Marisawright

Yes, if you are eligible for the WHV then get that first, no question. It's very easy and it's granted within a few days or weeks. A lot of people on WHV's work in bars and other temp work so they can travel, but there is nothing to stop you working as a software developer for the whole time. The only restriction is that you can't work for the same employer for more than six months. You could even extend the WHV to two years, if you're willing to go and do the short period of regional work requred (however it would probably involve farm work). The WHV will give you a chance to make contacts in the industry, so even if you don't find a job with a sponsor during your WHV, you'll have contacts for the future. The main thing to check is what work experience is required to get the sponsored visa. If you need two years' experience, say, then you'll need to delay the WHV until you've got those two years under your belt (just in case you don't find work in your field during the WHV). As long as you're still under 30, you can then get your WHV and you're all set. Of course, there are no guarantees that you'll find a sponsor, but that's life.

So you are considering two transactions. The first one where you withdraw cash, transfer it to Australia and then put it in a super fund, and the second where you transfer the remaining balance at some later date directly from the SIPP to an Australian QROPS compliant fund Is that right? I can't help with the tax consequences of the second transaction, which would occur once you are an Australian resident, I assume. There are some members who are contemplating doing it, so they may be able to help. When I looked into it for myself, the advice I got was that it wasn't worth starting a SMSF unless you have at least $250,000 in funds. As I said, there is nothing to stop you joining an ordinary superannuation fund initially,and then starting a SMSF once you are more familiar with the Australian investment market and the pros and cons of superannuation investment. Moving money from a super fund to a SMSF is easy. However moving from a SMSF to a super fund can be a nightmare! So I wouldn't contemplate starting one until you're very sure it's the right choice.

Just to be clear, there is no transition "between" a whv and applying for a partner visa. You must apply for the partner visa well before the WHV expires, to avoid becoming illegal. Once you apply for the partner visa, you will get a bridging visa which will enable you to stay in Australia while your case is considered. The sooner you apply for the partner visa, the shorter the bridging period will be.

You should apply for the partner visa as soon as possible, i.e. the minute you can qualify as de facto (i.e. when you can show that you have been in a committed relationship for 12 months).

I'm in Melbourne now and am astonished at how well things grow here. You'd think not because of Melbourne's reputation for miserable weather - but because it's cooler, the bugs aren't as rampant, there's less mould, and of course the rain is spread more evenly over the year, which is better for the plants. I live near Carlton which used to be a huge Italian and Greek neighbourhood, so the gardens (even the front gardens) are full of trees - quinces, apricots, olives, persimmons, lemons, oranges, grapefruit, clementines, mulberry. Nowadays the people who own those houses don't seem to appreciate the trees as they don't look after them, but they fruit well anyway. I have friends who give away bucketloads of apricots every year.

I found growing fruit and vegetables in Sydney very challenging. SO many bugs of various kinds. Being European, my MIL had planted her garden with figs, oranges, peaches etc but she very rarely got any fruit - if the fruit flies didn't get them, the bats and birds did. Every time I tried to grow tomatoes, they got decimated before we got to eat many. Same with lettuces. The only thing that survived well was rocket, oregano and mint. The weather was also a challenge, because the sun can be too intense at times. I could imagine all of that being similar in Brissie.

Professional advise would be wise. I'd have thought that if you withdraw the money from the UK SIPP while you are still residing in the UK, then it would just become money in your bank account. I would say, however, that if you are not actually residing in the UK, then you need to make cast-iron sure of your residency status for both tax and pension purposes, which may not be the same thing. It is often not as straightforward as you think. If you then transfer that money to your Australian bank account, that is just a cash transfer and has nothing to do with the UK taxman. If you then pay that money into a Superannation fund, it's just cash and nothing to do with the UK taxman. Note however that you may be limited in how much you can deposit, because you are not transferring from another pension, you are just making a cash contribution, and there are limits to how much you can contribute each year. While you are working in Australia, then you will be eligible to pay continuing contributions into your superannuation fund. One word of caution - a SMSF is not advisable unless you have a substantial lump sum, because the administrative costs will be too high relative to the balance. For most people, an ordinary superannation fund is the best option - just research them carefully as performance and fees vary greatly. There is nothing to stop you transferring it to a SMSF later, there are no restrictions.

