Exemption to Travel from Australia

[Amber Snowball]

2 hours ago, Joanne Donnelly said:

Hey Tess D....hoping all went well and your OH made it back to the UK. Can I ask were you able to get a insurance policy for the one way trip?? if so who with?! really struggling to find a company offering any cover. We are residents but also re-emigrating home. Our container has already arrived ! Our flights were cancelled 3 days previous (March 18th) to leaving.

Any heads up of companies would be so helpful...looking to fly on July 28th, with the exemption in place. 

 

Cheers

I used Budget when I returned a couple of years ago, one way. They also insured my 78yo parent quite reasonably.  I had the insurance last a couple of weeks so it covered the excess on the hire car if it was damaged.

[Joanne Donnelly]

Thanks to all for any advise, however all the usual options are currently not offering cover due to the Corona situation.... hoping that there has to be at least one company offering cover. Especially as AU are allowing flights out, who are people insuring with???!

[Marisawright]

1 hour ago, Joanne Donnelly said:

Thanks to all for any advise, however all the usual options are currently not offering cover due to the Corona situation.... hoping that there has to be at least one company offering cover. Especially as AU are allowing flights out, who are people insuring with???!

Australia is offering very limited flights out, the only people allowed to leave the country are people who can show they are permanently resident overseas, and a few other limited exceptions (compassionate grounds, essential services). 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Marisawright

[calNgary]

4 hours ago, Joanne Donnelly said:

Thanks to all for any advise, however all the usual options are currently not offering cover due to the Corona situation.... hoping that there has to be at least one company offering cover. Especially as AU are allowing flights out, who are people insuring with???!

Have you tried True Traveller ? they do have a disclaimer saying no claims in relation to COVID but i cant see anywhere it says no policys due to COVID. Maybe worth a try.

Cal x

[Joanne Donnelly]

Hi Cal 

Thank you.  True traveller is only for those of uk residency and EU. We are Australian residents currently all UK insurance companies will not insure us we need Australian insurance or something neutral but don't know if that even exists...

 

Thanks anyway 

[Joanne Donnelly]

Plus from what I can gather from gov website if your ordinarily resident of another country you don't need to request an exemption... if you are resident of AU then you do under a particular situation, and must prove it with supporting documents, such as moving permanently overseas and having a receipt of your shipping of all your belongings such as our situation..

[Collie]

On 04/05/2020 at 09:50, Alex57 said:

Sadly, I'm a DUAL citizen (British & Australian) - my parents made me an "Australian" when I was too young to make up my own mind and too young to sign the citizenship document. Anyway, my old Australian passport has expired, but I have a current British passport and want to PERMANENTLY return to my homeland in England asap NEVER to return to convict Australia. I find it hard to believe that the fact that a person is a DUAL having an Australian citizenship some how CANCELS the rights of a British citizen with a British passport to PERMANENTLY return to the land of their birth. I have a British mobile number, but no Australian mobile number. I also have a National Insurance Number which allows me to be taxed correctly in the UK as a paid worker and also allows me to vote, but I'm not on the Electoral Roll in Australia. I also have a HSBC British bank account in Guildford, Surrey where I previously lived. Should I write to Peter Dutton or should I just apply for a stupid extension - any thoughts??

If you feel that strongly about it, you can always renounce your Australian citizenship. 

[Drumbeat]

1 hour ago, Collie said:

If you feel that strongly about it, you can always renounce your Australian citizenship. 

I think that poster was a troll, they only posted for 1 day

Edited May 29, 2020 by Drumbeat

[Ricey2017]

Hello, 

Advice and I guess reassurance kindly requested. Excuse the long back story: 

