Sound advice

[PommyLyn]

Has anyone done the aged parent subclass 804 visa. 
I appreciate the boarders are closed at the moment. I really would appreciate linking up with someone who has obtained this visa or has obtained this visa for their aged parent. After 25+ visits and getting on a bit. 70 this year my sons want me to live in OZ permanently. 
I would appreciate a link with someone who can give me good guidance or sound information that anyone will share with me. 
thank you & kind regards 

[Tulip1]

1 hour ago, PommyLyn said:

Has anyone done the aged parent subclass 804 visa. 
I appreciate the boarders are closed at the moment. I really would appreciate linking up with someone who has obtained this visa or has obtained this visa for their aged parent. After 25+ visits and getting on a bit. 70 this year my sons want me to live in OZ permanently. 
I would appreciate a link with someone who can give me good guidance or sound information that anyone will share with me. 
thank you & kind regards 

First things first, where do you want to live? Touching 70 with dozens of visits, I’m wondering why you’ve not looked at parent visas beforehand.  I am not being negative in any way but when you say your sons want you to move an alarm bell rings. It’s a massive jump at any age but in your 70’s (which you will be before you could get out there) it’s huge. If it’s what you really want then great but just make sure it is what you want. Someone will be along who knows much more about that visa than me but I believe you will have to arrive on a tourist visa (whenever that may be possible) and apply.  The queue is many years long so you’ll be put on a bridging visa whilst you wait. Chances are you’ll be on that for the rest of your life and will never get the actual visa. Being on a bridging visa gives you the advantage of getting to stay there straight away but it also brings many disadvantages because you are neither permanent resident in Australia or the UK.  This means you aren’t entitled to benefits that someone with residency could expect. Your UK state pension amount will freeze when you leave so you’ll still get it but it won’t go up. Neither that or the no access to benefits won’t be a problem if you’re very rich but if you’re not then it’s something to consider.  If you want to buy a home I believe you’ll be classed as an overseas buyer which is fine but there’s extras to pay, more stamp duty I think.  I’m not trying to put you off but it’s important you know the possible problems. If you one day need to move into a care home, can you afford to pay it for possibly many years. There’s much debate regarding medical needs. I think if you are from the UK you will be entitled to urgent/emergency care via medicare because of the agreement between the two counties but it doesn’t cover everything. You will need medical insurance which won’t be cheap (again not an issue if you’re wealthy) I hope they gives you a few things to think about until more information appears. 

Edited January 30, 2021 by Tulip1

[paulhand]

The latest update from the Department on processing times: "New Parent and Aged Parent visa applications lodged that meet the criteria to be queued are likely to take approximately 30 years for final processing." I suggest that you get some professional advice to understand how the process works and what the issues are going to be. In the context of a permanent move to Australia and the implications mentioned above, this will be a very small amount, well spent.

[Marisawright]

8 hours ago, PommyLyn said:

Has anyone done the aged parent subclass 804 visa. 

@PommyLyn, there are some members who've done it, but I haven't seen any of them here for a long time.   Here are the facts:

1.  Your UK pension will be frozen at whatever rate it is now. You'll never get any increases and any supplements will stop.  

2.  If you're currently resident in the UK, you'll be eligible for Medicare under the reciprocal agreement.  Officially that's limited, but in practice, you'll get the same as an Australian.  Be aware, though, that Medicare doesn't cover everything.  You'll have to pay for your prescriptions (no pensioner concessions), and they can be expensive.  You'll also pay for specialist visits ($200-$300 a pop) and depending where you live, there may be a co-payment for visiting your GP.    Spectacles and dental are not covered by Medicare at all.   

3.  Once you leave the UK, you lose the right to treatment under the NHS and any other benefits, even though you are a UK citizen.  So you can't pop back to the UK to get treatment/specs/dental if you find you can't afford it in Australia.

4. You'll be on a bridging visa.  That means you can't leave Australia. If you need to go overseas, you must apply for permission (a BVB), explaining your reason for needing to travel.

5.  You can buy a home to live in, but you'll need to apply to the FIRB for permission (for a fee).  Then you will pay a surcharge on the purchase.  On a $400,000 home, the surcharge would be around $30,000.   

6. As the waiting time for the 804 is 30 years, you're going to be on the bridging visa till you die.  

I'm concerned that you're going for the 804 visa and not the Contributory option.  It suggests to me that you (or your boys) aren't able to afford the Contributory visa, and that's a big red flag to me.  Living in Australia in old age on a bridging visa, with no access to pensioner benefits or aged care support, will be expensive.   If you were in the UK and got into financial difficulty in your old age, you'd have access to government support.  In Australia, you'll have no safety net at all. 

There is a Contributory visa that you could go for.  It's expensive, but the wait time is 8-10 years.  So by the time you're 80, you'd be a permanent resident and have access to all the services and benefits you might need in your old age.

I agree with Paul that a consultation with an agent would be a wise move.  It's a small expense in the scheme of things and can be done over the phone.  Paul is a good choice.

