Ausvisitor

13 hours ago, paulhand said:

A$ 4240 is the fee payable to the Australian government for the visa application for the main applicant as mentioned. There are additional visa application charges for each applicant. The agent’s fees are separate and will vary by firm. I do have a higher charge if there are additional applicants as there is more work involved. 

I think mine did too, but the actual breakdown is lost in the mists of time, I just have the record of total amount paid

27 minutes ago, Lavers said:

I never used an agent but those fees don’t seem high enough.

Actually good point.

I used an agent and it was more than that 3 years ago 

2700 GBP agent

Visa fee for each person as per published rates

English test fee about 200

Vetassess or equivalent about 1000

Medical 400 per person 

Also while it's one application, you get a visa each so it makes sense their is a per person element to it

No it's that price for the first applicant.

It is 50% of that for each adult and 25% for each child 

I imagine the agent fees are for the whole family as one but you'd need to check with the agent

7 hours ago, Cobs_Ahoy said:

Yes I probably would be happier if we were closer to my sister, but greater Melbourne doesn’t really hold any attraction for me, and also might cause visa issues as I have committed to working in QLD for 2 years.

thanks for sharing the story of your friends who returned, it’s helpful to hear about people who have returned and not regretted it along with stories of those who stuck it out. The comment about making changes back ‘home’ really resonates.

Whilst everyone will tell you (and they are right) that you've made a commitment and it might cause a wobble in the citizenship process, if you are sure you are heading home for senior school anyway then it isn't that big an issue because you might be leaving before you get citizenship anyway.

4 years is a long to "make do" just to get a piece of paper that may not ever be of use to you anyway 

Schools not an issue so anywhere nice really 

16 hours ago, Ken said:

But UK councils do send more than one person to empty your bins. All that job creation has to be paid for! 

They do send more, but it's only the junior doing the actu work, the other 6 people on the gang (not counting the driver) are there to make sure the junior does it right 

On 07/12/2022 at 04:29, DXW059 said:

Hi,

Myself and my de facto partner have recently done our ACRO UK police checks - during the application for these checks we declared that my partner believed he had accepted a caution approx 10 years ago for getting involved in a fight in a nightclub - I was expecting the police check to come back for him as ‘no live trace’ but to our surprise it came back as ‘no trace’ like mine. Perhaps he didn’t actually get a criminal record then - it was a long time and he doesn’t remember much about it. As it shows no trace am I correct in thinking we wouldn’t need to declare the possible caution when applying for a skilled visa? of course had it shown no live trace we were planning on declaring. 

thanks

 

Have you already put anything in writing on the immi portal that says you think you might have a criminal record?

If so you are probably going to have to think about how you explain that, just ignoring it won't help.

Have you got an agent they would know what to do here "off the top of their head"

I doubt you'll get any concrete answers on here about what to do, no agent is going to give free advice on this one because it involves criminal records so you will either have to be content with the good intentions of amateurs or talk to an agent, sorry...

Went to look at property in both today, the concensus from people seems to be Oatley is the "better suburb", but I think might prefer mortdale the "main Street" has more happening on it.

Anyone got anything good or bad to say about either?

Not quite the same (Sydney not Melbourne) but when we arrived we stayed in a mix of hotels and serviced apartments (basically whichever was cheaper for each 2 week block)

We had 49 days in furnished accomodation of one sort or another before getting into the now rental home.

All in we spent just over $7,400 for that 7 week window, which we thought was ok 

To put it into perspective we stayed in an Airbnb for 3 nights in Melbourne in July (so midwinter when no one wants to go there) and it was $700 for 3 nights... and that was one of the cheaper CBD properties

On a similar question, I was sponsored by NSW and have been living/working here for almost 12 months now (will be 12 months before the option I'm going to ask about becomes open).

The company I work for has an opening in the Melbourne office that they would like me to go and head up, that would mean moving from NSW - won't be an issue on the 12 months work clause of the 190 visa but is a problem on the 24 months live in the state clause.

Are there any options when it is an employer transfer between states? The company would be happy for me.to continue in NSW but the more senior role is only open in VIC.

