ausHWC

Hi Folks, Trying to understand how Oz income tax works. Is it like here in the UK?, that it will be taken out automatically from you monthly payslip? or you have to pay it annually lump sum at the end of the tax year? - Does Oz government work your tax out and require your company employer to deduct it from you wages as accordingly? - Or is it a case that every person in Aus has an accountant to do their tax return forms? how much are accountants for this purpose? - Do superannuations get taken off automatically too off your wage slip? what if you are only temporary and return to UK after 2 years do we get back this super payment sum? - What other deductions are likely to be taken of your income? is it just income tax and superannuation? I know I can read in detail all about this on the Oz Gov website, but what I'm really looking for is top line answers from those in this forum with people's true experience to say how it really is. Would really appreciate any info or advice, thanks in advance.

Yes this is correct, you only need a VIC driving licence if you are on permanent visa. Read the link below: https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/licences/renew-replace-or-update/new-to-victoria/overseas-drivers

I've used Money Corp and generally their rates are better than the big banks. PM me if you want advice on how it works, I've just exchanged large sums of money. By the way, now is a good time to exchange as the pound is strong and you get alot of AUD for it.

Good to have read this because I thought with our visa being electronically granted via Email I didn't think it mattered what is in the passport? because they should have you visa details on their national systems framework? So I'm guessing when we land in Oz we will be issued a paper visa to attach to our passports?

LOL abz, you're not by any chance a landlord? seems like you taking a personal offence to my other post :tongue:. In case you haven't read it recently, I've accepted the good advice of the people in that thread, so I don't know why you think I've got it in for Aussie's?. In respect to this thread it was a tongue in cheek post to see what interesting OZ biscuits would be suggested by people living in OZ, that goes well in tea. So your misunderstanding of me making a complaint is somewhat unfounded!? The bit about fair go with the culture, I am looking very much forward to embracing all the wonders and culture of OZ life and the many things it has to offer, otherwise I wouldn't be emigrating in a months time, but your comment suggest that I am not allowed to mesmerise good old British ways ? by what right does that give you to brand me as the type to grate everyone's nerves and tell me to stay back in the UK? you don't even know me? and uncalled for jibe mate, having a bad day on the threads? If anything its people's comments like yours that damages the excitement of new emigrants like me joining the OZ community or using this thread as a source of info and social networking because your so negative and plain rude, I suggest you go dunk your attitude in TEA and reinterpret the meaning of this post before you make said judgemental comments.

Ok, theres me having my afternoon tea and dunking a delectable McVities digestive into the tea and enjoying my moment of quite, when it occurred to me my life of tea dunking maybe coming to a short end soon when we emigrate to Oz in October (as I never saw digestives being available in the supermarkets when we were in Oz in Feb). My question is, is this going to be the case!? or is there a even better biscuit OZ style that hits the spot with tea dunking ? or is this a favourite British pastime that I have to leave in the UK? :huh:

Thanks Folks, Its all very valid whats been said and makes sense, so we'll just have to wait till we touch down and do it the long way but the sure and safe way. Cheers all:wink:

Thank you for the tips and info, all very useful and balances my view of Aussie landlords abit more evenly now, however as you all can appreciate every one's situation is unique and different. In our circumstance, because of our sponsored job we are fixed to a specific location and coupled with our kids schooling tied to that area, we are restricted to a very defined locality as we do not want to have to commute long distances. And basically in that locality there are only ever a few house property that ever fits the bill or comes up at the premium level we want (eg: yes there are plenty of standard 3 bed houses available, but only rarely do premium 4-5 bed house with a good kitchen pops up for rentals in our area), so to a certain extent by default we have a limited choice to a house that fits the bill, hence we are happy to offer on a rental application from abroad going by online photos (I know, I know it is risky, but if there is only ever 1-2 that fits our requirements, hence why we want to secure these properties from abroad, because they go fast). Oh well, just a shame that the rental process in Oz is not Pommie friendly, I guess I have to accept that this is the way it is. :frown:

And oh in case you comment, yes we are considered as perfect renters: - our combined salary is over $200,000 and this is secured sponsored with letter of support as evidence, so no worries there on rental payment. - we are qualified medical professionals - We are clean and tidy freaks! so will maintain any property very well. So where are we going wrong here?

