bryzee86

Hi folks, We've been here in Oz for 7 months now and it's nearly time for our first tax return! So, I have a question - do money transfers from the UK (i.e. the funds we sent over prior to our arrival, plus money that members of family have sent to us to support us) count as "Tax-deductable income"? If yes, I have another query. We have a joint bank account, so would we both need to report this, or just one of us? Finally, we arrived in Oz on 09/12/2013, so our time as resident for tax purposes at tax time will be 6 months and 22 days - does this count as 6 months residence or 7 months residence as far as ATO are concerned? Thanks in advance!

We've just got ours this morning :-) We have already booked our flights and are going on Saturday morning.

Congrats! :-D

We (me and Joeybee) got our grant this morning! Thanks everyone on here or your advice and support :-)

Transferred $10,000 to our Australian bank account; submitted requested documents to our Case Officer for final assessment!

Hi, I think you would be fine. Get as many statements as you can, and also provide booking itineraries or boarding passes for your various holidays together. You can also write a declaration each, declaring your relationship, how you met, how the relationship has progressed etc. Also detail any gaps in the relationship so you're not missing any info out.

Hi, My wife (joeybee) applied on 21/9/13 with me as dependant. Hope that helps!

Hey, This is from the AHPRA site:

Hi, I'm afraid you simply HAVE to do a recognised English exam for ANMAC. This can be academic IELTS or the much more expensive OET.

Your 1st step is to do the academic (not general!) IELTS. Then apply to ANMAC, after first having your documents notarised. It will take ANMAC a few months to fully assess you and issue your LOD (Letter of Determination). The, and only then, can you put you Expression of Interest in for the Visa, and apply to register with AHPRA. Also, AHPRA are currently updating their procedures with regards to International nurse registrations. Therefore, you'll need to hold out anyway until they have been published. Hope that helps!

Actually yeah, good thinking. Which board are you applying to, acc?

Oh my god I am absolutely in love with kookaburras!

My bloody Mother-in-Law has practically harangued us into staying until after Christmas so she can see us for a bit longer, and now she's chosen to have elective surgery (with a 3 days hospital stay) over Christmas! So, we're left with the dilemma of do I go to my nanna's for Christmas and abandon my wife's Uncle (who lives on his own), or do I ignore my nanna in order to ensure that he isn't alone on Christmas Day!? Effing nightmare!

Hey, If you are applying to ahpra for the first time as an international nurse, you pay $160 application fee + $220 assessment fee, + the $160 registration fee for the current registration year. Total will be $540.

Eh, get the new Mystic Meg here!

It's all subjective, innit? Like, loads of my friends absolutely love Brighton and couldn't see themselves living elsewhere, but the 2 years I lived there rank as the most unpleasant period of my adult life!

I spoke to Singapore today as well and, if you are going over on an unstamped PR visa and only have a one-way ticket, you can get 40kgs each (checked) baggage. You just turn up with it at the airport and they will validate it for you. The carry-on stays the same - 7kg each.

You can leave ON the date stated for expiry. If you end up leaving after that for any fault that's not your own (delays, natural disaster etc), then that's fine. As long as you book your flight to leave on or before 30th November.

Good guess Anj - we did indeed get the CO allocated today (16/11)! Have you got this week's lottery numbers as well?!

Woo! We have finally been allocated a case officer - initials AM from Brisbane team 34. They have requested further information from Joeybee - education transcript and financial proof of employment for the years claimed. We wrote to HMRC for a statement of employment for the years in question around 3 weeks ago, but have heard nothing back yet. So at least we know that, when we do get the letter back, we can just pass it on to the CO and get our grant!

Me and Joeybee are in our 8th week now, so I bloomin' hell hope you're right! :arghh:

Wonderful! We shall keep each other posted as to our progress then :-)

Hi Baz, thanks for that. Having always been more of an academic than vocational person, I've been putting this off for a few years now, but now is the right time to take this opportunity and run. Ta for the encouraging words.

Well, up until 30/09, we *were* living in Brighton, but we moved back up to Manchester to live with in-laws and save money. Good timing as we didn't have to trek quite as far, or pay quite as much, as we would have done darn sarf.

I work for an online gift company and customers are already FREAKING RIGHT OUT that their orders won't get to them by Christmas. The general public; Lord, give me strength...