The All New CPV thread

[les-babs1315@hotmail.com]

Hi Les, things are still changing quickly, but in only one direction - down.

 

We did our weekly transfer and got $1.65 :arghh: that's 5 cents less in 7 days!

We have decided to stop the weekly transfers because at this rate we could not afford to go and would only need a holiday fund in Oz. To buy a $400,000 house in Oz would cost us an extra £8000 more than last week!!!!!

 

Our 2nd vac is $34,330 per person so paying in the UK would be at todays rate would be £1224 cheaper for both of us.

 

Hi Les,

Yes think that you would be better tansfering the money using moneycorp or forex in larger lumps, I did a couple of weeks ago when it was 1.79 so was lucky.

But now looks like I will pay the 2nd vac in London.

I found the advantage of using moneycorp was its done as soon as you make the phone call, I kept a daily eye on the rate and as soon as it looked right I did the deal.

Did the deal on the Monday and it was in my Oz bank on the Tuesday.

Also if you are dealing for the first time they will do the trasfer for no fee so if you can do it in a large lump it works out a good deal.

Moneycorp and Forex charge £15.00 per deal.

 

Regards

 

Les

[sandch]

Hi Les,

Yes think that you would be better tansfering the money using moneycorp or forex in larger lumps, I did a couple of weeks ago when it was 1.79 so was lucky.

But now looks like I will pay the 2nd vac in London.

I found the advantage of using moneycorp was its done as soon as you make the phone call, I kept a daily eye on the rate and as soon as it looked right I did the deal.

Did the deal on the Monday and it was in my Oz bank on the Tuesday.

Also if you are dealing for the first time they will do the trasfer for no fee so if you can do it in a large lump it works out a good deal.

Moneycorp and Forex charge £15.00 per deal.

 

Regards

 

Les

As of now Les that makes sense, though with the rate still somewhat volatile it could change quickly; even opinion polls on a Sunday can affect it these days, and a swing back above 1.70 is just as possible as one down to 1.50. The economic fundamentals and investor sentiment will continue to weigh heavily on sterling for a while yet. Challenging times for those of us heading east.

Cheers

Steve

[Les Avalook]

Thanks Guys for your comments. Our reasoning behind the weekly transfers was by using Nationwide to pay £s in our son could take out $s in Oz at the bank rate. We were only transferring enough to let him take out $400 per week. At first the transfer was free and then last summer Nationwide introduced their 1% fee, still only about £2 a pop. We hoped to get an average rate even though we did not control the day that the exchange took place. This has carried on for over a year but the rate drops this month has been the last straw.

We have set up an account to do an online transfer but with a £15 fee we would want to send thousands and not hundreds which we were not ready to do. With the recent fall we are not sure moving to Oz is still an option we want to take.

We have not spoken to our son and DIL yet but we are now concerned that at present the loss to our savings would make a move to Oz less likely. We could always catch up by sending lump sums out to Oz with FX, if the rate picks up, so going out to Oz is not ruled out. We have funds in Oz for the Aos bond and about 1 year’s rental so for now we just plan to wait until our expected CO in January 2011 and then decide if the move is viable then or a validation trip and then a few more years earning in the UK first.

Regards Les

[Guest Gollywobbler]

With the recent fall we are not sure moving to Oz is still an option we want to take.

We have not spoken to our son and DIL yet but we are now concerned that at present the loss to our savings would make a move to Oz less likely. We could always catch up by sending lump sums out to Oz with FX, if the rate picks up, so going out to Oz is not ruled out. We have funds in Oz for the Aos bond and about 1 year’s rental so for now we just plan to wait until our expected CO in January 2011 and then decide if the move is viable then or a validation trip and then a few more years earning in the UK first.

Regards Les

 

 

Hi Les

 

Right now, I don't know a single British CPV applicant who has not yet parted with the money, who is not saying exactly the same thing as you.

 

Every single one of them is worrying about falling house prices in the UK, rising house prices in Oz, massive increases in the costs of living in both the UK and Oz plus a sharp drop in the value of savings in the UK.

