Ray and Geri

9 hours ago, LindaH27 said:

I didn’t find that. For £1000 Westpac offered $1757 Transferwise offered $1832 when I did a comparison  just now 

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. 

7 hours ago, Alan Collett said:

Don't overlook the obligation to submit a Non Resident CGT return with HMRC within 30 days of the sale completing if you are not resident in the UK at the time of the sale.

A late filing penalty regime seeks to enforce compliance in this regard.

Best regards.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/capital-gains-tax-for-non-residents-uk-residential-property#overview  worth a read if you have already left UK.

1 hour ago, Sadge said:

Re: Transferring proceeds of house sale.

Having at long last (see my timeline!) got a serious buyer after several false starts, letdowns and disappointments, the question of transferring the proceeds into my Australian bank a/c has me a little concerned.  I would be transferring the money from my UK bank via Moneycorps but would this be seen as taxable income by ATO?  The house I'm buying in Australia won't be ready for some time (new village development) so the money would have to go into my account rather than direct to the developer, and appear as income.

I'm just wondering how others have managed to avoid having to pay tax on their overseas house sale, as this must be quite a common scenario.

 

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.

2 hours ago, amsaini15 said:

Hi @Ray and Geri As per your signature, alot happened just in span of few days (Between 24th Apr 18 and 2nd May 18). Can you please shed some light how it was possible.

Did you had your Form 80 ready already? Did you send completed From 80 by email?

Again how was medical already booked for 25th Apr?

How long Police certificate take? Was it sent to you to be emailed/posted to Immigration dept or sent directly to immigration?

Was AoS submitted online?

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 )....

On 14/05/2019 at 21:51, Emmys Gran said:

Of note, although we have been in Aus for nearly a year and have just popped over to New Zealand for four days to be given the visa, the grant notice states that our initial entry to Australia must be before 16 November 2019. That’s 6 months & 2 days after the visa was confirmed and, more interestingly, 18 months and 1 week from the date of our medicals and U.K. police checks

Yep same as us...our medicals were submitted May last year..Visa granted 29th May and given till 15th November to enter Australia.

3 hours ago, Ryanlee said:

@Marisawright thanks for your response, the strange thing is that 143 applicants whom applied on August 2015 have already received their invitations on Feb 2019 and some of them had their Visa finalised between May and June this year. However, still no September 2015 applicants has received an opportunity to provide further documents. 

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. 

6 hours ago, jimbob007 said:

Hi Amber,

I understand people have different needs and some may take longer than others, the Government have been doing this a long time, now granting visas.

I find it very difficult to understand how we can not be able to locate a web site, that gives us a more accurate processing time  for each individual visa.

from what I can see is that it took 5 month to process April 2015 143 visas,

27/12/17 Processing up to 9th April 2015  

23/02 2018                            9th April 2015

19/05/2018                         30th April 2015

 

   

6 hours ago, jimbob007 said:

Hi Amber,

I understand people have different needs and some may take longer than others, the Government have been doing this a long time, now granting visas.

I find it very difficult to understand how we can not be able to locate a web site, that gives us a more accurate processing time  for each individual visa.

from what I can see is that it took 5 month to process April 2015 143 visas,

27/12/17 Processing up to 9th April 2015  

23/02 2018                            9th April 2015

19/05/2018                         30th April 2015

 

   

We are April 2015 and they are STILL processing our visa... 18 week delay with AoS by Centrelink....ggrrrrr

5 hours ago, gafuk said:

Its hard mentally sometimes, " have I done the right thing " This week it's 80 degress in uk and pouring down in Perth !

Apart from that, we decided to have a few weeks off to recover from the stresses of the weeks/months leading up to our migration. Those weeks were a blur and nothing to do with the alcohol. With our house sale, disposal of stuff we were not taking, leaving party to arrange, sorting the stuff we were sending in the container, trying to visit friends and relatives and just not having time to do everything. Even up until 2 am the night before we flew sorting our baggage weights and even then the taxi came to pick us up at 8 am and were not ready and were 10 minutes late. In honesty that would be no surprise for me but my wife is mega organised and she struggled. So yes I would say plan a long way in advance and perhaps don't book the first available flight like we did. Try and get your friends and relatives set up with email, skype, watsapp etc so you can keep in touch.

You are leaving a lot behind that you will miss a little when you get here.

But it's been 4 weeks and we are living in Perth with our Daughter. Our son has been over from Melbourne so the stress was all worth it as they are the reason we came. We have eventually bought a car ( they are twice the price by the way) and just had offer accepted on a block of land that we are going to build on. We are not retiring and now we've had a few weeks off to complete the paperwork we are starting to look for jobs. Yet to see how Australia views the 60 + as far as being job candidates. One thing we have done is get our seniors cards as soon as we could. They are great !  free travel , discounts in many cafe's and restaurants etc , even money of driving license and rates plus lots of other perks, just for being old !! . First time I've been happy about it.   Read up on it and get one asap .

The Perth sky is nearly always big and blue, the sea is turquoise and the sand... sandy coloured. But we have left behind everything we know and are used to. We are starting fresh and at our age we wonder whether we will get to the comfy stage we had in the UK. But I can hug my daughter every day,  talk to my son who is now in the same half of the world as me, if any of us have a problem we can all be together within a few hours and that makes it all worth while.

