Ausvisitor

Is there anything like a car supermarket (fords of windsor style) for buying a used car near Sydney or is it a car of going round loads of smaller forecourts?

Thanks

I had a similar issue to other posters on here. I too got a 7.5 in writing but 9 in everything else.

I've got a master's in English and write detailed reports for a living, if I do anything well it is writing in English.

I was told that remarks are just a way for them to charge you double for the privilege of failing you anyway.

Cut your losses and book a train ride to the nearest PTE centre, you will walk that test based on your IELTS score

Very Stormy is correct.

You have to be in the UK as a resident for a full three years by Sept 1st of the year you start at University otherwise you are an overseas student

6 hours ago, engels said:

Hi all!

First of all I appreciate if anyone has any knowledge / advice on this but understand it might be a bit early to know the in's & out's just yet.

I have already been to Australia on my first working holiday visa, but I did not do the farm work and came home after 1 year. I have recently seen we have signed an easier trade deal so that it makes it a bit easier for young people to work there. e.g. 3 years working holiday visa without the previous visa requirements.

Does anyone know if I would be able to apply for a second holiday visa without needing proof of farm work etc as a necessity - if that is being lifted?

I'd appreciate any insight if anyone has explored this already! Thank you very much.
Kind regards
Emma

I would suspect this only applies to new applications or people currently still with a working visa that is valid.

I can't see them turning round and saying, ok Emma you didn't want to follow the procedure to get a 2nd year when you had the chance so go on have this on us instead.

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

But surely that's a kind of meaningless figure, since the actual range is so vast, anything from $50,000 in a rural town to $25 million in Sydney? 

It is a meaningless figure granted, but to take a swinging generalisation at the "typical pom immigrant" it's a 30-35 year old plumber/electrician/nurse generally from the North of the UK heading over to do a similar role with kids in tow.

Probably had a house in the UK, maybe £100k in equity in that, a $1m house is not going to be achievable in those circumstances.

Ultimately average prices are only relevant of you are the average person

3 hours ago, BeachBabe2022 said:

Well, yes, that is very true.

You could do it when you were older of course, but two job offers in the pipeline is excellent (and who knows - you may not get them again)

Strike while the iron is hot and grab such opportunities is my motto. Bet you will regret it if you don't. 

And do you really care deep down if your brothers visit or not? 

Besides that, you could always visit them in the UK.

So really a flimsy argument!

My friends mum is still making the trip nearly every year alone, and she is in her 80s (so your mum at 60 is indeed a spring chick)

Agree with others, your children are safe here as they are anywhere - unless you plan on floating them down the Fitzroy River on a lilo! 

 

Actually that's not quite true in all cases, taking them for a simple Big Mac in Lismore is a bit dangerous at the moment...

1 hour ago, DIG85 said:

 

The average house price in Australia is just under $1m. That would be a good starting point as an answer to your question. 
But of course only two thirds of Australians are homeowners, so the maximum price of a house that the "average person" can afford is going to be even less than that.

Being totally pedantic, that is a good place to start but it won't be correct.

As you say a lot of people don't own, but also a lot who do own, own a house that is worth a lot less than they could have afforded.

For instance we are looking at $1.2m houses, but we could go up to $2m+ but we don't feel comfortable at that level, the bank is happy we could afford it but we would prefer not to. 

So the question of what someone could afford is a very difficult one to answer

I am in a short term up in North Sydney, not well know as a beach location but can be at Manly/Bondi/Coogee in under an hour on public transport and under 25 minutes in a car.

Nowhere (except the seaside towns themselves) offers that in the UK.

51 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Yes, that does make a difference, because you will have to follow the work.   I would start researching the companies that are likely to employ you - given that Australia's population is a mere one-third of Britain's, it's a correspondingly smaller market so there are only a few big players.  Also, some IT infrastructure has moved offshore (the last two companies I worked for had their main data centre in Asia, not in Australia at all).  

