The Brand New PIO Parents Visa thread

[ramot]

6 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

Hi,

This question has often come up and the answer is yes. People have different experiences of the details .. I believe some banks will allow you to open an account free of charges ... my own experience is that I opened an account with Westpac in 2012 while in the UK, communicating by phone with the London branch and by email. We validated our account, produced proof of ID etc in London within six months of opening it, and then received bank cards via the post in the UK.  The cards allow payment in shops, restaurants etc. and withdrawals from bank machines but no credit element. The account costs five dollars a month. We also have an esaver account and more recently a regular savings account. We have found it invaluable for moving money over, arranging birthday and Christmas presents and actually paying for the visa.  We still haven't moved although we are hoping to change that very soon and have used our bank to transfer regular amounts of money - they have given us a rate we are very happy with.

 

 

I would suggest you compare the exchange rate offered by TransferWise to your bank's rate.

we transfer every month with transferwise, and cannot fault the exchange rate plus speed of the transfer, it's so quick and efficient.

[Pertenhall]

On 7/16/2017 at 16:54, SusieRoo said:

Has anyone got a return from a test email to IMMI recently?

I wonder if they have now stopped sending these, with the new financial year and the new Global Processing web page (which is due to be updated this week).

I’ve been looking at the ‘pipeline’ data from IMMI’s yearend reports and trying to workout how quickly (or not) processing may progress this year. And I estimate we will see 1 months worth of applications being processed every 1.75 months. From this I have calculated the estimated grant dates for 2015 and 2016 lodgements.

Please note this is only a guide and there are a lot of ‘ifs, buts and maybes’ and if we see processing moving faster than 1:1.75 these times will improve (and vice versa).

Wow, some work gone on here.  I am just a little concerned about your estimate of the ratio of moving 1 month in 1.75.  On 18th August 2016 they were processing 16 Jun 2014.  So in 11 months they have only moved on 4 months.  Hopefully things will pick up but I am coming to the horrible realisation that it won't be until the 2018/19 that we will be granted our visas.  Still at least we are planning a month with our daughter over Christmas and New Year so something positive to look forward to there!

[AMP]

1 hour ago, Pertenhall said:

Wow, some work gone on here.  I am just a little concerned about your estimate of the ratio of moving 1 month in 1.75.  On 18th August 2016 they were processing 16 Jun 2014.  So in 11 months they have only moved on 4 months.  Hopefully things will pick up but I am coming to the horrible realisation that it won't be until the 2018/19 that we will be granted our visas.  Still at least we are planning a month with our daughter over Christmas and New Year so something positive to look forward to there!

I'm sure there are grounds for being more optimistic.  The last test email showed that they are now processing applications lodged up to 13 Oct 2014, so that is only 6 months from your acknowledgement date.  I work on the basis  that an optimist can be just as wrong as a pessimist - but at least he is happy!!

[SusieRoo]

3 hours ago, Pertenhall said:

Wow, some work gone on here.  I am just a little concerned about your estimate of the ratio of moving 1 month in 1.75.  On 18th August 2016 they were processing 16 Jun 2014.  So in 11 months they have only moved on 4 months.  Hopefully things will pick up but I am coming to the horrible realisation that it won't be until the 2018/19 that we will be granted our visas.  Still at least we are planning a month with our daughter over Christmas and New Year so something positive to look forward to there!

The ratio of 1 to 1.75 is base on the number of parents queuing and the number of new applicants (for the last two years). It looks like there is about 12,500 parents chasing 7175 places each year (with 29,592 queuing on 1/07/2016 and I estimate there will be over 36,000 queuing today).

You are right to point out that processing has been much slower for the last 12 months, but this was due to very high number of applications in 2014. We should see some improvements this year and next, but then it is going to get much worse for the 2017er's. I expect a new applicants now will be looking at at least 5 years, unless the 'cap' is raised from 7175. 

