BadgerLady

GAH! They accepted an application 5 minutes after I left the viewing. In the meantime I sat there preparing my application, sending personal messages to the letting agent and planning how to furnish it on my coach trip to Sydney (I'd flown in from Melbourne that morning). Poo.

Braddon. I got chatting to the other house hunters and they weren't interested... one group were sharers and said the bedrooms were too small, another single guy said he prefers modern, central heated places and already had an application in elsewhere.

Thanks all! I've just been to see the place. It's even cuter in real life than I'd expected. Very exciting gardens! :jiggy: The rooms are pretty small and cosy, and they've left a smart-looking electric fireplace that you could put into a bedroom or even the kitchen as a supplement. It's pretty miserable in Canberra today (6 degrees and raining) and I actually felt OK in there, with it empty and unheated... by the time I add my rugs etc I'm pretty confident it'll be OK. Kick to the guts was when the letting agent said "By the way we've actually got an application pending with the owner at the moment, and we don't submit new ones unless that gets rejected". I flew in from Melbourne for this, yer git!

Looks great! I don't have kids or animals so I'm not too worried about burning the house down :-P

He can arrive on 27th September and stay for 6 months, right?

In the notes it says: "Your visa allows you multiple entries to Australia until 20 October 2016. You are allowed to stay for a period of 12 month(s) on each arrival."

They must have thought he's a great tourist! It says "must not arrive after 20 October 2016" "travel facility multiple" and "maximum stay 12 month(s) from the date of each arrival" The conditions are "no work" and "maximum 3 months study" I haven't misinterpreted that, have I?

{posted in the wrong thread}

Yeah, I guess you're right :-) I do tend to get very invested in my rental homes. I'm an instinctive nester so I really work on making it perfect - replacing all the furniture etc to suit - and I hate moving! But that doesn't make it the end of the world!

Yes it is ;-) Living room is in the middle... then you have three bedrooms and dining room coming straight off of it... kitchen, bathroom and laundry are down the other end. Ceilings are very high though and I think it's single glazed (although I've got heavy floor-length curtains to put up).

Funnily enough I've been working in Melbourne for the last couple of months. I'm staying in a modern apartment with (unfathomably) single glazing and no curtains. I'm generally comfortable in the evenings using a spare duvet on the sofa and running the (totally inadequate) electric heater in the bedroom until bedtime. It hasn't been *that* cold though... I think I'm a bit traumatised since going to the UK in May and finding myself living in a campervan in 4 degree weather. I wore the same pair of leggings for a week.

Yeah, this is my fear... I haven't needed heating for 4 years and have been fine, but this means I've forgotten what living in cold climates is actually like! I'm even worried about the fact that summer nights can drop to below 12 degrees :-O

So I've been in Sydney for the last 4 years and am making a move to the capital... I'm looking at leasing an old federation house that's in my perfect location and I love the style etc. It's got an air conditioner and a wood burning stove in the living room, but nothing in the bedrooms / kitchen / bathroom. It's a fantastic price. I have travelled to Canberra a number of times during my time here so I know it gets pretty cold. But how miserable is it to live in a largely unheated house? Will my portable electric heaters be enough? I already have a heated waterbed.

Turns out last year's visa hasn't expired yet, and it was issued for multiple visits with up to 12 months in each visit. So he's going to use that (at least) for this trip. Hopefully the new one will arrive eventually, in case he takes a trip to NZ or elsewhere over the summer!

Thanks - massively helpful! He doesn't need the extended stay, but I also suggested he wasn't really eligible since I'm only here on a 457. The letter said he should be parent to a PR or Citizen and I'm neither of those!

Dad applied on 3rd August for a Tourist (600) visa, as he's done for the last 4 summers, to come out and visit me from the UK. Normally it's granted within 24 hours. This time he received an email letter offering him a longer stay as parent of an Australian resident, and asked him to respond with his preference. He replied immediately saying that he would just like to proceed with the original application. Two weeks later - nothing. It's sitting in his Immi account with no update. Do you know what's going on with that kind of thing? And what's the best approach - does he just submit a whole new application?

By my reckoning, I'll be eligible for citizenship in January 2018. I'm on target for residency requirements as long as I stick to the 90-day limit in my final year after getting PR :-)

I'm really not. I've already made my decision to stay - it just keeps getting harder! It's a place where I can keep my stuff that'll never be taken away from me. It was my base last time I worked in London - I just have a squat / crash pad near the office to go with it. You have to remember that I end up travelling all the time for work anyway, so "the standard commute" just isn't an issue ;-)

I believe their intention is to clear it out and then market it. They're taking the opportunity to move me out on my 12 month lease end date, so there's nothing untoward about it. A bit out-of-the-blue given that all my discussions with the rental agency had been about it being a long-term deal, that the place has been rented out for over thirty years and that they're delighted with me and the way I've set it up. I'd actually be perfectly happy for them to market it using my possessions if it means I can stay longer - after all, I'm there on average 8 days a month! So hardly an inconvenience. And it would give me much more opportunity to find somewhere new. Unfortunately I am completely in love with the place and it's rather unique for Sydney: a stand-alone house right in the CBD and yet over 150 years old.

Yeah. Thanks.

Well here's just what I need! Had a phonecall from my letting agent that my landlord's decided to sell and is therefore asking me to vacate in 6 weeks time. From Sydney. And I'm on work assignment in Melbourne for the next 5 weeks. We're talking a three-storey house here, that I was assured was available for long-term let after I had a harrowingly short 7-month tenancy at my last place. So I settled in - bought a waterbed, a piano... and 11 months later here we are again It's like everything's telling me to give up and go home. I could get a 50% higher salary in London, use my house in Wales as a base and move into a nice cheap guardianship. I could withdraw my superfund and save the $12k that PR is gonna cost. Harump.

Hey, if you can find me a hobby that can be done in a different state/territory of Australia every week, I'm all over it :-D

Makes good sense :-) My employer honestly couldn't care less. It's a massive global corporation with hundreds of thousands of employees... this process is managed by an offshore division, paid for by me. It's simply a service they offer their employees the same way they offer discount gym membership and a per diem on business travel. And if I'm moving from one job to another, there's no downside from a government perspective. Indeed the work I'm trying to move into is FOR the government! One of my recent projects was with the DIBP - they raved on about how much they loved working with me but went into awkward silence when I joked "does that mean I can have PR now?".

Well, if they wanted to keep me working for them they'd probably be better off just extending the 457. Then I'd be 'stuck' with them :-P

They don't know I intend to leave, of course. And I might not - will I even get the other job? I'd just like to go for it with an idea of timelines. I really can't find any evidence that it's 'naughty' to leave once you've got PR...