The Brand New PIO Parents Visa thread

[Sadge]

3 minutes ago, Ferrets said:

They are more expensive here, but we have treated it a bit as a cost of moving.  Part of that has also been that we didn't know what our final home would end up as.

If you already own then bring, but I wouldn't go to the effort of buying new and importing if not already owned.  

That said we paid AUD $900 for a fridge, freezer and washing maching from Aldi.  Fridge and Freeer are ok, but washing machine is useless!

 

Really, I was trying to find out  if there is a tax/duty free allowance for new goods if they are for personal rather than commercial purposes.  Unless somebody knows the official answer I'll try to find out next week.  If I do, I'll be sure to post the answer here.  

[Ferrets]

1 minute ago, Sadge said:

Really, I was trying to find out  if there is a tax/duty free allowance for new goods if they are for personal rather than commercial purposes.  Unless somebody knows the official answer I'll try to find out next week.  If I do, I'll be sure to post the answer here.  

Tax free allowance for UPEs is AUD $900 per visa holder I believe. 

[bridgie]

Gumtree is huge in Australia. We have bought coffee tables, rugs, washing machine, garden mulcher, TV tables etc etc. Yes you have to have the time ,transport and inclination but the savings are incredible. Also don't forget everything but everything has delivery costs.....there is no free delivery. Spent 5000 in Good Guys and still had to pay 75 delivery costs. KMart and Target are godsends for kitting out a house cheaply. IKEA have branches around Melbourne are also good, not sure of branches of IKEA ain other states.

eBay has been great but, let the buyer beware and always visit before paying and try to pick up in person.


Sent from my iPad using PomsinOz

[nyorksgrannie]

4 hours ago, Ferrets said:

Lol I stand corrected, really thought you needed a longer term visa to import personal items!!

Hi, so did I, I understood shippers (Anglo Pacific in our case) will not ship without 143 or similar.  You can send boxes to family in Oz (as we still have some things of our daughters we will do this) but not a container.

 

4 hours ago, Ferrets said:

Lol I stand corrected, really thought you needed a longer term visa to import personal items!!

 

[Kathss56]

56 minutes ago, Sadge said:

Anybody know the position regarding "new goods" not owned for 12 months?  Given the price of white goods in Australia, I plan to buy and have shipped a fridge/freezer (50/50 split very difficult to find in Aus, not to mention expensive) and a front loader washing machine (also very expensive in Aus); together probably with two or three small items.  I reckon in total under £1,000-worth here, but converted to AUS$ and their prices considerably more.  If I converted the value to say AUS$2,000 to $2,500, any idea what I'd be looking at in terms of tax/duty?

Can only see this info

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/GST/In-detail/Rules-for-specific-transactions/International-transactions/GST-and-imported-goods/

and this also

https://www.thecurrencyshop.com.au/business/a-guide-to-importing-goods-into-australia

Value of goods by Customs is the equivalent cost to buy in Australia

Edited May 28, 2017 by Kathss56

[nyorksgrannie]

5 hours ago, rogeliz said:

Reading through the threads, we thought some of you might be interested in our experiences. We have now been in Australia as permanent residents with a 143 visa for a little over 2 years. We initially used a migration agent based in Perth, having met their representative in London the previous year. We sent the forms to them in January 2013 but they took what seemed to us to be an excessive amount of time checking our forms. Finally after many prompts by us, they said the forms had now all been changed by Immigration and would have to be re-done. However they offered to do this for us on our behalf, and just use the signature page we had submitted. They then told us the forms had been sent to the Parent Visa Section in July 2013.

 

Meanwhile we put the house on the market. In December 2013, we had a concrete offer which we accepted. You can imagine how we felt when we learnt only a few days later on the internet that the Migration Agent we had used had gone bankrupt. We immediately sent off an email and got a reply from the liquidators confirming the bankruptcy and furthermore stating there was no record of our application ever having been lodged. What a Christmas present! We phoned Immigration in London and they were also unable to find any application and stated we would have to start over again!

 

We decided not to lose the sale of the house, so moved into rented accommodation in January 2014. We completed all the new forms, and sent them by courier. No Agent this time, in January 2014. We didn’t want to stay in the UK rental for another 2 years while the new application went through so we applied for and got a 600 Visa allowing us to visit Australia for a maximum of 12 months in any 18, for a period of 3 years. We also took a very big gamble and applied for permission (as foreigners) to buy a house in Australia. We were told it had to be new or off plan, we could not buy anything ‘second hand’. We paid the deposit on an off-plan house which was going to be ready about November 2014. Unfortunately we could not ship any furniture, on a 600 Visa, so everything went into storage in the UK.

