Gemini

How interesting, sounds like you're really keeping an eye on developments.

Just wondering how the Parent 870 visa might fit into this? Sitting out the waiting period while on this visa? Is this even possible?

This is indeed my worry. When my husband was first taken ill with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2016 he was in a great deal of pain & could barely walk so I thought it was the end of being able to fly out to Australia. The thought of being stuck here & never able to come over to see our son was just terrible. My husband's illness is under control due to medication so we are feeling the need to look at all options for the future. Our son would never come back now, the 2008 recession here sent him abroad & he knows he would struggle to find work & the lifestyle he enjoys. Our economy will be totally trashed after Covid & Brexit, he will probably be retired before it recovers. Happy Days!

Really interesting to hear this, sounds like you came at a golden time

Thanks for your replies. It's so hard to know what you might regret later, things you did or things you didn't do. We've spent 4 winters in Spain & it is a very cheap country to live in. Almost bought a house there 2 years ago but it fell through, we were sad at the time but now we're glad it did. I've spoken with many people who've retired to France or Spain, some returned to the UK, some stayed. Many returned because of health issues, it's a massive problem if you don't have a good command of the language and many older retirees never got to grips with learning a new language. Many also had a network of support from family back home which they had moved away from when fit & healthy. Many had a stronger network of friends in Spain so remained even after death of a partner. I think another factor is that many sold up at home, bought somewhere cheap in Spain then couldn't afford to get back into the UK property market. Also properties in France & Spain can take years to sell. All took a leap of faith at some point, thinking it was for the best but none of us know what fate has in store. Even with all the research, it's impossible to really know. We don't have any grand kids, unlikely to ever have any - my son & his girlfriend are 40 this year ( Can I still describe her as a girlfriend at 40, lol? Wish they'd get engaged or married just so I know what to call her). Our son has lived abroad for 12 years out of the past 15 so we really don't expect to be living in his pocket and know it's not going to be like being on holiday, all treats & meals out. The fear of growing old here and not being able to fly out is what's really driving me on, I think, that and the long wait times for visas. This winter, being stuck indoors has reminded us that we don't want to spend another winter in the UK unless we have to. I have one sister, she has her own life wrapped up in her two adult children & their children, though we have always been there for each other, especially when our dad was suffering from dementia & died 5 years ago. I have friends that I've known a long time but we live in different parts of the country so don't physically see each other for years sometimes. My husband is an only child & has friends made through playing music but no particularly close friend. We both know that to make acquaintances you have to join in with some activity and we know that musicians always gravitate towards each other. In the past four winters living on campsites in Spain (& Portugal) we've had no problems making friendships. My feeling is that it may be better to move when your're a bit younger and able to join in with things, rather than leave it but who knows? I think your last comment is our main worry - money. We know that Australia is an expensive place to live & our income would be diminishing in real terms, the healthcare implications are scary. So, are we prepared to cash in our capital to have a pleasant lifestyle now? Alternatively, do we want to sit on our capital, expecting to pass it on to our son when we die, unless we have to go into care, then the government gets it! One thing is sure, if we won the lottery tomorrow we would be off to Australia in a heartbeat (when your government allows it, of course)

Thank you for your reply, hope for a visit in 2021 is the only thing keeping me going We were in Spain in March 2020 when their first stringent lock down took hold. It was made very obvious that foreign visitors should return home, lots of stress around getting return ferries to the Uk because many were cancelled, drove back through France & Spain in 3 days ( we would normally take about a week)and back home to the UK's first lockdown on March 23rd. Been in & out of one lockdown or another since then. My husband has a reduced immune system due to Rheumatoid arthritis medication so it's been home & garden for us for 9 months now. Was fine in the summer but wearing a bit thin now in the winter. 1 degree celsius today!. Our only access to family & friends has been via a computer screen, any activities we're interested in (Yoga for me, playing guitar & ukulele for my husband) is via Zoom. What with Covid & Brexit, it's nearly enough to drive us mad, lol.