The waiting room can be frustrating and the journey is emotional even when you eventually get here but it is well worth the wait. Good luck to everyone and keep looking to your future with your kids. This forum will be a great help , thanks.

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. 

3 hours ago, Peter2 said:

Hi Ray, I'm in Sydney, and this is an application for my parents. I'm still waiting to receive the AoS acceptance letter, which is nearly 2 months from lodgement of bank guarantee and over 6 months for the application. Hope we all will hear good news soon, and congratulation to those who have got their visas.

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.

6 hours ago, Peter2 said:

Hi @Ray and Geri, could you let me know your progress with AoS?

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?

6 hours ago, Lenses said:

We have used Transferwise, very happy with them.  You can also set up daily emails to update you on the rate.  We found it provided the best rate.  You can also lock a rate for 24 hours.  Google it, hope it helps!

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.  

2 hours ago, Marilyn said:

They charge you for the transfer in hidden costs - you better off with XE I have already used them they very good with excellent rates - you get a letter in the post to confirm your registeration so they very legit. I have already used them and the transfer is free - I sent $5,000 to my daughter and there were no extra charges on either side she received the funds after 24 hours - we both got emails confirming the transfer. I believe TorFX work in a similar manner. I have registered on both and will keep an eye on the ROE - you can set up a rate alert as well. You can also open up a ANZ bank account from outside Aus but you need an estimated date of arrival - this is also done online. I have done LOTS of research!

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/

7 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

Yep my friend has been refused for the sake of 3 weeks. Definitely  due to police check and medical done Nov and Dec last year 

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.

58 minutes ago, Kathss56 said:

My friend has had her visa email,saying will be granted 1 July like many others on here. They say she has to be in Oz. by the 6 Nov?. Same for all you others?.  She had already booked to come for Xmas flying 11 Dec. Immi not saying they will extend it for her yet!

 Thought they gave you longer or I am presuming her medical and police check timing is something to do with this rush. 

And they tell you not to sell up etc. But then don’t give you enough time to do everything ! 

I thought you had up to 1 year to actually enter Oz on you visa ( then you are in the system ) then you could leave and re-enter Australia as many times as you wanted for up to 5 years with no charge... been so blinkin' long since I applied though, I might be getting things mixed up. 

20 minutes ago, superman2016 said:

You can calculate out based on the figures below:

Kev

Just got to look at the vast increase in applications over the last 3 years to see why they are getting swamped....

My daughter phoned Centrelink to see how her AoS for us was going and was told there is an 18 week delay from lodgement to when it's processed,  and Immigration dept are aware of this ... although immigration dept told us a few weeks ago there was a 12 week delay...... Seems they are making it up as they go.

Nice to see the  comments over the last few pages are back to giving information we might all find handy when we eventually get to Oz rather than moaning about how long it's taking to get our visas...... I think we all know by now that it's going to take as long as it takes and nothing we say or do will make the slightest difference. 

19 hours ago, SusieRoo said:

Blue rinse brigade! I was referring to myself, but you are very welcome to join.

Nice one Susie, but it is reassuring to know we have the "PC" police on here to keep us all in check

2 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

Nam-m  isn't  complaining about the wait - simply wondering why s(h)e has been asked to resubmit a clearance document from the Vietnamese police. 

 

Mis read..... sorry.

4 hours ago, nam_n said:

Hi can someone enlighten me why am i requested by my co for vietnam police clearance certificate again. I submitted the document 3 months ago. I applied 143 in 15 may 2015. Everything is done including aos now i'm just waiting for the 2nd vac. Thanks 

If you applied 15th May 2015 you are behind  many who applied earlier and have still heard nothing..... you just got to wait. 

Found on one of the financial sites yesterday...... but I expect on another site somewhere there is another article stating the complete opposite....but I like this one best.

For the Pound-to-Aussie rate, Foley and the Rabo team forecast Sterling will rise from its 1.78 level Monday to 1.84 before the year is out and 1.95 before the end of the first quarter 2019.

54 minutes ago, Pertenhall said:

Up to 12 weeks????  That is very interesting.  We are now over 20 weeks and are still waiting to hear something.  We have been quoted 8 weeks and 18 weeks by Centrelink and have exceeded both of these.  We are at a complete loss as to what to do next.  Is there anyone else out there who has been waiting this long?  

Well they probably got this information from the same book that says "all visas are issued in strict application date"..... We can but wait .....

Extract from email from PVC received this morning....

UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Sir/Madam,

-          AOS. Please provide a copy of the AOS Acceptance Letter via email once you receive it from Centrelink. We are aware the current processing time for AOS by Centrelink is up to 12 weeks and have extended your application for this duration.

41 minutes ago, sh aron said:

Hello everyone 

Any news or updates ???  the immi mail shows assessing applications till 30th  April , I  applied 23 rd April  still waiting 

Us too Sharon and other than the auto reply when we sent off the first of our forms 80 nothing..... but at least we have started the process after 3 years of waiting.