I'm just checking options, not even sure if I really want the bigger role or the move...

In most states you can't work as a sworn officer in the Australian police forces until you are a citizen so this would mean the OP would have to drop into a civilian role (although looks like an exemption for WA at the moment). These citizen roles are rarely "in demand" because so many people who already have work rights are desperate for them for the public sector pay perks

10 minutes ago, wrussell said:

ALWAYS keep colour scans of important documents and unimportant ones too.

Unless a client has instructed me to delete them after the statutory retention period (7 years) has elapsed I have on archive all client files and emails since 2003. It is amazing how many people lose their visa grant letter, marriage certificate, birth certificates... and want me to find them a decade or two later.

Which country are you based in?

Just asking as I do this for a living (retention compliance) and if you are based in the UK or Australia your compliance requirement is to delete them after (3 years of completion in UK) or 6/7 years in AUS.

Keeping them longer breaks all sorts of acts and also nullifies you professional indemnity insurance should you be found to have negligently released conditional information that you should have deleted.

You might want to rethink your practices (or at least delete the email stating you do them on a public forum )

Car rental in AUS runs about $200 a day so if you are in that ball park you probably aren't going to find much cheaper 

3 hours ago, rtritudr said:

A landlord asking for 6 months upfront payment may not be allowed, however, a tenant offering to pay 6 months upfront because of the lack of reference that might otherwise cause the landlord to overlook their application is certainly allowed.

It is allowed if it is an offer, what isn't allowed is the provision of that money to the landlord (if you are using a rental agency) they have to hold the cash in their client account and pass it on to the landlord weekly/monthly as though it had been paid in installments

So although you get certainty for 6 months you will be paid, you have no reference to show that they won't just stop paying after that (of course a referee doesn't stop that happening either) and you as a landlord also don't get early access to a lump sum (unless you are letting direct without an agent)

I would choose a weekly/monthly payer with a reference every time over a no reference up front payer, unless they paid the whole 12 month contract duration in advance.

2 minutes ago, BigJoe said:

I'm getting a percentage from the sale of the business after it's sold. But this will happen serveral months after I've left.

I can assure you there's nothing dubious or dodgey going on.

 

Ok rules slightly different here and will depend on how you come to be due this payment.

If you actually own shares in the company that mean you own a percentage and you are getting your percentage in cash then as a non-resident you get taxed quite favourably but will still get stung in AUS if you have already left the UK

If you don't own the shares it's still just an employment related payment and subject to payroll taxes (both in the UK and AUS)

You really need to talk to an accountant who understands both tax regimes to structure this deal (and your move to Australia) appropriately to time it for the best taxation outcome

8 minutes ago, BigJoe said:

I understand I cannot avoid tax, but this sum will be given to me several months after I leave the UK. So I will not be employed by that employer.

I'm just trying to understand what slice the Australian goverment will take when the funds are transferred to an Australian bank account.

 

This is why people should leave creative accounting to the experts.

One of two scenarios will be deemed to be at play here if you accept the money.

1) you are receiving income related to an employment - as such it is taxable and at your highest marginal tax rate (so probably around 42%)

2) you are deemed not to be receiving an employment amount, therefore you must have provided services therefore you must be registered for tax and pay tax on that amount

The third option is the HMRC inspector deems you where both trying to evade tax and slaps a huge fine on you both

In your position I'd be asking why it can't just be paid now through UK payroll and make it easier in everyone

Just now, BigJoe said:

I understand I cannot avoid tax, but this sum will be given to me several months after I leave the UK. So I will not be employed by that employer.

I'm just trying to understand what slice the Australian goverment will take when the funds are transferred to an Australian bank account.

 

I'm not sure under what grounds they would "give" you this money?

I can see that maybe some creative dubious director has thought hmmmm we can save some national insurance here if we just send them cash.

Well they can try, but when they get audited and can't explain why they made a payment related to employment outside of payroll they will be in deep doo-doo (as will you if you haven't declared it and they follow the paper trail to you)

1 hour ago, rammygirl said:

From an employer it won’t be considered a gift, it is pre tax income so yes it will be taxed at marginal rate. You might be able to put some into super though at 15% if you have allowances left (you can carry some forward).

