Marisawright

So can you claim a capital loss then if the rate were lower than when you could have sent the money over?

 

I don't think so.

Yes of course

I started using one of those companies, can't think of the name, but instead of paying 26 pounds I'm paying 5 (not sure if that is £ or $).

 

I transfer my UK money to their account and they transfer it to my ANZ account.

 

If you register with Moneycorp through these forums, you wouldn't pay any fee at all! You can talk to @John from Moneycorp if you get stuck signing up.

I like the fact I can do the transfers online, but I can also pick up the phone and talk to someone at Moneycorp if I need help. Very pleased with the service and the rates are good too.

Centrelink pensions are portable ie you can take them to Uk but you must be in oz to claim Rates depend on length of residency I think it's 35 years between the age of 16 and retiring in Oz We moved back to uk in 2012 I get full Centrelink pension hubby gets 86% based on our ages when we emigrated We also get part Uk pensions However my understanding is we would have gotten full Uk pensions if we hadn't claimed our Aussie pensions before we left Oz

This is true BUT you were old enough to claim it BEFORE you left Australia. If you'd left before pension age (as the OP is proposing to do), you wouldn't have been able to claim it from the UK.

Like NicF said, I've alread landed a decent job there (despite the downturn that I head is happening). I think we're planning on shipping all our existing furniture there... but we also fancy buying a few new pieces like a bed, bar and stools, etc. Plenty of choice in Dubai as all international brands are here, but I hear I wont be spoilt for choice in Perth and prices would be more expensive? So.... should I buy new furniture here and ship?

Again, if the company is paying the shipping and you fancy some new stuff, why on earth wouldn't you buy there and ship it? I would.

If you understood the rules you would know if you're 45 or over you can't get a visa. Its called age discrimination. And the site tells me nothing I want to know.

It's discrimination if there is no valid reason for it. If there is a valid reason for it, then it's not discrimination. I know it's really tough when it affects you, and I'm sorry you find yourself in that situation, but I can see the logic.

You might as well say that Australia practices clerical discrimination because it doesn't have a visa for clerical workers. But it 's not discrimination because there's a good reason - they'd probably end up unemployed and a burden on the state, because there are plenty of local applicants. The same applies to age restrictions.

If you're allowed into Australia in your 20's or 30's, you'll work for many years and pay taxes - which means you've offset the expense you're going to cause the taxpayer when you're old and require extra health care, pensions, aged care etc.

If you're allowed into Australia later in life, or without skills that Australia recognises as in demand, then you are more likely to be a burden on the taxpayer much sooner, before you've had the chance to contribute a meaningful amount to offset that. That's why most of the "aged parent" type visas charge such large amounts of money.

Guys, if you'd like to discuss the merits of Australia vs the UK, immigrants etc etc, there are other threads about those topics already that you can join. Please let's stick to the topic.

Thank you so much Cal I really do appreciate your reply. I am so grateful of your positive feedback. My husband is starting the Btec level 5 sports & remedial diploma in England. Our MA is positive also

Just check that your MA is MARA registered. There are a lot of shonks out there unfortunately, who are happy to encourage you (let's face it, if they say there's no hope, they won't get paid will they?). No matter how nice your agent appears, if he's not MARA registered, find someone else who is (there are several on these forums). Remember crooks can be very charming that's how they get away with it.

 

moving to Melbourne on the 12th Jan and looking for two weeks in short term furnished accomodation.

 

We are a family of 4 and looking to spend a max of $850 a week.

I'd say your budget is your problem. That sounds on the low side to me, for a holiday flat for 4 people in Melbourne. What would you expect to pay for a holiday flat in a British city? Remember short-term rentals usually cost about twice the price of a long-term rental, especially in a big city where there are lots of businessmen booking as well as holidaymakers.

Plus you're arriving bang in the middle of the summer holidays so you're in peak holiday season.

@buzzy--bee offers short-term rentals.

Hi Marisa - I opened a UK bank account in Australia with HSBC six months before I left earlier this year. I had not banked with them in Australia. I got a Visa card for both accounts and when I arrived in the UK they approved me for a mortgage and small overdraft straight away. I was on six months long service leave from Australia. I did get offered a job shortly after arriving in the UK, but they did the calculations based on my Australian income. I bought a house 10 weeks after arriving in the UK. I had not lived in the UK for 30 years, so it is possible to do it. The only problem with credit rating I had was with a phone account - I just got a monthly contract for the first three months, then changed it to a better package when I moved in to my own home. Hope this helps.

That's really interesting, thanks! We were told by every bank that new UK bank regulations meant they were not allowed to open a UK bank account for overseas residents.

Even Citibank, whose website still advertises that if you bank with them (and we do) you can open an account in the UK, said they couldn't do it any more. So it's good to know there's one bank that still does it, though it doesn't make any difference to us now.

Absolutely go home if that is what you want.

 

Australia is not an easy country to live in.