It's not a backlog, it's a queue. A backlog means that work has fallen behind, and the department is working to catch up. That is not the case. Processing will never be speeded up and in fact, is more likely to slow down. Australia offers only a limited number of visas every year. They don't care if there are thousands more applicants than there are places - that's too bad, you just go to the back of the queue. This visa has a fairly short queue. The queue for parent visas, for instance, is at least 6 years. It's very unlikely they will increase the number of visas in the near future, because the current government is quite anti-immigration.

An amplifier is not allowed to sponsor you unless you meet all the requirements for the visa including the necessary experience. Same problem

No

I'm sure the OP wouldn't assume he would. Provided he's got the minimum 10 years, he'll get something, and he can pay extra contributions if he wants to top it up. I must say, I left the UK in my thirties, and I still found the UK pension worth claiming. When you get to retirement, every little helps!

How long ago was that?

Your assurers need to be people who are willing to provide a bond, which the government will hold for several years. Usually that will be your child or their partner. Sometimes, if the assurer can't afford to provide the bond, the parents give them the money. However, be aware that it is a gift. The bond is held in the assurer's name, not in your name. When the bond is refunded at the end of the period, it will be paid to the assurer, and the parents have no legal right to reclaim the money. We have seen cases where parents have given the money to a family friend so he can be an assurer. When the money was refunded, it was paid to the family friend and he would not give it back. There was nothing the parents could do.

You can't. Your Super fund is not a government thing,. The government insists that you have it, but they don't have anything to do with it otherwise. It's just a pot of money that you put aside while you're working, then you use it to pay yourself a pension when you retire (and if you pay yourself too much, the money will run out before you do). Make sure the UK state pensions dept knows your Australian address. When you reach pension age, they'll send you a letter to notify you that you're eligible. You can choose to have the pension paid into your Australian bank account or, if you still have one, into a UK account. It would be worth getting a pension forecast to see how much you'll get, and whether it's worth paying some extra contributions into it (because that will increase your final pension). https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre

I think it's important not to focus on the 65 points. Even if he could manage to scrape together 65 points, all that would achieve is to allow him to apply for the visa. Then his application would just sit in the queue forever until it expired, because 65 points is nowhere near enough. He'll have spent all that money for nothing.

No, it's not shattered, just delayed. Get your 3 years experience. Maybe get some help to improve your standard of English, because most people need those extra points from the English test, and I'd be surprised if you're an exception. Then apply.

Yes, of course, that is a huge part of it. Governments are very sensitive to the bad publicity that arises if the public feels they're (a) allowing in migrants only to have them end up on welfare benefits because there are no job vacancies OR (b) allowing migrants in only to have them take jobs from Australians.

Indeed. Moving countries is one of the most stressful things you can do, and it breaks up relationships more often than most people realise.

Almost a million people have caught the disease now. Many of them must have had pets, and there hasn't been one case of an animal dying from it. They've only found a handful of animals that have been infected with it and apart from the tiger, none of them got sick from it.

The question would be, where do you think you could go, where the economy would be any better?

With 65 points, you have absolutely no chance of a 189 visa. You don't have to take the English test as a native speaker, but most people do because they need the points. By the way, don't assume you'll score highly in the test, either. Lots of people don't. Your years of experience start from when you actually qualified, so you won't be able to apply for any visa until you've racked up the minimum required years. Agencies do not sponsor people. There are a few unscrupulous agencies that promise to find work for you, they are a scam. It is possible to find an employer to sponsor you, that's a 482 visa. There are requirements for that visa too and you have to meet them - employers can't sponsor just anybody they feel like. When you're on a WHV, you hear a lot of rumours about people who've arrived on a WHV and managed to get sponsored. Most of them are just rumours - it does happen, but only for a very small number of people, who have arrived on their WHV with existing qualifications and experience.

No you weren't. If you're currently resident in Australia and have been for some years, then you apply for a RRV and it should be granted quickly.

I get that but I didn't get the relationship between stupidity and laidback-ness. I believe a lot of people on the beach were backpackers and tourists.

Yes you can get another one in theory, but since the economy worldwide will be in such a mess and unemployment will likely be very high in Australia after the pandemic is over, I'd be pessimistic about your chances. It's likely there would be a lot of anti-immigrant feeling so the govt won't be in a hurry to allow temporary migrants in.

I had to laugh, because out of all the Australian cities, Sydney has the least laid-back atmosphere! Most Sydney people work long hours because housing is so expensive, and the bulk of Sydney's population lives at least an hour's drive from the nearest beach.