R. Scratcher

Hi Gannicus,

Just wondering, did you get the bridging visa?

On 25/10/2020 at 14:20, Gannicus said:

Hi All,

I need some help and advice please. The situation at my part has folded quite weird. Please if someone can advice me;

a) I applied for my parents visa 864  by mid of Oct. They are on 600 visitor visa which is going to expire by end of this month (oct). Now, as of date, I haven't received any updates, neither the acceptance. I am very much concerned about bridging Visa  A as they might become unlawful noncitizens. I am hopeless now despite sending emails and calling immi team several times. What shall I do in this situation ? 

b) What if my parents stay beyond their date of current 600 visa expiry ? Will the department consider my lodging date and backdate the bridging visa A ? Anyone has experienced this before ? 

c) I cannot apply again the visitor visa for them as i will be granted a bridging visa for 600. If i get acceptance in the meanwhile 600 is being processed, I have no idea how the system will react here as bridging visa A for 864 wont be issued? My God this is so confusing for me

Also please if anyone on this forum who has applied 864 and received bridiging visa A , could you please share your time line how and when it was received ? Was the visa bridging received via post (on paper) or via email ? 

Would really appreciate if anyone who can help me with this. Havent got any replies from immi teams or agents too. 

Thanks in advance

 

(My apologies to everyone for posting this twice in another topic also,  just anxious for seeking advice and help - sorry) 

Hi Gannicus,

Did you get the bridging visa?

On 16/09/2020 at 02:24, Marisawright said:

They have tried to abolish the 804 once, but couldn't get it through parliament.  

I do think it's high time they plugged the loophole that allows people to arrive in Australia on a visitor visa and then stay on a bridging visa for years and years, while people who "do the right thing" and apply from overseas are stuck.  

If the law allows somebody who has entered Australia on a visitor visa to submit an onshore application for  PR visa how can it be not "doing the right thing"?

20 minutes ago, Ausvisitor said:

You "might" have paid for your pension with contributions if the following is true (using figures based on today's value of money and the current new state pension of £175 p/w)

If for 35 years you earnt £70,000 a year you would have paid £184,100 in NI contributions

If for 20 years you receive your pension (full amount) you will get approx £184,000 in payments

So if you earned under £70K for any of those years or live over 21 years you haven't paid in enough to cover what you actually take out.

To compound this though NI isn't just for Pensions it also covers the costs of

• The NHS
• Unemployment benefit
• Sickness and disability allowances
• The state pension

So if you've ever had expensive (or just lots of) medical treatment the amount you get back increases further (i.e. if you have £50K worth of surgery, you hit your "paid in" level at 14 years of pension payments)

 

Of course this ignores Employer NI contributions on your behalf - but they really aren't "yours" they are a levy on employment to pay for sickness and unemployment services

As I've said in a previous post National Insurance contributions are just another aspect of general taxation. I really don't want to go further with this as my original point was about the justification, not that any government needs one, of taking taxes from someone but denying them pension increases.

For me paying taxes and National Insurance is like insuring your house, car or life. You take out insurance hoping to never make a claim, well I certainly do.

In my own case I left school aged fifteen. Left school on Friday and started work on the following Monday. Thank goodness I have never been unemployed, never been hospitalised and never had sickness benefit. No complaints from me as I believe in a welfare state and others have not had my good gortune. Incidentally I have claimed once in my life on my house insurance and once on car insurance but consider that my premiums were money well spent because some poor souls have had need to claim.

I will just reiterate my two points. In my opinion, and my opinion only, to tax someone yet deny them pension increases is unfair. To give pension increases to people that live abroad in some countries but not others is also unfair.

18 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

And what do you base that assessment on?  I'm willing to bet that the contributions you made to NI for pensions falls far short of the funds needed to pay your pension, even if the government hadn't raided the funds for other purposes.  Certainly, based on what I've paid in, I'm getting far more than I expected.  

I think Australia has the more honest system.  There is no separate fund to pay for pensions, and pensions are a benefit (like unemployment benefit) not an entitlement.  Of course, people stlil think they're "entitled" to get a state pension and will go to great lengths to sequester away their wealth so they can get it.  

I base my statement on basis that, in my opinion, I entered into a contract with the UK state. Actually we don't have a choice do we? That I pay that which is required of me and in return I/we receive the "benefits" in return. During my lifetime I've seen the benefits slowly whittled away while contributions only ever went up.

I have no idea whether what I paid in covered what I'm getting out, all I know is that I paid all that was asked of me.

5 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Actually, I don't think it was.  It's the story we were all told but I don't think it was true. Now the UK government is trying to pull back on paying pensions, the lie has come back to bite them - because people think they are entitled to "what they paid in".   

