Bungo

I think you could be asking the wrong question. I don't think the issue is whether the age limit is changing for first or second WHV applicants (for what it is worth, I think it would be bizarre to change it for one and not the other). No I think the real question is will it change at all.

So far, as far as I can see anyway, there has only been an announcement that they are thinking about it. The wording on the immigration website currently reads as:

The government is considering options for expanding the upper age limit of eligibility from 30 to 35 years ....... Reciprocity of arrangements for Australian citizens remains a key feature of the programme. The current age of eligibility (18-30) will remain in place for the time being.

So it sounds like this is still a fair way off to me. Certainly doesn't sound like anything is set to change in January.

Nevertheless, you do need to think about whether you should take the gamble in the hope that it will change later on. But I think there is no way you are going to find out for sure within your timeframes. I guess you need to decide whether you would kick yourself more if you do the regional work and the age doesn't change or if you don't do the regional work and then the age increases.

Hi,

 

Has anyone left Australia and lodged an early tax return?

 

We are leaving about 8 months into the tax year and I've been told we could receive a rebate of around $4k each, I'm quite surprised by that figure and wonder if it aligns with what others have received.

I am not sure about the process, we waited until the right time after our January departure. But that does sound like an awfully big refund as Australia par rates the personal allowance, you don't get all of it. It doesn't prorate the tax bands though, so if your annualised salary falls into the high rate bands then indeed you could be due something. Did some agent tell you that you could be due a big refund, one that they could help you organise maybe? :wink:

Great advice, thanks everyone. My employer is giving me an allowance for temp accommodation. Looking to get into our own place as soon as possible. Renting furniture may be an option for the first few months. I've been on most real estate sites every day but given the quick turnaround it's pointless identifying specific places. It's been great for guiding me towards expected costs and suburbs etc...

 

 

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I thought renting furniture would be the ideal solution. Then I looked into it and concluded it would be easier to adopt a child than rent furniture! Employer references, character references, interviews, there was no end to it. And not cheap either, we moved over on two high salaries but I could not see the point in renting furniture, it is not cheap. We indoor camped, bought an air bed and the basics in bedding, crockery, cutlery. We needed some garden furniture so we bought that and used it indoors initially. It is good to see the back of indoor camping, but it is all part of the experience too.

Didn't give my employers a template or anything like that.

It states twice on the application to show proof of funds or assets

"provide evidence together with a summary of all financial assets in AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS eg.certified bank statement".

For two people they require $50000 or proof of assets.

I can assure you that you are asking the bank the impossible. And the sponsoring state knows very well that you want be able to do this. Show your statement in € Nd if you feel the need print out an official FX rate, although I am sure they can and will look it up themselves anyway.

Apparently you can't in Australia. See here.

Dragonflygecko is in London.

Hi all,

 

I am currently looking to relocate from the UK to Sydney and was hoping to work within the same industry (professional services within higher education). I wanted to check if firstly there are any other fellow Brits who have made their way over to Australia and managed to find employment in this industry? I am a little concerned about the recruitment process since I can imagine there is intense competition for university vacancies. Did you find it necessary to travel to Australia first before securing employment? Or were you able to progress through the interview process while still being in the UK using virtual/electronic communication?

 

Any help or advice you could offer would be amazing!

 

Cheers,

Michael

Could you clarify what "higher education professional services" means? Not something I have heard of before so can't say if it is on the list or not.

By the way, progressing through an interview process without a visa lined up is a pipe dream for most people. The most typical order for doing this in is: visa, travel, interview.

So its only 3 weeks now until we leave. This is way harder than i imagined! My family are in the UK so am leaving them behind, my husband is Australian and we've been in the UK for 10 years, we have 2 boys aged 10 & 8 and are heading off to Melbourne in 3 weeks.

 

Now the time is getting closer its getting really tough. There are so many emotions everywhere i turn, from family and friends and thats without my own roller coaster of emotions. I'm finding it really hard to spend time with family members because it just ends in tears, even dropping the kids off at school is becoming unbearable because its all everyone wants to talk about.

 

I;m tryng to stay strong and not cry every 30 seconds but its so tough. My husband is being amazing and is spending endless nights listening and wiping up the tears.

 

Can anyone relate to how im feeling? Currently feeling like i've let me family down here

I don't think you should dismiss these feelings as being normal and something everyone goes through. Yes maybe it will work out but to me it is a huge big red flag that maybe this isn't going to be the right decision. I can honestly say I did not cry once before my two international moves. Having jitters or doubts is normal. But I do not think being unable to talk to family for crying or being in floods of tears every night is normal and I don't think it does you a service to pretend it is.

Were it not for the Australian husband, I would honestly say that it is not too late to pull the plug on this. Emigrating is not easy for people close to their families and with lots of close friends, it really better suits the independent types. However you do have an Australian husband and so I understand that you want to give it a go and I think it is only fair to do so as well if this is what he desires - an inevitable consequence of a "mixed marriage".

