Incata

I had a look at your work. It's really good! I hope you manage to get to Australia!

Behave yourself!!!

What was the topic again???? :wink:

He's too busy getting into bother on the royalty thread. No time for bread tonight :laugh:

Nope, you've been having a barney with me and been good as gold!

I'll tell you a little secret. You get the inside top corners of the duvet cover and pin the duvet to them with clothes pegs. Then you pull the duvet through. Voila! Thirty seconds.

:hug: I'm beyond help Pablo, a lost cause :wink:

Oops - are you his mum???? Do any boys tidy their rooms? I have yet to meet one who does (until he hits 13 and has his first girlfriend coming over, then it is all hands to the deck!) My husband still leaves everything a mess and my children look like they are going the same way. My 4 year old told me off for tidying the other day - told me he could not find anything when I had put it all in its rightful place. He says it's rightful place is on the floor. Perhaps I should get him a fish tank! After all, having kittens helped my youngest get potty trained, maybe having fish would help the eldest to keep his room tidy!

I can't answer your questions, but Ian Harrop is now called Overseas Emigration and they are based in Edinburgh. We used them and they were absolutely marvellous! I can't speak highly enough of them. I think you would be very sensible to consult a migration agent, they could save you a lot of wasted time and generally the initial consultation (whether face to face or on the phone) is free so you lose nothing by contacting them.

ps - He could always advertise for someone to do it for $10. I am sure there is a young teenager somewhere who would do it!

Whoops! Did not realise that! I'll go quietly....:biggrin:

My husband is very keen on it. Many a weekend have we spent in Dorset (Lulworth area) before moving out here. I don't know much about fossils, but I do know which are the best pubs round there which serve really good food!

Bribe the children to clean it. Extra pocket money or chocolate bars seem to do the trick :wink:

I can't give you any advice but I do wish you luck! It is very brave to up sticks and move across on a student visa. Good luck to you both!

The best bit of salary packaging is the food card. You can have a meals card and choose how much extra you put on it per pay period. You can only spend the card on meals at restaurants and cafes, but you can put as much as you like on every month, tax free. The other one (which has not been mentioned yet) is the refunding of hotel accommodation (not food) costs. You send your invoice/receipt from the hotel to the salary packaging company and the money to pay for it is taken out of your salary tax free. Not quite sure I understand this bit, but it never got properly explained to me (primarily because I showed no interest as we can't afford to go and stay in any hotels right now).

Why not? We could have a ding dong for hours :wink:

I did google it and while he is exempt, he has chosen to pay it voluntarily since 1993.

Erm, where did Baz come into it? Last I saw it was Pablo and I having a debate :confused:

They are royal because their ancestors went round killing our ancestors. We lost, they won, they rule and have vast tracts of land to show for it. I don't begrudge them it - I could be a future Bill Gates (if only the right idea would come along) and then I would own vast tracts of land and set up lots of charities. We should get used to it. Much like the Welsh. They were conquered. They are ruled by the English. They should get used to it :wink:

Prince Charles does pay corporation tax (read my post!) I am grateful he set up a charity because he is actively helping young people - the very sector of the population that the government is ignoring. The work his charity has done in terms of supporting youngsters with no skills or qualifications to set up and manage their own businesses successfully is superb. He did not have to do it (any more than the Duke of Edinburgh had to set up the Duke of Edinburgh award which encourages thousands of young people every year to get out there and discover new skills, give back to the community etc etc). Just because someone is royal, does not mean that they don't deserve credit for doing something which benefits others.

Salary packaging is also available to everyone who works in the not-for-profit sector. The year it was worth just over $16k tax free, although it is going down by a few hundred bucks in about April this year. You can do lot with it. You can pay your mortgage or rent, your student loan, your gas, electricity or water bill, or your childcare bill and the money is taken out of your salary before it is taxed. It is a marvellous perk but it does not surprise me at all that it is being widely abused.

Many thanks. I understand now.

Could you explain the acronyms for those of us who don't know anything about the public sector in Australia (other than if you want them to do anything it has to be submitted in triplicate, the world and his dog have to sign it, and you only get it through quickly if you happen to be mates with the relevant Head of Department). Thanks

You only pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell property or die. He is not dead and has not sold it, ergo no CGT. He also does not own the land, only the income from it. It is considered Crown property and therefore not subject to corporation tax. However, since 1993 Prince Charles has been paying tax on the income from it, less official expenditure (ie the costs of the staff who manage it). As this would be the case for any corporation (paying tax on profits after expenditure), I don't see a problem with it.

I have had excellent service from an Agent. We were a slightly difficult case because of my husband's Armed Forces background and without the support of our agent, I don't think we would have got the visa as quickly, or with as little stress as we did have. We did not use an agent from this site, as I discovered the site after we had applied, but the agent I used was excellent and came highly recommended. Incidentally, my son had his finger severed in a really bad accident, just as our visa application was due to go in. If we did not have an agent handling it for us, I think it would have been several more months before we actually submitted it. It's one of those things you don't consider - something dreadful happening. When you have an agent, if something terrible happens, it allows you to focus on the situation at hand while they continue, unstressed, dealing with your visa application for you.