We started out thinking 18 months and we would have our visas, it has been very hard to believe (and accept) this has now changed to 4 years. But now having adjusted to this 'new normal' our live are better is many ways. We can plan trips and holidays and just get on with all the day to day stuff, without keep thinking we will be moving any moment. And obviously if anything changes it should now be a bonus.

[Fisher1]

16 hours ago, ramot said:

I would suggest you compare the exchange rate offered by TransferWise to your bank's rate.

we transfer every month with transferwise, and cannot fault the exchange rate plus speed of the transfer, it's so quick and efficient.

thanks for the tip Ramot. I like to compare exchange rates every time I do a transfer ... the last few my bank has equalled the rate of my online currency broker but I have heard other people say transfer wise is good so will certainly check them out.

Edited July 18, 2017 by Fisher1

[Fisher1]

On 15/07/2017 at 17:11, AMP said:

You are very welcome - I will be interested to hear how you get on and what you eventually decide to do.

In the meantime I am having a dither about the "will they or won't they ship" issue, given that I will only be on a 600 visa.  I've sent an email to all the companies who quoted, posing the question.  Watch this space!

 

Hi AMP     I thought you might be interested in my move cube experience to date ...

As a matter of interest, we have decided not to use a move cube because we have too much stuff. Now I'm sure it's the case that with a straightforward deal move cube does what it says on the tin, but I found it difficult to get help from customer service.

1) I rang prior to booking and was assured that the £200 is refundable if you cancel before anyone comes to your house to check out the parking, but when the email confirming our booking arrived, it referred to 'your non-refundable deposit'. Confusion. We tried to text them to ask about it but the text bounced back - couldn't see a warning on the page not to reply to their email so that was time wasted.

2) I rang the number quoted in their email this morning and asked about the deposit, also said I probably wanted to cancel. pleasant woman said she would put me through to a member of the movecube team. I listened to music for five minutes. Pleasant woman came back on and said she was sorry, could someone ring me back in ten to fifteen minutes.

3) Half an hour later I rang the customer service number again (to be fair it was an 0800 number)  this time I chose the option for new business. Then I explained to pleasant man who answered that I was a bit fed up and wanted to cancel my cube. And we the deposit refundable. Yes it was, and he said he would cancel the cube immediately. When I told him we had too much stuff, he offered the "multi cube" option - telling me that the fixed costs remained the same no matter how many cubes you have. This could be helpful for anyone dithering. I was ready to be convinced and accepted his offer of someone to discuss it with straight away. I listened to some music. Pleasant man apologetically said that everyone was busy and could someone call me back in ten to fifteen minutes.

4) that was six hours ago. 

5) There has been no email confirming our cancellation.

 

As I have said, it probably all runs like clockwork once you are in the system, but if like me you want to be able to contact the firm doing your removals, you might want to try out their customer service before you have a site visit. Perhaps they were having a bad day? 

 .

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by Fisher1

[AMP]

17 minutes ago, Fisher1 said:

 

Hi AMP     I thought you might be interested in my move cube experience to date ...

As a matter of interest, we have decided not to use a move cube because we have too much stuff. Now I'm sure it's the case that with a straightforward deal move cube does what it says on the tin, but I found it difficult to get help from customer service.

1) I rang prior to booking and was assured that the £200 is refundable if you cancel before anyone comes to your house to check out the parking, but when the email confirming our booking arrived, it referred to 'your non-refundable deposit'. Confusion. We tried to text them to ask about it but the text bounced back - couldn't see a warning on the page not to reply to their email so that was time wasted.

2) I rang the number quoted in their email this morning and asked about the deposit, also said I probably wanted to cancel. pleasant woman said she would put me through to a member of the movecube team. I listened to music for five minutes. Pleasant woman came back on and said she was sorry, could someone ring me back in ten to fifteen minutes.