 

The ones who are really up against it are the people who have heard from COs in the last few months. I know two or three couples who have decided to abort the CP)V process, pull out and sit tight for the time being, in the hope that the situation in the UK will improve if they give it more time in which to do so. Losing the amount of the 1st Instalment has become a mere bagatelle compared to the other losses that many, many British Parents would take if they were to make the move right now.

 

The ones who don't have COs as yet and don't expect to get them for a while yet have the luxury of being able to sit, watch and think.

 

You know what I think, Les? I think that someone like you and maybe a couple of other British CPV applicants should have a chat with David Wilden at Australia House in London. He is DIAC's Regional Director for Europe. I have met him and he is an exceptionally nice, intelligent man.

 

Where is the harm going to be if a British CPV applicant tells the PVC well in advance, "I think you are likely to allocate me to a CO in three months time. Please could you put my application back by 12 months instead of bringing it forward simply and solely because your policy is to work on the lodgement date? With the UK situation in such a mess right now, we need more time and more flexibility here. Let somebody else - who is either richer than us or comes from a different country with a stronger currency - have the visas that you would earmark for us soon. They might well want to proceed quickly whereas we want to proceed more slowly...." And so on.

 

I am 100% sure that Mr Wilden would listen very sympathetically if a couple of you simply explain the problems to him. He has the ear of the top Policy people in Canberra so he would be able to talk to the Boss of the Family Policy section at Director-to-Director level. Between them I am sure that they could find some sensible solutions to the problems if somebody talks to them and spells out to them what those problems are.

 

It is useless trying to cascade this sort of thing upwards, starting with a fairly lowly CO at the PVC who is under pressure to process and grant as many CPVs as possible in a given Program Year. I think that you should start at the top - with Mr Wilden in London - and let him organise the senior Officers in Canberra to cascade any new operating instructions downwards to the PVC instead.

 

If you want David Wilden's direct contact details and phone number, please send me an e-mail [note - e-mail, please] via clicking on my user name to the left of this post. Mr Wilden's e-mail address has been scrambled by the PiO software in order to protect him. My e-mails have not been scrambled, however!

 

Mr Wilden is leaving London for Oz in the middle of next week and will not be back in London till the end of March. He is a shocker for checking his blackberry and replying to e-mails from home on a Sunday afternoon when he ought to be resting and doing something completely different instead. I get the feeling that the forthcoming trip to Oz will involve taking all of his gadgets away from him for a while and forcing him to rest!

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[sandch]

Thanks Guys for your comments. Our reasoning behind the weekly transfers was by using Nationwide to pay £s in our son could take out $s in Oz at the bank rate. We were only transferring enough to let him take out $400 per week. At first the transfer was free and then last summer Nationwide introduced their 1% fee, still only about £2 a pop. We hoped to get an average rate even though we did not control the day that the exchange took place. This has carried on for over a year but the rate drops this month has been the last straw.

We have set up an account to do an online transfer but with a £15 fee we would want to send thousands and not hundreds which we were not ready to do. With the recent fall we are not sure moving to Oz is still an option we want to take.

We have not spoken to our son and DIL yet but we are now concerned that at present the loss to our savings would make a move to Oz less likely. We could always catch up by sending lump sums out to Oz with FX, if the rate picks up, so going out to Oz is not ruled out. We have funds in Oz for the Aos bond and about 1 year’s rental so for now we just plan to wait until our expected CO in January 2011 and then decide if the move is viable then or a validation trip and then a few more years earning in the UK first.

Regards Les

 

It's a sobering assessment Les, which many of us will empathise with. For the longer term, there is the (much) cheaper option of joining the wait for a standard parent visa, that is if the alternative is not going at all. I wonder if one would step into that queue based on the original CPV acknowledgement date? Perhaps Gill could comment?

