DrDougster

21 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Did you sell your own home, that you were living in before you moved, or was it rented out?

If it was your own home, then there are no Australian tax liabilities.  If you rented it out, even for a short time, then it's an investment property and you should've been declaring the rental income already.   I'd advise using a tax agent to work out what your liability for tax would be, but bottom line is that it doesn't matter because how or when you transfer the money won't make any difference to the tax liability. 

This is incorrect regarding the "primary residence" rules around CGT when sold.

7 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Yes I know, but let's go back to Blue Manna's original post. That's what I was referring to.  Blue Manna talked about staying six months in each country and said if he did that, he'd probably choose to be Australian resident for tax purposes.  All I said was, he won't get to just choose.  It will be determined by the rules and regulations (which he could determine by using the interactive tool, as you say).  If he wants to be an Australian resident for tax purposes, he probably can't stay 6 months in each country -- he'll have to tailor his travels to achieve the tax result he wants. He can't just travel back and forth as he pleases and then choose which tax regime to be taxed under. That's all I was trying to point out. 

Probably best to leave this kind of answer to one of the actual tax/accounting experts?

Original question...We moved across from Brisbane to Perth a little over a year ago. The area you ask about has some amazing scenery, vineyards and climate. The difference in temperature just a few hours drive South of Perth is pretty remarkable in the summer when many people head down there for Christmas.

Year round there is so much more sun here than in Brisbane and far less humidity. There seemed to be barely a week over there when it could string it together without rain and I don't miss those periods where all the paperbacks shrivel with humidity and towels are permanently wet. 

Healthcare is a bit primitive. There's a hospital at Bunbury and if you need specialist outpatient care lots of services are run out of Perth so Telehealth is an option unless you need to travel for the appointments. There are various radiology/pathology providers so basic testing is supported but not really much different to anywhere more than a couple of hours from a city in Aus.

The ANZAC museum in Albany is definitely worth a visit and the walk up to the view of where the fleet assembled is very well done.

Windows winery is excellent - the owner Jo actually opened for us on New Year's Day. Much more personal and interesting than bigger ones like Cullen. I'd definitely stay at Gnarabup rather than Margaret River if you're near there. Cape Leeuwin is stunning.

Based on your plans, Taronga is a poor option that will take a lot more time than Australia Zoo where you can marvel at Forest: the tallest giraffe in the world! Taronga was great when I went 25yrs ago but much less so last year. If you're researching where you might live, a trip up and down the river from New Farm in Brisbane would be better than spending time on the water in Sydney. You could use that saved time going to Whale/Palm Beach and the lighthouse, on your way North, as suggested.

If you're not going to consider living in Sunshine then ignore Caloundra, go to Noosa, go directly to Noosa: Sunshine Beach, do not collect $200!

No issue at all and absolutely fantastic match. Over 42 thousand, free transport on train straight through and serious upgrade from Gabba refreshments!

Sell it all and bathe in the glorious wonder of Bunnings when you get here.

15 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

You'll need to explain that one to me!

Early greying is associated with some diseases where your telomeres shorten prematurely and predispose you to developing lung fibrosis and other horrible things. Lobsters do not have this issue... (Telomere shortening I mean, but they obviously don't get lung fibrosis either!)

4 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

White hair is no proof of age. When I was in my early 30s I worked with a fella who can't have been a day over 40, and he was completely grey. He was very smooth and worked in sales, so we nicknamed him the 'silver fox'.

He's probably in an ILD clinic having his telomeres checked by now...

I transferred from Santander to Wise in GBP then across to Westpac. I spoke to Santander to increase the online transfer limit a bit so it wasn't too tedious but this was by far the best rate so worth a bit of faff. We were actually in Penang when we sold the house!

Revolut wasn't going to be as good.