 

We are all different. Some people will be very happy in the UK and miserable in Australia. Some people will enjoy Australia and hate the UK. Even within Australia, you will find people who hate living in Perth but love living in Sydney, and people who hate Adelaide but love Brisbane, and vice versa.

I know you find it difficult to live in Australia and are much happier in the UK. By contrast, I find Australia a very easy country to live in and I'm finding it a struggle to live in the UK. We are both right! - because we each have different needs and wants, and that is as it should be.

Here's an update. For anyone that returns to the UK to live permanently, and they are being paid a benefit or an Australian pension, then they may not be able to use the time spent in Australia before 2001 to increase the UK pension. Whilst you reside in Australia the former Agreement cannot assist you. The DWP are waiting on confirmation that the Agreement can assist UK residents who retire after 6th April 2016.

Good point about not being able to claim the extra years if you're already getting an Aussie pension - it only makes sense since you shouldn't be able to claim the same work years for two different pensions.

Can you give a bit more detail about the agreement assisting UK residents retiring after April 16? Why would it not?

Hey guys...Is it true that everyone with an underactive thyroid gain loads of weight?has anyone else got a low thyroid problem?and after treatment do you lose the weight?i just got told i have an underactive thyroid and more then anything else im worried about gaining lots of weight and not being able to lose it or have to work a 100 times harder to lose it.

Like Newjez says, if you've had it for a while and haven't gained weight yet, then that's not going to change just because you've had an official diagnosis. Gaining weight is a common symptom of having a low thyroid, once you're on treatment it won't be a problem.

We are using a migration agent in Melbourne and she has advised us that this is the best way. My husband is 50 march 2017 so time is short. From what i can gather it sounds like it is not a possibility

I also think it would be difficult to find an employer willing to take him on. I have met osteopaths who've come out from the UK, as osteopaths are hard to find in Australia - but massage therapists are everywhere. Since there's no regulation, a lot of them aren't properly qualified and therefore not very good - but the point is that there's lots of competition.

Even if he does find a sponsor, as VeryStormy says, the 457 is only a temporary visa. At the end of his contract he'll be over 50 and not eligible for a permanent visa, and therefore you'll have to come home. That's not a problem if all you want is a chance to experience Australia for a few years, but you need to factor the costs of relocating twice into your budget.

I don't think there is an ice rink in Darwin, except the temporary ones they sometimes put up in the shopping centres. So no ice hockey. It's a minor sport in Australia, partly due to the lack of good ice rinks in general. I had a friend who was a keen ice hockey player - he had to give up when he moved to Oz.

Did you like Exeter Marisa ?

Yes I did, I actually managed to find some decent cafes. Not enough dance classes though, like most towns of that size.

Go where you can get a job, then look at houses and the schools will fall into place. Make sure you have your UK citizenship in the bag before you go just in case you might one day want to return (the spouse visa is pretty draconian these days)

Very good point!

I'm not surprised by those figures. Even in a depressed city like Southampton, I'm surprised how many businesses have signs up looking for staff. When we went to Exeter, every second shop in the high street seemed to be advertising for staff. I definitely get the impression the job market is better here than it was in Sydney when I left.

I'd definitely say check out the work opportunities first. Seek.com.au is the best place to look, but it's unlikely you'll be able to secure jobs before you go. Instead, note which agencies are offering jobs in your fields, and call them up to ask questions about your job prospects, what employers are looking for etc.

It's easy to get excited about cheap housing when you don't know the areas, but be cautious - often if the housing is cheap, it's because demand in that area is low (ie. there's no work or no schools). Also check commute times, distances are much greater between towns. If you buy rural, you may be a very long way from amenities.

Personally, I wouldn't underestimate the value of having family close by. You're going to be leaving all your friends as well as your UK family behind, so you'll arrive with absolutely no support network to help you out if things go wrong - which they inevitably will, few migrations go perfectly smoothly! If you can stay with them for the first few weeks, it will remove a lot of the stress - otherwise you'll have to book a holiday flat for a month or so while you frantically rush around looking for a long-term rental.

Yes. As long as you are living in the UK you can claim for those years too. You will need to fill out a form provided by the Pension Service (email: tvp.internationalqueries@thepensionservice.gsi.gov.uk). We had our group certificates and a letter from a relative and friend confirming that we had lived out there during the years we were claiming for. I also have a private pension but that does not matter. If you are resident in the UK the basic state pension is not means tested. Hope this helps.

The person who asked was living in Australia - so just highlighting that you MUST be living in the UK to claim those years. Also, if you claim them while you're in the UK and decide to come back to Australia or move elsewhere, you'll lose the extra years.

I knew someone who got a nasty surprise, they went back to the UK but missed the warmer weather so decided to move to Spain instead. They got a shock when their pensions were slashed - they had assumed that, having claimed the extra years while in the UK, they'd go on getting credit for them, but no. If you leave the UK permanently you lose it.