 

There are a couple of aspects to this of course. Firstly not all of us have the time to work through that queue, for reasons of age or the thought of missing out on the early years of grandchildren for example. Secondly, in the scheme of things, the second VAC is probably quite small compared to the other financial issues at stake; the asset values (including pension funds) already hit by a struggling economy, and exacerbated now by the depreciation of sterling.

 

If age is on our side, it's wise to be aware of the risks associated with relocating with insufficient security. I know when I was younger and times seemed to be tough, I could always find gainful employment. Three recessions later, this strategy is unlikely to be a banker for us.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

[Guest austibeach]

We like most of you have had to think long and hard about making the move as it really does feel as though everything and everyone has conspired to make the situation as unviable as it possibly could be. However we have decided to push on regardless, as we have waited for over twenty years for an opportunity to join our family. Fortunately for us we do have that family there that we can turn to and so it rather looks as though we will have to impose on them for a good deal longer than we had ever anticipated. Until such times as the exchange rate improves, we will have to consider to either rent our house, or at least leave the majority of its sale price, here in the U.K.

Our original intention had been to retire when we moved, but I'm afraid I at least will have to work on for some years yet , always assuming I can find something.

It really is a shame that things have turned the way they have over the past year or so, as it has rather taken off the gloss of finally getting a CO, something we had always looked forward to.

At this moment in time we are still unsure that the thing we are about to do is the right thing ; our hearts say do it, whilst our heads have doubts.

 

Eric.

[Guest tweddells]

Hi,

 

does anyone know what happens if the partner of the main applicant no longer wants to be on the application? This is just prior to the 2nd payment, everything else already done!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi,

 

does anyone know what happens if the partner of the main applicant no longer wants to be on the application? This is just prior to the 2nd payment, everything else already done!

Hi there tweddells

 

Welcome to Poms in Oz.

 

You can withdraw the secondary applicant from the application at this stage if you wish. You need to contact your CO and sort the details out with him or her but there is no legal problem with doing as you wish.

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest tweddells]

Thank you Gill, all advise is appreciated. :-)

[Guest]

Hi Les

 

 

 

According to the Telegraph the money has been ring fenced and apparently it just sits around collecting interest because the Pensioners are not in the UK and so they cannot claim it.

 

http://www.pomsinoz.com/forum/money-finance/68053-uk-pensions-court-case.html

 

I stand by my point that if the UK Government's stance has been unlawful then any "consent" from my mother was void ab initio. She is not an expert on Pensions Law because she expects the British Government to understand what their own Law says and she expects them to know whether or not local law conflicts with EU Law about this. In short, she expects the British Government to know what they are talking about. This is not an unreasonable thing for an old person to expect from her Government, in my view.

 

Apparently the Australian Government cheered the British Pensioners in Oz because the Aussie Govt does not consider it reasonable that the Aussie tax-payer should foot the bill simply because the British Government declines to foot its own bills. I agree with the Aussies.

 

Then there is the argument about things like the winter fuel payment. My view is that the British Pensioners abroad should receive it. I discovered that this works weirdly in the UK. Mum was in the UK from 18th to 24th September 2006. She was booked to fly to Oz on 8th Oct 2006. The winter fuel payment arrived in her account automatically at the end of September/beginning of October, whilst she was still in the UK.

 

I queried it with a friend of mine who had worked in the relevant Benefits office in an earlier incarnation. She said that if the Pensioner was physically in the UK during the relevant week then the payment was proper and that Mum should grab it. So we grabbed it. I assumed that there must be lots of British Pensioners, living in Spain, who came back to the UK for a few weeks every September in order to grab this payment! Whether the rules are stupid is a separate question, I reckon.....

 

I can't remember the details of the ECHR ruling in October 2008. I am not sure but I think the Pensioners living in the EU got the annual increments plus the winter fuel payment. The fact that some of them may now live in a warmer climate than the UK is irrelevant in my view. Some of them might live in the mountains near Madrid, where it snows every year without fail. Most of Europe is warmer than the UK in summer but a lot of it can be colder than the UK at certain times in the winter.