3 hours ago, Skani said:

I realise that but, AFAIK, all Australian  concessions/seniors cards (which vary from state to state)  have permanent residency as a requirement.  I would think that cricket  (which attracts many senior international visitors as spectators) would be loathe to offer a concession based on the date of birth on a foreign passport.  Whenever I've claimed a concession  I've always had to show or quote  my concession card number.  However, the OP may be lucky.  

I think age is an internationally recognised metric

2 hours ago, ramot said:

A friend of mine, age 80,  who is an artist, wanted to buy paint in Bunnings that apparently is popular with graffiti idiots. She had no proof of age that she was over 18 with her and so was refused her purchase. Had to go back later with proof!! 

I hope she left her tag in their car park.

Would being visibly clearly in your 80s +/- a passport to prove it be ok to get into events as a concession ticket in Aus? I am thinking of taking my parents to the Big Bash on Boxing Day and while I've always just bought adult tickets for things in the past I saw concession was an option.

In WA a C-A licence is for automatic vehicles. A manual car licence is a C licence.

https://www.wa.gov.au/service/transport/road-transport/upgrade-or-add-drivers-licence-category#:~:text=Car licence&text=You can upgrade from the,practical driving test in advance.

The waits for vehicle licensing etc are nothing like as bad as I have experienced in UK or Brisbane.

Plenty of reasons to get a manual licence and plenty not to bother. My wife only has an automatic - it's better that way. I shipped my Lotus. It's a lot of fun.

You'll get a lot of conflicting opinions but I would say definitely move from the UK. I love our life in Aus.

Don't take this personally, it is not directed at you as an individual: I'm always amazed by the dog in people's lives. I find it so odd that it's become socially acceptable to develop and cage an animal and then act like it's your "best friend" and, in this instance, let it cage you. There is no rational decision regarding the dog. That ship has sailed.

2 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

I mean if you check and read my post carefully (actually it doesn't need much careful reading it's all there in back and white) you will see there are indeed 3 points in it (and they are numbered).

If you can't discern that from reading the text that isn't my fault, maybe have a word with your school teachers

I think the mild amusement is coming from your mistake on the numbering. Escalated from mild to rather amusing now after such a sure footed response...

8 hours ago, Parley said:

When you start a brand new permanent job with any employer in Australia it is quite usual for your employment contract to include a 6 month probation period.

So if you turn out to be useless the employer can easily get rid of you.

So banks may well want you to have passed this point before they lend you a lot of money.

Indeed, although not my experience with the mortgage we took out this year.

The bank does get the house in the you turn out to be useless scenario you describe!

We had an Airbnb for six or seven weeks when we moved to Brisbane to give us time to find a rental we liked. Worked very well within a walk of work so we only needed one car.

5 hours ago, Simontucks said:

Wow,what a difference.i think possibly it will be for the best then to rent for 6 months to build up some sort of credit record/history there.

Another thing to consider if you're in a rental: there isn't the same disincentive to buying as in UK as you can still negatively gear interest on a loan if you buy somewhere else that you let out. You have to have the "headroom" to get through the financial year but what you can put on your tax return for a property you own and let out is very generous compared to UK.

4 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

Australian banks are much more averse than UK banks. They also work very stringently to probationary periods (usually 6 months). When we looked to buy they would offer 350k as a mortgage, as soon as I got through the probation they were happy to go to $1.5m

Nothing changed except been in job 6 months 

 

 

We didn't have a probationary period. They were happy with just a couple of months payslips to demonstrate income.

12 hours ago, Simontucks said:

To be honest I disagree,we have family in the suburbs,I won't say which but it's one of the nicer areas. Very close by there are plenty of lovely 4 bed properties in the $700000 bracket.

Depends where you want to be. I'd say Ascot, Hendra are nicer areas and they'd be five times that...

2 hours ago, Simontucks said:

Thank you so much for the reply.

My wife has options regarding job,the equivalent to what she is doing here would mean working for government in Australia and I'm going to be working in construction.

I would make sure that you keep records and receipts of all the costs of relocating. You may be able to retrospectively package costs in a tax efficient form.