Actually I had a rethink about this, and it would be taxed in the UK because there is no way a legal employer would make a payment of this type to an employee outside of payroll. They'd be fined to within an inch of bankruptcy if they did...

2 hours ago, BigJoe said:

Gift from the Company im leaving. It's basically for long service.

Well it's taxable in the UK if you receive it before you leave the UK for Australia

If you receive it in Australia after leaving the UK it is taxable is AUS.

You can't avoid tax mate...

16 hours ago, nomadiccarpenter said:

Thought I'd revive this thread with some good news. 32 months after applying, my 190 NSW was granted! Carpenter, offshore. Got my first CO contact 24 of October. After submitting medicals the 5th of November, grant came just five days later. Made so many friends here and if you all have any questions, I'll be there for ya!

Congratulations

Whats your move timeline and where in NSW are you headed?

23 hours ago, SarahW said:

Yes I think you are right, we need to focus on what is best for her. It would be very stressful for her to go through the move and then go through another move a year or two later. And costly too  I think it’s probably best to leave her here, as sad as that is for the kids she will be ok being looked after. 

Kids won't even think about the cat after about a week... Do what is best for the cat. 

Potentially a different outcome of you knew you were moving forever, but you don't 

Spent last night at the SCG - fantastic atmosphere and the right result.

I feel more attachment to Australia every day I'm here, but sport reminds me that I'm always English

Anyone else find this?

13 hours ago, Sue22 said:

Thank you very much.

It will definitely be a huge adventure for them, I am in awe at the amount of organisation that it takes to make the move.

We had opportunity to move to Canada many years ago, but I couldn't leave family and UK.

Big concerns that she is having to find new homes for animals.  But biggest concern is that her partner has 8 year old daughter with his ex.  Not sure what damage it do to her if they stay long term.  He looks after her on a regular basis.

I can't see how anyone could do that to a child they have regular parental access to. However I accept that I may be in the minority

If I was your daughter's mum (i.e. you) I'd have alarm bells screaming in my head. How is he going to look after and be there for my daughter on the other side of the world when he'd leave his own 8yr old daughter 10k+ miles away without a second thought. I'd be worried he would up and leave once my daughter got boring just like he did when his ex and kid got boring...

Its pretty crap being on the other side of the world with no friends and a partner who has decided to skip out after convincing you to make the trip

4 hours ago, Little Dragon said:

Hi everyone.

I hope that you are having a great Friday. I was wondering if anyone could kindly offer us advice on this matter.

Due to the COVID pandemic, our parents were granted Visitor Visa (subclass 600) with 'No Travel' condition.

• This visa were granted in January 2022, which is recently.
• My mom's visitor visa will expire on 7 December 2022.
• My dad's visitor visa will expire on 20 January 2023.

My sister decided to sponsor our parents. We applied for Contributory Aged Parent Visa (subclass 864) onshore and immediately got Acknowledgement of Valid Application and Bridging Visa A.

Our grandmother in Vietnam got quite sick, so my parents accidentally rushed back to check up on her without noticing the 'No Travel' condition on their Visitor Visas.

My question is: How can they get back to Australia before their Bridging Visa A becomes active, which is on 7 December 2022? Should we apply for another Visitor Visa?

Thank you so much for your assistance and I hope you all have a great weekend ahead.

I'm sure an agent can sort this out for you, but I wouldn't try sorting it yourself. For two reasons

1) it's complex

2) you need to own your mistake, if you phrase the issue to immigration the way you've phrased it here it will be a flat no. No one can accidentally rush to vietnam (or indeed any country from Australia) it requires a conscious decision to get on a plane, it's not like accidentally getting on the wrong bus and ending up in a different town. Equally not knowing isn't an excuse, when you apply and when you are granted a visa you are explicitly told to make yourself aware of all conditions.

Mistakes happen, human relationships need attention, but to try and pass it off like it's an honest mistake rather than a thought out decision will end in pain...