 

I also think that Tim Otty QC was right to argue that if English Law/Human Rights Law says XYZ then what it says is not confined to Europe alone. If it applies then it applies regardless of where the British Pensioner is living, it seems to me.

 

So fingers crossed that he has managed to persuade enough of the 17 Judges in the Grand Chamber of the ECHR, I reckon!

 

Cheers

 

Gill

 

Hi Gill

 

Hope you're well?

 

With reference to the court case with ECHR. The decision of the appeal court judges is to be handed down at 1130am Strasbourg time tomorrow - 16 March - which is 9.30pm on the east coast of Australia. I agree with you, and Tim Otty (!), that there should be no discrimination as to place of residence - the pensions should be uprated for either everyone who qualifies or, conversely, for no one. I have paid in the maximum NI contributions over the years (44 of them!) and they have now reduced the maximum required to 30 years, just when the population is rapidly ageing! I presume you still have to carry on paying NI contributions after the 30 year point (age 46 for many people) in order to fund the state pensions of those who haven't been able to contribute over the years, either by misfortune or intent.

 

I did ask for a refund of my 14 years "over-contribution" but got no reply:wink:

 

As a very interested party on all things pensions and tax etc, I shall be logged on tomorrow evening to get the court decision. To be honest, though, I am not too optimistic as the initial judgement at the ECHR went 6 - 1 against. At least for the appeal, Tim Otty was able to actually address the court, and a very good job he made of it. Even if we get a "win" situation, the UK government will presumably have the right to appeal - another few years down the dunny!

 

Fingers, and everything else, crossed!

 

Regards

 

Jim

 

ps re your post - you are correct - British pensioners living in Spain have an entitlement to the Winter Fuel Allowance. Now, I know it gets cold in parts of Spain in the winter, but really.....!!!

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi Gill

 

Hope you're well?

 

With reference to the court case with ECHR. The decision of the appeal court judges is to be handed down at 1130am Strasbourg time tomorrow - 16 March - which is 9.30pm on the east coast of Australia. I agree with you, and Tim Otty (!), that there should be no discrimination as to place of residence - the pensions should be uprated for either everyone who qualifies or, conversely, for no one. I have paid in the maximum NI contributions over the years (44 of them!) and they have now reduced the maximum required to 30 years, just when the population is rapidly ageing! I presume you still have to carry on paying NI contributions after the 30 year point (age 46 for many people) in order to fund the state pensions of those who haven't been able to contribute over the years, either by misfortune or intent.

 

I did ask for a refund of my 14 years "over-contribution" but got no reply:wink:

 

As a very interested party on all things pensions and tax etc, I shall be logged on tomorrow evening to get the court decision. To be honest, though, I am not too optimistic as the initial judgement at the ECHR went 6 - 1 against. At least for the appeal, Tim Otty was able to actually address the court, and a very good job he made of it. Even if we get a "win" situation, the UK government will presumably have the right to appeal - another few years down the dunny!

 

Fingers, and everything else, crossed!

 

Regards

 

Jim

 

ps re your post - you are correct - British pensioners living in Spain have an entitlement to the Winter Fuel Allowance. Now, I know it gets cold in parts of Spain in the winter, but really.....!!!

 

 

Hi Jim

 

It is lovely to hear from you again. I am fine, thanks. I hope that you and your family are equally well?

 

Thank you very much indeed for your information that the Judgement about British Pensions will be available tomorrow.

 

I haven't read Tim Otty's actual address to the ECHR. It is around but I decided that the commentaries are easier than reading the address itself and trying to understand the relevant law.

 

Apparently in the original Judgement, the ECHR Judges got stuck on the powers of the ECHR. They decided that the ECHR has no jurisdiction over matters where the relevant people (the British Pensioners) are not living in the EU. Tim Otty QC argued that the ECHR Judges mis-directed themselves. Apparently he said that the ECHR would have no jurisdiction over, say, the Australian Government because Australia is not part of the EU. However, Mr Otty said that the rulings of the ECHR bind the Pensioners of the British Government no matter where they are in the world. He said that the powers of the ECHR are not confined in their geographical effects, only on which Governments they affect.

