The Brand New PIO Parents Visa thread

[Calmac]

1 hour ago, Fisher1 said:

For us this was not an option because it was impossible to find anyone who would insure us for longer than thirty days once we turned sixty five. Several people have said on here that longer periods can be insured well into old age, but when we made our decision we had already searched high and low with no success ... So dont bank on being able to get travel insurance for long term visits.

 

I would imagine if you are resident for tax you would be considered resident for NHS provision? It seems that you are resident for UK twx if you spend more than six months in the UK or if you have a residence for your sole occupancy for more than thirty days. I think so called health tourism is ruled out but if you were temporarily resident, who knows ... One of the main complaints about frozen pensions is that we frozen pensioners are saving the government money by NOT using the NHS ...

Re insurance....I managed to get cover for 10 weeks for myself and wife (70 and 74 yr old) for just over £1000. A bit eyewatering for peace of mind but had to he done!

[LindaH27]

16 minutes ago, Calmac said:

Re insurance....I managed to get cover for 10 weeks for myself and wife (70 and 74 yr old) for just over £1000. A bit eyewatering for peace of mind but had to he done!

Have you looked at LV - especially the premium annual travel insurance? There’s cover for up to 90 days! Last year I think my premium was £250 or thereabouts. I’m not yet as old as you but I do have some Pre existing conditions which are fairly minor but I have always disclosed them. I believe there’s a 10%  discount for on line booking - and no Im not on commission for them !!

[SusieRoo]

6 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

Yes, care costs are horrendous in the UK. Having watched my mother's life savings being gobbled up at the rate of a thousand pounds a week, I find the whole notion of extreme old age absolutely terrifying.  If you stay home and your long suffering partner tries to care for you, payments for respite help depend on where you live and what your council can afford. I don't know what the answer is so I tend to stick my head in the sand.

Any room in that sand for another head?

I couldn’t agree with you more, aged care in the UK is a lottery. We have been through very similar eye-opening situations with parents and family. Access to quality private care is challenging and trying to get help from the state is shockingly inconsistent. I don’t know much about the Australian system, but it would need to be non-existent to be worse than some places in the UK.

I can’t help thinking there are too many unprepared people in the UK, sleepwalking into a very difficult period of their lives.

But what do you do? How can you determine what needs you’ll have? I guess there are no answers and maybe we just have to make the best of what we have now, and then bury our heads.

[ant111]

15 hours ago, LindaH27 said:

Having read posts about people returning to UK after long periods abroad can I just add a wee warning? 

Obviously people paid into and used NHS whilst they were living here. But given the sorry state of affairs now with an underfunded NHS creaking at the seams trying to cope with the extra pressures caused by an increasing population and a growing elderly population ( in common with Australia and other countries)  the UK govt are obviously looking at ways to rectify this. 

There have been grumbles in the past in various media about the costs of expats returning home for free treatment - and especially expensive treatment as they are older - just like Australia is now grumbling about Medicare costs for older parent immigrants who in many cases are paying large sums of money towards their visas. 

Last month I had a hospital appointment - first in ages -  I had to fill in forms asking lots of questions including was I a British  citizen etc and also how long I had been resident in the UK for!

So I’m not saying you won’t get free NHS treatment in the future if you return home after a long absence because I don’t know,  I’m just saying it looks as though perhaps it’s something that’s being considered? 

There is a ruling already that's SUPPOSED to prevent health tourism but affects all. You have to be resident and prove it officially but if you have a passport to prove citizenship some doctors will accept that but it is illegal unless your resident

[ant111]

14 hours ago, Tulip1 said:

Great post. One thing to mention re needing to go into care, very few now get that free unless of course you have no means to pay but I guess that's the same in Oz.  You have to pay and that includes selling your house to do so. Once your assets get down to £23k your contributions stop and the payments are covered by the state. Some go into nicer, private homes when they start off and have the ability to pay to however once you get down £23k and the state starts paying you will have to either move to a state care home or somehow top up the difference as there is a maximum the state will pay.  Even people with very advanced dementia will not get it covered by the NHS, even though they can no way care for rhemselves. 

Any illness should be covered by the NHS  but I know people who've had to fight for alzeimer patients. They may say advanced dementia is old age but thats unfair. However most people don't go into care.

[Amber Snowball]

There was a discussion some time ago about getting the AOS bond back. Not sure if it was this thread but anyway.....

 

Because of the time lag between placing the AOS, the visa being granted and then the person passing through immigration which is what sets the clock ticking on the 10 years the bond often rolls over into another “term” prior to it being released by Centrelink.

