Marisawright

If you haven't hired a migration agent yet, go to George Lombard. He is the guru where medical cases are concerned. As Quoll mentions, if your daughter has a chronic, lifelong illness, there's a good chance your visa will be rejected on medical grounds. You need to find that out, urgently, before you spend any more money and time on the process. They don't just look at her medications now, they look at the likely progression of her illness over several years, and what that will cost the Australian taxpayer. If it goes over a certain threshold, you can't get a visa, end of story. George has years of experience and based on that, will be able to give you a good idea of your prospects.

Yes, no harm in making enquiries. When you said "no harm in trying", I thought you were proposing to try doing the skills assessment or even apply for the visa, both of which would be a waste of money at this point. You'll find many people here will give you facts, which is what you need. It's usually best if those aren't dressed up in a lot of polite waffle, because that can obscure the message.

The question is, if you don't travel in July or August, when will you go? Will it be any safer in September? December? Next March? We don't know, because we don't know how long the epidemic will last. And there will definitely be an epidemic. Governments have been trying to contain the virus in the hope it could be stamped out, like SARS. That has failed already. All governments are doing now is trying to slow the spread, to give them time to get hospitals and medical supplies geared up to cope with the inevitable epidemic. And once it starts, we don't know how long it will last. Right now, I think it makes sense to avoid travelling overseas. The virus is spreading fast in the community in the UK, the US, Africa and Europe, whereas here, it's still fairly contained so we can still enjoy our normal lives. However, I think even Australia is on the brink of losing control. Once the epidemic hits Australia, we'll have some tough decisions to make. Are we all going to hide in our homes for the next 9 months (which is the earliest end date being suggested by experts)? If you're going to decide to continue life as normal, then you might as well go the whole hog and travel. We won't have a real solution until the vaccine comes out, but that's not likely to be widely available until the end of next year, if then. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/04/coronavirus-epidemic-in-uk-is-likely-says-chief-medical-officer

Well, yes there is harm in trying, unless you are so well-off you can afford to waste the application fee. If it says one year is required, it means one year is required.

How well would craft beer travel? It's going to be in a container that has to travel through widely varying temperatures for many weeks on a rocking, rolling ship. If I had a crate of beer in my car at 40 degree heat on a dirt road for a few hours, I'd be worried - so I'm not sure how it would survive in the container. Duty on alcohol is high, so I very much doubt it would be worth it.

One possibility is that no one in that occupation was able to reach the points required (they've been very high for quite a long time now).

@aangelaa, where is your occupation "not listed"? I checked a couple of sites and 'm not sure Musician is even eligible for a 189 visa. Even if it is, you don't stand a snowball's chance with 75 points. The 189 is a competition, not an orderly queue. The people with the most points get selected. For some time now, there have been so many applicants with 85+ points, they haven't needed to look at anyone with lower scores. You would stand a much better chance of applying for a state sponsored visa (a 190 or a 491) because the states are more flexible about points. However, you need to check each state's criteria as they often have extra requirements. Your best bet would be to book a consultation with a MARA registered agent. The reputable ones will give you an initial consultation free of charge.

Definitely use a pet company! Pet Air UK is run by vets so I'd recommend using them.

My sister has commuted to London from various towns in the South of England for years. I've met a few people who commute from Bournemouth to London. I would never even contemplate it - it would be my idea of hell. IMO, work takes up too many hours of my life as it is - I can't afford to lose another 3 or 4 hours a day to commuting. When I lived in Sydney, my commute was 45 minutes door to door, and I was near the start of the line so I could tucked myself into a corner seat and ignore all the crowds as they piled on later in the journey. I could read a book in relative comfort so I probably could have tolerated a slightly longer journey, but an hour would've been my limit. So there is no way I'd even consider living on the Peninsula if I had to commute to the CBD! Get on Google maps and trial some journeys using the "Arrive at" option to choose peak times. The difference between driving somewhere on a weekend and at peak hour can be striking.

Each occupation on the list has its own criteria. However, every time this question has come up on these forums in the past, for any occupation, the answer has always been that the skills assessment/registration body will accept pre-qualification experience, but it's extremely unlikely that Immigration will accept it.

Congratulations on getting the RRV finally against all odds! As you know, if you don't meet the residency requirements then it's entirely discretionary whether you get an RRV or not, so you've been lucky IMO, long wait or not.

Life is not better in Australia, it’s just different. When you’re on holiday you only see all the fun bits and not how people really live their lives. Some people prefer Australia but you’ll also find large numbers of people who tried it and decided the UK suited them better. Everyone is different.

When you say "back in the UK", does that mean you had a visa for Australia before?