 

We travelled to Australia on the 600 visa in October 2014 with a view to having to ‘come and go’ until the 143 was granted. With a 600 for 3 years, we had a fair amount of leeway. We moved into the house at the beginning of November 2014. Incidentally, we sent 3 large suitcases by ship containing clothes, shoes, sports items but they took 3 months to arrive so if you are reading this, we suggest you use air freight as it is quicker.

 

About a month later, at the suggestion of the family in Australia, we phoned up Immigration to see if they could give us an update on the new application we had sent in January 2014. Imagine our horror again when we were told they had no record of an application from us Somewhat distraught at this, we contacted the family and our son, our sponsor, he told us he had just the very same day received an email from Immigration asking him to make the sponsorship payment etc for our application which was nearing completion!!

 

Wondering now what on earth was going on, it turned out that the Migration Agent HAD in fact sent off the application but when copying out our details on the new forms, had inadvertently put our email address --.com instead of --.co.uk , an address that happened to exist!  So, all the Immigration information that should have come to us had gone astray.  All this now meant we had 2 weeks to get the Health Checks done (which we did in Australia) and the UK Police Checks which we did via a courier. Just before Christmas 2014 we had confirmation that we would be given the visas once we had left Australia and they would be issued on our return. So in January 2015 we left the warmth of NSW for the freezing cold & snow of the UK to ship the stored possessions.

 

Our visa was confirmed when we came back in February 2015 and we have been here enjoying Australia ever since.

 

In conclusion, yes it was extremely stressful at the time but we don’t regret it. However we would not recommend using an Agent as all the forms are easily downloaded and if you are a native English speaker they are not difficult, just tedious to fill them all in.

What an awful experience for you so glad it came right in the end, a warning to all new applicants - make sure you receive a receipt with lodgement date, we have an agent and she sent the copy from immi to us, it might take a few weeks.

[Sadge]

35 minutes ago, bridgie said:

Gumtree is huge in Australia. We have bought coffee tables, rugs, washing machine, garden mulcher, TV tables etc etc. Yes you have to have the time ,transport and inclination but the savings are incredible. Also don't forget everything but everything has delivery costs.....there is no free delivery. Spent 5000 in Good Guys and still had to pay 75 delivery costs. KMart and Target are godsends for kitting out a house cheaply. IKEA have branches around Melbourne are also good, not sure of branches of IKEA ain other states.

eBay has been great but, let the buyer beware and always visit before paying and try to pick up in person.


Sent from my iPad using PomsinOz

Not to mention Vinnies!

My daughter and I visited a massive Vinnies (St Vincent de Paul) and I reckon I could furnish my complete home (with the exception of w/m and f/f) for about $2,000.  She has in fact become quite adept at persuading the smaller, independant retailers to provide free shipping, shop locally if you can and you'll find they'll often "drop things off on their way home".  She showed on our shopping expeditions that I'd taught her well

[Rosiejaq]

1 hour ago, bridgie said:

Gumtree is huge in Australia. We have bought coffee tables, rugs, washing machine, garden mulcher, TV tables etc etc. Yes you have to have the time ,transport and inclination but the savings are incredible. Also don't forget everything but everything has delivery costs.....there is no free delivery. Spent 5000 in Good Guys and still had to pay 75 delivery costs. KMart and Target are godsends for kitting out a house cheaply. IKEA have branches around Melbourne are also good, not sure of branches of IKEA ain other states.

eBay has been great but, let the buyer beware and always visit before paying and try to pick up in person.


Sent from my iPad using PomsinOz

Don't forget the op shops and tender centers - my daughter is a wiz at finding brilliant furniture, gadgets and things she needs for the kids.  st Vincent's is especially good - bought a lovely straw hat with silk scarf for $3!

 

 

[Kathss56]

4 hours ago, Ferrets said:

They are more expensive here, but we have treated it a bit as a cost of moving.  Part of that has also been that we didn't know what our final home would end up as.

If you already own then bring, but I wouldn't go to the effort of buying new and importing if not already owned.  

That said we paid AUD $900 for a fridge, freezer and washing maching from Aldi.  Fridge and Freeer are ok, but washing machine is useless!

 

Yes! That's the problem you don't know what type of home/size etc. All the appliances could be fitted ?

