Coupleinoz

Could anyone in Melbourne share timings from approval to ceremony? I'm in Darebin City Council which doesn't hold ceremonies (anyone in this suburb know where the Department of Home Affairs normally send people for ceremony who live in this council?). My current timeline: - Applied: July 2018 - Test date received: April 2019 - Test taken: 25 July 2019 - Approved: 29 July 2019

Hi there, UK couple living in Australia for last 5 years. We have some money in UK doing very little in our savings account. As such, we are looking to invest these pounds in some shares / ETF's however we are unsure if this is possible while being a non-resident. We know we can't open a ISA account but can we still open a trading account? Anyone currently transferring dollar to pound and investing in the UK, please reach out as it would be great to get some information or guidance?

Thanks Marisa, this is really helpful.

Situation: UK couple in early 30s, living in AU for the last 5 years Recently received Australian citizenship Plan to return and live in Europe within the next 12 - 18 months Thinking of returning to Australia after we have children (4 - 5 years) We want our financials to give us the freedom and flexibility to live in different countries Ambition to retire early (within next 15 - 20 years) Questions: We won't be making any contributions to super while we are away, so what should we do? Should we cancel our insurance to minimise fee erosion (as we don't have any kids or debts and unsure when we will return to AU)? We are currently with AusSuper, 100% in balanced fund. Has anyone got experience saving and investing for early retirement while moving countries every several years? How have you managed savings, currencies, investing accounts and retirement funds? We have a pot of cash savings in the UK and AU, we are looking to invest a percentage of this (remainder being saved for first home deposit). As UK savings account has very low interest, we are thinking of investing our sterling in a UK vanguard fund from Australia. Any thoughts on other strategies for immediate investing based on our situation?

Ok, thanks. I'm just trying to work out how strongly they oppose the 4 years increase, as this affects us the most. The majority of the media and conversation around it seems to be about the english language test.

I'm not quite clear if they are supporting a reduction from the 4 years? In the reports, they oppose this but in the recommendations they do not call it out. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Legal_and_Constitutional_Affairs/CitizenshipBill2017/Report/b01

Fair enough - was just wondering if there was anything else I / we could do.

Do you think it would help if we all reached out to our local MP's (in Greens or Labor) to demonstrate the level of support behind dropping this bill?

@Collie and @Ozzie some interesting (possibly exciting) news since yesterday. Looks like a decision will be forced by 18th November. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/09/13/greens-labor-crossbench-unite-force-governments-hand-citizenship-bill http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/09/12/greens-gamble-unusual-move-strike-down-citizenship-bill

@Ozzie I got this from an immigration lawyer this morning.... Please note that the situation at the moment with citizenship is very fluid and not certain given the issues that the proposed changes are facing in the Senate and so it is difficult to give you advice. For commentary on the current struggles the government is facing see for example: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/05/peter-duttons-citizenship-overhaul-derailed-by-nick-xenophon-team http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-05/senate-committee-says-citizenship-english-proposal-too-tough/8875926

Thanks Quoll, Collie and Ozzie - we really appreciate your input. Let us try and answer the recurring question as to why we want to move back to UK or Ireland.... Neither of us moved to Australia with the intention of it becoming our long-term home. As we met in Australia, we would like to try living in UK or Ireland to see what life is like there together. We haven't properly met / spent quality time with each other's family and friends that have informed a large part of our lives. We think now / in our 30's is a good time to be close to friends and family (moving into a new stage of life, holidays together, sharing the important moments etc). When starting a family, it would be good to have the support of close family and friends in the initial years. Allowing our children to spend time with their family before bringing them back to Australia to properly settle / start school. Don't necessarily want Australia to be our immediate long term home (although we do want it as an option for the future), we still want to travel / explore living in other places. There will be greater travel opportunities around Europe, with easier access to Africa / America etc. Our ideal scenario would be to leave in the next few months, enjoy 6 - 8 years in Europe / marry / travel / start a family and then move back in late 30's / early 40's to settle in Australia. We have loved the last 4 years but do feel we are ready for the next adventure before the need to properly put down a home and family. It's not to say that staying in Australia wouldn't be another "adventure", it would just be a different one. We will map out a decision framework as you have suggested and use all the inputs we have got to date to help. Thanks again, much appreciated. P.s. any further input is welcome!

No, this question is specifically about visa.

My partner and I, aged 33 and 29, are originally from the UK and Ireland and have been living in Australia for 4 years. We have recently been granted Permanent Residency in July 2017. We saw this visa as a stepping stone to citizenship, which would then give us the flexibility between UK / Ireland and Australia. The complication for us is the recent change from 2 years to 4 years to apply for citizenship, as we wanted to spend few years back in UK / Ireland to get married and spend time with friends and family. We currently believe we have two options: 1) leave in the next few months and return within the 5 year return visa 2) stay for the 4 years to get citizenship. In order to help us make this decision, we are looking advice on our visa, the resident return visa and conditions for citizenship. Specifically: Detail on how the resident return visa works within the permanent residency visa? Do we need to be living in Australia to extend PR / return visa beyond the first 5 years? Could we apply for extension from UK and then return after 6 - 8 years? If we left and didn't return within our visa conditions, is there any other way of returning to Australia later in life? (e.g. company sponsoring to bring me back over when I'm in mid 40's). Can anyone recommend a good immigration lawyer that won't charge a fortune for a 1hr consultancy?

Irish and English couple, aged 33 and 29. Living in Melbourne for 4 years, we both met out here 3 years ago. Recently applied and granted permanent residency. Our plan was to stay for another 2 years to get citizenship and then move back home to get married and start a family. We would then have the flexibility to move back to Australia in our late 30's / early 40's (e.g. when the children are ready for school). The complication for us is the recent change from 2 years to 4 years to apply for citizenship. It makes decisions about where and when to get married, buy a house and start a family a lot harder. We are also struggling with getting good, unbiased advice (for example; family want us back home, friends in Australia want us to stay etc). A lot of peoples point of view doesn't go deeper than the immediate, emotional layer and we need to try and move beyond this. We would like some thoughts on two options we are currently working through: 1. Move back to UK or Ireland within the next few months, with the plan to return within the 5 yr return visa allowed with permanent residency. During our time at home we would likely buy a house and get married (maybe have a child or wait until we get back to Australia - tbc!). On return, we would be settling in Australia and get our citizenship this route. We like this option as our preference is to spend our 30's back with close friends and family. There is obviously a risk with this option that we would not return (and most of our friends believe we won't). 2. We stay for the 4 years and get our citizenship (at this stage we would be 38 and 34). After we get our passport we would likely head back to UK / Ireland for a number of years. During the 4 years, we would want to get married, put our savings down (e.g. buy a house or shares) and maybe even have a child. We would likely organise the wedding from Australia but go back to get married in the UK. On the plus side, we are here now and we will get to citizenship quicker. On the downside, we won't be able to spend these important years with friends and family. Overall, we only know life as a couple living in Australia (as we met here). So although we love it, we don't know what a life would be like living back in UK or Ireland. Add in buying a house, getting married and starting a family during this time - and the decision gets more complex! Thoughts?! What else should we be thinking about to help our decision?