Yes your partner and children should be included in your visa application. Yes if your occupation drops off the list then you can’t transition to the 186

It’s correct to say that for people who applied in 2010, the processing time is only 10 years. The point is that every year, they receive far more applications than they process, so the queue gets considerably longer with each year that goes by. They never increase the annual quota to catch up, in fact they seem to do the opposite

One option to explore would be to come to Australia on a tourist visa, as if you're coming on holiday, and then apply for the non-contributory visa once you're in Australia. Then you would get a Bridging Visa, which would let you stay in Australia until your parent visa is processed - even if that is 30 years. If that sounds too good to be true, it is a bit. There are snags. Even though you'll be in Australia for many years, you are never considered a legal resident. You're always a visitor. At the same time, you'll cease to be a resident of the UK so you'll no longer be entitled to use the NHS or get government benefits (being a citizen doesn't count for anything). That can be limiting. For instance, if you want to buy a home, you'll have to get special permission because you'll be classed as a "foreign investor", and you'll be charged at least three times the usual stamp duty on the purchase. You also have no right to leave Australia - you'll have to apply for a BVB when you want to visit the UK or go overseas on holiday. If you were resident in the UK immediately before moving to Australia, you're lucky, because you'll be eligible to get treatment under Medicare in Australia. Officially, there are some restrictions, but in practice you seem to get the same treatment as Australians. There would be two big questions to consider. One is whether you'd be allowed to work on the bridging visa. I have no idea and you will probably need to speak to an expert (i.e. a MARA registered migration agent) to find out. The other is that if you live long enough, your visa will eventually get to the head of the queue, and then you will need to pass a medical. What happens if you can't pass it? Do you go back to the UK and start all over again in your eighties or nineties?

Sadly, it is very difficult to move to Australia as a parent. The problem is that old people (like me - I'm 67) cost the government a lot of money in medical treatment, prescriptions and aged care as we get old and die. Australians have spent their working life paying tax and Medicare levies, so in old age, they're only getting back what they put in. However, a parent coming from overseas hasn't paid a cent into the system, but is still be entitled to all the same benefits. That's why the application fee is so high - it's to compensate for the tax you didn't pay. In fact, the government has calculated that the fee doesn't go anywhere near covering what you're likely to cost. If you find that hard to believe, it's probably because you don't realise how much medical treatment really costs (most Brits don't, because you don't see the costs with the NHS). For instance, you could get a hip replacement done free, but it costs the government about $30,000. You are right, the official waiting time for the non-contributory visa is 30 years. Basically, the government doesn't want anyone to get that visa, but they tried to close it down and Parliament wouldn't let them, so they're going slow instead.

OMG that’s tough! Darwin is nothing like the rest of Australia and people either love it or loathe it

I wonder if it’s possible to pay into a Moneycorp account by cheque?

I think most Brits have aunts or uncles or family friends who migrated to Australia years ago, and tend to think it's still like that - "Australia is a young country crying out for new migrants". It's not like that any more. Australia is like any other country now - unemployment is a problem and a lot of Australians are starting to think like the Brits ("immigrants are taking our jobs"), so the government is quite anti-immigration. So we're like any other country and we only accept people whose skills are in short supply. Shows like Home and Away can give people the wrong idea. The kids on Home and Away would never be able to live where they do - houses in the real "Summer Bay" are only affordable for multi-millionaires.

Not at all. How antiquated to only pay by cheque! Visit the other banks in your area and ask them if they accept foreign cheques. When you find one that does, go to Suncorp and tell them you want to switch your account to the other bank, and explain the reason. Suncorp may suddenly have a change of heart! If they do, your problem is solved. If not, you will need to switch banks - but don't worry, they make it very easy these days. Alternatively, do you have a relative in the UK whom you could nominate as the payee? Then they can bank the money in their UK account and send you the money via Moneycorp (no fees if they join through these forums).

Contact them and ask them to pay the pension directly into your bank account instead

So, what was the purpose of your one week in Vanuatu?

The sad fact is that most people can't migrate to Australia. If you're not on the skilled lists, you can't migrate', end of story. Your only option is for one of you to retrain in one of those occupations. But be warned: you need to get the qualifications, AND then you need to get the experience. So depending on what occupation you pick, you'll be up for several years of study and then working in your new job. Meanwhile, the list of occupations gets shorter and shorter every year - so you might find that by the time you've spent all that money on retraining, the occupation isn't even on the list any more and it was all a waste of time. And it's very hard to pick which occupations are "safe" and which aren't. For instance, you'd think nursing would be a safe bet but they're talking about taking that off the list. And some trades are off the list already. On top of all that, even once you have the right occupation and the right experience, you're not out of the woods yet. When you apply for a visa, it's a competition. You are allocated a point score based on various factors. More qualifications and experience gets higher points, but then you lose points for age. Only the people with the highest points get picked - so even if you have retrained and got the experience, there's still no guarantee you'll get in. To give you an idea how bad that can get: you're eligible to apply for a visa if you can score 65 points or over, but this year, only applicants with over 90 points are actually getting one. So the message is, if you really want to migrate, then you'll need to retrain, but choose an occupation that you'll want to work in even if you have to stay in the UK, because there is a good chance that's what will happen.

Credit rating isn't nearly so important in Australia so it should be easier. A couple of things to consider, though. I've never leased a car in the UK but in Australia, leasing is generally a very expensive way of owning a car - you pay an awful lot more than the outright purchase price by the end of the lease. You'd be much better off settling for a second-hand car and getting a car loan from your bank. The exception of that is if your employer is willing to let you salary sacrifice to lease a car through work. It's called a Novated Lease and if the company allows it, they'll put you in touch with a company that organises it. There are major tax benefits to leasing a car that way, provided you do more than 10,000 km a year, and it will work out cheaper than buying a new car direct. There's another good reason to choose one of those options rather than getting a lease on your own.. If you take a lease and for some reason, you have to move back to the UK, you won't be able to sell the car - and yet, you'll remain liable for the ongoing payments to the end of the lease. No one moves to Australia with the expectation of going home again, but you never know what the future holds - so best to set yourself up so you're flexible.