Info from Commbank today;

because it is a “special type of bond” it can be released as soon as they get the ok from Centrelink without penalty.

This was good news for me as my bond is caught in a 30 month renewal cycle and will be renewed the month prior the 10 year release date.

A long way off for some of you but that day will come and it’s nice to know you can get at your money.

I’ll report back in 12 months and let you know how it went. I will be offshore at the time so have just set instructions for that as well.

[Fisher1]

12 hours ago, SusieRoo said:

Any room in that sand for another head?

I couldn’t agree with you more, aged care in the UK is a lottery. We have been through very similar eye-opening situations with parents and family. Access to quality private care is challenging and trying to get help from the state is shockingly inconsistent. I don’t know much about the Australian system, but it would need to be non-existent to be worse than some places in the UK.

I can’t help thinking there are too many unprepared people in the UK, sleepwalking into a very difficult period of their lives.

But what do you do? How can you determine what needs you’ll have? I guess there are no answers and maybe we just have to make the best of what we have now, and then bury our heads.

 

5 hours ago, ant111 said:

Any illness should be covered by the NHS  but I know people who've had to fight for alzeimer patients. They may say advanced dementia is old age but thats unfair. However most people don't go into care.

You are right, it should be covered, but the govt. refuse to treat it as an illness and shove it under social needs. When you become ill enough to be bedridden snd need nursing care to prevent bed sores etc, then the NHS will, on receipt of confirmation from a health care professional, pay the nursing part of the care. First you have to get your relative assessed by a social worker, who is probably not going to be available until a week next Tuesday. So while your mother lies propped up in an easy chair by day you beg invisible people on answer phones to ring back urgently. All this for something like ten percent of the 1000 pounds weekly fee. We offered to forgo the NHS bit, but that wasnt allowed because everything had to go through a social worker regardless. When a social worker finally rocked up she asked me if I thought my semi- comatose mother might have stopped eating because she was a bit depressed. 

Many people in the UK do stay at home because there is no money to elect to go into a care home and their 'social needs' aren't deemed serious enough to need full time care. So their loved ones drive themselves into the ground trying to keep their increasingly demented relative safe, fed, and clean. Want to take two hours out to go for a walk, do a bit of shopping? You pay up to tweny pounds an hour for the privilege. I've heard it described as like being under house arrest ...

Surely senior care in Australia can't be any worse?

Sorry, I realise Ive strayed a long way from 'poms in oz',  rant over. 

 

 

[Kathss56]

[Kathss56]

SORRY,  long post above. Response from Senator McKims office to my email re processing times. No printer/scanner now so had to screenshot it all,,, MAYBE when they go well beyond the 40months she states  we could all email him again?, 

@Alan Collett for your perusal,

Edited May 28, 2018 by Kathss56

[Alan Collett]

1 hour ago, Kathss56 said:

SORRY,  long post above. Response from Senator McKims office to my email re processing times. No printer/scanner now so had to screenshot it all,,, MAYBE when they go well beyond the 40months she states  we could all email him again?, 

@Alan Collett for your perusal,

Thanks Kath.

A key concern for me is that the Department isn't transparent with information applicants of any type might reasonably consider when deciding whether or not to apply for a visa.

It appears the Department considers that publishing information about current processing timelines is sufficient.

I acknowledge that this is a small step forward from what we used to have, but it clearly isn't enough - Contributory Parent visa processing being a prime example.

What is being published currently is information based on applications that were lodged 3+ years ago.

What I dare say most would like to know is a good indication of the processing time for an application lodged now, 12 months ago, 24 months ago, etc.

The Department has a queue date calculator for the non Contributory Parent sub classes.  

Why can't the Department provide an interactive calculator that shows how many applications are ahead of a given application lodgment date?

Isn't this a reasonable quid pro quo for applicants who have already parted with several thousand $'s?

It isn't rocket science.

Best regards.

[ant111]

2 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

 

You are right, it should be covered, but the govt. refuse to treat it as an illness and shove it under social needs. When you become ill enough to be bedridden snd need nursing care to prevent bed sores etc, then the NHS will, on receipt of confirmation from a health care professional, pay the nursing part of the care. First you have to get your relative assessed by a social worker, who is probably not going to be available until a week next Tuesday. So while your mother lies propped up in an easy chair by day you beg invisible people on answer phones to ring back urgently. All this for something like ten percent of the 1000 pounds weekly fee. We offered to forgo the NHS bit, but that wasnt allowed because everything had to go through a social worker regardless. When a social worker finally rocked up she asked me if I thought my semi- comatose mother might have stopped eating because she was a bit depressed. 

