Guest Justen Karlsson Posted January 20, 2008 Posted January 20, 2008 :unsure: Myself and wife would like to follow our daughter and her family to Brisbane we will be in our late 50's but i would still like to work on as a project engineer either full or part time. We already know that the cost would be £13000.00 each to cover sponsorship, and we would want to live in a 2 bedroomed property within easy reach of the beaches, this would require to have a garage and be in a quiet area. Is this £13000.00 refundable after so many years or what, we appreciate that a bond would be required for health and insurance purposes, but it seems a bit high considering OZ is a Commonwealth Country. If this is refundable after so many years that seems a responsible and proper idea. Where is the nice peaceful places for people of our ages to live around Brisbane and surrounding areas, we have been told Albany Creek is nice. Any response would be nice. What are the chances for part time work for someone in their late 50's just wanting to make a living enough to enjoy ourselves, and not to make a fortune. What are local attitudes to the Brits.
Guest Gollywobbler Posted January 20, 2008 Posted January 20, 2008 Hi Justen Wlecome to Poms In Oz. You are describing a Contributory Parent Visa. Provided that you can meet the Balance of Family Test and you are both in reasonable health, this is the right visa for you. My mother has one of these visas. Please click on the following links: Family - Visas & Immigration Parent Migration Booklet Booklet 3 is quite confusing to start with but it is essential reading. The best thing is to get a ring binder, a hole puncher and some divider cards, print everything that looks half-useful as you go along, and trap it all ithe binder, I found when I was researching this visa for Mum. The current fees for this visa are as follows: !st Instalment: A$1,390 which coveres both of you. 2nd Instalment: A$ 31,555 each. Bond: A$14,000 which covers both of you and is held for 10 years. The fees rise on 1 July every year. The 2nd Instalment is a notional contribution towards the Parent's likely future health-care costs in Australia, hence the name of the visa. This money is not refundable but the Bond is - please see below. Stick with reading about the sub-class 173 and 143 visas only. Don't get bogged down. The CP 143 visa confers immediate Permanent Residence in Australia and is the "one stop shop" option. The CP173 visa is temporary and lasts for up to 2 years, during which time the Parent must upgrade to the CP 143 visa. With the CP173, you pay 60% of the 2nd Instalment in return for the temporary visa and the remaining 40% when the upgrade takes place. Whichever way you choose to do it, both visas give full access to Medicare and unlimited rights to work in Australia so you could work full time if you wish, part time if you prefer or you can just loaf around on a beach instead! The Bond is a hedge against the risk of the Parent falling on hard times after his/her arrival in Australia and needing financial assistance from Centrelink (the Australian Social Security office.) The Bond is deposited in a special account at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and is held for 10 years. It pays interest every six months but the yield is measly. The Bond is released in full after 10 years as long as there have been no recoverable claims on Centrelink in the meanwhile. If there have been, then Centrelink are repaid out of the Bond and the family gets any change. Two Agents in the UK convince me that they understand Parent migration inside out (and trust me, I do, so I can judge this one accurately!). They are Go Matilda, based in Southampton (ask for Lorraine Beaumont) and Ian Harrop Associates near Oxford (ask for Ian Harrop or Tony Coates.) Their websites are here: Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - Visa, Tax, and Financial Planning for Australia Registered Australian Migration Agents, UK - Ian Harrop and Associates Both firms would be happy to chat with you on the phone for 10-15 minutes, free of charge and with no obligation, which would help you to get started so I would suggest ringing them both. Alan Collett is the boss of Go Matilda and is a regular contributor to Poms in Oz, where he helps with visa-queries for free and is a good friend to this forum and to our members. Tony Coates also helps out on here too and is also a star. It is not esential to use a Migration Agent, but I'd say that about 50% of visa applicants choose to. It saves a huge amount of research and having someone who has done it all before certainly makes the whole thing seem less daunting, but it is entirely up to you. You have plenty of time in hand in which to consider all this because CPV applications must be sponsored by somebody who has Permanent Residence in Australia and is "settled" there. Settled is usually interpreted as meaning,"Has lived in Oz for a couple of years." So you would not be able to apply just yet unless you have another child in Australia who would be able to sponsor your application. Please shout if I can help any further but I don't want to confuse you with too much detail at this stage. Best wishes Gill