3) Half an hour later I rang the customer service number again (to be fair it was an 0800 number)  this time I chose the option for new business. Then I explained to pleasant man who answered that I was a bit fed up and wanted to cancel my cube. And we the deposit refundable. Yes it was, and he said he would cancel the cube immediately. When I told him we had too much stuff, he offered the "multi cube" option - telling me that the fixed costs remained the same no matter how many cubes you have. This could be helpful for anyone dithering. I was ready to be convinced and accepted his offer of someone to discuss it with straight away. I listened to some music. Pleasant man apologetically said that everyone was busy and could someone call me back in ten to fifteen minutes.

4) that was six hours ago. 

5) There has been no email confirming our cancellation.

 

As I have said, it probably all runs like clockwork once you are in the system, but if like me you want to be able to contact the firm doing your removals, you might want to try out their customer service before you have a site visit. Perhaps they were having a bad day? 

 .

 

I think you are being too generous re them having a bad day.  The customer service experience you had was pretty dire and doesn't give anyone a good impression of efficiency.

As you know, I have been trying to sort out shipping on a 600 visa.  Two agents just didn't reply to my query, One agent said they definitely couldn't ship if I was not going on a residency visa and said I would have to put my stuff in storage.  Another said I could ship but would have to pay customs duties, though they couldn't give me any indication of how much or how it is worked out.  Another said they could ship in my daughter's name but she would have to do all the paperwork and say everything was hers.  The final one, which is now my favourite (!) actually checked with their agent in Brisbane who said that since I was going on a 12 month visa it should be fine.  This latter agent also said that I wouldn't have any duty to pay as I have lived in the UK and owned everything for at least 12 months prior to shipping.  Apart from that, the actual value of all my items (not replacement value) would be very low as, having owned it, it is all second  hand. If sent  to auction, for example, it would raise very little. 

Mixed messages or what!?!  Amazing also that only one agent took the time to check it out.

[Geoffandgill]

On 18/07/2017 at 09:00, ramot said:

I would suggest you compare the exchange rate offered by TransferWise to your bank's rate.

we transfer every month with transferwise, and cannot fault the exchange rate plus speed of the transfer, it's so quick and efficient.

Hi, we've recently had a nightmare with Moneycorp.com(Australia). Unfortunately their whole procedure has changed for customers living in Australia, not for the better. Prior to the change we could book a rate of exchange and arrange the funds via debit card. Now for some reason you have to add funds to account before selecting a rate which defeats the object of being able to deal on line. Just recently we transferred a large amount of money to try and book a rate and the money went into a black hole for 48 hours! Also Moneycorp only deal during UK office hours!

We bank with NAB , do you know if they accept Transferwise transactions at nil cost? 

Geoff & Gill

[ramot]

36 minutes ago, Geoffandgill said:

Hi, we've recently had a nightmare with Moneycorp.com(Australia). Unfortunately their whole procedure has changed for customers living in Australia, not for the better. Prior to the change we could book a rate of exchange and arrange the funds via debit card. Now for some reason you have to add funds to account before selecting a rate which defeats the object of being able to deal on line. Just recently we transferred a large amount of money to try and book a rate and the money went into a black hole for 48 hours! Also Moneycorp only deal during UK office hours!

We bank with NAB , do you know if they accept Transferwise transactions at nil cost? 

Geoff & Gill

Sorry no idea about NAB. The  commonwealth bank doesn't charge.

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Hi, we've recently had a nightmare with Moneycorp.com(Australia). Unfortunately their whole procedure has changed for customers living in Australia, not for the better. Prior to the change we could book a rate of exchange and arrange the funds via debit card. Now for some reason you have to add funds to account before selecting a rate which defeats the object of being able to deal on line. Just recently we transferred a large amount of money to try and book a rate and the money went into a black hole for 48 hours! Also Moneycorp only deal during UK office hours!
We bank with NAB , do you know if they accept Transferwise transactions at nil cost? 
Geoff & Gill

@John from Moneycorp please can you look in to this


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[Guest John from Moneycorp]

Hi Geoff & Gill

Please feel free to contact me if you need any further assistance - I believe one of the team was in touch this morning.