Many people in the UK do stay at home because there is no money to elect to go into a care home and their 'social needs' aren't deemed serious enough to need full time care. So their loved ones drive themselves into the ground trying to keep their increasingly demented relative safe, fed, and clean. Want to take two hours out to go for a walk, do a bit of shopping? You pay up to tweny pounds an hour for the privilege. I've heard it described as like being under house arrest ...

Surely senior care in Australia can't be any worse?

Sorry, I realise Ive strayed a long way from 'poms in oz',  rant over. 

 

 

As far as care home costs in oz the coalition was trying to bring in a British type system ie sell your home to pay costs. But this got knocked back for now at least. Care costs seeem to get a reasonable government subsidy here at present.

Not sure about social care but the 're seems to be a lot of private care co advertising. Can anyone enlighten us. Whats social care like in Aus tralia?

[Kathss56]

35 minutes ago, Alan Collett said:

Thanks Kath.

A key concern for me is that the Department isn't transparent with information applicants of any type might reasonably consider when deciding whether or not to apply for a visa.

It appears the Department considers that publishing information about current processing timelines is sufficient.

I acknowledge that this is a small step forward from what we used to have, but it clearly isn't enough - Contributory Parent visa processing being a prime example.

What is being published currently is information based on applications that were lodged 3+ years ago.

What I dare say most would like to know is a good indication of the processing time for an application lodged now, 12 months ago, 24 months ago, etc.

The Department has a queue date calculator for the non Contributory Parent sub classes.  

Why can't the Department provide an interactive calculator that shows how many applications are ahead of a given application lodgment date?

Isn't this a reasonable quid pro quo for applicants who have already parted with several thousand $'s?

It isn't rocket science.

Best regards.

I considered us entering into some sort of “agreement” when we paid our NON refundable deposits. The continual lengthening of processing times is despicable. Sad to say I’m not convinced this will ever improve. Will email him again when I next log onto the global processing times. As no doubt it will have gone up another month.  like has been said on here unforeseen circumstances change in the 3-4yr wait for some applicants and you can’t get your deposit back! 

Edited May 28, 2018 by Kathss56

[Tulip1]

8 hours ago, ant111 said:

Any illness should be covered by the NHS  but I know people who've had to fight for alzeimer patients. They may say advanced dementia is old age but thats unfair. However most people don't go into care.

There's a difference from being covered by the NHS and the NHS paying for around the clock nursing home care, that is what they won't cover.  They don't say advanced dementia is old age, it isn't and it's recognised as such. They do many assessments through memory clinics, scans etc and will recognise the very clear difference from normal old age related issues compared with dementia which is an illness.  I don't know the percentage of dementia patients who end up in care but I'd say it's likely to be more than the 'most don't' that you quote.  Dementia is a deteriorating condition and most will need 24 hour care in the late stages. Of course that may come from family members if it's possible but I'd say many end up in a care home. 

[Fisher1]

14 minutes ago, Tulip1 said:

There's a difference from being covered by the NHS and the NHS paying for around the clock nursing home care, that is what they won't cover.  They don't say advanced dementia is old age, it isn't and it's recognised as such. They do many assessments through memory clinics, scans etc and will recognise the very clear difference from normal old age related issues compared with dementia which is an illness.  I don't know the percentage of dementia patients who end up in care but I'd say it's likely to be more than the 'most don't' that you quote.  Dementia is a deteriorating condition and most will need 24 hour care in the late stages. Of course that may come from family members if it's possible but I'd say many end up in a care home. 

Hmm diagnosis not quite as straightforward as that in my experience. 

[Fisher1]

2 minutes ago, Fisher1 said:

Hmm diagnosis not quite as straightforward as that in my experience.  

 

[SusieRoo]

3 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

SORRY,  long post above. Response from Senator McKims office to my email re processing times. No printer/scanner now so had to screenshot it all,,, MAYBE when they go well beyond the 40months she states  we could all email him again?, 

@Alan Collett for your perusal,

Good post Kathss56.

This is the first time I have ever experienced any real empathy from any Australian official or politician. To have Senator Kim supporting parent visa applicants is reassuring and he is probably the only reason the AoS issue was resolved.

If you email him again it would be good if he could ask questions about the cap. Like ‘Why were only 6218 visas granted last year when the cap is 7175?’

I strongly agree with Alan in saying how wrong if is for immi to hide the true waiting times from new applicants. Showing global processing times on there website in this way is misleading. They are taking peoples money under false-pretences.