I live in the UK, my partner lives in WA. He is a dual British & Australian Citizen, born in the UK and has lived in WA for 9 years. We have been in a serious relationship for almost 3 years, albeit long distance. I'm 41, he is 40. We met when we were 16. I used to travel a lot to WA on business, we shared holidays, and both extended periods of time in the UK & WA. In 2018 I found out I had low fertility and we miraculously fell pregnant naturally 10 weeks later with identical twins. Devastatingly we lost our babies due to missed miscarriage at the 12 week scan. It was the worst day of our lives and we want to try again, urgently. We always planned to end our distance. At Christmas just gone we made a plan for my partner to move back to the UK so we could start our forever life and try again for a family. Following the miscarriage my fertility was re-tested and ovarian reserve & AMH levels had reduced by 75% meaning that whilst there is the chance we may get pregnant again, we have to without any more delays. My GP told me last week that if we want to try again time is critically of the essence, we literally have no time to wait. In March my partner wanted to expedite moving home for us to be together but COVID-19 hit and we have both been in complete lockdown. We have spoken every day via video for 5 hours a day. We are desperate to start a family and want to be together as a couple under one roof. His family live 10 mins from my house, they are in their 70's and he has a family business in the UK. My partner is talking to his boss next week to advise them he wants to move home, and will give them 6 weeks notice so our date for moving back to England is 10th August 2020. He will need to serve notice on the tenancy agreement of his apartment on 8th July so we need to have the exemption by then.  We are hoping his work will allow his job to be carried out from the UK and they may move his position to the UK. But we are prepared that it may not go that way in which case he will find employment in the UK. He has 2 years worth of Aus min. wage in savings so
  is more than liquid to wait for the right role to come to fruition. He will be moving into my home indefinitely in Manchester. The mortgage is in my name but when he moves back all utility bills will be in joint names. He wants to apply for the exemption to allow him to travel to the UK indefinitely. If his work do not transfer him to the UK then we won't have a job offer letter to support his application and we won't have a tenancy agreement as he will be moving into my (our) home. He wants to submit the exemption request this Saturday but won't have his shipping evidence at that point as he will be shipping all his goods a week before he departs for good. Half of his possessions are presently at his parents house as he left a lot at Christmas knowing he would be moving home this year. My GP has written a letter to support this exemption on medical/compassionate grounds. 
We are deeply upset at the prospect of not being granted this exemption, we have been waiting for so long now for him to move home and we are terrified we will lose our chance to be together as a couple under one roof and start a much wanted family. We feel his need to return home is on compassionate grounds, we want to start a family and every day that goes by we risk losing our chance.
Does anybody have any experience of successfully receiving the exemption on compassionate grounds and how long did it take to approve? Do you think our application will be favourable? 

Thanks in advance. 

 

[Marisawright]

5 hours ago, Ricey2017 said:

He wants to apply for the exemption to allow him to travel to the UK indefinitely. If his work do not transfer him to the UK then we won't have a job offer letter to support his application and we won't have a tenancy agreement as he will be moving into my (our) home. He wants to submit the exemption request this Saturday but won't have his shipping evidence at that point as he will be shipping all his goods a week before he departs for good. Half of his possessions are presently at his parents house as he left a lot at Christmas knowing he would be moving home this year. My GP has written a letter to support this exemption on medical/compassionate grounds. 

There is no need to be anxious about applying for a travel exemption.  If your application is rejected, you are allowed to apply again immediately.  So if you make a mistake, you get the chance to try again.  It's not an all or nothing thing.

The  government is primarily concerned with people going overseas then bringing the virus back with them, so if he can prove he's leaving permanently, then he's not likely to have a problem.  He's left it a bit late to move in July though, because I've seen estimates of 4 weeks to get approval.  

He needs to apply under "People who are travelling on urgent and unavoidable personal business", not compassionate grounds. His "unavoidable business" is that he's relocating to the UK. 

Is he renting a home here or does he own it?   If he's renting, he'll be able to show an email giving notice and a confirmation from the landlord.  If he's selling, he'll have a sales agreement with a real estate agent and a link to a listing on realestate.com.au or similar. 

There's nothing to stop  him getting quotes for shipping and booking a date.  Then he will have a booking confirmation from the shipping company.   It's always possible to change the actual move date (he can check that with the removal company) so he can adjust the date once he's got his approval

There was nothing to stop you putting utility bills etc in your joint names long before this, so that's an opportunity lost. I suggest you get it done immediately, just in case this application fails.