mellyholly

can anyone give recommendations for shipping companies from Tokyo to Australia please. either shipping with furniture or just shipping with clothes, books, shoes and no furniture. thanks

hello. sorry to hear about your mum. I don't know everything in your case but my case might give you a little bit of help you with the information you are seeking. Have to be in Australia for approval to be granted, it can't be done offshore and there is a timeframe for completion. its interesting that they had approved you hours before leaving Australia though. it seems like really bad timing. so yes you would need to return. in my case without going into specifics too much, I was offshore and received an email stating the date I had left Australia and that I had not declared travel plans and that I had to give the date that I intend to permanently reside back in Australia with evidence e.g airline ticket, lease rental agreement) and that I had 14 days to respond and if I do not provide any additional information in the period specified and not been given an extension of time to provide additional information then a decision will be based on the information they already had available. (I read that-it will be denied) I was in a position to return and had the flight was already booked for a few weeks later. I responded to the email with the date I was returning. when I returned back to Australia, I checked everyday my immiaccount to see. It was 10 days later that my status has changed on my account to granted citizenship. the letter arrived about 10 days later in the post. Once your account status has changed online to citizenship then you are ok to travel overseas on your current passport as PR and don't need to wait for the letter of approval (I guess this may be helpful to know because you mum is sick). some people say you have to wait for the letter in the post, but this isn't true if its been changed on your online immi account to approved for citizenship. the problem here is that some peoples online account don't get updated at all and the first they know is when the letter arrives in the post and the account online actually hasn't been updated throughout the different stages. mine went from application submitted to granted and never through the other stages so it was never consistent. The citizenship ceremony you will need to attend, the timeframe just depends on how often your local council has the ceremonies. some councils have the ceremony dates listed on their own webpage and some don't. from memory mine was about 4 months later. the letter came in the post about 4 weeks before the ceremony date (so I did not get notified online-only in the post). you can always postpone attending it but there is a timeframe and I think its within the year. so it just depends how often they have them. then of course you cannot travel after the ceremony without your Australian passport. you can do priority application for the passport for this though and pay the extra especially if you need to get back to your sick relative, but still about a week or so for this, its quicker to collect it at the passport office then wait on Australia post to send out even with priority posting. I suppose you could go back to your mums after your citizenship approval and then return for your citizenship ceremony at the later date if you have your Australian address for correspondence still ok and someone to check your mail for you to know when it is. I have heard that there can be urgent citizenship ceremonies that can be conducted in the immigration offices. so once approval for citizenship has been granted, you can quickly have the ceremony and then get the passport fast tracked. Now I don't know too much about this and you would have to do your research but I would be making sure I had all the evidence I needed to support my case for this, like your mothers doctors letter about her health etc. unfortunately if we don't meet their criteria then we don't get granted citizenship, we do lose the money we have already paid and would have to start the process all over again, which is getting so much harder to do now with all the changes over the years. in regards to the RRV I remember doing this about a month prior to my PR running out whilst waiting for citizenship application to be processed. it was free to do, and I remember I had to do it before my PR expired. I really hope that your situation you get some clarity soon, because if you are not in a position to proceed with your citizenship application, I really hope you haven't lost your PR status because it has expired and you didn't get the RRV in the timeframe needed. That could be the case, but I would be calling immigration and checking immigration website for information regarding this. goodluck with everything and hope your mums health improves.

thanks very much for replying Ken. I think if I say 250-300 Ozzie dollars for the year for contents insurance to add to the budget, this might be about right then.

hi moving to Australia later in the year and trying to gauge how much I should budget for with home insurance. will be renting, so its just contents insurance. tried to do online comparison however it requests an Australian address. whilst I know I can't fully know until I arrive, and put in my details. just wondering if anyone can give me a rough indication what they pay roughly as car insurance seems so much higher than UK car insurance. just a rough guide of how you pay if you don't mind sharing. I know it depends on how much stuff is worth etc and where I will live but I currently pay 200pounds a year in UK and wondering if 400 Ozzie dollars would be about right too? thanks