Ray and Geri
-
Posts
81 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Ray and Geri's Achievements
Advanced Member (3/6)
124
Reputation
-
This subject comes up every few months... best advice is to talk to a few exchange companies.... I was a great advocate of Transferwise ( and they have recently reduced the percentage they charge on given amounts ) and still am...straight forward, you see what you get there and then and fast transfers. A few months ago I checked out Xe, you have to open an account online to see what they offer and it was no where near as good as Transferwise. Within a short time I got a call from them, after explaining my situation the guy changed their exchange rate on my account and promised it would always give me a better return, which it has, apart from weekends when it goes back to basic and Transferwise beats them hands down. As Alan says the rate these companies offers also changes with the amount you are eventually going to exchange. As exchange rates change around every 15 seconds it's hard to get an accurate comparison. But when all said and done the best company is the one you feel is the best for you.
-
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/capital-gains-tax-for-non-residents-uk-residential-property#overview worth a read if you have already left UK.
-
Hi Sadge, Must admit I thought there would be no problem...sell house in UK, transfer money to Oz, buy house in Oz...job done. there are loads of websites that give info but I've never come across a specific one on proceeds from house sale.... found this site https://www.sydneymovingguide.com/do-457-visa-holders-owe-tax-when-they-transfer-money-to-australia/ which basically says no problem unless it's earned income that hasn't been taxed in UK. I've transferred quite a bit so far in bits and pieces when the rate looks good and just been asked what it's for... I tick "relocation" and never been asked to pay tax. ( you will pay tax on any interest earned on that money in OZ though ) We are coming up to moving out there for good ( 7th July ) and will have the proceeds from our own home to send plus money from savings....fingers crossed some tax department doesn't want to get their sticky hands on any of it. Good luck with your move.
-
Hi Amsaini, I see David Leask has already answered this.... He pretty much had the same experience as us... I had form 80 filled in and ready to go, just scanned it in and sent it by email....Medicals (£330 each).... I phoned up to make an appointment and they had a cancellation the next day.... ( re medicals...you don't have to send anything off it's all done by the medical centre ). Police checks were requested on line and we paid £80 (£40 each) for a 2 day turn around ( although we should have saved ourselves £40 (£20 each) and gone for the 10 day option, hindsight is a wonderful thing ) .... The certificates were posted to us ( one each ) very quickly, scanned in and sent online . Our sponsor ( Daughter ) went into Centrelink 2nd May '18 with the completed AoS forms and Centrelink downloaded them and sent them off..... to be told there was an 18 week delay in processing, and that was just the start of a very frustrating 50 week delay till May this year. .... ( see "My journey so far " pg 805 )....
-
Yep same as us...our medicals were submitted May last year..Visa granted 29th May and given till 15th November to enter Australia.
-
We had this, applicants with lodgement dates after ours being invited to submit docs months before we were... When we queried it we were told not to worry visas were issued IN STRICT LODGEMENT DATE ORDER.....we knew this wasn't so, but try telling them that. It stands to reason anyone who already has the required docs in place are going to be sorted quicker.... It was someones bright idea to speed up the process but it didn't work in everyone favour. And remember probably not "all" applicants that applied in August 2015 received invitations..... there are many thousands of applicants and not all of them are on this forum.
-
Hi All, Ages since I have looked at this forum and posted a comment I can't remember how to do it...just hoping this comes out OK. Our Journey so far. Our lodgement date was way back in April 2015 and we heard nothing for 3 years. When we were asked to supply further docs medicals, police checks etc we thought "here we go visa grant soon"..... no such luck...our end was fine but AoS was a nightmare...firstly our sponsor( Daughter ) was told there was an 18 week delay in processing to start with... after 20 weeks and hearing nothing she started phoning and visiting Centrelink....over the next 5-6 months she was given false information and was down right lied to. She was always told everything was fine and just had to wait....we later found out people who said they would chase up send emails etc didn't...our daughter was told the dept dealing with the application couldn't phone out..they can...she was told they couldn't phone AoS dept....they can....they couldn't give our daughter the number of AoS dept...they can. Visa team got involved and they were told 2 bits of information were missing from application....My daughter had photo copies of everything that was submitted and that info was there .. they were also told a letter had been sent to our assurer ( her husband ) back in September ( why not an email )...they never received a letter and no one could produce this letter when asked... they were also told our assurer was out of the country when they tried to contact him.... Not so, he never left the country in 2018 nor in 2019 and can't think of anyone that could have told them that he was out of the country.... In May the visa team asked us if we were aware that the application for AoS had been rejected back on 15th April 2019.... We were but only because our sponsor was told during one of her many phone calls to Centrelink on 10th May... ( still not had any communication to this effect ). Anyway on the 13th May a second application was submitted but this time we had the name and phone number of someone in AoS who was willing to go the extra mile. Everything this lady said she would do, she did, everything she said would happen happened.... In short she was a diamond . From this point on things really took of.... AoS granted 22nd May.. 2nd Vac request 28th May ( paid same day ) VISA GRANTED 29th May ... job done. We don't know why we had all this trouble, and to be honest now we have our Visa it's all like a bad dream. Arrangements have been made and we fly out to join our family, Son Daughter and 8 grandkids on 5th July...... Good luck to all those still in the waiting room....my only advice is don't believe everything you are told by Centrelink.
-
We are April 2015 and they are STILL processing our visa... 18 week delay with AoS by Centrelink....ggrrrrr
-
Great post gafuk... just what we all need, proper down to earth words from someone who's done it..... I'm sure we all think we know what to expect but in reality a few surprises for us all in store, especially on the emotional side maybe. Good luck on the job hunting, as you are in Perth perhaps you could get a job with the immigration dept, they seem to be in need of some help....... Take care mate, maybe meet up for a cold one when we get our visa and you are over visiting your son. Ray.
-
OK I see now...you've just got "visa granted" ready so you can just add the date..... good luck to your parents then, if they are anything like us after waiting 3 years they are just taking it as it comes... we have been trying to second guess immigration for over a year now to no avail ......... This time next year it will all be like a bad dream.
-
Hi Peter, our daughter and husband went into Centrelink on 4th May....after 4 weeks she checked back with them and was told there was an 18 week delay in processing ( nothing surprises us anymore ) although immigration said that there was a 12 week delay and you waited 19-20 weeks..... I see you were way ahead of us on request for docs even though we lodged a month before you and you now have your visa you lucky devil..... expect immigration will still insist visa's are issued in lodgement order. Anyway mate good luck in your new life down under.... where are you headed?
-
Hi Lenses, I've been using them for the last few years transferring small amounts when the rates have been favourable, the post was about a new service they offer I received in an email. I agree with you, I think they are very good.
-
No transfers are free... you either pay a set fee up front like Transferwise or you get a cent or two below bank rate like most of the FX companies and most of the banks... I would also say there are no hidden costs with transferwise, all the info is on the screen before you press the button to send your money...ie, transfer fee, exchange rate and the amount that will actually be sent to your chosen bank.
-
New account from Transferwise.... might be of interest to some of you. I'm not recommending this and I haven't checked it out myself yet. https://transferwise.com/borderless-account/welcome/
-
We were feeling hard done by because we didn't get asked to supply docs until 3 years after our lodgement date and others on this forum were being asked well before their 3 years were up.... Seems now with all the delays immi might have done us a favour.... we might have a little more leeway on our " enter Oz by " date..... but all in all this just shows what one big muck up this whole process is.