The ‘pipeline’ is now up to 46,745 from 38,508 last year, so that’s at least 6/7 years wait for new applicants. Yet new people are still believe they only have 3.5 years to wait. I’m sure many would not bother if they new the truth.

Countless applicants will now reach retirement age while waiting for their 143s. So it would not be unreasonable to hold off applying now, then go for an on-shore 864 visa with the ability to stay in Australia on a bridging visa and shorted waiting times. But they can’t do this if immi continuing to publish fake news.

[Kathss56]

@SusieRoo I have already mentioned that in my reply back to them 

[ant111]

1 hour ago, Tulip1 said:

There's a difference from being covered by the NHS and the NHS paying for around the clock nursing home care, that is what they won't cover.  They don't say advanced dementia is old age, it isn't and it's recognised as such. They do many assessments through memory clinics, scans etc and will recognise the very clear difference from normal old age related issues compared with dementia which is an illness.  I don't know the percentage of dementia patients who end up in care but I'd say it's likely to be more than the 'most don't' that you quote.  Dementia is a deteriorating condition and most will need 24 hour care in the late stages. Of course that may come from family members if it's possible but I'd say many end up in a care home. 

Sorry I meant most ill aged people according to Age UK don't go into a care home. I assume they stay at home and die there or in hospital. Of course I would think dementia sufferers will form a high percentage of  care home patients.

 

[ant111]

1 hour ago, Tulip1 said:

There's a difference from being covered by the NHS and the NHS paying for around the clock nursing home care, that is what they won't cover.  They don't say advanced dementia is old age, it isn't and it's recognised as such. They do many assessments through memory clinics, scans etc and will recognise the very clear difference from normal old age related issues compared with dementia which is an illness.  I don't know the percentage of dementia patients who end up in care but I'd say it's likely to be more than the 'most don't' that you quote.  Dementia is a deteriorating condition and most will need 24 hour care in the late stages. Of course that may come from family members if it's possible but I'd say many end up in a care home. 

My sister in laws father had Alzeimers and she challenged the NHS to cover his care home fees. She used a little known court judgement and they were then forced to pay for his care

[Kathss56]

38 minutes ago, Kathss56 said:

@SusieRoo I have already mentioned that in my reply back to them 

Also. The “new” applicants will be thinking like we used to think oh - 18-24 months !! They will see 39-41mths now not realising it will probably go up to 6yrs for them!!

Edited May 28, 2018 by Kathss56

[LindaH27]

I wouldn’t be at all surprised that once govt realise there’s a work around using onshore visa 864 they will take steps to close that OR insist no further application condition on ALL visitor visas!!

[SusieRoo]

34 minutes ago, Kathss56 said:

Also. The “new” applicants will be thinking like we used to think oh - 18-24 months !! They will see 39-41mths now not realising it will probably go up to 6yrs for them!!

Yes that’s right, and that’s what p’s me off the most. If you know the truth you can get on with your life for a few years. We have been in living in turmoil for the last two years with work, holidays and planning to sell the house, because we thought we would be there by now. It’s also disruptive for our families. And all the time immi sits on all the information when they could easily inform people with the full facts.

We really need a fair system where every application is numbered and then you can see where they are up to and where you are in the queue. If there are 14k in front of you, and they are granting 7k visas each year, it easy to work out you have about 2 years to wait. As Alan says “It isn't rocket science”.

Edited May 28, 2018 by SusieRoo

[Kathss56]

12 minutes ago, SusieRoo said:

Yes that’s right, and that’s what p’s me off the most. If you know the truth you can get on with your life for a few years. We have been in living in turmoil for the last two years with work, holidays and planning to sell the house, because we thought we would be there by now. It’s also disruptive for our families. And all the time immi sits on all the information when they could easily inform people with the full facts.

We really need a fair system where every application is numbered and then you can see where they are up to and where you are in the queue. If there are 14k in front of you, and they are granting 7k visas each year, it easy to work out you have about 2 years to wait. As Alan says “It isn't rocket science”.

@SusieRoo concur wholeheartedly. 

Oh and by the way I’m just IN FRONT of you in the queue !!!! 

[Guest The Pom Queen]

Although I’m sure there was no harm meant please can we get back on topic and keep this thread the helpful friendly place it has become. It’s stressful enough getting a visa without us all falling out.

[Rosiejaq]

6 hours ago, Kathss56 said:

SORRY,  long post above. Response from Senator McKims office to my email re processing times. No printer/scanner now so had to screenshot it all,,, MAYBE when they go well beyond the 40months she states  we could all email him again?, 

@Alan Collett for your perusal,

I was thinking of doing that, but have busy working this weekend!  Thanks for doing it!