[Dolphin1962]

16 hours ago, Paur said:

Hi all, my mother-in-law has been looking at joining us in Oz and at her age (79), it looks like coming over on a visitor visa and applying for an 804 whilst here might be the best option. Can anyone tell me if she will need to do a medical before being granted a bridging visa? 

Hi  my friend has just done this. She lodged the 804 in Australia while on the e visa and wS put on a bridging visa straight away no medical now but will have one when they are put in the queue which will be between 12- 18 months time 

Hope this helps.

 

[Dolphin1962]

Hang in there folks.

We have been here 18 months now and nothing beats being able to have the grandkids over for a sleepover! 

All the stress and anxiety is def worth it in the end

[Alan Collett]

17 hours ago, rogeliz said:

Reading through the threads, we thought some of you might be interested in our experiences. We have now been in Australia as permanent residents with a 143 visa for a little over 2 years. We initially used a migration agent based in Perth, having met their representative in London the previous year. We sent the forms to them in January 2013 but they took what seemed to us to be an excessive amount of time checking our forms. Finally after many prompts by us, they said the forms had now all been changed by Immigration and would have to be re-done. However they offered to do this for us on our behalf, and just use the signature page we had submitted. They then told us the forms had been sent to the Parent Visa Section in July 2013.

 

Meanwhile we put the house on the market. In December 2013, we had a concrete offer which we accepted. You can imagine how we felt when we learnt only a few days later on the internet that the Migration Agent we had used had gone bankrupt. We immediately sent off an email and got a reply from the liquidators confirming the bankruptcy and furthermore stating there was no record of our application ever having been lodged. What a Christmas present! We phoned Immigration in London and they were also unable to find any application and stated we would have to start over again!

 

We decided not to lose the sale of the house, so moved into rented accommodation in January 2014. We completed all the new forms, and sent them by courier. No Agent this time, in January 2014. We didn’t want to stay in the UK rental for another 2 years while the new application went through so we applied for and got a 600 Visa allowing us to visit Australia for a maximum of 12 months in any 18, for a period of 3 years. We also took a very big gamble and applied for permission (as foreigners) to buy a house in Australia. We were told it had to be new or off plan, we could not buy anything ‘second hand’. We paid the deposit on an off-plan house which was going to be ready about November 2014. Unfortunately we could not ship any furniture, on a 600 Visa, so everything went into storage in the UK.

 

We travelled to Australia on the 600 visa in October 2014 with a view to having to ‘come and go’ until the 143 was granted. With a 600 for 3 years, we had a fair amount of leeway. We moved into the house at the beginning of November 2014. Incidentally, we sent 3 large suitcases by ship containing clothes, shoes, sports items but they took 3 months to arrive so if you are reading this, we suggest you use air freight as it is quicker.

 

About a month later, at the suggestion of the family in Australia, we phoned up Immigration to see if they could give us an update on the new application we had sent in January 2014. Imagine our horror again when we were told they had no record of an application from us Somewhat distraught at this, we contacted the family and our son, our sponsor, he told us he had just the very same day received an email from Immigration asking him to make the sponsorship payment etc for our application which was nearing completion!!

 

Wondering now what on earth was going on, it turned out that the Migration Agent HAD in fact sent off the application but when copying out our details on the new forms, had inadvertently put our email address --.com instead of --.co.uk , an address that happened to exist!  So, all the Immigration information that should have come to us had gone astray.  All this now meant we had 2 weeks to get the Health Checks done (which we did in Australia) and the UK Police Checks which we did via a courier. Just before Christmas 2014 we had confirmation that we would be given the visas once we had left Australia and they would be issued on our return. So in January 2015 we left the warmth of NSW for the freezing cold & snow of the UK to ship the stored possessions.

 

Our visa was confirmed when we came back in February 2015 and we have been here enjoying Australia ever since.

 

In conclusion, yes it was extremely stressful at the time but we don’t regret it. However we would not recommend using an Agent as all the forms are easily downloaded and if you are a native English speaker they are not difficult, just tedious to fill them all in.

If I might say, you appear to have had an unfortunate experience with a poor/incompetent advisor who failed to keep you informed - which is inexcusable.

However, a good advisor can - and should - provide significant comfort during an extended period of worry when parents are generally extremely keen to rejoin family in Australia.  

Its not just about the form filling.

Best regards.

 

[Paur]

Hi  my friend has just done this. She lodged the 804 in Australia while on the e visa and wS put on a bridging visa straight away no medical now but will have one when they are put in the queue which will be between 12- 18 months time 
Hope this helps.
 