Guest Justen Karlsson Posted January 20, 2008 Posted January 20, 2008 Hi Justen Wlecome to Poms In Oz. You are describing a Contributory Parent Visa. Provided that you can meet the Balance of Family Test and you are both in reasonable health, this is the right visa for you. My mother has one of these visas. Please click on the following links: Family - Visas & Immigration Parent Migration Booklet Booklet 3 is quite confusing to start with but it is essential reading. The best thing is to get a ring binder, a hole puncher and some divider cards, print everything that looks half-useful as you go along, and trap it all ithe binder, I found when I was researching this visa for Mum. The current fees for this visa are as follows: !st Instalment: A$1,390 which coveres both of you. 2nd Instalment: A$ 31,555 each. Bond: A$14,000 which covers both of you and is held for 10 years. The fees rise on 1 July every year. The 2nd Instalment is a notional contribution towards the Parent's likely future health-care costs in Australia, hence the name of the visa. Stick with reading about the sub-class 173 and 143 visas only. Don't get bogged down. The CP 143 visa confers immediate Permanent Residence in Australia and is the "one stop shop" option. The CP173 visa is temporary and lasts for up to 2 years, during which time the Parent must upgrade to the CP 143 visa. With the CP173, you pay 60% of the 2nd Instalment in return for the temporary visa and the remaining 40% when the upgrade takes place. Whichever way you choose to do it, both visas give full access to Medicare and unlimited rights to work in Australia so you could work full time if you wish, part time if you prefer or you can just loaf around on a beach instead! The Bond is a hedge against the risk of the Parent falling on hard times after his/her arrival in Australia and needing financial assistance from Centrelink (the Australian Social Security office.) The Bond is deposited in a special account at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and is held for 10 years. It pays interest every six months but the yield is measly. The Bond is released in full after 10 years as long as there have been no recoverable claims on Centrelink in the meanwhile. If there have been, then Centrelink are repaid out of the Bond and the family gets any change. Two Agents in the UK convince me that they understand Parent migration inside out (and trust me, I do, so I can judge this one accurately!). They are Go Matilda, based in Southampton (ask for Lorraine Beaumont) and Ian Harrop Associates near Oxford (ask for Ian Harrop or Tony Coates.) Their websites are here: Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - Visa, Tax, and Financial Planning for Australia Registered Australian Migration Agents, UK - Ian Harrop and Associates Both firms would be happy to chat with you on the phone for 10-15 minutes, free of charge and with no obligation, which would help you to get started so I would suggest ringing them both. Alan Collett is the boss of Go Matilda and is a regular contributor to Poms in Oz, where he helps with visa-queries for free and is a good friend to this forum and to our members. Tony Coates also helps out on here too and is also a star. It is not esential to use a Migration Agent, but I'd say that about 50% of visa applicants choose to. It saves a huge amount of research and having someone who has done it all before certainly makes the whole thing seem less daunting, but it is entirely up to you. You have plenty of time in hand in which to consider all this because CPV applications must be sponsored by somebody who has Permanent Residence in Australia and is "settled" there. Settled is usually interpreted as meaning,"Has lived in Oz for a couple of years." So you would not be able to apply just yet unless you have another child in Australia who would be able to sponsor your application. Please shout if I can help any further but I don't want to confuse you with too much detail at this stage. Best wishes Gill Gill, Many thanks for that information that was very kind of you, any information you may have that may be of help to me and my wife would be very much appreciated, especially if you have information that people in their late 50's may require
Guest Gollywobbler Posted January 20, 2008 Posted January 20, 2008 Hi Justen Nothing about the CP visa is specific to any age group, so there is no special information relating to that. The only real thing that I didn't mention in my earlier post is the Assurance if Support for the CP 143 visa. The concept is that the visa application must be Sponsored, nearly always by the Parent's blood child but sometimes by the child-in-law if the latter is an Australian Citizen (because Citizens only have to be settled back in Oz for 3 months before they can sponsor the Parent-in-Law.) The Sponsor undertakes that if the Parent falls on hard times during his/her first two years in Australia, the Sponsor will provide the Parent with food, clothing and shelter plus any other essentials (eg prescription charges) so that the Parent does not need to fall back on the State. Hence the need for the Sponsor's own lifestyle to be "settled" before s/he tries to assist anyone else to migrate. Sponsorship is essential for both the temporary and the permanent versions of the CP visa. The Bond has to be accompanied by an Assurance of Support, but these two elements are not required unless/until the Parent obtains the CP 143 visa. The Assurer is often the same person as the sponsoring child, or is a combination of the sponsoring child plus the child in law, but it is a different role. The Assurer covenants that in the event of the Parent seeking one or more of a range of potential Centrelink Benefits during the Parent's first 10 years in Australia, the Assurer will re-imburse Centrelink in the event that the Bond is insufficient to re-imburse Centrelink in full. Up to three people can club together to provide the AoS and they need not be related to the Parent or to each other. However, as the obligation lasts for 10 years very few people outside of the immediate family are likely to be willing to make the commitment. The Assurer(s) is/are means-tested and this is what lots of people, including Migration Agents who are not experienced with this visa (which many are not) often overlook. Please see the following article by Alan Collett of Go Matilda: Go Matilda - Your Gateway to Australia - News The AoS rules were changed on 1 January 2008 and the testing is less onerous than it used to be. The DIAC website is no use for the AoS part. It mutters "Centrelink" and that is that. I had to ring my sister in Oz to find out who Centrelink are! The Centrelink website is hopeless on this topic as well but for what it is worth..... Assurance of Support Phoning Centrelink for their promised "assistance" brings out the latent streak of self-reliance in us all because every time you ask them they say something different and they do not seem to me