Catlady2014
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Everything posted by Catlady2014
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I make the total of employee and employer contributions about £6,000 odd per annum. So, somebody working for 46 years would have 'paid in' £276,000, way higher than £77,000.
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I believe the employer would contribute another £4,000 or so per annum on top of the employee's annual contribution, but I'm no longer up to speed on UK payroll, so I might be totally wrong.
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With regard to UK State pensions, I'm not quite convinced of the relevance of pensioners drawing out more than the total they have paid in over the years (this is the same with a private pension). And although I'm not totally sure of the percentages these days, I believe that in addition to NI contributions made by employees, employers have also had to contribute - at an even higher percentage - for each employee. So pensioners may have personally contributed less than they eventually take out, but I wonder how that pans out when you add in their employers' contributions. Certainly, if I were considering paying into a private pension now for example, I wouldn't bother if I didn't believe I would eventually draw out more that I had paid in. Otherwise, there would be no point to it.
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I have the Queensland Seniors Card. I live with my daughter and family and we're extending their house to give me my own space, so I can't get the utilities discounts as I'm not the householder or bill payer. I've tried getting discounts in shops but none of them advertise a discount for cardholders and most say no when asked, although a lot of coffee shops do give a discount. And I discovered that cardholders can claim a decent discount on car rego, which I had already paid at full rate, so I applied for a refund and was pleasantly surprised. And of course, there are subsidised fares on public transport too.
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I get a Queensland Seniors Card, which gives subsidised travel on public transport. I got something similar in the UK. I will never get an Australian pension (at least I don't think I will, as I believe it's means tested) but that's ok - I get my British State pension (although it's frozen at the rate when I left the UK). I do have to pay for prescriptions - these were free in the UK - but it's not a big deal. I will be happy to get back my AoS bond in 10 years time - if I die before then, my daughter can spend it as she thinks fit. So I'm not much worse off than I was in the UK and I'm perfectly content with that.
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As far as I can make out, you have to ve resident for at least 10 years anyway, so it makes no difference. Have I got that wrong?
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Didn't get my 2nd vac request until September!
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Just be aware though that Centrelink may still send communications by post and not to your my.gov/email account. It happened with my daughter. And for anyone waiting for emails - keep checking your Junk folder as well as your Inbox!
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I'm glad you're going to wait, and yes, keep doing the lottery - Fingers and toes crossed for you, Calmac.
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So sorry to hear this, but I totally understand your position. Just a suggestion - have you considered leaving the application in the pipeline until you reach the stage of having to pay out more fees, at which stage you could make a final decision and by which time the financial outlook may well have changed again? If you've really decided to walk away from it, then you might like to fill in an online feedback form on the Department's website? A chance to show your displeasure with the Department, if nothing else.
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Well done and congratulations! Try gowalkabout for the travel insurance. I was going to use them for mine but when the time came I forgot all about insurance - oops. It's a good idea to get your Medicare card asap; otherwise you may have to pay for treatment and then have the aggro of claiming it back. If you have the card, you can go to a bulk billing medical practice without having to pay, although you will still have to pay for prescriptions.
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Wow! I'm so pleased for everybody who was in line for the shocking AoS earnings increase. A lot of you will sleep a lot easier tonight.
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Hi Merryweather. I have no idea why there was such a long gap between the AoS acceptance letter and the request for the 2nd vac. Yes, it was a 143 application and I was in the UK. I completed on my house sale in June, but luckily my sister had room for me to move in with her while I waited.
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Aha. It wasn't showing before, but now it is. Thank you.
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For "processing", substitute "assessing". Every application has to be assessed on its merits and particular circumstances. Some are probably straightforward, others more complicated. So for example, a straightforward application lodged on 20/4/2015 can be investigated easily and a decision made quickly and result in a quick request for the second vac, whereas a complicated application lodged on 20/4/2015 can take a lot longer to investigate and therefore the decision may be delayed, and consequently the request for the second vac will be much later. Please don't shoot the messenger, I am simply trying to play devil's advocate here. See my own timeline, my application was straightforward but it still took 36 months. But I don't think you can assume that applications are taken out of turn. Factor in the situation where a CO takes on a case and then goes on holiday for two weeks, so a delay occurs. Or one CO may work more slowly or take more care than another. These are just examples, I don't have any insight into the processes but I can see where differences might occur. It is very frustrating as I know only too well.
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Woohoo! ???
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He still had to take the original documents into Centrelink. Maybe Thomas was referring to downloading the application, which my daughter also did for mine but she still had to take the completed form and documents into Centrelink, although that was over a year ago and it might have changed by now.
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Yes, they give a reduced rate of just over a cent, e.g. the rate I got the other day was 1.8290, when the mid-market rate stood at 1.8410. That was on a £20,000 transfer, so not a big amount. I just did the calculation on Transferwise website and found that at the current rate of 1.8306, I would have got a hundred dollars or so less from Transferwise than I got from my dealer at the lower rate of $1.8290. I think this is because Transferwise takes its cut out of the sterling amount before converting, leaving a smaller amount of sterling to be converted.
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Yes, you'll get a receipt/confirmation of the opening if the bond account to take back to Centrelink. I don't recall whether you can do it online or not but I would say it's best to do it in person. When you did the application, did you not have to take your original documents into Centrelink?
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RayandGeri, the ones I've dealt with all do this too. You see the rate you want and you book the deal and that is the rate you get, which you then need to pay for. But be careful if they are only giving you 24 hours! I came up against a problem with my bank which decided that my transfer to pay for my deals looked dodgy and immediately blocked the transactions. Luckily, both Foremost and Moneycorp were very understanding and allowed plenty of time for the problem to be resolved and my transfers to go through to pay for my booked deals. To be honest, I think most dealers would give you at least 48 hours to pay for a booked deal; mine are happy to give me much longer, while preserving the rate I booked at. No charges upfront, no hidden charges, no fees. The only fee I've ever paid was to my Australian bank which sometimes charges a fee for receiving my money! Why? No idea! And they only do it sometimes.
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Not heard of the second one and haven't used Torfx, but Moneycorp are a safe bet. You can do it online, so if you see a great rate in the middle of the night you can grab it - no waiting for office hours. I've used both Moneycorp and Foremost, no complaints about either service and they both provide excellent personal phone service if you need it - both very professional.
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Fabulous news! It's been an exceptionally long wait for you, and it must now be a great relief. I'm very happy for you both now that everything is finally falling into place. . Congratulations.
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Woohoo. ???. You made it in just under 3 years. Celebration time.
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"OFFSHORE APPLICANTS (subclass 143/173)When your application is allocated to an assessing officer, you or your authorised contact may be asked to provide more documents, including but not limited to, Assurance of Support (subclass 143 only), police certificates and health clearances to finalise your application. We are currently assessing applications lodged up to and including 20 April 2015." I can only speak from my own experience, but when I was invited to submit AoS, Police, medical etc, I believe that would have been at assessing officer stage, which was long before I was allocated a Case Officer. From memory, I don't think I had a CO until right up to the request for the second visa charge. Maybe the assessing officer stage is DIBP's way of getting everything in place and ready for the Case Officer so that you can then proceed quickly afterwards. At least, that's the theory - but as we know, nothing in the 143 visa proceeds "quickly" anyway.
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I think you should keep chasing Centrelink on this.