Thanks, that's really helpful.


Sent using Poms in Oz mobile app

[Kevin_ngo]

On 5/18/2017 at 00:15, clarkesville1 said:

My daughter and family moved out to Oz on Monday.   They used Pickfords who came and took everything, packed it and put it in secure container.   Friends who are already there recommended them.   They were brilliant, so efficient and nice.   They will delivery it and unpack and position it at the other end as well.   We were very impressed with their service. 

"OFFSHORE APPLICANTS (subclass 143/173)

When your application is allocated to an assessing officer, you or your authorised contact may be asked to provide more documents, including but not limited to, Assurance of Support (subclass 143 only), police certificates and health clearances to finalise your application. 

We are currently assessing applications lodged up to and including 13 October 2014."

It takes about 4 weeks to move 10 days applications, so disappointed.

 

 

[Paur]

Hi  my friend has just done this. She lodged the 804 in Australia while on the e visa and wS put on a bridging visa straight away no medical now but will have one when they are put in the queue which will be between 12- 18 months time 
Hope this helps.
 

Thanks, that's really helpful.


Sent using Poms in Oz mobile app

[Gilly333]

 

Hi I came out to OZ in June 2015. My queue date is Dec 2015 . This is on the  804 non contributory visa for aged parents.  I have got private medical insurance even though i have an interim Medicare card. I have found that the health care is more than you think as each prescription costs unlike UK. I used an immigration agent who has been really good with extras such as change of address etc .

So far there have been no hiccups. The queue hasn't reduced very much but heh i can stay here for at least 30 years given the waiting time and by then I probably won't be here or won't care. 

[nyorksgrannie]

3 hours ago, Gilly333 said:

 

Hi I came out to OZ in June 2015. My queue date is Dec 2015 . This is on the  804 non contributory visa for aged parents.  I have got private medical insurance even though i have an interim Medicare card. I have found that the health care is more than you think as each prescription costs unlike UK. I used an immigration agent who has been really good with extras such as change of address etc .

So far there have been no hiccups. The queue hasn't reduced very much but heh i can stay here for at least 30 years given the waiting time and by then I probably won't be here or won't care. 

Hi Gilly, how much should we expect to pay for a prescription, I presume it is per item?

[Gilly333]

Prescriptions vary depending upon the medicine. Some are not covered by Medicare and therefore are more expensive. For example i suffer from sinus problems and the nasal spray is not covered so i pay over $40 dollars each spray.  However some scripts are relatively cheap and under $10 . A visit to the doctor can cost you $40 + dollars unless you can find one which will accept your Medicare card and bulk Bill.  That's my next challenge. I applied for a senior card and this gives you some discount. 

[Guest The Pom Queen]

53 minutes ago, nyorksgrannie said:

Hi Gilly, how much should we expect to pay for a prescription, I presume it is per item?

We have an article about prescription costs here that may help 

 

[Sadge]

Also, I bellieve (but please someone correct me if this is wrong), but unlike the UK where you can just keep on repeating prescriptions until the doctor does a medication review, mine is every year; in Australia prescriptions can only have one repeat, then another visit to the doctor is required.

[Sooty]

My GP gives me up to 6 repeats on a prescription. I'm in Victoria. Before I was permanent my prescription costs could be anything from $6 for antibiotics to $58 for migraine tablets, my medical insurance covered anything over $32. Now I'm permanent the costs are less but not much less because I can't claim anything back on insurance now. But there is a yearly cap I think it is $600. 

[Sadge]

28 minutes ago, Sooty said:

My GP gives me up to 6 repeats on a prescription. I'm in Victoria. Before I was permanent my prescription costs could be anything from $6 for antibiotics to $58 for migraine tablets, my medical insurance covered anything over $32. Now I'm permanent the costs are less but not much less because I can't claim anything back on insurance now. But there is a yearly cap I think it is $600. 

Oh, then it must vary depending on the doctor.  I did think it a bit silly to have to traipse to the doctor every couple of months for prescriptions that I'm on permanently.  I'll check before I sign up.  I know my daughter's doctor won't give her more than two months at a time.

[gafuk]

On 28/05/2017 at 07:28, rogeliz said:

Reading through the threads, we thought some of you might be interested in our experiences. We have now been in Australia as permanent residents with a 143 visa for a little over 2 years. We initially used a migration agent based in Perth, having met their representative in London the previous year. We sent the forms to them in January 2013 but they took what seemed to us to be an excessive amount of time checking our forms. Finally after many prompts by us, they said the forms had now all been changed by Immigration and would have to be re-done. However they offered to do this for us on our behalf, and just use the signature page we had submitted. They then told us the forms had been sent to the Parent Visa Section in July 2013.