Edited January 30, 2021 by Marisawright

[DrDougster]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

@PommyLyn, there are some members who've done it, but I haven't seen any of them here for a long time.   Here are the facts:

1.  Your UK pension will be frozen at whatever rate it is now. You'll never get any increases and any supplements will stop.  

2.  If you're currently resident in the UK, you'll be eligible for Medicare under the reciprocal agreement.  Officially that's limited, but in practice, you'll get the same as an Australian.  Be aware, though, that Medicare doesn't cover everything.  You'll have to pay for your prescriptions (no pensioner concessions), and they can be expensive.  You'll also pay for specialist visits ($200-$300 a pop) and depending where you live, there may be a co-payment for visiting your GP.    Spectacles and dental are not covered by Medicare at all.   

3.  Once you leave the UK, you lose the right to treatment under the NHS and any other benefits, even though you are a UK citizen.  So you can't pop back to the UK to get treatment/specs/dental if you find you can't afford it in Australia.

4. You'll be on a bridging visa.  That means you can't leave Australia. If you need to go overseas, you must apply for permission (a BVB), explaining your reason for needing to travel.

5.  You can buy a home to live in, but you'll need to apply to the FIRB for permission (for a fee).  Then you will pay a surcharge on the purchase.  On a $400,000 home, the surcharge would be around $30,000.   

6. As the waiting time for the 804 is 30 years, you're going to be on the bridging visa till you die.  

I'm concerned that you're going for the 804 visa and not the Contributory option.  It suggests to me that you (or your boys) aren't able to afford the Contributory visa, and that's a big red flag to me.  Living in Australia in old age on a bridging visa, with no access to pensioner benefits or aged care support, will be expensive.   If you were in the UK and got into financial difficulty in your old age, you'd have access to government support.  In Australia, you'll have no safety net at all. 

There is a Contributory visa that you could go for.  It's expensive, but the wait time is 8-10 years.  So by the time you're 80, you'd be a permanent resident and have access to all the services and benefits you might need in your old age.

I agree with Paul that a consultation with an agent would be a wise move.  It's a small expense in the scheme of things and can be done over the phone.  Paul is a good choice.

Couple of real life points - 

Regarding 2: There are gaps in reciprocal cover that Australians would be covered for, especially if you need admission under your private cover (which I would suggest taking out over here).

Regarding 3: you would never get pulled up on this if you used the NHS. You'll remain in the system. I'm more than happy to stand corrected by anyone who has experienced difficulty with this but having worked for the NHS for over 15yrs I NEVER knew anyone actually not get treated or pay any bill that was cooked up if they were an illegal immigrant/tourist etc. The NHS just treats people and the number of people who get billed because they shouldn't have been covered is absolutely tiny.

Regarding The forum: Poor chap asks for visa advice and instead first receives advice on his life choices! Classic forum stuff!

Edited January 31, 2021 by DrDougster

[ramot]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

@PommyLyn, there are some members who've done it, but I haven't seen any of them here for a long time.   Here are the facts:

1.  Your UK pension will be frozen at whatever rate it is now. You'll never get any increases and any supplements will stop.  

2.  If you're currently resident in the UK, you'll be eligible for Medicare under the reciprocal agreement.  Officially that's limited, but in practice, you'll get the same as an Australian.  Be aware, though, that Medicare doesn't cover everything.  You'll have to pay for your prescriptions (no pensioner concessions), and they can be expensive.  You'll also pay for specialist visits ($200-$300 a pop) and depending where you live, there may be a co-payment for visiting your GP.    Spectacles and dental are not covered by Medicare at all.   

3.  Once you leave the UK, you lose the right to treatment under the NHS and any other benefits, even though you are a UK citizen.  So you can't pop back to the UK to get treatment/specs/dental if you find you can't afford it in Australia.

4. You'll be on a bridging visa.  That means you can't leave Australia. If you need to go overseas, you must apply for permission (a BVB), explaining your reason for needing to travel.

5.  You can buy a home to live in, but you'll need to apply to the FIRB for permission (for a fee).  Then you will pay a surcharge on the purchase.  On a $400,000 home, the surcharge would be around $30,000.   

6. As the waiting time for the 804 is 30 years, you're going to be on the bridging visa till you die.  

I'm concerned that you're going for the 804 visa and not the Contributory option.  It suggests to me that you (or your boys) aren't able to afford the Contributory visa, and that's a big red flag to me.  Living in Australia in old age on a bridging visa, with no access to pensioner benefits or aged care support, will be expensive.   If you were in the UK and got into financial difficulty in your old age, you'd have access to government support.  In Australia, you'll have no safety net at all. 

There is a Contributory visa that you could go for.  It's expensive, but the wait time is 8-10 years.  So by the time you're 80, you'd be a permanent resident and have access to all the services and benefits you might need in your old age.

I agree with Paul that a consultation with an agent would be a wise move.  It's a small expense in the scheme of things and can be done over the phone.  Paul is a good choice.