It depends massively on your personal situation - job security, volatility of rates and outgoings are the most important things to bear mind. I don't think a blanket 3x income as a maximum is a useful approach.

Would you bet your house on it? Is the prescient question!

This year we borrowed an eye-watering amount of money at 95%. But, we were able to get a very good rate, not needing lender insurance, based on incomes, income progression and job security. We have high outgoings and the bank took all of this into account. However, the way the market has moved, the house would be way out of reach now. 

If you are going to be moving to a job working for government or a charity there are also quite a lot of things that can be salary packaged in Australia that you wouldn't think possible coming from UK.

2 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

I was looking at damage limitation, without blatantly lying. Medical conditions which may prevent a visa from being granted include, and I quote, 'HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis, cancer, major heart issues and mental illnesses', so the OP would be ticking two of those boxes. Add to that he's already 59 (guessing from his username), and these health issues might well tip the balance when it comes to the visa decision.

I'm not sure how the process works, but I'd assume that if an applicant answers 'yes' to any of these questions then immigration will likely want to investigate further.

If someone who had a suffered a suicide attempt answered "no" to Do you suffer, or have you ever suffered, from mental health problems? I would say that's clearly not being truthful. I wouldn't advise it.

I'm sure you'd invariably get away with it but being honest isn't going to be an issue. It doesn't sound like the op has ongoing severe mental health issues or is at high risk of relapse. If they did relapse and need care being able to be open and honest about their history is pretty important.

What they are doing is weighing up not being truthful on a visa application. In this instance I don't think being open and honest would change a medical assessment. 

19 hours ago, InnerVoice said:

In your previous post regarding medical checks (https://www.pomsinoz.com/topic/216965-medical-checks/?tab=comments#comment-2677080) you stated that you attempted to take your own life 10 years ago, and you've also been diagnosed with a mild form of prostate cancer. I told you that I didn't think the suicide attempt was a medical issue and you should just ignore it. Other's argued that if it was due to depression then it's a mental health condition, so you need to declare it.

Q18 on the Medical Examination form asks;  Do you suffer, or have you ever suffered, from mental health problems?

It's rather a subjective question given that in this day and age pretty much half the western world suffers from poor mental health, but unless you've been clinically diagnosed and treated for a specific mental health condition then I think you can legitimately answer 'no' to that question.

Q21 on the same form asks;  Do you have, or have you had, cancer in the last 5 years?

There's nothing remotely subjective about that question, is there? You've been diagnosed with prostate cancer so you need to answer 'yes'. However, the form does provide a rather large box in which to provide relevant information, and explain that you have a very mild form that doesn't require treatment etc. The best person to help you with this is a registered migration agent because they will have previous experience of assisting people with similar conditions. They will also be able to tell you whether it might affect your chances of gaining a spouse visa, so you can make a decision at that point about whether to proceed with your application or not.

I suggest you have a read of the Medical examination for an Australian visa form, so you'll know exactly what's involved.

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/form-listing/forms/26.pdf

As it's a forum of opinions: I don't read it like that. I would say Q18 is a pretty clear, objective but open question. Q21 needs clarity rather than an essay.

Q18 Answer: Yes. I suffered from severe depression for a brief period ten years ago since which time I have remained well, been managed as mild depression with a single antidepressant medication: fluoxetine. (This is a suggestion, not based factual info)

Q21Answer: Yes, low grade prostate, Gleason 6:no associated excess morbidity or mortality, no treatment required. 

Sounds like you know you're asking a forum if it is ok to lie on a visa application if you'll get away with it.

You've already told this forum that you tried to kill yourself 10 years ago. Maybe get the other issue out in the open on a public forum and you'll feel able to put it on the document that legally requires it? 

You know the answer to your question. Russian roulette is relatively low risk but very high consequence.

Do I just put the scan of the photo page of the passport I had when we arrived in Aus and they will see the info on their entry/exit data? Or, do I need any further images?