klr81

Hi there I know this is an old thread but I'm tearing my hair out trying to sort out my tax on rental income in the UK. It seems no matter what we do, our personal allowance as British citizens is not being recognised and we keep getting tax bills. We are way below the personal tax allowance - Our income each (joint landlords) is $2500 for the year. I have declared this and filled out SA109 but I'm wondering if I'm ticking the wrong boxes and honestly I don't find the help sheet helpful! Does anybody have any hints or tips? When I speak to them on the phone they say they can clearly see we shouldn't be paying tax but seem cagey to give any help with the actual form. Thanks Kelly

I got a job in the September, and started in the following January. I was living in Malaysia at the time of applying and flew over for interview. We arrived to Sydney in December but didn't move in to our long-term accommodation until January, but as I knew where we'd be living I was able to use that address for my applications to WWCC and NESA. In my job applications I only had to declare my residency status which meant I was eligible to apply for jobs and work in Australia. I made sure they knew that I could only apply to NESA and WWCC upon arrival.

Hi there. I have the Skilled Visa/PR where you can go anywhere but I was still able to apply and secure a job before arriving in Australia. I applied for the WWCC as soon as I arrived in NSW and it came through within 2 weeks. I also applied for my conditional approval to teach through NESA and this did take longer to come through. However my school were fine with me working until it came through. They were a private school though so not sure if that is why. All the best! It's so worth it

I think it's been pricey for a while. It has very much been marketing itself as the perfect 'tree change' destination and there are lots of people who have relocated from Sydney. Compared to those prices they can get a lot for their money! Also there are a lot of heritage style properties that go for a high price. With the university and new hospital being there, there are plenty of young people/professionals looking for rentals so there is high rental demand. We bought land there (which we still have), but about 10km out of Orange and that was a good price but mainly because it's not suitable farm land.

We did move to Orange in the end and lived there for 18 months. We enjoyed it and only moved due to better work opportunities that arose in Vic. Glenroi was an area we were advised to steer clear of and my husband worked with tradies who would only do jobs in pairs in certain areas there. Didn't really know much about Bowen. It's a pretty well resourced town for its location and has lots of lovely community events that attract Sydneysiders such as the Food and Wine festivals. If you're in to wine you'll be spoilt for choice with many beautiful wineries and some with great restaurants. We sometimes felt a bit claustrophobic - there are some nice surrounding small towns and villages but not much else. Sometimes the distance to Sydney felt a really long way. It's about a 4 hour drive and whilst there are flights they can be pricey. Train takes about 5 hours depending on the route. Happy to answer any other specific questions you have :)

Oh really? I didn't realise it had gotten so much harder : (

Yes I get what he meant. I was saying that I almost re-did my IELTS for more points but decided not to, and stayed at 75 and was invited really quickly to apply for a visa.

For teaching it has to be academic. I got invited to apply for the visa really quickly with 75 points in 2016 - 1 day after my EOI was lodged.

I think potentially if you have an address in Oz then you might be able to do it beforehand in NSW but I think that's a loophole....

I couldn't register with NESA (NSW) until I was in Australia. This is their standard process. Although I'm told that other states do allow you to do this from outside Australia.

Same for NSW teacher registration. Needed all documents certifying again once here in Australia!

Why are you worried about that bit? You only need to have done 45 days of teaching to meet AITSL's requirements so you definitely meet that? If you want I'm happy to send you mine that was accepted?

Needs to be on letterhead paper from your uni, state the name and duration of the course, what age you are qualified to teach, confirmation that you passed, as well as specifically stating the amount of days you did in the classroom and with what age range.

Okay so they are very picky over the wording! Took me two attempts to get it right! Make sure they state the exact amount of days you did in your practice and in exactly what age group they were.

You've been wealth of information! Thank you! We have a hie car for the first week so that we can get around the different dealerships. Thanks again!

Hi, great point Marisa. We've already been out of the UK for 4.5 years living in Asia, so I sort of feel we've made the break away and are unlikely to go back anytime soon, but I totally get your point, and it's something to ponder on! Really we will be dictated to by what gets us a car quickest! We really want to be mobile asap! I have a feeling that second-hand could be quicker anyway.

Thanks, really appreciate that info. We are going to see what the finance comes back with. If it's a rubbish rate, we'll get a run around. We are quite lucky in that we get a house and utilities with my job, so cash flow won't be too tight. However, I don't want to pay over the odds for no reason!

Thanks - no they don't know our budget. They just know we are looking at a CRV. I have been looking around at costs of new and second hand CRVs so I will definitely not be taking their first price! Cheers

Cheers. Honda have just actually come back and said they would do finance so long as I showed them my contract. They have a few nearly new for about 30k so we will try and haggle them a bit further down! Thanks again

Hello all, We arrive in Sydney on 18th December and have about 4 weeks of travelling before we make our way to where we'll be living in Central NSW. We really want to get a car the week we arrive. We could buy outright but I'd prefer to do a large deposit and then get car finance for rest. I was looking at SUVs a couple of years old at first but actually the prices of new models or showroom models are not that much more. I am not sure whether we'll be eligible for finance as new arrivals, but I will have my contract to show what my salary will be when I start work in January and would be looking at a 50% deposit. Does anybody think this is unrealistic? Any other advice or pointers would be appreciated. Our only experience of buying a car in Australia was 15 years ago as backpackers with only 1000AUD to spend! Thanks Kelly

Thanks, this is all really useful. I appreciate the honesty!

All sounding pretty positive so far!

Thanks for this. What has been said so far matches up with what I have read on other sites. Therefore I don't think I'll be going in with any unrealistic expectations. During the working week I am very busy in my job, so could be working anywhere in the world and I would know! However if at weekends and in the school holidays, if we have access to nice things to do within a decent drive, that will be fine initially. Cheers!

Thanks both! I'll have a good link at the link that you sent too. I have the opportunity for a 'flash in the pan' visit in a few weeks so I might be able to get a good feel for it then. J

Hello all, We might have the opportunity to move to Orange and I'm trying to find out the realities of living that far out from Sydney. We are not a city family, we like a weekend there occasionally but we are really looking for outdoor lifestyle, beautiful walks, access to good food - and seasons for my husband? It looks to me like Orange has enough facilities and services to make it not a problem to b 4 hours out from Sydney, but looking to hear from those who live/ have lived there. We are currently weighing up a few areas in NSW and VIC. Cheers! Jx