As such, I think the best thing for you to do now is to make a pact about what will happen if you are unhappy and don't settle there. I think you should give it a decent time frame, probably get your citizenship so that you have the same citizenships as your children.

Good luck.

Hi all,

 

Not entirely sure if this is the best place to post this, so apologies in advance! Essentially I was hoping for some advice on the following:

 

- In your opinion are employers willing and able to interview and select candidates based overseas throughout the entire recruitment process (i.e., all communications/interviews are conducted electronically with no face-to-face engagement). I am a little dubious that candidates based physically on location wouldn't be preferenced over those who apply overseas.

 

- I was considering moving to Sydney first before securing a job, this way I would come out on say a Tourist Visa which could then be transferred across to a 457/186 Visa - however I wasn't sure of the implications of applying for a 457/186 Visa in Australia would be, as opposed to processing the application overseas (i.e., are their differences in processing times, in documentation requirements?)

 

Any help you can offer would be much appreciated!

 

Cheers,

Michael

It isn't unheard of for somebody to secure a job from overseas, but it isn't common either and certainly not having a visa lined up would make it even harder. I think that not having a visa and requiring sponsorship would be a much bigger hurdle than where you are physically located, so wouldn't assume that being on a tourist visa on the ground would be a huge help - getting a visa lined up independently would help a lot more anyway.

You cannot "move to Sydney" on a tourist visa and you need to take care of how you express your intentions. You are allowed to interview whilst on a tourist visa, but the primary indeed only purpose of this vsa is tourism. If you do secure a role with sponsorship you do not "transfer" to a 457 / 186 visa there is no such concept of transferring visas. You would make a completely fresh and independent visa application. Your location will not change processing time or requirements for either of these visas as far as I know.

I was talking about spent convictions in regards to rehabilitation of offenders. I'm not sure if that applies after only 3 years. Just saying- if I am interviewing someone we have a 'declaration of offences' form. A staff member discloses that they were convicted of stealing we would obviously discuss this and find out the reasons why, when etc but I cannot discriminate and not employ them on that basis alone. Of course if there were more incidents or the persons behaviour towards it was not what I would expect then that's different. I thought 457 offshore you need a police check? For all temporary and PR visas?

There was nothing to suggest this was a spent conviction though? At three years ago I doubt it is and in any case looks like OP didn't even mention it when it was fresher.

And yes you can "discriminate" (although I wouldn't call it that myself) against people with unspent criminal convictions. Absolutely you can because there is no "anti-criminally convicted" discrimination law in the UK. Many employers require honest employees, for business reputatiional purposes or because they will be handling cash or otherwise be in a position of trust.

As above. Twelve month driving ban and twelve month custodial sentence are two totally different things.

Hi

I am about to submit my 190 for NT and I went to my bank here in Ireland for the proof of $50000 funds. I asked my bank to print my statement and show it in Aud as the visa requests all funds to be shown in $, I was told this is not possible and the best I could do is do up the exchange rate myself and show my statement in euro.

What has everyone else done? I don't want my visa to be denied because the bank can't do a statement in dollars!!

TIA

Well of course you can't get an Irish bank statement in AUD, why on earth would you think that you could. Nobody is going to expect an overseas bank to produce a statement in a currency other than the funds are held in! Just show it in €, they want to see that it is equivalent toa certain amount.

The *visa* requirements by the way do not include any need to show proof of savings, that is merely a state sponsorship requirement.

I think you would find the easiest thing is to apply for the full birth certificate, very simple and quick. I would doubt anything else would be accepted from a UK candidate as they would know this is readily obtainable.

You will need police checks from Australia and UK.

Hi,

 

I arrive in Sydney mid January and I am looking to lean on the advice and experience of anyone who has done this before.

 

We will be shipping furniture over but that won't arrive until Late March/Early April.

 

In the meantime we were looking at all options- for the first couple of weeks it will probably be Airbnb but the costs are that bit higher which means this would only be 2-3 weeks max.

 

How difficult is it to find a rental property in the space of a couple of weeks? The actual looking part is something we can do out with working hours and before I start my new job. I am more conscious of the time in takes real estate etc.

 

Feels a bit of a dilemma given most leases are 6 month minimum which means we will have furnished apartment and furniture arriving- we can put this into storage though.

 

Also, in terms of ID- all we will have initially is passport, U.K. Driving license and proof of my employement. Not sure if birth certificates etc count.

 

If anyone has suggestions, also looking down gumtree route also

 

Any help much appreciated

 

 

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I think it might be better to prepare for a bit longer in the short term accommodation. Two weeks could be really pushing it, because viewings tend to only be Wednesday and Saturday and if there is competition you might just miss out. Private viewings outside those times tend to be more at the higher end of the market, ie. for larger / more expensive houses. We found our first weekend of viewings we were just getting togrips with neighbourhoods. We then realised we needed to up the budget and at that point the private viewings opened up but it took about three weeks to find somewhere we were comfortable with and then another week to go through the process and get in.