 

I know that I have a vested interest in the outcome..... So does Mrs Carson, the British Pensioner who started the case. I have the impression that she has put up the lion's share of the money to see this thing through. Mrs Carson lives in South Africa, which is one of the countries that does not have a reciprocal social security agreement with the British Government.

 

It is impossible for me not to be biased and subjective about Mr Otty's argument. However, doing my best to be objective and hard-headed about it, logic suggests to me that Mr Otty must be right. I suspect that the powers of the ECHR were not and are not intended to work according to the geography of the EU only.

 

The 17 Judges of the Grand Chamber of the ECHR come from 17 different EU countries. That muddle alone ought to convince a fair few of them that the powers of the ECHR are not limited, I hope!

 

Apparently the whole thing turns on this question of the jurisdiction of the ECHR. I can't imagine that Brussels - which loves the idea of just one European State - wants its wings to be clipped in the manner of the original ECHR ruling.

 

That said, I know absolutely nothing about this area of Law. However if I were Mrs Carson I'd put a couple of cases of of champagne into the fridge today. If she wins, she and Mr Otty can have a bottle each! If she loses, she and Mr Otty might as well consume a bottle of bubbly each in order to drown their sorrows! The rest of the booze would be for everyone else who is closely involved - and has helped to put up the money - in fighting the case.

 

I do know that there is no Appeal against the Judgement of the Grand Chamber. There is no one left to appeal to after them. If Mrs Carson wins, the British Government are stuck with it and they can start paying her properly first. She has been warned that if the Judgement goes against her, she will be stuck with the ECHR ruling on the matter.

 

Fingers crossed and thank you very much again for your most welcome news.:notworthy:

 

Cheers

 

Gill

[Guest austibeach]

Well we have now had our X-rays and medicals done in Cardiff, which turned out to be one step forward and possibly two steps back, as my wife's blood pressure was high and protein was discovered in her urine sample, we now have to deal with those problems. Other than that we have also to provide further letters from our GP, basically to show that her previous operations and health issues have been dealt with satisfactorily and are of no continuing problem. We were both impressed with the doctor that conducted the medicals, as she was very thorough and reassuring in her examinations. We just hope that we can get good results from her next blood pressure test and that the protein in her sample is nothing that can't be sorted.

Given that we have now gone 12 days into the time allowed by our case officer to provide the relevant information, I would consider that I will have to ask for an extension of time, as 28 days is looking rather tight. The doctor in Cardiff even thought it was tight, as she didn't know whether our blood tests would be returned in time.

 

We march on in hope,

Eric.

[Guest happilou]

Well we have now had our X-rays and medicals done in Cardiff, which turned out to be one step forward and possibly two steps back, as my wife's blood pressure was high and protein was discovered in her urine sample, we now have to deal with those problems. Other than that we have also to provide further letters from our GP, basically to show that her previous operations and health issues have been dealt with satisfactorily and are of no continuing problem. We were both impressed with the doctor that conducted the medicals, as she was very thorough and reassuring in her examinations. We just hope that we can get good results from her next blood pressure test and that the protein in her sample is nothing that can't be sorted.

 

 

Hi Eric,

 

Congrats re. being allocated a CO! We are also desperately waiting :err:

Did the DIAC doctor send your wife for re-tests before sending the results off to POPC? Did your CO request for letters from GP to certify no issues with previous ops or did you obtain the letters as a pre-caution? My mum had a knee replacement surgery done 4 years ago, am wondering whether we should approach the specialist to write us a letter?

 

Btw, does anyone know whether a person having a partial hearing loss affects the outcome of the health assessment?

 

Thanks!