Ok, I'm a Uk resident. Thinking about moving to Australia? Clean record etc., what are my requirements? I have a trade...Clerical. in Insurance...? Well??

You don't have a trade, you have an occupation. The bad news is that your occupation probably won't get you into Oz.

The Australian government doesn't want migrants who might compete with Australians for jobs - so they will only accept people with skills perceived to be in short supply. You'll find the lists here:

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists/CSOL

https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists

Unfortunately I very much doubt that Insurance Clerk is on those lists anywhere. Though there are skills involved, it's possible for insurance companies to recruit and train any clerical worker to carry out the role.

The bottom line is that if you don't have the skills Australia wants, you can't migrate. If you're under 30 you could apply for a Working Holiday Visa and come for a year, but that's it. A WHV is basically a holiday where you're allowed to take part time or casual jobs to fund your holiday.

If you're determined to migrate, then you need to switch careers to an occupation that's in demand. Bear in mind that (a) you need both qualifications AND experience for most occupations, so it may take several years and (b) there's no guarantee that occupation will still be on the list by the time you've achieved the minimum standard.

My father died many years ago before I came to Australia. My Mum encouraged me to come to Australia and wished me well - she was in very good health until she had a stroke in her mid-80's. I flew back to Scotland as soon as I heard about it. She had the stroke on the Thursday and I arrived at the hospital on the Sunday. I stayed with her 24 hours a day with my sister until she died the following Thursday. She knew I was there and tried to talk to me. It's very difficult living so far away.

At least you were with her at the end. The trouble with living in Australia is that it takes so long to get back - by the time you add on travel at each end of the flight, it can easily be 30 hours or more, and a lot can happen in that time. I hopped on the first plane available when my Dad took ill but still didn't make it in time. It's a horrible feeling sitting on that plane, wondering.

I hope that my parents see it like this but I am informed by my sister that my dad was crying on the phone to her the other day about how devastated he is that the family is apart. I am not sure if it is true however - it may just be another manipulation strategy by her. It does upset me to think that my dad feels this way and could quite possibly die feeling like this but I cannot leave my life here just to make family happy.

Can you call your dad and ask him point blank if he wants you to come back? I think one of the biggest reasons these things cause angst is the British stiff upper lip - if your parents were honest with you about how they feel, and you shared your fears with them, it would all be out in the open and you would know where you stood. But because you're tiptoeing round it with each other, that gives your sister the opportunity to manipulate both of you. There comes a point where you have to be brave enough to mention the elephant in the room IMO, even if it causes a bit of emotional upset.

edit: going back and reading some of the other posts, it does sound as though your parents are putting the guilt trip on you too? If so, do you think it's really them, or do you think your sister could be goading them? I think that's another reason to ask them directly about it.

BTW you can tell them you can't come back for the wedding, because it's complicated if you're not legally resident in the UK - it may have changed, but when we looked into it, we'd have had to come to the UK months before the wedding and we couldn't afford that much time.

So my family and I moved from Milton Keynes UK to Sydney in January 2015; we have already decided we are returning to the UK in August 2017, for a number of reasons:

 

 

1. Unable to buy a house

2. Further Education prospects; I struggle to see what opportunities an Australian education offers compared to that in the UK. There are barely any Universities and an extremely small number of 'good' ones when compared to the UK and Europe.

3. Work opportunities; if we stay in Australia I struggle to see how they could make a living in such a small (And without mining, shrinking) jobs market. My family have access to the EU jobs market, which is huge.

 

 

You are discovering the reality of the Australian dream!

Sydney is very, very expensive and even the pundits agree houses are over-priced, so your assessment won't be a surprise to anyone. I loved living in Sydney myself, but when I see people on these forums asking about a move to Sydney, I always advise them to choose another city instead these days -unless they are young and don't have a family to support. If you're loving the Aussie lifestyle and want to stay, then 'd be suggesting a move to another, cheaper, city.

I often see people wanting to move to Australia because of "better opportunities for their children" and I think that's rubbish. I think Australian universities are on a par with British ones, but there are so few of them they have little scope to offer less popular subjects. And with a small job market, rising unemployment and the reluctance of employers to hire from interstate, I think job prospects are poorer in Australia now than in the UK, where it's so easy to move around the UK itself for work, and not that hard to hop over to Europe either.

If those considerations are important to you, then I think you are making the right decision to move back. Just bear in mind that if you wait until your children are ready to go to university, they'll be treated as foreign students and have to pay full fees.

Not sure if I am understanding this correctly. I am claiming a UK pension , and get 16/30ths of it for the 16 years that I was employed prior to emigrating in 1981. So, if I now provide evidence that I was employed full time in Australia between 1981 and 2001, my pension would then increase?

Only if you are legally resident in the UK. Assuming you're still in Australia, you can't claim it.

a newspaper article, the Telegraph, 4th of December.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/expat-money/12031851/British-pension-is-paltry-but-theres-hope-for-those-with-frozen-payments.html