I've been trying to find a calculation that would tell me what proportion of NI contributions goes towards pensions.  Then I could work out what the total would be over a lifetime's work, and then calculate the final pension that could be derived from that (taking into account growth from investing it).  The Australian superannuation system has certainly been a revelation to me - it's scarey how much money you need to contribute over your career, to end up with a decent pension pot at the end. 

I paid an extra 6 years' NI contributions.  I'll get the whole lot back in my pension payments within 3 years, when I'll be 68.   I've found some articles which say  you get about £260 a year (for life) for every year you paid National Insurance.  

Marisawright,

Be very careful or you'll become as cynical, bitter and twisted as me.

I think I did pay for my pension, medical care etc with my National Insurance contributions. Actually National Insurance contributions are a big con. They don't go into any sort of pot or fund t o pay for welfare, health or pensions,they just get mixed with general taxation. It's a bit like the road tax you pay on your car which used to be called the "road fund licence". Many years ago it was actually used to fund road building and repairs but governments long ago decided to just chuck it in with the rest of the money that they waste.

8 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

The International Consortium of British Pensioners (google for more info) has been fighting to correct this injustice for years. They have been freezing pensions in some countries outside the UK for decades. The excuse given is that there is no reciprocal agreement with those countries - although no effort has been made to arrange such an agreement for about twenty years. In any  case our pensions Are a domestic matter - nobody gets a UK pension if they haven’t contributed, and the amount they get depends on how many contributions have been made, so it shouldn’t matter where you are living. The Uk is also the only country in Europe to apply such a mean condition to your choice of location. It soon begins to bite as well - I left in 2017 and reckon I am already £50 approx p.m. down.  Whatever you do, if you are selling a property on which capital gains would be due (I.e. buy to let) don’t sell it until you are officially resident in Australia.

 

I have just Googled it and according to ftadvisor.com and many others, the UK state pension is the lowest in the developed world. According to the statistics quoted the UK state pension in 2017 equated to 29% of average earnings while the average European Union countries countries state pensions equated to 70.9% of average earnings. Shameful for a country that boasts of being the fifth wealthiest economy in the world.

If only working people's pensions were linked to politicians.

Hi Ausvisitor thanks for your reply.

The ridiculous anomaly of UK pensions being frozen in some countries but not in others has been the case for over 70 years. A cross party group of MPs have been petitioning successive governments to correct the injustice, in fact the Labour party before the last election had said that they would, but I see little to no chance of the current government doing so.

I have been advised by a migration agent that Australian tax is not levied whilst on a bridging visa. I have a private pension as well as the state pension so my income is above the threshold. I accept that taxes have to be paid but my point is that to pay taxes, and potential tax increases, but to be denied any pension increases whilst paying those taxes doesn't seem right.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my post. 

I must say that I'm shocked that one's pension is frozen from the day you get a bridging visa but they'll continue to take taxes from you without giving any animal increases. It just doesn't seem right to me. Though I suppose it shouldn't surprise me from a state/government that thought nursing staff employed  by the NHS from abroad should have to pay to use the NHS themselves, though under pressure have dropped those plans, and have plans to charge hospital staff to park while at work.

I could understand if they froze your pension on your getting PR, though why UK pensioners living in some countries get pension increases but others not is beyond me, but to tax without benefits is unbelievable. My pension was paid for with fifty years of National Insurance contributions.

I suppose I'm a bit old to look for fairness from a government.

Thanks for the information ramot.

I can absolutely understand that taxes have to be paid but it's hard to see the morality of taking taxes off you but denying you any increases. I bet they wouldn't exempt you from any increase in the rate of taxation though.

In that case I'd rather pay my taxes to the country in which I was living, even though I wasn't a permanent resident. Not that we get a choice in these things.

Thank you for your prompt response Marisawright.

May I ask what those tax and property purchase implications are? I know that a non resident has to pay a premium and extra stamp duty to purchase property in Australia but are there other things?

Hi,

from reading posts regarding a subclass 864 aged parent visa applied for onshore I'm a little confused as to the UK state pension situation so perhaps someone could give me clarification.

I understand that one is given a bridging visa while your application is processed and I understand that you can be on the bridging visa for around six years. I have been told that Australian taxes on pension income don't have to be paid until such time as PR is granted. Is that correct so far?

I have read on this forum that the UK state pension is frozen immediately that you inform the UK authorities that you are no longer resident there. Does that mean that the UK government has the gall to tax your pension income for the six or so years whilst you are on a bridging visa yet deny you pension increased during those same years?