---------------

PCV ack 3/2/09, waiting for CO allocation

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi All

 

The British Pensioners (half of whom live in Oz) have LOST the final legal battle in the Grand Chamber of the ECHR. :mad:

 

Home page and reference site for the International Consortium of British Pensioners

 

The quick way to download the Judgement is via the above link.

 

To judge from the ICBP website, it seems that they now plan to see what sort of political support they can muster instead. I fear that the reality of that is that when many of the Pensioners were younger, the UK was a vastly better place than it has become in the last few years.

 

I reckon that the current political mobs - all of them from all of the main parties - would promise anything to get the immediate vote but I personally wouldn't trust any of the blighters not to renege on that promise later.

 

Where I live, the sitting MP is a Lib-Dem. Last time, I voted Tory to try to stop the Lib-Dem from getting in, but the Lib-Dem won the seat by just 700 votes. The only other contender was the Tory. Labour were miles behind around here and I suspect that they still are.

 

This time, the first time that a Lib-Dem foot soldier disturbs my peace one weekend, I plan to tell him or her to send the local Lib-Dem MP round for a grilling by me. I plan to do the same with the Tory candidate as well. They choose to waste their own time and money on the political game. I don't choose to waste either of mine on it so they can both come here, to me. After that, I'll have a look at the hustings and find out how both of them are doing....

 

I plan to contact the ICBP, to get some instructions from them about how I could help and what they want me to do.

 

This one issue might even get me marginally interested in British Politics for a bit. Especially once I've told both candidates that both they and their Parties are lying rats in my opinion but that it is also my own belief that Brown and his mob are even bigger liars and even bigger rats. I don't plan to mince my own words with any of them, so we'll see....

 

Cheers

 

Gill :sad:

[Guest austibeach]

---------------

Hi happilou,

 

The doctor will not have sent off any results as yet and will await the outcome of the further tests, as we understand it. I have not been in direct contact with the CO as yet, so it was the panel doctor that has requested the letters from our GP, basically to state that each of three operations or conditions that my wife has had over her life-time, are now in fact no further problem to her. My wife does suffer from Crohn's Disease which is an ongoing condition and we had already asked her consultant to provide a letter stating how her condition has been managed over the years ; unfortunately he has still not sent us this letter, although the panel doctor did not ask for it anyway.

There is a hearing test conducted as part of the medical, but I would be doubtful whether a partial hearing loss would be a major problem ; this is of course only my opinion.

Good luck with your application,

 

Eric.

[Guest happilou]

Hi Eric, Thanks for sharing.

 

My mum has done a knee replacement surgery 4 years ago. Apart from her partial hearing problem (she wears a hearing aid) and high cholesterol (controlled with medication), she is generally in good health.

Mum did have an old surgery for the lung when she was a teenager, more than 40 years ago! There was a blockage in the blood vessel and a major operation was done. There had been no recurring issues with this but of course the surgery left some scaring to her lung and it is visible on an x-ray, i.e. part of her lung looks ‘chipped off’. She has been followed up by the health authorities in Sydney (not part of DIAC) for about 3 years now and they seemed satisfied she is not a risk to the community as she is only required to attend a final review later this year. Mum had also done a couple of x-rays with the Health Services Australia (DIAC radiologists, latest x-ray was taken in Jan 10) for short term visitors stay purposes and had no further questions asked. Therefore for the PCV meds, I really hope the medical officers of DIAC will check their internal records and liaise with their visitors’ visa office and not give us more trouble with this old surgery.

Anyone else had similar issues?

[yomvard]

Please could you tell me how to get a bank account in Oz to transfer money as whenever I have made enquiries I have been told that without a visa it isn't possible, so how is it that you have been able to move the 2nd vac payment across in stages?

[yomvard]

Sorry the above question is for Les-Babs.

[Guest austibeach]

After attempting the near impossible, in completing our medicals and police checks within the 28 days we were allowed by our case officer, we have now been given another 28 days.

