Ausvisitor

And returned, it's quite easy when the first salvo fired was blanks rather than real ammo!

I mean if you check and read my post carefully (actually it doesn't need much careful reading it's all there in back and white) you will see there are indeed 3 points in it (and they are numbered). If you can't discern that from reading the text that isn't my fault, maybe have a word with your school teachers

Oh we care about your degree class, unless you've got cast iron global experience going back 15+ years you aren't getting into the company I work with without a first, and we check. Think big 4, and you'll have a 25% chance of being correct (although they all have the same rules and they all employ background checkers to make sure)

The bank (it was NAB) was happy with a contract and payslip for the smaller amount but once the 6 months, or the period mentioned in your contract of employment if different,(most Aussie corporates are 6 months) passed they became more generous In the end we found something we liked and bought it in cash without a mortgage so didn't need to actually go through with the full application

It was CBA that was offering that on their calculator - I mean I guess that is no guarantee they'd actually let you borrow that much though

Australian banks are much more averse than UK banks. They also work very stringently to probationary periods (usually 6 months). When we looked to buy they would offer 350k as a mortgage, as soon as I got through the probation they were happy to go to $1.5m Nothing changed except been in job 6 months

Just remember (like in the UK) the amount you can borrow is only half the equation, you have to add in how much it costs to repay too. $750k over 30 years is nearly $5k a month in repayments at the moment that's 47% of your pay after tax gone on a mortgage (assuming one of you earns $115 and the other $50 - which is the minimum you'll need with most banks to get close to being allowed to borrow $750)

True!

Hi Length of time passed isn't a good indicator here. There are a lot of variables at play. The three biggest are 1) number of visas available 2) average family size 4) your points score So in order 1) in 2023/24 just over 30,000 skilled independent visas are available, of that it looks like around 15000 are allocated to state sponsorship (190 or 491) leaving 15k for 189 visas 2) average family size, so the largest group of people applying for visas are coming as a couple (one applicant with a partner accompanying). There are lots of families with kids as well though so the average 189 application is for 3 people (2 adults and a child). As each person needs a visa, this takes the available pot down to 5000 applications that can be successful (across the entire globe) Now whilst it isn't staggered completely evenly across the year, they don't make all awards in July and then nothing else until May the following year it is broadly spread, so we can assume they will give out 400 189 awards a month (using 1200 visas based on the family size discussion) 3) your points, this is a competition, Australia wants the best so it will always invite the people with highest points first (say 100 points) and then if any spaces left that month move down the list of EOI until eventually (if they haven't reached their target they get to people with 65 points). In each points category the time in queue matters so within the 65 point group as you stay there longer you will get to the top of that queue, but if there are always 400 higher scoring EIO each month you will never get invited. If you know which state you want to live in why not apply for a 190, the states don't follow these competitive rules they can select on their own criteria (and if you know where you want to live there is little difference between a 189 and a 190) The official statements (and some of the lower rent migration agents - not the good ones) make it seem like 65 points is a ticket to the land in the sun It isn't, think about it like a job that needs a degree, if you haven't got one you needn't both applying but if you've got a third and 5000 people apply with firsts, you aren't getting the job even though you met the mandatory conditions.

If it was a small amount I'd agree with you, but often it's vastly over values for generally sub-par information that most could get from a simple read of the documents. Almost always this advice is caveated to the moon and back so even after paying you are still the one on the hook for it actually being the correct course of action

It will be classed as taxable income, whether they tax you on it will depend on if it takes you over the tax threshold for income. A forces pension is just a "better entitlement" UK governmental pension so it counts as income in the same way the state pension does

On the landlord insurance question, directline are perfectly happy providing landlord insurance for a UK property to an overseas landlord (so long as they have the right to reside in the UK)

Thanks!

Is there a web tool anywhere that you can type in (for instance) your grant number and it will tell you how many days you've been in country over the last 5 years?

The arrival is the biggest anti climax ever, just slot your passport in an e reader and that's the culmination of many months effort and waiting completed