Hey Peeps, Tell me something guys and girls, what is it with Aussie landlords ? we have applied for a few rental properties online (using that 1form through estate agents) and on blind good faith of just seeing online photos we have applied, but always the landlord has gone with other application and no doubt they have chosen domestic applicants. Are we just wasting our time here? are Aussie landlords so blind to UK applicants and never consider them? Has anyone had experience of successfully securing a rental from abroad in the UK? I would be grateful to hear of your experience and how you did it, many thanks in advance.

ok, thanks. So I will bring our UK phones :-), saves on buying some :wink:

Hi folks, A really quick one, does anyone know that a UK phone will work in OZ? I'm talking about whether the sockets are the same. Meaning is is worth us bringing our landline phones over? Cheers all.

Our personal experience: - We had to be in Melbourne October 2014 - put our house up 1st May 2014 - under offer by 1st June 2014 - But that fell through - Back on the market - Under offer again 10th July 2014 - Contracts exchanged 22nd August 2014 - Completion set for 12th September. So in all it took close to 6 months, but I would say that we were lucky and that is probably a quick turn around time. I would have said start 8-10 months before arriving in OZ. But like pumpkin said, its a hard question to answer, because the property market in Manchester maybe slower than down here in greater London, or if you have competition then its harder and longer to sell. This is what we found with this whole process, it is stressful second guessing how and when to sell the house in time with your visa and expected date of emigration, to a certain extent a bit of luck with your buyer is needed, so hope you get that. Good luck!

Thank you folks, been so busy organising stuff last few days, haven't had much time to check the forums, so sorry for late reply. Anyway, we will be hitting Melbourne on 15th October, is there anyone who is in Melbourne? would like to have a PIO friend to chat with and possibly someone to help break the ice with building network of new friends and social. Thanks again, cannot wait, these next 2 months will the longest.....

Well folks, its the sweetest feeling ever, we have just received our VISA GRANT !! WHOOOPEEE:biglaugh::wink:. We lodged our 457 VISA application on 24/07/2014 and now approved 14/08/2014!! Thanks to everyone on this forum, got to say it has been a wealth of knowledge and helpful tips to get through the process. Off to book the flights now....so excited...:rolleyes:

Hey peeps, Hopefully a quick and easy one, has anyone bought a house on a temporary 457 visa stay? - Is there a restriction that you must have lived in Oz for 1 year or something before being able to purchase? - Is it hard for a UK migrant to buy a house on a 457 visa? - What sort things do you need (apart from the obvious, cash) for the process? Cheers folks, no dramas on this one, just curious. Thanks

This is great everyone, thank you all, it certainly has settled my worries and stresses. I will await the email from our case officer before taking any further unnecessary actions. Thanks again.

Thank you College Girl, I will listen to your wisdom :wink: and relax. Was just worried that we are here sitting in the UK ignoring the blue question marks and they at immigration in OZ are there sitting waiting for us to answer with the required attachments, and in effect we are waiting on each other and find we delayed the visa application by assuming the wrong thing! :confused:. Anyway, I think you are right, like I said my gut instinct was that they are generic guidelines and nothing to do with specific action requirements of our visa application, so I will agree with you for peace of mind :-). Cheers again,

Hey College Girl, You may be right, which was my initial interpretation of these blue question marks, but like I said it is ambigiously posed, when one of our attached documents does not have this 'tooltip' question mark. Also the damning problem is that they appeared after we submitted the attachments with a request for the health check up with the same blue question mark. So it sort of lead me to believe, someone (like a case officer) looked at our online application and saw that we needed a health check sorted, so they included a link with a blue question mark to fufil this health check requirement, and at the same time they highlighted all the other documents as well except the marriage certificate document which has no question mark. I don't know, it might be the case that we are over reading into the status, but really is naugthy of them not to send any correspondences to tell us either way. This is why I'm appealing to anyone who has lodge an application online and noticed the same thing with their attached documents and later found out that these silly blue question marks (tooltips) are simply just generic info buttons and not action requests from the case officer...

