MrsSmithy81

Hi I have just moved to the Penrith area from the UK and will be at Shellharbour on Saturday as my brother lives there. We are hoping to move to that area when our rental is up. So if you fancy meeting up that would be nice.

Have yoiu found any more ex-pats in that area yet?

Hi! We love the Shellharbour area and there's lots to do! We'd definitely love to meet up but it would have to be morning as we've got a party in the afternoon. Let me know if this is any good for you.

We've not met lots of ex-pats yet but the people here are lovely ☺

Thanks guys! We've rented in Flinders for now

We moved to Shellharbour area a few weeks ago and love it. Not humid and plenty for the kids. There are lots of expensive areas but also some really lovely cheaper areas.

Good luck x

Hello!

We moved to the Shellharbour area 3 weeks ago with our 2 kids (9&7). Does anyone fancy meeting up at one of the parks or beaches? Would be great to meet up with other ex-pats and their families.

Bit of a left-field question, but do you have a property in the UK you are letting out? We've found that it really, really helps getting pet-free rentals, or getting landlords to make their properties pet-friendly, if they know we are also landlords ourselves. We've also found that not stating the breed of dog and just saying "medium sized" helps - our GSD is small and fluffy, and many people assume she's a crossbreed anyway.

 

The usual suggestion is putting references for your pet in your 'rental pack': from the vet, previous landlords, breed club, dog walker, etc. Maybe not a photo if you are understating her size... lol

Unfortunately we sold our property to fund our move. I can ask our short term rentals to provide a reference. Thanks for the idea. She's a lab/collie cross but might try the medium sized dog idea too. Definitely won't include a picture of her and might lend someone else's dog if they ask to see her!

Hi we moved to Illawarra, NSW at the end of March into a short term let. We're now on our second short term let as we can't secure a rental due to having our dog with us. Most properties are 'pet friendly/considered/on application' yet because she's a bigger dog we keep getting refused.

We're now stating she's an outdoor dog but still getting refused. Any advice? We've provided proof of employment for my hubby and also enough money to cover at least 2 years of rent in the bank.

I'm finding the whole process quite stressful as I've got 2 children that I can't enrol in school without a permanent address.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks!

We've not sorted jobs yet so we're flexible at the moment.

Does anyone know what Albion Rail is like?

Hi!

I move to Oz with my family next Monday and can't decide on where to live. I love Kiama and Shellharbour. Any suggestions on where is good for kids (7&9)?

Thanks x

I hadn't forgotten about you, so I'm glad the department didn't either. Such a shame that your travel plans were disrupted by only a couple of days.

 

Congratulations!!!!

Thanks CaptainC! It's been such a stressful time but we got there. 1 more Christmas in the uk.

it was touch & go as they wanted more evidence of my husbands income from 2005-2007. A letter from his employer wasn't sufficient and we no longer had p60s (neither did HMRC). Letter from national insurance saved the day!

Thanks for all your support

FinallyFinally received our visa this morning after months of worry. We had originally planned to fly out 2 days ago but had to postpone our plans. Very happy now with a new March date set to fly out

Bingo!! Visa granted today, applied on the 16th July.

Hang on in there people.

Thanks to all and best wishes to everyone for the future...maybe bumped into you at a barbie!

 

big shout out to the 'captain'...all the best

Fab news! X

If you are sure that you already have everything uploaded then don't upload anything else, it will delay your application further, as they have to scrutinise everything that you send, regardless of whether it is useful or not.

 

If you have doubts, then you must upload until you're satisfied that everything is covered.

Thanks. I'm sure we've got everything but I now feel panicked and have convinced myself it will be refused at its taking so long.

Thanks both of you! All ours docs are front loaded but I'm going to upload more to make doubly sure they've got everything. The waiting is horrible.

the lady I spoke to was really rude to me at first and didn't seem willing to listen. She only became helpful/nice when I told her I'd sent an email for clarification on 20th September & not had a response.

good luck black mamba. I hope we both hear soon x

I've managed to speak to someone who can't give us more info except that the 3 month period starts on the day the CO contacted us which is 17th sept rather than 21st July when we lodged. I thought our 3 months was up today. I'm going crazy as this new date takes me to 17th Dec and we planned on flying on the 13th Dec.

I have emailed our CO 3 times with no replies to clarify the info we were required to add.

any suggestions/advice?

Does anyone have a different number for GSM Adelaide? We're still waiting

I've tried calling 61 1300 364613 but no answer regardless of the time I call

Congrats Loulou!

We're still waiting... X

Fantastic news Emmayer!

We're still waiting...

We lodged mid July and heard from CO mid sept to request 3 more documents. We sent them but haven't heard.

I'm hoping we hear very soon as we've sold our house and I have to resign by the end of the week to be able to leave in December. I tried phoning GSM Adelaide for an update on Sunday night but no one answered.

good luck to you both! Hope you hear soon x

We're still waiting to hear back from our CO. We sent additional documents a week ago but have heard nothing. I can't sleep...

is anyone else still waiting?

Hi july people it's nearly 11 weeks for us this week is anyone still waiting like us x

We lodged at the end of July and our CO asked for 3 additional documents last week. We're hoping it won't be long now as we're hoping to fly out before Christmas x

We've lived in UK all our lives and don't think we're high risk. I'll put filling one in on hold until we're asked to. Hopefully we won't be asked.

Thanks for your help! x

We lodged July 26th and haven't heard anything yet. A lot of people mentioning form 80 on here. Does everyone have to complete this? We've front loaded all other docs but I'm starting to think we'd better start form 80 too??