We didn't find the paperwork particularly onerous, none of the agents seemed particularly bothered about the 100 points of ID which is mentioned but we were told as new arrivals they understood we might not have some things. But we were organised, we put together a rental pack with a covering introductory letter, proof of savings, proof of employment and we got the agent handling our UK house (which we rented out) to write a note confirming we were home owners in the UK.

I would also not be considering furnished. It would seriously limit the available housing stock and would come at a premium. Do what everybody else does - indoor camping until the container arrives.

Vista are financial advisors. Not tax advisors. You need a tax advisor, which is a totally different thing. Maybe ask a mod to move your post to the finance section.

Hi,

 

Just need some advise please. I am a uk citizen and my partner of 2 years (now wife 2 weeks ago) are expecting in January. Whats the quickest way of getting PR? I am currently on a 457 visa and my partner is a Australian citizen.

 

Thanks,

Darren

There is no quick way. Impregnating an Australin citizen does not change the rules or the timelines. Now you are married you can apply for a partner visa and the processing time is about a year or so.

If I declare my conviction, and somehow immigration asked me for a police check, would that lengthen my visa process? And I believe I will need an IELTS test as well, right?

Yes of course it would lengthen your visa process.

Have you looked into sponsorship? If you are eligible you could top up your qualifications whilst working out there and then after a couple of years apply for PR.

No they couldn't.

They currently work as a nurse so they are not going to get sponsored as say an electrician. They cannot work as a nurse in Australia as they cannot get registered.

You need to apply for the police check even for 457. You don't need to tell your employer unless you are asked. On your police record it will have 'no live trace'. Your employer cannot hold it against you if it does come up as everyone who has a conviction has the right not to be discriminated against because of this. If it were a more serious crime and your job involved vulnerable adults or children obviously this would be an issue.

Employers have every right to "discriminate" against people with a police record! That is why they can ask. There ought to be consequences for committing crime you know. Such as spoiling your job prospects, a deterrent for many of us.

Only when the crime is "spent" does the employer not have a right to know about it. Of course for immigration, criminal record is never spent.

Spoke to DIBP and they said to wait for one week

 

 

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Well fingers crossed.

Thanks for the variety of advice, this has given me plenty to ponder over. I had considered topping up here however I would need a total of 120 credits and with each module giving me 30cr I guessed it'd take 2 years to complete. Thanks for the input people. It's much appreciated

Australia will still be there in two years. Sounds better than the crippling financial cost of the bridging course and living on a student visa.

Thanks for kind words everyone.

I am a qualified painter and decorator and we are looking to go over with my skilled trade.

Agree with above, shouldn't be an issue for the 457 as you are not entitled to full Medicare anyway. I would anticipate a problem with a future permanent visa whilst it was so recent, people that have been in remission for longer periods Do sometimes get visas however. I would also investigate the private health insurance before making a decision.

I hold permanent visa here in Australia please I hope someone would help me out will be much much appreciated thanks

 

 

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Nobody knows what is happening with the visa application, you would have to check with DIBP.

However, I would not be optimistic. The tourist visa is for tourists and applying from a HR country with a spouse in Australia is going to be a huge red flag pointing towards an iverstayer risk. Would probably be better to do it the other way around, apply for the partner visa and then see if a tourist visa can be obtained for a visit whilst it is in processing.

Ok yes I think will declare it when applying. Hopefully my employer won't find out since it should be protected by privacy law. If they asked, I will give them a good answer to keep them feel comfortable.

 

Hope immigration won't ask for a police check after my clarification! Fingers cross I guess

Employers have a right to know about past criminal records until spent. They usually ask and I am surprised they don't already know.

Even if you got away with concealing this now, you will not be able to if you ever go for PR because a police check will be requested, it would then come to light that you lied for the 457 application. It is better to answer the questions truthfully and I would not advise that you call stealing "silly" or blame it on stress - DIBP will want to see that you have remorse and do not make light of your crimes. Nobody likes a thief and stress does not make most people steal.

Hi there,

 

I'm just finalising my documents while waiting to do my first aid training for a skills assessment by Vetassess.

Does anyone have any experience as a Chef (Commercial Cookery) with a skills assessment?

 

Mostly everything is complete. But I do not have any video or photo evidence to submit.

I have emailed Vetassess about it but they seem to have completely ignored that part of my question.

 

Or does anyone from another trade have any advice regarding this?

 

Many Thanks!

So why don't you take some photos if they want photos, this is not hard is it!

I am not surprised they ignored such a stupid question. To be honest, they probably think you are faking it now.