Mike@Bonbeach Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Hi all you longer term older UK expats in Australia. Next year we will be able to take out Au citizenship,(we will have been here 4 years with our 143 CPvisa), and we wondered whether there are any financial benefits in becoming citizens. For example, my retired Aussie golfing buddies don't pay a cent on their superannuation income whereas we are taxed on our UK pensions with very little tax free allowance. There seems to be quite a few health and financial benefits that retired Aussies receive that we as immigrants aren't entitled to, even though we are permanent residents. With our frozen UK pensions forever shrinking in $ terms, we wondered if we will ever be allowed to benefit from the generous tax regime that Aussie retirees seem to enjoy? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 I don't know about the finanicial benefits ... but for us it's meant that we can vote in the country we live in, that we can come and go freely without having to bother about applying for RRV and that no matter what the children do or where they travel too ... they will still have the option of living in Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Like Ali im not sure on the finacial side of things but for us gaining citizenship was the icing on the cake after the rollercoaster ride of getting a visa and setting up our new lives in a new country, we actually feel we belong now and with the voting it gives you a chance to have 'your say'. It also means that regardless of what we do in the future our children now have the choice of where to live without having the daunting task of jumping through all the hoops to secure a visa. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 We are not taxed on our super income as long as its in an allocated pension or annuity. So we do not pay any tax which is lovely because we certainly have paid a lot over the years. We took out citizenship because our children were born here and we thought it was silly they were Aus and we were not. They have dual citizenship anyway and so do we now. So benefits of both if required. Fly out on the Aus passport go in on the UK passport to UK and vice versa when we come back. We can also vote which I believe is an asset as at least we can feel we are doing something to sort stuff out. We can be members of parliament like Julia if we are citizens. We can also be police and other occupations which require citizenship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 You can be employed as a member of the Australian Public Service and dont have to bother with visas if you leave the country and want to get back in again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Ropey HOFF Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Gaining Australian citizenship. That must be a great day when you acheive that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Gaining Australian citizenship. That must be a great day when you acheive that. I have to say that for us (and I can probably speak for Cal and Joanne), it was very special, the icing on the cake after migrating Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Gaining Australian citizenship. That must be a great day when you acheive that. Nope, just another day in "paradise". Means absolutely nothing to me other than that I could get a job that I wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gollywobbler Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 Hi Mike & Connie I think you have asked a very good question. The same question crops up with my mother at least once a year. She became a PR in October 2006 and would have been eligible for Citizenship at any time from about November 2008 onwards. Because she was a PR and had validated her visa before 1st July 2007, she was entitled to Citizenship after 2 years. My sister does not think that Citizenship is worth the bother for Mum, who will be 90 tomorrow. For Mum, the only real advantage that I can see is that she would have been able to vote in the recent General Election. (And part of me thinks that somebody who doesn't have a clue what any of the issues actually are shouldn't really be voting, but that is up to Mum!) In the end, Mum herself has decided not to bother for the time being at least. If she is still with us in 2013 when her British passport expires, I suppose Aussie Citizenship might be worthwhile for her then simply because it might be less hassle than trying to renew a British passport by then. However as far as I know there are no financial advantages to Citizenship if you are retired and you are not living on a pension that was earned after several years of employment in Oz. I could be completely wrong about this but as far as I have been able to work it out, there wouldn't be any financial advantage for Mum. Also, loads of people living in Oz never become Aussie Citizens. Mum's doctor is one such. He is a Malaysian Citizen and Malaysia does not permit dual Citizenship. If he became an Aussie Citizen he would have to renounce his Malaysian Citizenship, I gather. I am pretty sure that there are certain investments in Malaysia that can only be owned by Malaysian Citizens, so I assume that the doctor must have some of these "restricted investments" though I don't know what the "restricted investments" are as far as the country is concerned or as far as he is concerned. I am sure that sentimentality is not the reason for his decision, however. If one has children under the age of 18, as Cal and Ali both have, then my instinct is that to give them Citizenship of the UK and Australia is the finest thing that one could possibly do for them. It might not mean anything to them for the next 10 or 20 years but one day, it might be important to them and they would then have the choice without having to jump through any visa hoops to get the choice. Part of me feels uncomfortable that Mum has decided not to do it, just in case she ought to do it! Part of me thinks that if it doesn't matter then there is no point in nagging her about it. I suspect that you are on the horns of a similar dilemma? I'd be interested to know a definitive answer to this one. I think that the best person to ask would be JAJ, the moderator on British Expats, because his knowledge of Citizenship of many different countries is truly impressive. He is seriously interested in the subject and knows a huge amount about it. Cheers Gill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest humpy Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 We can be members of parliament like Julia if we are citizens. We can also be police and other occupations which require citizenship. You can be in the Police without Citizenship, they ask that your only a resident, I know a guy who has only been here 3 years and he's a copper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted September 18, 2010 Share Posted September 18, 2010 You can be in the Police without Citizenship, they ask that your only a resident, I know a guy who has only been here 3 years and he's a copper State police require PR, AFP requires citizenship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted September 19, 2010 Share Posted September 19, 2010 All Australian citizens also have unrestricted rights to live and work in New Zealand. Similar for NZ citizens here. This is known as the Trans Tasman Travel Arrangement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike@Bonbeach Posted September 19, 2010 Author Share Posted September 19, 2010 Hi everyone who replied to my query. Many thanks for your replies, we were aware of the benefits of having citizenship as far as entering Au, etc. I think as a 70 year old(albeit in good health) I would have a bit of trouble getting in the Police force and having been retired many years now we have no intention of going back to work even if anyone would want us. We will be taking out citizenship when our time comes mainly for the reasons mentioned by you all, but my query was really about financial benefit,if any, and it would seem that there isn't going to be. Thanks again for taking the trouble to post your replies. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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