dianaos

I have just found this on the citizen website which clarifies that e visas (visitor visas) are not included as part of the 4 year continuous residence requirements even if it was held prior and continuos with the temporary or permanent resident visas. But could be if the e visa was to replace an expired resident return visa (which means the applicant must have held a temporary resident visa before the e visa. See below Australian Citizenship Act 2007 Residence Requirements To satisfy the residence requirements you must have: 4 years lawful residence in Australia. This period must include 12 months as a permanent resident immediately before making an application for Australian citizenship and absences from Australia of no more than 12 months in total in the 4 years prior to application, including not more than 90 days in the 12 months immediately prior to application. Lawful residence means residence in Australia on a temporary or permanent visa. If any of the following applied to you in the past 4 years, please telephone the Citizenship Information Line on 131 880 during business hours to discuss your circumstances. You obtained an e-visa to replace an expired Resident Return Visa (RRV) You obtained a bridging visa of any type You lodged an onshore application for a permanent visa then travelled overseas on your temporary visa You are a New Zealand citizen on a Special Category Visa (SCV) I hope this helps everyone as the original post definitely had me confused and maybe even a tad excited...but ho hum we will just have to wait:(

Thank you everyone and yes we are definitely enjoying it. Hubby's son is arriving for a holiday on the 27th so looking forward to spending time with him and a UK friend who is coming with him. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year. :ssign4:

Well this will be our second Christmas in Oz having arrived just before Christmas in 2012. We have now settled in Melbourne, still in a rental but it is lovely having all this space... The house is about 3 times the size of our house in the UK. We live on the outskirts of Melbourne which really suits me because I am a country girl at heart. There is only the two of us but we have a lounge room each (and TV each), a study each, a large ensuite and dressing room with plenty of space for all our clothes and even two guest double bedrooms. Of course there is also the double garage for the hubby to tinker around in on his days off. He loves it. We both have good jobs and earning more than we possibly could in the UK. It did takes us a while. Hubby got a job very quickly but it was not highly paid for his 20 years experience so he just kept searching for a better paid job. It did take a little while but finally started a new job in September that is equal to his experience. I also had trouble finding work. Aussies really don't trust "foreign" experience and to top it off I was told by an agent that I was also a female and over 50 so would struggle to get work. Interestingly he himself was Scottish! I did spend a little while contemplating changing careers but finally gained some contract work and have now been taken on permanently. What we have realised is that our standard of living on one wage here in Oz is the same as it was in the UK on two wages! (This is relative to the amount of disposable income we had and what we could do with it). I think it all depends on what jobs you do because it seems some jobs are better paid than others but even the minimum wage is better. I think the UK minimum wage is a bit over £6/hr while is Oz it is a bit over $20/hr. There is no doubt everything costs more especially so if you like to eat pub meals often, but we are happy to cook at home and I now also have a very productive veggie garden. (Just waiting for my tomatoes so I can make some yummy tomato relish). Food is on the whole more expensive, but the fruit and vegies are much fresher and tastier and meat is about the same price or cheaper. Processed and prepared food is definitely more expensive but if you prepare and cook your own meals with fresh meat and vegies then the cost of food can be kept down and is healthier as well. The biggest cost is housing and that price obviously depends on where you live. If you want inner metropolitan housing then you will pay a premium or have to accept apartment living. If you are happy with a house in an outer metropolitan area then you can get a new large 4 bed house for $500k. However if you are prepared to move outside the capital cities then prices are dramatically reduced. Which I suppose it not much different between the cost of London property and one in the north of the UK or in Wales. It is the land that costs more so than the house that is on it. As they say...'Location, location, location"! The other items that cost a lot is electrical or tech items. When you compare the costs of items in the UK or in the US, they are much higher in Oz, even with exchange rates taken into account. While, there is of course overhead costs to be taken into account the prices are still much higher, but I suppose it is all down to disposable income and demand. There has been lots of talk in the news here about the demise of the car industry in Oz. The reality is that the industry her in Oz can't compete in a global market as wages and other overheads are so much higher here in Oz. Cars can be built more cheaply in China and even in the UK. Fortunately we have friends coming across for a holiday so they are bringing me some items across with them. There is of course customs duty to pay over about $900 per person so we are making sure it is under that. We brought our cats with us to Oz but the puppies had to stay behind, together with the guinea pigs and the fish. They have all found new homes but that was quite hard to leave them behind. The cats love their new place with all that floor to lounge over and probably no dogs to have to share it with. They even have their own sofa. We have added to the family and have some new fish and two new cockatiels although we have keep telling the cats to stop licking their lips as they are not dinner! We have made some lovely friends but obviously still miss all our friends in the UK and my hubby also has a son in the UK. I think that is one of the hardest things about the move. It takes a while to get to know people and develop close relationships. It helps that I have family here in Oz, although not here in Victoria and we also keep in contact over the internet with friends and family. I also miss the English countryside and the 'green' of the landscape. Australia is lovely but the landscape is much harsher. Hubby loves it and the heat whereas I probably prefer the green and the cooler weather but to get the green you have to put up with the rain! Well with all the positives and negatives we are still glad we made the move.

