Mark Jones

Thanks Tulip1, its very interesting being new to the forum and new to applying for our visas. As we said in our earlier post we can do nothing about the time involved. We have no reason to mistrust or be concerned about the agent acting for us. If its 6 years up to 8 then so be it but we have testimonials saying otherwise. Its not an issue for us really. Time is on our side. In fact it may negate the issue of looking for work as I could retire in 8 years and just enjoy Oz as a giant retirement home. Thanks again though its nice to see people are willing to post advice for newby's.

11 hours ago, Marisawright said:

There are temporary parent visas which you can get in the meantime (more fees of course!).   

There's also the option of moving to Australian on a tourist visa and then applying for the permanent visa onshore. You then get a bridging visa which allows you to stay in Australia while you wait for the parent visa to be granted.   It's an option that people are using increasingly because of the long wait times, but it's vital to look into it carefully as there are snags.  

The problem is that while you're on a bridging visa, you're in limbo - not legally a resident of any country (you've lost residency in the UK but you're classed as a temporary visitor in Australia).  That means you'll lose access to the NHS (you can't pop back to the UK on holiday and expect to get treatment or prescriptions).  As a British citizen, you can access Medicare (the NHS equivalent) in Australia - however extras like the stoma appliance scheme wouldn't be available to you.    

Also, because you're only a visitor, you're classed as a foreign investor if you want to buy a home, and will be charged extra fees.   On a $500,000 home, your fees would amount to about $45,000.  You are not allowed to leave Australia while on the basic bridging visa (BVA) and will need to apply for another visa (BVB - more fees!) if you wish to travel outside Australia for holidays. You may or may not be allowed to work on the bridging visa.

Finally, there's the fact that when the visa finally gets processed, there will be a medical.  That's something you'll always have to face:  however if you've spent the 6 to 8 years waiting in the comfort of your own home in the UK and you fail the medical, you just stay there.   If you move yourself lock,stock and barrel to Australia and then fail the medical, you're faced with the prospect of having to move back to England and re-establish your whole life again.  So you also have to consider your health outlook.

Thanks again for the information. Our agent has confirmed the current waiting time is 3.5 to 4 years. Not so bad, it will pass quickly and we do visit once a year so we will be more positive now every time we have to leave.

Thank you for the information.

Thanks for the links. Nothing we can do about the length of time it takes to get this visa. If you know of any short cuts please advise.

We have just started the visa application process for parental contributory subclass 143. My wife has urostomy supplies delivered free here in the UK via the NHS. Does anyone have experience of urostomy supplies in Australia, specifically NSW Sydney area. Cost? Prescription charges? Methods of reducing prescription charges? Names of suppliers or companies etc? Any noticeable changes to types of urostomy equipment?

We welcome any advice from people in a similar position or have been through the UK NHS to Australian system process.

Thank you

Mark & Diane Jones

Hey there

 

I am currently living near the Blue Mountains, been here nearly 12 months (moved over from New Zealand last year, was living in NZ for 11 years, previously from Yorkshire.

I guess if your son lives here he will of told you about the ridiculous house prices here, and not just Sydney but NSW as a whole. We are still renting, not prepared to pay these out of control house prices here, the house's are not worth what they are asking one bit.

Good luck with the move anyway

Hi kaiapoilady, thanks for the reply to our post. We have actually visited the Blue Mountains a few times during trips to see our son. Thats the reason we decided to base ourselves there. I am surprised at your comments regarding prices of property. We found them to be comparable with UK prices and in some instances cheaper. I do agree that you are not getting bricks and mortar in most cases but you have to live somewhere. For us moving to Oz will be a massive wrench as we live next to the beautiful Peak District so the Blue Mountains is the obvious choice if we want to be relatively near our son and his wife and still have views of 'green hills' on the doorstep.

Thanks itegoa.

Hi, nice to hear from you. We have not started the visa application process yet due to issues with my wifes medical history. If you look at our post today in Migration forum its all in there. When we eventually go it will be to the Blue Mountains area just outside Sydney. My son lives in Sydney but its not for us. We live on the edge of the Peak District so need some greenery round us plus Sydney is too much like London.

Hi Nemesis, this is exactly the help we need.

Could you please send contact details for George Lombard?

We will be applying via the contributory parent visa route.

At late 50's we wont be too bothered about skills points.

Hi everyone, just posted a thread in the Migration forum section asking specific questions but wanted to say hello here as I think we will be using this site lot between now and getting ourselves to Oz.

Mark & Diane Jones

Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK

Hi, we have just registered to your forum in the hope of gaining some experience based knowledge from people who have gone through the visa application process.

Our only son emigrated to Oz after meeting an Ozzy girl on holiday in Ibiza of all places. They are now married and living in Sydney.

My wife and I are seriously considering moving out to Oz to be near him obviously but also to be close by for probable grand-children.

We have been given 'expert' advice regarding the CPV and the ridiculous cost of same but have accepted that if that's the price then it has to be paid.

Unfortunately my wife had cancer 3 1/2 years ago which after a major operation was removed and she has been clear ever since. She does however rely upon medical supplies and medication taken regularly and for the rest of her life. We understand that part of the application process involves a medical panel who make decisions based upon medical history of applicants. One determining factor of this is the annual cost of medication. We have discovered the annual cost within the UK for the medication and supplies but cannot find out what the Australian threshold is to check if we would be above or below the figure allowed.

Basically we are being asked to forge ahead with the initial visa applications costing circa £2000 and submit all our details including the medical histories and take a chance on being refused. The cost of this initial visa is not refundable. This just seems to me to be unfair.

We would be very grateful indeed if anyone on this forum could provide some information or advice where we may be able to get information from.

Thanking you in advance,

Mark & Diane Jones

Chesterfield, Derbyshire, UK.