I simply e-mailed the case officer, after an abortive atttempt to make direct phone contact and we received an e-mail within an hour or so, allowing us an extension. Why they offer such a tight window of time to submit everything I do not know, but as the panel doctor told us, it can take up to 21 days just to receive blood test results, 28 days does seem unrealistic. We will hopefully be not too far outside the original time, but with Easter coming up, we may well run into the following week.

It's good to know that we at least have done all that we can to remain on schedule and hopefully the next we will hear is that they are requesting our second payment.

 

Good luck to all of you that are still in the queue and that your long wait will soon be nearing it's conclusion.

 

Eric.

[phyllis71]

Hi Eric. We are in the same situation. We got word that we had a CO and she told us we had to have our medical, police check, Assurance Of Support. form 80 plus a load of documents that we had already submitted. We were on holiday in Sydney when we got the email, and I phoned her and explained that it was not possible she gave us an extension of another 28days. I asked for a further extension and she told me she was not allowed to give a longer extension, and if I wanted longer I would have to withdraw our application and reapply later. This of course wasnt an option. It got us moving. We got our medical done in Sydney on tuesday. We arrived home today, and we will have to get on with it. It is very exciting but also scary, what with the exchange rate etc. But it will be so worth it to be with our daughters and our grandchildren. Good luck Phyllis

[les-babs1315@hotmail.com]

Please could you tell me how to get a bank account in Oz to transfer money as whenever I have made enquiries I have been told that without a visa it isn't possible, so how is it that you have been able to move the 2nd vac payment across in stages?

 

Hi,

Last time we were in OZ we opened two accounts with ANZ bank, one was a current account and one was a savings account, we are able to access these online.

I have been using Money corp to move money to my bank accounts.

I believe that there are some OZ banks in the UK that will allow you to open a bank account, one of them is the Commenwealth Bank,if you go online and google Australian Bank accounts you should get some answers.

 

Best wishes

 

Les & Babs

[yomvard]

Hi Les & Babs,

Many thanks, I will try, but my daughter in law works for ANZ in Melbourne and said we could not open an account until we had a visa and were moving out immediately, I will google Commonwealth Bank and try and do as you have said as it is so much easier if we could send money on a regular basis as you have done. Pity we couldn't have done so earlier when the exchange rate was bette. Scary isn't it at the moment. When all the family, children and grandchildren are out in Aus. it is a case of having to do it, but it is whether the finances stretch far enough to be able to make it work. Just got to try and see or wonder what if!!!

When are you hoping to go?

best wishes

Sandy

[les-babs1315@hotmail.com]

Hi Les & Babs,

Many thanks, I will try, but my daughter in law works for ANZ in Melbourne and said we could not open an account until we had a visa and were moving out immediately, I will google Commonwealth Bank and try and do as you have said as it is so much easier if we could send money on a regular basis as you have done. Pity we couldn't have done so earlier when the exchange rate was bette. Scary isn't it at the moment. When all the family, children and grandchildren are out in Aus. it is a case of having to do it, but it is whether the finances stretch far enough to be able to make it work. Just got to try and see or wonder what if!!!

When are you hoping to go?

best wishes

Sandy

 

Hi Sandy,

I was able to open our account when in OZ on a tourist visa with ANZ, and if I am not mistaken you can open an account with ANZ in London try this link.

ANZ Applications

Most of the Australian banks will let you open an account online.

 

Best wishes

 

Les

[yomvard]

Hi Les,

Wish we had done the same thing when over in January, didn't realise we could do that. Ok will check this out ..many thanks for the info. Good luck with your visa, do you have long to wait?

regards

Sandy

[les-babs1315@hotmail.com]

Hi Les,

Wish we had done the same thing when over in January, didn't realise we could do that. Ok will check this out ..many thanks for the info. Good luck with your visa, do you have long to wait?

regards

Sandy

 

Hi Sandy,

Not long to wait for the visa, will be making the 2nd vac payment in the next few days and then its down to how long the CO takes to issue our labels.

Then we are waiting for the house to sell before we can move over.

 

Best wishes

 

Les:daydreaming: