Marisawright

For most people, there's no point applying for a visa right now because everything is suspended due to Covid. The good news, for you, is that they are still accepting applications for a few priority occupations, and Developer Programmer is on that list. With that in mind, I would strongly advise you get in touch with a MARA registered migration agent urgently and get the process moving. Try Suncoast Migration or Go Matilda. I say that, because the Priority list may be your golden opportunity. In normal times, migrating to Australia is fiercely competitive. It's like applying for a job--there's only a limited number of places every year, so Immigration can cherry-pick only the best. To give you an idea: you need only 65 points to be eligible to apply. However in recent years, only those with over 90 points have been successful. That has all changed with Covid. Like I said, only the Priority occupations are being processed and they don't seem to be so worried about points. So IF your husband's skillset matches that occupation, I'd be acting now. I recommend an agent because they are more in touch with what's going on than we are, and they'll be able to get the application prepared and submitted much faster than you can (it's quite complicated these days). Good luck.

That means you must be in possession of a valid one-way ticket to leave the country. If you do not possess such a ticket, you are in breach of the visa. If you are in breach of your current visa, you will be denied any further visa.

Only one of you--the one with the best chance of getting a visa--needs to apply. That person then includes spouse and children in their application. When the main applicant's visa is awarded, you then each get a full, independent visa in your own right. Getting a visa is not contingent on whether you plan to work once you've arrived. You don't need to worry about a visa for the new baby until it's arrived.

Yes, almost everyone takes the English test these days. Competition for visas is so fierce and it's a real struggle to get enough points otherwise. You need every point you can get.

Yes they will deny it because you have overstayed

It makes sense, then. If the incubation period ranges from 1 to 14 days, and you let people leave at 11 days, then you're going to catch most cases. If all you're trying to do is avoid overwhelming the health system, that works. And that's all the UK has ever attempted to do. But if you're going for eradication, then that doesnt work - because the 5% of people who get sick between 11 and 14 days are a risk. Though Australia has always claimed it's only trying to suppress the virus, in practice we've been going for eradication.

I was about to say the same thing. When you apply for a visa for a state, you are supposed to be eager to live in that particular state. If you then go and apply for another state, you're making it really obvious you're only using the state as a way to get to Australia. It makes them worry that you'll arrive and only stay in the state long enough to get PR, then you'll be off.

The best plan is not to put your life on hold. When you buy a ticket in a lottery, do you put your life on hold while you wait to see if you've won? All you've got right now is the chance that you might be able to get a visa. Even if you've got enough points and your occupation is on the list. It's like applying for a job: you're up against a lot of other applicants who have just as many points and just as good qualifications, and they can't hire you all. There's a quota. No one knows when things will get back to normal, and even when they do, it looks like there will be big reductions in the lists. I'm guessing we won't know till the end of 2021. Then you are up against a huge backlog of people who applied in 2019/2020. And even when things are normal, the whole process takes around a year. Sorry to paint a dismal picture, but it's reality. Your best plan is to get on with your life as if you'll be staying where you are. Then if you get the visa it's a bonus - and if you don't, you haven't wasted several years of your life hanging around.

Yes, the UK wins hands-down on supermarkets IMO

It’s all moved out to the inner ring of suburbs

@newarrival, how is your bank account going to help you with proof of income? I'd have thought they'd want pay slips or proof from whoever is paying the money into your bank account, not just bank records, which can be manipulated.

Once again it depends where you live. We're always talking about how Australians are accustomed to traveling huge distances compared to the UK, but I think things have changed. Most Australians are big-city dwellers. People who live in Sydney and Melbourne will do a very long drive when on holiday, but the rest of the time? Not. They'll barely travel from one side of the city to the other.

This is a mistake that a lot of Australians make. If you are "negatively geared", it means that the investment property is making a loss (i.e your mortgage and expenses cost more than your rental income). At first glance that seems pointless, because the reason you're paying no tax on the investment is because you're losing money. However, it reduces the tax you pay on your salary--and for someone on a good salary, that can be worth a lot. Plus you hope the value of the property is rising. Some people are also conned--there are several investment advisors, including an Investors' Club that was very popular for a while, which will sell you loss-making properties as a tax dodge/retirement strategy. The con is that they find the properties for you at an inflated price, so you're losing money on the rent, but it's going to take a long time for the property to be worth more than you paid for it. As you point out, the big difficulty is that if things go pear-shaped, you're overstretched and in big trouble. The trick is to choose properties that are negatively geared on paper, (so you get all the tax benefits) but is actually making a profit in reality. Not hard to do when you understand depreciation etc, but some people are just greedy. I'm always surprised how focussed some people are on not paying tax. They'll go to great lengths to avoid making a capital gain so they don't have to pay capital gains tax, for instance. In the process, they lose sight of the fact that even after tax, that capital gain would've been a nice amount of money to have.

I don't think that is correct. It is a combination of the two, AFAIK. This calculator is a good one: http://yourpension.com.au/APCalc/index.html

@LindaH27, not quite. A lot of countries have reciprocal agreements, which (if I'm understanding it correctly) means that when you move countries, you're eligible for a pension in your new country, but all the years you lived/worked in your old country count towards that pension. So if you move from Australia to Italy, say, you actually get an Italian pension, (not an Australian one), but based on your whole work history. I'm not quite sure which country pays how much towards it, if you know what it mean. The UK and Australia used to have an agreement but it lapsed in 2001 and they've never managed to agree another one. The result is different in each country. For Brits, if you move to Australia, your British aged pension is frozen at the rate on the day you leave. You can apply to get the full amount while you're on holidays in the UK but it goes back to normal when you come back to Oz. You can imagine how little a frozen pension is worth 20 years down the track. For Australians, if you move to the UK before you're receiving the Australian aged pension, you're out of luck - you can't claim a new Australian pension while you're overseas, so you'll never be able to get it. You'd have to return to Australia at pension age AND live there for at least 2 years to be eligible. This is a big trap for Brits who'd like to retire back in the UK.

Remember Immitracker isn't an official thing. It's up to individuals to provide the information to update it. So if someone gets their visa (or is rejected) and doesn't let Immitracker know, it wont get updated and will still show as waiting. I would suspect that one was just someone who never notified Immitracker

Madness. Re-apply immediately, referencing your husband's application and pointing out that their own website instructs you not to book flights. Sounds like a new employee who doesn't know what they're doing.

It’s more than a few years. It was 2001

@JJNot, did you read the thread I posted a link to? Lots and lots of people go home and are very happy

I saw them in the early '70s. They were the warm-up act for somebody famous but I can't even remember who it was now! But I never forgot the Humblebums. A mix of great music and great comedy. I never saw them again and was surprised and pleased when they both made successful solo careers

Australians don't pay the equivalent of NI contributions towards a pension. The Australian age pension is a welfare benefit, like the dole, designed only for retirees who need a hand in their old age. Once you've been here 10 years, you're entitled to the same level of assistance like any other Australian.

I was talking about Albo not Morrison

The name Humble Pie made me think of the Humblebums. Anyone remember them? Billy Connolly and Gerry Rafferty.

He doesn’t have to be a great saviour. No politician ever is. Just competent would be a good start

I wouild say the worst racism I have ever encountered was in Africa, by the Africans against the Indians.