Gemini

UK passport renewals are currently taking 10-12 weeks apparently. We renewed ours last year, wonder if they''ll let us have an extra year extension, seeing as we've not been able to use it, lol.

My heart goes out to you, my dad suffered from vascular dementia for 2 years before he died from an unrelated physical condition. There is never a good time and this timing is really terrible. In common with others on here, my thoughts are that one way is your future as a family and the other is your past. You don't need me to say it's not going to be easy but waiting will not make it any easier and you have other family members in the frame.

My son did this too, went out as a backpacker in 2010, became PR in 2019. He keeps a UK bank account open which has been useful when coming back home. Statements are sent to our address. He let his UK driving licence lapse but wished he'd kept this up to date. We have never informed our GP that he lives abroad because, you never know what's round the corner, he may come back. Unlikely, but who knows? I've no idea about the rights & wrongs or legal ins & outs, just commenting from our experience.

Thank you very much for the replies here, it's a big relief to know it sounds straightforward and not a barrier to us having an extended stay. I had read that visitors could apply for Medicare but we've never needed it on our previous visits, I also thought I'd read somewhere that Medicare just covered emergency treatment so again, am relieved to learn it covers more than that. My husband has been diagnosed with RA since our last trip. When he first became ill we thought he would never be able to do a long haul flight again, thankfully, things have improved since then. Our son and his girlfriend have only just relocated to Brisbane from Sydney so they are still getting used to the location themselves but in time they will be able to make the necessary enquiries for us. We're just trying to remain patient & positive until we can come out ourselves. Covid vaccinations are booked for next week so that's a step in the right direction! Thanks again.

Hi - hoping someone can help with my query? We are hoping to come over from the UK to visit our son in Brisbane when travel is allowed, who knows when that will be, but that is not my query. My husband needs to have a blood test every 3 months because of medication he takes for Rheumatoid Arthritis. He is also only able to get 3 months supply of medication in advance so, if we were to visit for longer than 3 months he will need to arrange a blood test and get a prescription for medication. I expect these will not be covered by the Reciprocal Health Care Agreement because it is a pre-existing condition. I have checked the PBS list for the medication but does anyone know the procedure for getting a prescription and booking a blood test? Also, any idea what a blood test would cost? We have done this in Spain where we took the UK prescription to the Spanish Health Centre, saw a doctor who changed this for a Spanish prescription which we took to the pharmacy. It was also straightforward to book a blood test. How would things work in Australia? Thanks in advance.

"If you’ve applied for a parent visa You can’t enrol in Medicare if you’ve applied for an 804 or 103 parent visa. You may have some cover under a Reciprocal Health Care Agreement. You can enrol if either: you’ve applied for a contributory parent visa and have a temporary 173 or 884 visa you have a permanent contributory parent visa subclass 143 or 864. You may be able to enrol if you have a temporary contributory parent visa." Sorry, I can't change the formatting so I've changed the colour- This is the link to the page https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/subjects/how-enrol-and-get-started-medicare/enrolling-medicare/if-youre-australian-permanent-resident#a4

Totally agree, if you want to see what happens when you don't act swiftly then study what has happened here in England. Scotland & Wales took different actions. Businesses should be able to handle 3 days, imagine 9 months of on/off lock downs. Business owners are in despair. 1,162 deaths yesterday, almost 80,000 total now. Average of 50,000+ new cases daily, hospitals in the south on the brink of collapse & very sick patients being transported across the country. This so called British variant was first identified by British scientists, it was first found in Kent in September so could easily have come from Europe as free movement in & out of the country was allowed. Only now are the government looking at tightening up entry regulations in any meaningful way.

Thanks for your feedback Marisawright and WandererReturns. I have looked at Numbeo before & will look at it again and the Aldi website. Both your observations confirm what we noticed when visiting Oz previously. We spent about a month each time touring in a campervan so low fuel costs were great. Food in supermarkets was more expensive but manageable and encouraged the sampling of lunches out which seemed reasonably priced & meant no cooking that evening! Obviously we were there in a holiday frame of mind but, coming from Yorkshire, we're always keen on value for money :). I had hoped to buy a few clothes in Oz but found them expensive, however, I hardly ever buy any clothes at full price here, always wait for the sales & make a lot of my own having studied this at college. Going off my original topic again, I've noticed that "slow fashion" is much more of a thing in Oz. By this I mean small businesses who create, make & sell their own ranges of clothing - oh to be 25 yrs younger & this is what I would be doing. Didn't seem possible in the UK because everyone expects to pay so little for clothes - fast fashion, wear once or twice & throw away. This is our first winter at home for 4 years & I dread to think what it will be costing in fuel to heat the house, I'm leaving my husband to keep tabs on that! I'm off to read up on FIRB. When I looked at this a few years back, I think it was possible to buy a holiday home without being a PR but I can't really remember & it will have changed. Does anyone have knowledge on this? Thanks again for input from everyone, all useful!

Thanks Wanderer Returns, we've got many things to take into consideration and plenty of time to do it with lockdown restrictions :). One of the worries of course is a fluctuating exchange rate if all your income is from the UK. I'm going through all our expenditure so I can do a better comparison. What percentage higher would you say the cost of living is in Australia? It seems you've been back recently & your hometown is not far from where we live. I'm sounding like a stalker here but have read some of your other posts. I remember the first time we came to Oz in 2010 - the exchange rate was 1.48 AUD to £1! Nearly fainted when I saw the prices in Coles & Woolworths. Then we found an Aldi so that was ok:)

I should be getting mine this year at age 66yrs so will be interested to see if it's anything like the pension forecast

They could encourage us to leave by not freezing UK state pensions when we do leave :). Pitiful though it is, it still forms a substantial part of retirement income for many.

I was searching to try to find recent experience of anyone successfully getting the 804 to see how long it actually took. Some posters in the Pomsinadelaide section had said theirs had taken 8 years in total, awarded in 2016 but this was the most up to date post I could find. Maybe I should try another post with that specific question. Maybe once people get their visas they don't come onto the forum anymore?

I was searching to try to find recent experience of anyone successfully getting the 804 to see how long it actually took. Some posters in the Pomsinadelaide section had said theirs had taken 8 years in total, awarded in 2016 but this was the most up to date post I could find. Maybe I should try another post with that specific question. Maybe once people get their visas they don't come onto the forum anymore?