time at some point.

You never know, could be 10-14 for those that applied from July until February, then 9-12 for those after that point.

I applied in August.

FWIW, the processing times on the embassy site still state 10-14.

http://www.uk.embassy.gov.au/lhlh/immi_processing_times.html

I'm trying to work this out the other way around! I'm emigrating to Australia, but will continue being employed and paid by my UK employer. I trawled through the double taxation convention between the UK and Australia and there is a provision for "Income from employment".

The language used in the convention confuses my simple mind, but it appears that in some cases it's possible to avoid being taxed twice. Essentially you declare earnings in both countries, and any tax you've already paid is credited and offset against the tax you would have to pay in the country you reside in. You pay the difference if there is one.

I explained that badly. Anyway, I'm going to seek some proper financial advice, and will let you know how I get on.

<tumbleweed>

Have you nudged via email?

How many of you went to Aus to wait for your visa to be granted?

 

My application was received at the beginning of Oct 2014 and I'm heading in June to do some travelling in Aus and Asia with a LOT of savings!

We applied at the end of August 2014 and are due to pack up and leave at the end of April for 4 months travelling Asia. Very much hoping that the visa comes in before we had off to Australia and they don't ask us for more evidence!

I know they say don't make any irreversible travel plans, but we saw this as a once in a life time opportunity.

Enjoy your trip!

Can anyone do me a massive favour and send me KP's email addy? I deleted the email they sent that had the earliest dates I should file medical and police checks. doh!

I have another question regarding the best way to do stat decs from friends . One is in Australia so do they fill in the form, get it witnessed then post hard copy to us in UK. They we can scan and upload to online application. Or is it ok for them to scan it and email to us??

It doesn't make any difference who scans the document, they wouldn't be able to tell who scanned it anyway! Make sure they scan the document in colour to ensure all bases have been covered.

No, its someones speculation/ rumour. Its not fact. Remember this is a forum.

I applied on the 27th of August and the processing times were still the newly introduced 10-14 months.

Blimey, just got a call from my CO! That was really quick, I only applied 2 days ago. I think it had something to do with me uploading most of my stuff straight away.

 

No medical stuff before 4th May for me, he quoted the usual 10-14 months but that hopefully it'd be within 12. Exciting!

Did your CO state that hopefully it'd be within 12, or is that something you're hoping for?

I'd be seriously happy if your CO actually mentioned that! Not knowing if the grant is going to be June 2015, October 2015 or somewhere between is a killer.

Brilliant, thank you Andrew. We'll sure to be in touch next year!

Have a word with Andrew at Vista he is a member on here and as got mortgages for a lot,of our members.

good luck with the visa

Thank you, I will indeed do that next year!

We're currently looking to buy shortly and have spoken to the bank so far. We need to provide details of employment contracts, our first payslips and then they will consider our application. I think they like you to have been working for 3 months.

 

20% deposit is also quite important if you do not want to be hit with fees.

 

From our investigations, having only been here less than a year has not even come up.

This is really encouraging, thank you - we really, really wanted to avoid spending another year in rented accommodation so music to our ears. While the property prices in Sydney are making my eyes water, we're shooting for a 20% deposit, which should still let us get into a 2 bed flat to start things off.

So, I just need to get my Visa, emigrate to Australia, find a job, then buy a flat. What could possibly go wrong!!?? haha

Well, hopefully if my partner visa goes through!

I'm curious to know if anyone here has experience of emigrating and becoming a first time buyer reasonably quickly after arriving? We fortunately have family to stay with, so the plan is once we find jobs and have established ourselves to get on the property ladder.

I assume that trying to get a mortgage less than on year after arriving is going to be challenging?

It's killing me the thought that I might have to wait 14 months for my Visa. Having only applied at the end of August, I'll have no benchmark as to what the processing times are actually going to be like until month 10.

Welcome to the waiting game cch! We're at 8 months and 25 days of our quoted 8-9 month processing time. So, so close, but until we get that email with the grant we'll still worry that something is going to go wrong!

 

Maybe today will be our lucky day....

Thanks Wozziegirl!

Sounds like you're almost there, hang in there not long to go now.

Medical done and Police Check submitted last week. Just a waiting game now...

Good luck!

When did you submit and how long before they asked for the medicals and Police check?

Well, in goes the application, payment and supporting evidence! Just waiting for the wife, my sponsor, now to finish her forms online this weekend. Absolutely gutted about the increase in processing times of up to 14 months. It's really thrown a spanner in the works for us, but nevertheless we'll manage.

I can't help but feel that something is going to go horribly wrong haha.