Marisa, to the best of my knowledge you are not entitled to access to all the services and benefits until you have been a PR for 10 years? I hope that’s wrong, but I thought that’s why your sponsor pays a bond to Centrelink?

Since we got PR and Medicare we are charged the same as everyone else on Medicare, and last year we reached the safety net and paid about $6 a script, till the end of the year, but apart from that we haven’t needed any extra support. If we do apply for anything before 10 years I will report on the success or lack of. We might however not be in quite the same position as most 143 parent visas though as we were on the pathway and didn’t have to lodge any money with centre link.

 

[ramot]

4 minutes ago, DrDougster said:

Couple of real life points - 

Regarding 2: There are gaps in reciprocal cover that Australians would be covered for, especially if you need admission under your private cover (which I would suggest taking out over here).

Regarding 3: you would never get pulled up on this if you used the NHS. You'll remain in the system. I'm more than happy to stand corrected by anyone who has experienced difficulty with this but having worked for the NHS for over 15yrs I NEVER knew anyone actually not get treated or pay any bill that was cooked up if they were an illegal immigrant/tourist etc. The NHS just treats people and the number of people who get billed because they shouldn't have been covered is absolutely tiny.

Regarding The forum: Poor chap asks for visa advice and instead first receives advice on his life choices! Classic forum stuff!

Reference paying for prescriptions, all the time we were on our temporary visa, 17 years, we only ever paid the PBS rate, will check with a friend who was on a bridging visa for the 804 visa what they were charged, but they had absolutely no complaints about Medicare and never had a problem getting any necessary treatment. One couple had a hip replacement.

As someone who spends about 3 months a year in UK every year, except last!! I was never charged by the NHS, this includes Drs and ER and follow up hospital clinic. Prescriptions were free due to age. Perhaps this has tightened up? 

We had to have private health on our temporary visa, so had some cover to dentist and optical.

I appreciate we were on a long term self funded temporary retirement visa, and luckily bought a house under previous conditions, but depending on individuals circumstances, we and everyone else we know on our visa managed ok. The real concern is that over a long period of time, as retirees is that income might not keep up with the cost of living.

We love living in Australia in our ‘old age’ !

[Marisawright]

58 minutes ago, ramot said:

Reference paying for prescriptions, all the time we were on our temporary visa, 17 years, we only ever paid the PBS rate...

As someone who spends about 3 months a year in UK every year, except last!! I was never charged by the NHS, this includes Drs and ER and follow up hospital clinic. Prescriptions were free due to age. Perhaps this has tightened up? 

I appreciate we were on a long term self funded temporary retirement visa, and luckily bought a house under previous conditions, but depending on individuals circumstances, we and everyone else we know on our visa managed ok. The real concern is that over a long period of time, as retirees is that income might not keep up with the cost of living.

We love living in Australia in our ‘old age’ !

You are right, prescriptions will be at the PBS rate. However, @PommyLyn would get all her prescriptions free in the UK, whereas here, prescriptions can easily cost $30 a pop, even on the PBS.  

It's a good question about doctors.  They are supposed to have tightened up, because the government was fed up of Brits moving to Spain, Italy etc, then hopping back to the UK for their healthcare. In practice, I suspect many GP's practices are too busy to check properly.

[DrDougster]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

You are right, prescriptions will be at the PBS rate. However, @PommyLyn would get all her prescriptions free in the UK, whereas here, prescriptions can easily cost $30 a pop, even on the PBS.  

It's a good question about doctors.  They are supposed to have tightened up, because the government was fed up of Brits moving to Spain, Italy etc, then hopping back to the UK for their healthcare. In practice, I suspect many GP's practices are too busy to check properly.

Hmmmmm. Dunno. Anyone think of anything that might possibly have bumped this down UK Drs "To Do List" in the last year?

Seriously though - not a chance of this happening to a large degree in the near future.

[Marisawright]

25 minutes ago, DrDougster said:

Hmmmmm. Dunno. Anyone think of anything that might possibly have bumped this down UK Drs "To Do List" in the last year?

This is something that was supposed to start happening in 2018, I believe.  However, having observed how harried GP practice staff were during my stay in the UK a few years ago, I can't imagine they would've had it high on their radar even then.

Edited January 31, 2021 by Marisawright

[Quoll]

1 hour ago, Marisawright said:

This is something that was supposed to start happening in 2018, I believe.  However, having observed how harried GP practice staff were during my stay in the UK a few years ago, I can't imagine they would've had it high on their radar even then.

My 96 year old dad was regularly asked by hospital admin on presenting to A&E whether he had been in UK for past 12 months.  It's part of the standard A&E questioning and once I did hear a UK citizen - Canadian resident - being refused free treatment for something because they weren't UK resident - the GP would have given them what they wanted but they would have had to have paid for it and they got shirty with him so they rocked up to A&E who told them to go back to the GP and pay for it.  The Canuks were being very vociferous about the refusal which is how I knew what was going on!

Edit to say, check out another thread on here about the perils of growing old and infirm whilst waiting on an 804 to mature!

Edited January 31, 2021 by Quoll