Hi, its New Years Eve here in Yorkshire, the perfect time for reflection & planning ahead (!). Sorry, this is going to be a long post, been pondering these things for several years now. Our son (only child) & his girlfriend went to Australia on a one year Working/Travelling visa in 2010 and you've guessed it, never came back (except for visits to see family & friends). They have worked hard, travelled all around Australia in a Toyota campervan, saved hard and have finally settled and just bought a house in Brisbane. We are delighted for them and can't wait to come out to see them, fingers crossed for 2021. We've been over to Australia 3 times, have loved it, didn't want to come home & obviously pondered the question of visas but, it wasn't really possible until now, as they've now got PR and a permanent address. I've spent many hours in the past reading posts about parent visas and, coming to look at this again, I'm shocked to see how long the processing for CPVs is taking considering how much they cost. Nearly 5 years to process from start to finish can hardly be described as fast track! We are now at the point where it would be possible to apply for an Aged Parent 804 (husband 67, me 65) even though we don't care much for that name, lol. This is obviously attractive because of the enormous fee difference, we are not wealthy, £50,000 plus for 2 CPVs is a lot of money. I've not been able to find posts more recent than 2016 about this visa and these are on the PomsinAdelaide section. Am I posting in the right area, does anyone has more recent experience to help with our decision making? What we know is :- we have to be onshore to apply, that we would only have a temporary Bridging visa for potentially many years and our application could be rejected after many years of waiting. We also know we would need to take out additional health insurance. We have lots of things that we don't know. The things we are not sure about are:- Income, should we rent our UK house out initially, for more income and as a fall back. Do current 804 applicants live with their families or have they decided to rent somewhere in Australia? How much would be considered a reasonable income to live in Brisbane, how long is a piece of string? I'm currently analysing every bit of our UK expenditure to try to do a more accurate comparison. We live a modest lifestyle, prefer a walk on a beach with a nice lunch to almost any other kind of entertainment. We own the house that we live in, own another house that we rent out, will both have state pensions (know these will be fixed) and small private pensions. So we are thinking in the longer term we will sell both properties, rent somewhere, and live on the capital & our pensions. We would prefer to buy (on the coast, rather than in Brisbane) but are worried about using a large amount of capital & not having sufficient to live on (with diminishing UK state pensions) for possibly 20 years. After 10 years of getting a permanent visa, we understand we might qualify for government assistance if we fall on hard times. Perhaps a better plan would be to buy somewhere & sell it in future if we need to use the capital for income? Healthcare is another worry. Fortunately, I am in good health, no medications (touch wood), Unfortunately, my husband was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2017. He was in a lot of pain at first but excellent health care now has the condition under control - he currently takes methotrexate by injection weekly. This is on the PBS list but I understand that the RHCA with the UK doesn't cover costs for ongoing health issues such as this, so would we be looking at the full cost, currently around 90 AUD per month? Some posters have said they had got Medicare cards while on the Bridging visa, in which case would this mean paying half that cost? 90 AUD is fine, plus possibly other costs for pain killers when needed, but coming from the land of NHS & freedom from costs as a pensioner, it makes us feel nervous. None of us plan to be ill but unfortunately, it does happen. We have spent the past 4 winters in Spain (living & travelling in a campervan). He became ill the first winter we went (2016) and that was a very scary experience in a country where you only speak a bit of the language. We had to end our travels early & return home so he could begin hospital treatment. We've been back every winter (until this year) because the cold, damp UK winters mean he is virtually housebound for at least 5 months. In a better climate we are outdoors much more, walking & cycling. The final consideration is a no brainer. We've missed our son so much, just sharing those everyday experiences like having a meal together, listening to music together etc. you'll know what I mean. My son & husband share so many interests, I feel so sad that they are missing this time together. When we all spend time together it's like we've never been apart. In the 10 years since he went we've dealt with redundancy, illness, caring for elderly parents, unexpected retirement (redundancy by another name) and now feel its our time for an adventure and a different lifestyle. I feel that we will regret it if we don't do it. We want to be spending more time together in the next 10 years than we have in the last 10 years. My son still has his campervan & we hope to borrow it to see some of Queensland, we don't expect to be living in each others pockets. Have looked into exporting our campervan but that's a subject for a whole other thread! Thanks for taking the time to read this, it has been useful to me to get this all down. Any thoughts, experiences you can share will be gratefully received. Wishing you all a Happy New Year! We are hoping to be in Brisbane for NYE 2021. Who knows that may be the start of our Australian journey?