We have just arrived (25-11-2012) and flew Singapore Airlines. As a dual national and my partner on a PMV I did not plan for taking anymore than 20kgs each of checked luggage, although we did have a lot more but were putting the additional through excess baggage. However at check-in we were told they would give us 60kgs or 3 suitcases (which was more like 65kgs!). So a big thank you to Singapore Airlines as we then had only 3 items to put through excess baggage. They were also fantastic on the flight and the food far better than most airlines.

Some photos of the Tamar River from my parents back garden and of the cataract gorge in flood.

That must be extremely rare occurrence. I have lived with huntsman spiders for 40years and have never heard of anyone getting bitten. I too leave them alone in the house and have had pet names for them. As I said previously they eat mosquitoes and since I have had Ross River Virus which I caught from mosquitoes I would prefer the spider to the mosquitoes!

I LOVE huntsman spiders because the eat mosquitoes and I HATE mosquitoes! the funniest location I have found one is at my mum and dad's in Tassie. We were cooking (Christmas dinner) and open the oven and out ambled the huntsman. Glad we didn't turn the oven on first. :biggrin:

You could always try other companies such as the excess baggage company or cargo force. They can either collect from your door or departure airport and deliver it to you destination airport. I think they do it from Manchester airport but you would need to check. However they put it on the next available flight with spare cargo room so it can take a few extra days to get to your destination.

Fiona, some people edit their posting, deleting what was originally written and writing something completely new. That may have been what has happened here. I haven't been following this thread so can't tell you for sure but this may have been why you think postings have been deleted.

Launceston (pronounced Lon-ses-th and nicknamed Lonnie) is my home town. I was born there and my parents still live there. My parents live just down the Tamar River which is a lovely place to live. If you are looking for a place to live with the potential of good schooling as well, I would suggest the West Tamar from Riverside down through Legana, Gravelly Beach and Swan Point. I am not sure about child care but that will also depend on where you are working. What are your plans re work etc? Launceston is only a small city but the city centre has most of the main department stores and there are the normal supermarkets in small malls in the outer suburbs. The roads are generally wide and easy to traverse but many of the CBD roads are one way. (they confuse me as well because they have changed since I lived there) One of the good things about Lonnie is that it is only a 50min flight to Melbourne and a 2hr drive to Hobart. Lonnie has some wonderful scenery within the city limits with the Cataract Gorge on the South Esk River which used to have a hydro power station. There are also some great beaches a short distance away at the head of the Tamar River, such as Greens Beach (West Tamar) and Low Head (East Tamar). Further afield there are plenty of hikes through mountains and temperate rain forests such as Cradle Mt and the Walls of Jerusalem. Ben Lomond (mountain) which is about an hour away, is open in the winter as ski fields.

I am an Aussie and have had second thoughts about moving over. My partner and I both had good jobs so it is a worry when we are resigning from those good jobs and moving out where neither of has a job. The only thing I can say is my partner loves Oz and if we don't go, we will never know if we can make a good life there for us. I do have family in Oz, but equally we have family and lots of friends here in the UK, so it is a very difficult decision. We leave next week and the furniture leaves tomorrow so it is probably too late to change our minds!

I get very sick of it, especially when an interesting and/or helpful thread is hijacked. I have no problem when someone talks about their joy or their troubles in the UK or Oz but it should not be an attack on a people or a culture. We have all read the threads that call Poms "whingers" or Aussies having "a chip on their shoulder". This obviously creates a negative reaction and to me is how a bully behaves and should not be allowed on a forum such as PIO. its a bit like calling people pakis or niggers, which rightly so is not allowed so why do we allow other name calling for the British or Aussies. The other thing that grates in the UK v Oz debates is when a poster takes the view that one country is ALL bad...the weather, the culture, the food, the beer, the job situation, the cost of living...and probably even religion and politics! It is never all bad or all good and a bit of realism in some of the postings would be good but seems impossible for some posters to master.

There is no right or wrong. Everyone has to do what is best for them.

It is quite common these days, with all the new digital checking, that customs officers will ask for your "other" passport as their screen will flash that you are a dual national. This has happened to me on a number of occasions and also my daughter who tried to travel on just one passport and was nearly refused entry! I therefore, always travel with both passports now.

I would suggest you need to keep a British passport even if you do get Aussie ones. As a dual national you will need on some occasions to show both. (Getting into the UK for example, they will ask you your nationality as it comes up on their screen so will ask for your British passport). If cost is an issue just renew your British ones now and get your Aussie ones later. It is far easier to renew a passport than get a new one so it is best not to let the old ones expire. As for validity, it won't be a problem getting into the UK if you do not intend to stop over anywhere and as long as the passport is still valid you should also not have a problem re-entering Australia on the return flight. The biggest issue is if you intend to stop over somewhere that has the 6 month rule. Also it my be worth considering renewing your passports, here in the UK, that way the return flight to Oz wouldn't be an issue.