Thanks

John 

[David Leask]

Hi, we've recently had a nightmare with Moneycorp.com(Australia). Unfortunately their whole procedure has changed for customers living in Australia, not for the better. Prior to the change we could book a rate of exchange and arrange the funds via debit card. Now for some reason you have to add funds to account before selecting a rate which defeats the object of being able to deal on line. Just recently we transferred a large amount of money to try and book a rate and the money went into a black hole for 48 hours! Also Moneycorp only deal during UK office hours!
We bank with NAB , do you know if they accept Transferwise transactions at nil cost? 
Geoff & Gill

We have used UKForex and Transferwise. Neither charge for depositing in the Comm Bank. Transferwise offer slightly better rates at the moment and are extremely quick (less than 24 hours on week days).


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[Ferrets]

On 17/07/2017 at 06:24, SusieRoo said:

Anyone interested in parent visa demographics?

I found these snippets and was surprised how few UK parents are in this process.

Not so many PomsinOz after all.

It's likely due to the balance of family test with the one child policy that means greater eligibility for Chinese parents.

 

[Fisher1]

21 hours ago, AMP said:

I think you are being too generous re them having a bad day.  The customer service experience you had was pretty dire and doesn't give anyone a good impression of efficiency.

As you know, I have been trying to sort out shipping on a 600 visa.  Two agents just didn't reply to my query, One agent said they definitely couldn't ship if I was not going on a residency visa and said I would have to put my stuff in storage.  Another said I could ship but would have to pay customs duties, though they couldn't give me any indication of how much or how it is worked out.  Another said they could ship in my daughter's name but she would have to do all the paperwork and say everything was hers.  The final one, which is now my favourite (!) actually checked with their agent in Brisbane who said that since I was going on a 12 month visa it should be fine.  This latter agent also said that I wouldn't have any duty to pay as I have lived in the UK and owned everything for at least 12 months prior to shipping.  Apart from that, the actual value of all my items (not replacement value) would be very low as, having owned it, it is all second  hand. If sent  to auction, for example, it would raise very little. 

Mixed messages or what!?!  Amazing also that only one agent took the time to check it out.

It sounds as though you are having just as much fun as us!  Out of interest, which was the agent who took the trouble?

We have now had a text from seven seas confirming the refund of our deposit, and have arranged a site visit with PSS - who are now my favourites ...

[AMP]

3 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

It sounds as though you are having just as much fun as us!  Out of interest, which was the agent who took the trouble?

We have now had a text from seven seas confirming the refund of our deposit, and have arranged a site visit with PSS - who are now my favourites ...

Yes, it's quite a worrying time, but glad to know that you have finally had your refund.  The agent who took the trouble was John Mason, and I would give them 10/10 for communication!   Good luck with the rest of your move. 

[Fisher1]

1 hour ago, AMP said:

Yes, it's quite a worrying time, but glad to know that you have finally had your refund.  The agent who took the trouble was John Mason, and I would give them 10/10 for communication!   Good luck with the rest of your move. 

And you!

[tajpal salwatura]

Hello, wonder if anyone can help me get some info since I cannot find must on the web.. I just our visa (subclass 143) for me my wife since both our children living in Auz. I'm aware this will take 36 month to process. We too aware that there is a ten year waiting period to apply for subsidy for living. So, can anyone give me a hint how much is that amount at current level weekly?