Also check Seek and LinkedIn for jobs in your fields, so you can see which companies are advertising.  You could also reach out to agencies that specialise in your fields - a phone call will likely work better than email.  

Most of the jobs will likely be in Sydney and Melbourne, but I wouldn't discount Brisbane, particularly for construction.  As @can1983 alludes to, one of the dilemmas of migrating is that these days  - due to the soaring house prices in Sydney and to a lesser extent, Melbourne - you have to choose between having a high-flying career and having the quality of life you dreamed of in Australia.

Or you can do a bit of both. Accept that housing in Syd/Mel is not going to be ideal but buy the best you can anyway.

Work hard for 5 years and make a history for yourself in country.

Look for new jobs nearer beaches (or smaller cities) in 5 years time when you have solid Aussie work experience, money and a property that has gone up in value hugely that you can use to help move to your preferred location.

Really it's no different to the UK. (For the majority of people in "high fly careers").

Start in London, buy a small place, make a name for yourself, move outwards to the shires taking the huge equity build up with you, repeat until you find forever home.

The problem is we've all been seduced by Home & Away, Neighbours and Wanted Down Under, that you can get perfection on day one for peanuts - it rarely happens

Qantas is 30kg at the moment and Air Japan is 35kg - if that gets you what you need

Try here then

https://www.exeter-airport.co.uk/covid-19-testing/

Is that from the UK then? If that's the case the best option is places like Cigntest or DAM health.

Although it's more expensive I'd be tempted by the PCR test (I know that's what we got 2 weeks ago) as you can do them earlier than the LAT/RAT and the last 24 hours before boarding have so much to do that traipsing to the test centre would be an annoyance

It's your life do what you want and hope they come along with you as they realise it is happening anyway.

I do think on one subject though you are being unfair, getting upset that they have said they won't visit because it is too far...

It is you that is moving to the other side of the world, they are staying where they are happy, surely the onus is therefore on you to travel back to maintain the relationships rather than expect them to come to you (they don't want to be in Australia).

That said once they see your beach photos they will be over in a flash...

What do you need it for? Where are you trying to get it from?

6 minutes ago, steveshe said:

We was told by DVLA you need to be a resident and living in the UK to hold a UK licence , not live in Australia as a resident and hold one as its illegal . 

However as soon as a British citizen sets foot on UK soil they are deemed resident in the UK. They may also have habitual residence somewhere else (like Australia)

4 minutes ago, stevej said:

Can you tell me what the process is for 190 visa. Do we use this letter request?

Do you have a 190 visa that is still "in-date"? By that I mean have you missed the must arrive by date but not missed the cannot arrive after date (usually about 5 years from grant date).

If so they issued a statement that they would not require people (during this COVID period) unable to meet the arrival by date so long as they arrived before the end date of the travel facility.

When we flew this wasn't even mentioned, in fact the whole process was an anti-climax. Stuck out passports in the e-gate at Sydney and we were active

1 hour ago, Constance said:

That's really interesting thank you. 

However commuting between Hobart and Sydney each day for work might prove problematic!

Therein lies the problem, the "big money" jobs (predominantly) exist in Sydney and Melbourne and as such they are money-pits for buying/renting.

You can get cheaper housing elsewhere, but you will likely be paid less, and so the percentage of take home you spend on housing may stay the same (although the actual dollar number is less)

I think we have put to bed the idea of beach living for a while, we have found from the CBD suburbs in Sydney you can get to Manly or Bondi in 30 minutes by car (easily) so why live right there and compromise on the house (but that's just my view, many will have a different one). That said, something remotely decent in Surry Hills is $1.75m, so it isn't cheap.

1 hour ago, welljock said:

And almost certainly not legal

It's 100% legal. So long as they are still UK citizens and haven't surrendered their licence.

The address on your licence is your UK contact address it does not have to be your residential address. Many licences are registered to service addresses.