When you no longer think or say you are "going home to the UK" when in fact you are only going on holiday. I have lived in the UK for over 10 years and 50% of the time I talk about Oz as home and the other 50% of the time I talk about UK as home. Call me indecisive (but not Shirley :biggrin:) but I consider my roots are in both countries. That may also be because I have family in both countries; children, grandparents in the UK, children and parents in Oz. I have lots of friends in both countries.

Historically climate has changed and goes through cycles. This happens whether you are in the northern or southern hemisphere. If you look at Victorian images they will often show thick snow and the women wearing clothing that was high necked and suitable for cooler weather. If you go back a few years when women wore low cut empire lone dresses you will find that there was little snow that settled on the ground because the weather was warmer.

I too don't have a problem with honesty. What annoys me is the people who hijack posts and turn them into a UK v Oz debate. It is perfectly reasonable to post about the good and bad things that have happened to them in either country, or to talk about the weather. However too often I have read replies to postings from people that are posting their troubles or excitement on PIO only to get a response such as "Oz is sh1t...it has no culture...the food is crap as is the beer unlike the UK where everything is fantastic". (And sometimes in the reverse as well). Neither country is all good or all bad which is where realism and honesty comes in.

Country is also mostly down the list. So when people emigrate it is mostly for reasons other than weather and if they return home because it hasn't worked out for them it's not because the country is sh1t but because one of their more important requirements hasn't been satisfied (family, jobs, happiness etc) and that for everyone this will be different. Hope the UK v Oz brigade are reading this. :biggrin:

This is a difficult one. Number 1 would be happiness but in order to be happy many of the others are needed as well, however I will try. 1. Happiness 2. Health 3. Family 4. Friends 5. Jobs 6. Standard of living 7. Weather 8. Holidays 9. Future 10. Country

As far as I am aware you would not be entitled to child benefit and would need to inform HM Revenue that you are intending on emigrating to Australia. If you have been working you should get a tax refund but will need to fill out the correct forms etc. (there are forum posts about this) I don't think that if your are "emigrating" on a temp visa initially with PR after two years that this would be considered as temporarily leaving as you do expect to be away for more than 52 weeks. The HMRV website says "Going abroad permanently'Permanently' means you are leaving the UK for good, or you expect to be away for more than 52 weeks when you leave. You could still get your Child Benefit payments if you move to another European country. The situations when this applies are explained in the sections above. You must tell the Child Benefit Office if you or your partner go abroad permanently. You can do this online by using the first link below, or you can call the Child Benefit Helpline. Going abroad temporarily 'Temporarily' means you don't expect to be away for more than 52 weeks from the time you leave. If you go abroad temporarily, you can still get your Child Benefit payments: for the first 8 weeks - it doesn't matter why you're away or which country you go to for the first 12 weeks - if you have to go anywhere abroad because you or a member of your family (for example your partner, child, a brother, sister or grandparent) are getting treatment for an illness, or a physical or mental disability for the first 12 weeks - if you have to go anywhere abroad because a member of your family has died You still need to meet the normal qualifying rules for Child Benefit. For example, your child must be under 16 or in education or training that counts for Child Benefit. You must tell the Child Benefit Office if you go abroad temporarily for more than eight weeks. You can do this online by using the first link below, or you can call the Child Benefit Helpline."

One of the averages that some people use for what level of income you need is 2.2-2.5 times your UK wage. That would be $77- 87.5K. However you really need to do some research to find out how much your job pays in Oz. Check out some of the Oz job seeker sites which may give you some good indicators.

The national minimum wage in Oz for over 21s is $15.96/hr and based on a 38 hour week this would equate to $31.5K/yr. The national minimum wage in the UK for over 21s is £6.19/hr and based also on a 38 hour week this would equate to £12.2K/yr. Now before any of the UK v Oz debaters start jumping up and down and protecting their corner...all I am doing here is saying what each government has set as the national minimum wage. Obviously there would be a whole lot of variables here such as number of hours worked, whether you would be paid more than the minimum wage, and how long it takes to get a job and of course job satisfaction. I am making no judgements on any of these things, just as I do not favour one country over the other.

My son (under 30) earns circa $100K in Oz. He is based in Adelaide but FIFO and works in mining exploration. My income in the UK is greater than £55K + benefits and going on positions advertised in Oz, I would expect to earn somewhere between $100-150K although I do work in the construction/development industry so may take a little while to get the right job.

As others have said the congregating of ethnicities to certain localities is not just an Oz thing but happens worldwide and has happened historically as well as currently. Jews and Italians in New York for example or Jamaicans in St Pauls in Bristol. That being the case however it doesn't necessarily make it right or the best. Suburbs with high populations of certain ethnicities get bad reputations and are often seen in a similar vein to slums. Also, because the immigrants are in their "comfort zone" by having lots of people around them who speak the same language, eat the same foods, have the same humour etc it can stop these people from integrating with the wider community.