Hey Everyone, I wondered if there is anyone out there who has been in the same situation as us. We have not used a migration agent and lodged our 457 visa application ourselves using the immi-account online. This was done 2 weeks ago. We are struggling to understand the 'status' of our application because the website is somewhat ambigious and illogical. To put you in the picture here are the points of contention: 1. We uploaded a number of document attachments in support of our 457 application, after logging back into the account we noticed that the attachments have the progress status as 'received' but at the same time there is a small blue highlighted question mark next to each attachment, when we click on these blue question marks, it tells us the requirements of the attached documents. We are not sure if this is the case officer requesting the correct documents because our initial uploaded is wrong? or this is just a generic general guideline that pops up after you have uploaded your attachments. 2. We are confused because there has been no correspondence from the account, so we are not even sure if the status of the application has actually even been viewed by a human eye!? which leads us to believe the 'blue questions mark' are a automatic generic pop up, but then what makes it ambigious is that for one of the attachment (marriage certificate) there is no 'blue question mark' which then leads us to think someone has deliberately left out no question mark there. So does it mean some human eye (case officer ) has looked at our application and deliberately assigned those 'blue question marks' to only those that need attention to tell us to reload the correct attachment documents. 3. What adds to the confusion is that above the attachment progress column, there is a sentence that basically says 'not all attachment are required or necessary and only a status of 'required' is when attachments needs to be provided. Well all our attachments just says 'received' which makes me think its ok, because it doesn't say 'required' however then what is the point of the blue question marks being there?, because it feels like they are personal requests from the case officer to get more documents uploaded! but then why don't the case officer write us a correspondence to tell us specifically that you are required to re-submit these documents? I'm really confused by the ambiguity of the mix messages of how the eVISA process is presented, I would be grateful if there is anyone out there who has gone through this progress and can throw a light on the interpretation of the website and its presentation of the status of your online visa. Its important for us know because if those 'blue questions marks' are direct action requests from a case officer (and not a generic guideline) then we need to get alot of 'certified documents uploaded' that can cost alot of money and time, which if it is not necessary we don't want to do. Looking for any experienced advice please, tearing our hairs out with stress as to what this online eVISA is all about. It really doesn't help either that there is no correspondence from a case officer and no direct way of contacting the immigration for answers (if anyone has contacts for this purpose I would also appreciate it if they can share that too). Thanks a bunch in advance to all you lovely helpful people :-).

Hey Tina2, Thanks for the great tips and suggestions, really good to know these things, I will be sure to avoid after hours driving in pilgra forest, definitely don't fancy road killing a Roo :-). I think I'm going to have to do a second road trip ! there sounds like too many good places to stop and check out. Thanks again, its really helpful.

Thanks Folks, Soaking up the advice, and thinking of changing itinerary. We figured 2 weeks in Gold coast because we have 2 kids one is 5yrs and the other 7 yrs and there seemed like alot to do for them and us, as we have never been before, I just thought 2 weeks would be about right in Gold coast. We are not in a great rush as we have time, I think we will cross of Wagga of the stopovers list, it was only there because it looked like its a third of the drive and a main listed town, but if there is nothing interesting there, then maybe try to get to Parkes in one day. We thought on the way up use inland highway to gold coast and on the way back to melbourne use the coastal route, hence the difference in routes. Is Newcastle worth a stopover at night? Whats a Noosa Salad :-).? Thanks again, Any great tips for long drives would also be appreciated, eg: Is it really necessary to buy a jerry can of petrol? are the drives so isolated that there is a chance of no petrol station for miles on end?

Hey Everyone, Does anyone have experience of doing this road trip? We are planning to do this before we begin the hum drums of working life. We wanted to know if our plan below was realistic in terms of driving distance and times in a day. Also would like to know if there are better places to stop over night than the ones that we have planned below: Day 1: Drive from Melbourne to Wagga Wagga and stay one night in Wagga. Day 2: Drive from Wagga to Parkes and stay one night in Parkes. Day 3: Drive from Parkes to Moree and stay one night in Moree. Day 4: Drive from Moree into the GOLD COAST. Staying on holiday for two weeks in gold coast, then on the way back planned more of a coastal route: Day 19: Drive from Gold Coast to Coffs Harbour and stay one night in Coffs. Day 20 : Drive from Coffs Harbour to Forster and stay one night in Forster. Day 21 : Drive from Forster to Sydney and stay two nights in Sydney. Day 23: Drive from Sydney to Albury and stay one night in Albury. Day 24 : Drive from Albury back to Melbourne!! Any experience road trippers with advice would be greatly welcomed ! :smile: Thanks in advance to all useful tips and recommendations.

Thanks, Pumpkin, Money for the car not the issue :smile:, just the timescale and if any restrictions for temporary resident visa holder to wait a 6-12 months before being allowed to do so., but I'm taking it by your account you can buy a car almost immediately when you land in Oz, thanks again.