Equally it is perfectly legal to have a UK and an AUS licence at the same time.

In fact similarly to rules in AUS if you have a UK licence (a driver number not the physical card which can expire) you are supposed to drive on that permission in the UK rather than your AUS licence (vice versa in AUS - I just got my new NSW licence and I had to sign an undertaking that I would only use my NSW licence in AUS and not my UK one)

1 hour ago, Forbes1 said:

Hi,

We're coming back to the UK for a month for a holiday after living in Oz for 10 years & our U.K. driving licences have expired. Anyhow We're going to buy a campervan & then get a mate to sell it when we go (hopefully save some money) anyhow anyone had any luck getting temporary insurance & using their aussie licences & if so who & how much. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Billy & Jane 

On a note not related to driving licences, have you already found the camper van? If not be prepared for a difficult search, since COVID people have gone crazy for them in the UK and the usual "dump" of them into the resale market in the winter didn't happen this year (as people are planning on UK hols in 2022 again) so there are very few available

For a month, by the time you've bought it and insured it and then lost money reselling it, it will almost certainly be cheaper to rent a decent one 

It will be much simpler to just re-apply for a UK driving licence using your mates (or a family members) address.

They are currently churning them out in about 3 weeks from application (having almost caught up from their horrendous COVID backlog)

3 hours ago, Lavers said:

Hiya

I did it without using an agent, Me,Wife and 2 kids at the time.

It's upto you I suppose which way you do it, if your case is pretty straight forward then you shouldn't have any issues.

What I did do first though was pay an agent to look over my case, I think $100 at the time just to confirm what I believed I already knew.

Again it's upto you but I didn't find the process hard judt time consuming, but I managed to do alot at work.

I'd agree with Lavers, for the majority of cases the process isn't hard, it's just arduous and a lot of work.

I could have done ours myself, but the cost was far less than what I could make just by working those hours I would have spent doing the visa paperwork, so I outsourced the visa to an agent and went to work instead.

If you've got health issues, criminal record etc type complications then in those circumstances I'd suggest you really do need an agent, for the others it really comes down to how confident you feel and how much time you have (and of course if you are happy not having the security that if it changes halfway through your agent will know and adjust accordingly)

I engaged an agent because I worked out that the amount of work they would save me meant it was more than worth it. Whether that's the case for everyone depends on how much you value (or can sell) those hours you save not doing the paperwork.

1 hour ago, AucklandBill said:

It's true and I have absolutely no idea as to why they have not excluded those who have already applied for an 887 visa (decision pending) from this bulk update.

My 489 has been extended for another 3 years, despite submission of an 887 late 2020.

I do not want this extension, nor will anyone remove this.

My bridging visa, just about to be activated (as granted at 887 submission time), has no restrictions/conditions, but the 3 year extension contains all the restrictions of the previous visa, which of course has been honoured in full.

Who is in a position to resolve? - The dept won't even speak about my case, only in general terms and all they would reiterate is to review the website, that explains the extension.


 

That's really annoying for you. On the surface it seems like a really good thing the department has done, but in catching people like you in the net as well it has caused isolated issues (which of course are serious to those it affects).

Hopefully common sense will eventually result in a quiet reversal of some of these unwanted consequences

5 minutes ago, calNgary said:

Just a reminder on the topic of the thread due to us receiving a few reports about it being off track. 

 Thanks

   Cal x

Bit confused as to why my response that was perfectly polite was removed but the passive aggressive complaints have been kept! 

Are we showing favourites??

1 hour ago, can1983 said:

There have been numerous companies fold because the stuff they made was so good and lasted so long that they ran out of customers. In my industry it was kempf and remmers who made precise instruments for testing ships and propellers. The stuff lasted 50 plus years and once everyone had one......

Think iphone, my iphone 3 lasted 8 years - it was too good

Unlike the new iPhones which barely last long enough to be upgraded for the new version 12 months later