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[Scots Lass]

Hi, we've recently had a nightmare with Moneycorp.com(Australia). Unfortunately their whole procedure has changed for customers living in Australia, not for the better. Prior to the change we could book a rate of exchange and arrange the funds via debit card. Now for some reason you have to add funds to account before selecting a rate which defeats the object of being able to deal on line. Just recently we transferred a large amount of money to try and book a rate and the money went into a black hole for 48 hours! Also Moneycorp only deal during UK office hours!
We bank with NAB , do you know if they accept Transferwise transactions at nil cost? 
Geoff & Gill

We had the same issue recently- they didn't tell us the process had changed until we tried to move money.
By the time we resent all the required proof of identity etc and set up new account the rate had changed. Hate that we cannot pay by debit card any more. Will be looking at other sites


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[Bridgeman]

5 hours ago, tajpal salwatura said:

Hello, wonder if anyone can help me get some info since I cannot find must on the web.. I just our visa (subclass 143) for me my wife since both our children living in Auz. I'm aware this will take 36 month to process. We too aware that there is a ten year waiting period to apply for subsidy for living. So, can anyone give me a hint how much is that amount at current level weekly?


Sent from my iPad using PomsinOz

Basically the Australian Aged Pension is means tested and you have to pass the income and the assets test to qualify.  Also the rules have recently changed  if you have already claimed something from Centrelink you need to wait 15 years.

Two links posted by  Alan Collett a few pages back give more information.

 

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/age-pension

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/corporate/budget/budget-2017-18/older-australians/enhanced-residency-requirements-pensioners

 

Edited July 20, 2017 by Bridgeman

[Quoll]

14 minutes ago, Bridgeman said:

Basically the Australian Aged Pension is means tested and you have to pass the income and the assets test to qualify.  Also the rules have recently changed  if you have already claimed something from Centrelink you need to wait 15 years.

Two links posted by  Alan Collett a few pages back give more information.

 

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/services/centrelink/age-pension

https://www.humanservices.gov.au/corporate/budget/budget-2017-18/older-australians/enhanced-residency-requirements-pensioners

 

That's interesting! And basically puts the Age Pension beyond most new older arrivals because if you haven't worked 5 years before retirement age then it's 15 years. In answer to Tajpal, above, though - there is no "subsidy for living", they expect you to be financially independent and now you have to wait 15 years for the Centrelink Aged Benefit.

[SusieRoo]

On 18/07/2017 at 00:00, ramot said:

I would suggest you compare the exchange rate offered by TransferWise to your bank's rate.

we transfer every month with transferwise, and cannot fault the exchange rate plus speed of the transfer, it's so quick and efficient.

Thank you for this tip about TransferWise.

I really like the sound of this company, they have a different approach and by your account and the online reviews, it looks like it all works well. 

We are still some way off having our visas, but I wondered if we could set up an Australian bank account now, and start to transfer money. I try and keep an eye on the exchange rates (not so good at the moment) but if it picks up, we could maybe try and get a better rate than waiting until the last minute (2nd vac payment).

I phoned Westpac in London yesterday and they said we can only open an account 12 months before visa grant. But then they said if we are on holiday in Australia, we can walk into a branch and can activate our account, regardless of having our visa. I am not sure if this is true and don't want to have money frozen for years.

Sorry if this has been raised before on this thread, but does any know how to open a fully functional Australian bank account, before visa grant? Are there any AU banks with London (or Manchester) counters, where we can walk in and open and account and pay money in?  

 

[David Leask]

Thank you for this tip about TransferWise.
I really like the sound of this company, they have a different approach and by your account and the online reviews, it looks like it all works well. 
We are still some way off having our visas, but I wondered if we could set up an Australian bank account now, and start to transfer money. I try and keep an eye on the exchange rates (not so good at the moment) but if it picks up, we could maybe try and get a better rate than waiting until the last minute (2nd vac payment).
I phoned Westpac in London yesterday and they said we can only open an account 12 months before visa grant. But then they said if we are on holiday in Australia, we can walk into a branch and can activate our account, regardless of having our visa. I am not sure if this is true and don't want to have money frozen for years.
Sorry if this has been raised before on this thread, but does any know how to open a fully functional Australian bank account, before visa grant? Are there any AU banks with London (or Manchester) counters, where we can walk in and open and account and pay money in?  
 