to have a clue. As far as housing etc and the general area around Brisbne is concerned for a couple of your own age, I reckon your best source of information will be a fellow Poms in Oz Member called Alan, who posts as Sids Dad. Please see this link: Poms In Oz - Search Results Alan & his wife got their CP 143 visas in October 2007, but they have previously lived in Australia and they know the area you have in mind very well indeed, plus are the same age as you and your wife. Alan and Helen are in Oz at the moment, validating their CP 143 visa. Alan will be around on the forum again in around mid-Feb, so stick around and have a chat with him then, I suggest. He looks after a derelict sounding gas-field in Algeria and is planning to do month-on, month-off from Brisbane. (The job is seriously dangerous ergo commensurately well-paid.) Theyare planning to settle in the Northern Rivers area of NSW, which is a bit South of Brisbane. Look on Google Maps (easiest if you go into Google Australia first.) Tweed Heads, Byron Bay is the Northern Rivers area. However, Alan & Helen have toured the whole coastal area of QLD so they will help once they are back. Validating a visa is a bit of a strange concept and I don't know why it exists. Getting a visa granted and having the visa sticker put into your passport is not enough. You have to "validate" the visa by physically entering Australia on or before a set date, known as the Initial Entry Date, using the new visa. The somehow "crystallises" the new visa for all time. The Initial Entry Date is usually the date which is 12 months after the date on the Penal Clearances (PCCs/police checks - interchangeable terms) or the date on which the Panel Doctor signs the medical forms, whichever is earlier. However, Alan has a work-schedule in Algeria and they wanted to go and look at the area more closely to get an idea of where they want to settle, so it was convenient for them to spend January in Oz. Then they will not be under any time-pressure to get their house in the UK sold etc before moving "base camp" to Australia, so they have made a sensible move in going to Oz now, given the flat state of the UK housing market (not to mention the weather!) As visas go, the CP visa is probably the simplest of all to understand. However, since I didn't have a clue about visas in any country, I found all the concepts very difficult to understand to begin with. It does all become clear as time progresses and you do further research, though. For further info, see my next post... Cheers Gill
Guest Gollywobbler Posted January 20, 2008 Posted January 20, 2008 Hi again, Justen One thing everyone wants to know when considering a particular visa is "How long will it take to be processed from the time when I submit my application until I have the visa label in my passport?" When the Contributory Parent Scheme began in 2003, the answer was "3-6 months, depending on how fast you respond to requests from DIAC to action your meds etc." By the time my mother applied in 2005-6, that had become "8-9 months if you get a move on, anticipate every request and be ready with your own end of the job completed before you get the request." It then stretched to 12-15 months in 2006-7. Presently the timescale has come to a sudden and shuddering halt, because only 3,500 CP visas are available in any one Program Year. The Perth Offshore Parents Centre processes the majority of CP applications. The Program Year begins on 1 July every year. Halfway through the Program Year, the POPC have either granted or allocated all 3,500 visas currently available in the present Program Year. The visa has become significantly over subcribed in the last couple of years, with demand now running at more than double the rate of supply. There is speculation that the new Minister for Immi might increase the annual quota but if so, nobody yet knows how many additional visas will become available or when they will become available. However, unless something changes DIAC will not be able to grant any more CP visas until 1 July 2008 when the next stock of 3,500 visas will become available. It is pointless for them to ask people to lodge the Bond or to pay the 2nd Instalment in circumstances where DIAC cannot then grant a visa reasonably promptly in return. Therefore DIAC have decided to continue the visa processing up until the point when the Meds and PCCs have been produced and cleared, and then they are queueing the applications, in order of the date of original receipt of them, until more visas become available. How much time this will add to the processing time-scale depends firstly on whether the quota is increased, secondly by how many visas if it is increased, and thirdly on what happens about demand in the next 2-3 years. I think that the Australian Government has been caught slightly on the hop by the sudden increase in prosperity in countries like India and China, which have really only started to boom in a major way in the last 5 years or so. I'm not sure that they saw that coming. Also, the annual intake of skilled migrants has been rising steadily in the same period, and I suspect that the number of visas available in the Family Stream has become out of synch with the number of visas available in the skilled stream. I personally think that the quotas of Parent and Contributory Parent visas should both be increased but I suspect it really needs a bigger, bolder move than a very new Minister in a very new Government might have the courage to make. But we shall see... Please see this link and scroll down to the section headed Parents. 1.1.2 Family entry (permanent) - Output 1.1- Annual Report 2006-07 Have a good look at the website of the Australian High Commission in London as well if you are based in the UK, as there is some good-quality meat on that particular bone too: Visas and migration - Australian High Commission Cheers Gill
Guest Justen Karlsson Posted February 19, 2008 Posted February 19, 2008 Thanks to all who replied to my original message your help and info sure is valuable
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