 

Meanwhile we put the house on the market. In December 2013, we had a concrete offer which we accepted. You can imagine how we felt when we learnt only a few days later on the internet that the Migration Agent we had used had gone bankrupt. We immediately sent off an email and got a reply from the liquidators confirming the bankruptcy and furthermore stating there was no record of our application ever having been lodged. What a Christmas present! We phoned Immigration in London and they were also unable to find any application and stated we would have to start over again!

 

We decided not to lose the sale of the house, so moved into rented accommodation in January 2014. We completed all the new forms, and sent them by courier. No Agent this time, in January 2014. We didn’t want to stay in the UK rental for another 2 years while the new application went through so we applied for and got a 600 Visa allowing us to visit Australia for a maximum of 12 months in any 18, for a period of 3 years. We also took a very big gamble and applied for permission (as foreigners) to buy a house in Australia. We were told it had to be new or off plan, we could not buy anything ‘second hand’. We paid the deposit on an off-plan house which was going to be ready about November 2014. Unfortunately we could not ship any furniture, on a 600 Visa, so everything went into storage in the UK.

 

We travelled to Australia on the 600 visa in October 2014 with a view to having to ‘come and go’ until the 143 was granted. With a 600 for 3 years, we had a fair amount of leeway. We moved into the house at the beginning of November 2014. Incidentally, we sent 3 large suitcases by ship containing clothes, shoes, sports items but they took 3 months to arrive so if you are reading this, we suggest you use air freight as it is quicker.

 

About a month later, at the suggestion of the family in Australia, we phoned up Immigration to see if they could give us an update on the new application we had sent in January 2014. Imagine our horror again when we were told they had no record of an application from us Somewhat distraught at this, we contacted the family and our son, our sponsor, he told us he had just the very same day received an email from Immigration asking him to make the sponsorship payment etc for our application which was nearing completion!!

 

Wondering now what on earth was going on, it turned out that the Migration Agent HAD in fact sent off the application but when copying out our details on the new forms, had inadvertently put our email address --.com instead of --.co.uk , an address that happened to exist!  So, all the Immigration information that should have come to us had gone astray.  All this now meant we had 2 weeks to get the Health Checks done (which we did in Australia) and the UK Police Checks which we did via a courier. Just before Christmas 2014 we had confirmation that we would be given the visas once we had left Australia and they would be issued on our return. So in January 2015 we left the warmth of NSW for the freezing cold & snow of the UK to ship the stored possessions.

 

Our visa was confirmed when we came back in February 2015 and we have been here enjoying Australia ever since.

 

In conclusion, yes it was extremely stressful at the time but we don’t regret it. However we would not recommend using an Agent as all the forms are easily downloaded and if you are a native English speaker they are not difficult, just tedious to fill them all in.

Wow, rogeliz,  a bumpy road for you and so glad it worked out. I think I'm a little more nervous now !

Good luck with the rest of your adventure, hope the stress is all behind you .

[gafuk]

21 hours ago, Dolphin1962 said:

Hang in there folks.

We have been here 18 months now and nothing beats being able to have the grandkids over for a sleepover! 

All the stress and anxiety is def worth it in the end

That's a good enough incentive , lovely pic'

 

[nyorksgrannie]

18 hours ago, Gilly333 said:

Prescriptions vary depending upon the medicine. Some are not covered by Medicare and therefore are more expensive. For example i suffer from sinus problems and the nasal spray is not covered so i pay over $40 dollars each spray.  However some scripts are relatively cheap and under $10 . A visit to the doctor can cost you $40 + dollars unless you can find one which will accept your Medicare card and bulk Bill.  That's my next challenge. I applied for a senior card and this gives you some discount. 

 

18 hours ago, Gilly333 said:

Prescriptions vary depending upon the medicine. Some are not covered by Medicare and therefore are more expensive. For example i suffer from sinus problems and the nasal spray is not covered so i pay over $40 dollars each spray.  However some scripts are relatively cheap and under $10 . A visit to the doctor can cost you $40 + dollars unless you can find one which will accept your Medicare card and bulk Bill.  That's my next challenge. I applied for a senior card and this gives you some discount. 

Thank you Gilly333 it is very helpful to know what to expect. Sue