I'm not sure of the process when opening a bank account from here. We opened an account at the Commonwealth Bank when we were on holiday two years ago. Visas were never mentioned. We opened a smart access account (this costs $4.00 per month) and a savings account which pays around 1 percent interest. We have debit cards. Transferring money using Transferwise or UKForex is really easy. The convenience of always having money across there is amazing.


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[VERYSTORMY]

1 hour ago, SusieRoo said:

Thank you for this tip about TransferWise.

I really like the sound of this company, they have a different approach and by your account and the online reviews, it looks like it all works well. 

We are still some way off having our visas, but I wondered if we could set up an Australian bank account now, and start to transfer money. I try and keep an eye on the exchange rates (not so good at the moment) but if it picks up, we could maybe try and get a better rate than waiting until the last minute (2nd vac payment).

I phoned Westpac in London yesterday and they said we can only open an account 12 months before visa grant. But then they said if we are on holiday in Australia, we can walk into a branch and can activate our account, regardless of having our visa. I am not sure if this is true and don't want to have money frozen for years.

Sorry if this has been raised before on this thread, but does any know how to open a fully functional Australian bank account, before visa grant? Are there any AU banks with London (or Manchester) counters, where we can walk in and open and account and pay money in?  

 

If you look at our partner parts of the forum, one is for NAB and you can contact them live on the forum and ask questions.

[Fisher1]

1 hour ago, SusieRoo said:

Thank you for this tip about TransferWise.

I really like the sound of this company, they have a different approach and by your account and the online reviews, it looks like it all works well. 

We are still some way off having our visas, but I wondered if we could set up an Australian bank account now, and start to transfer money. I try and keep an eye on the exchange rates (not so good at the moment) but if it picks up, we could maybe try and get a better rate than waiting until the last minute (2nd vac payment).

I phoned Westpac in London yesterday and they said we can only open an account 12 months before visa grant. But then they said if we are on holiday in Australia, we can walk into a branch and can activate our account, regardless of having our visa. I am not sure if this is true and don't want to have money frozen for years.

Sorry if this has been raised before on this thread, but does any know how to open a fully functional Australian bank account, before visa grant? Are there any AU banks with London (or Manchester) counters, where we can walk in and open and account and pay money in?  

 

Hi SusieRoo     That's really weird. We have had an account with Westpac for five years and have lived in North Wales the whole time! We have transferred money throughout that period and have used the account throughout three separate holidays over there. We initially opened the account by sending an email and somebody from the bank rang me. I explained carefully that (at that time) we had no possibility of living in Australia for the foreseeable future and we would be wanting the account for holidays and convenience of sending money over to family. They couldn't have been more helpful and we activated the account at the Westpac branch in London. I wonder if the rules have changed since we opened ours ...

[SusieRoo]

3 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

Hi SusieRoo     That's really weird. We have had an account with Westpac for five years and have lived in North Wales the whole time! We have transferred money throughout that period and have used the account throughout three separate holidays over there. We initially opened the account by sending an email and somebody from the bank rang me. I explained carefully that (at that time) we had no possibility of living in Australia for the foreseeable future and we would be wanting the account for holidays and convenience of sending money over to family. They couldn't have been more helpful and we activated the account at the Westpac branch in London. I wonder if the rules have changed since we opened ours ...

That sound perfect, I wonder if the rules have been tightened. Also when on the phone, I asked Westpac about a branch in London, and was told they only had corporate offices there. But when you look on the internet it is saying they have a retail branch on Camomile St. I'm always a bit dubious about any information from big business call centres.

My son is over from Australia on a three-day visit next month (don’t ask) and we are in London then, so I will see if we can walk-in and open an account.

How is the house sale and packing going? I had to giggle at your posts about storing the daughter’s things. We had a room full of son’s stuff for seven years, then on a visit home I asked him to see if he still needed to keep anything. He came out with one small carrier bag!