Marisawright

There are several good agents on these forums. Look at pinoyau.com.au My only comment would be that applying for a skilled visa is a long, complex and expensive business. Check out the application fees plus the agent's fees, and it's certainly not worth the cost if you only want to spend a year or two in Australia.

If you're retired, then ask the Commonwealth Bank about a Pensioner Security Account which has no fees. Even if you aren't retired, it's worth challenging them about fees and you may find they'll waive them. It makes no sense at all to pay a monthly fee to hold a bank account when there are so many options to get one for free! The "big four" banks get away with charging fees because so many Australians grew up with them and can't be bothered changing banks. I recommend ING. My husband banks with them and has found them great. You can use their debit card at any ATM for no fee. If you don't like the idea of a bank that's fully online, then wait until you arrive in Australia and see what's available in your state. There are several smaller banks and credit unions across Australia which have real branches as well as good online services AND no fees. Obviously you'll keep your UK bank account open and use your UK cards for the first few weeks till you get settled. If you have savings to transfer, then you can open an account with Moneycorp and transfer them into that account, then the money will sit there safely until you can give them an Australian bank account number to transfer it to.

No they are not valid reasons.

You're over-thinking their feelings. The risk with rushing them into school is that you'll end up getting a job miles from where you live, and you'll have long commute times which will cut into the time you can spend with your children - which in the end, will be more of a disadvantage than being kept out of school for a few weeks. I wouldn't recommend arriving in December/January anyway. The summer holidays are the worst time of the year to try to get jobs or find rentals.

There is an employer sponsored visa 482 that lets you work for 2 or 4 years, but you have to find an employer to sponsor you and it’s only available for certain occupations. No other options aorry

So, in your evidence, have you explained why his child in Australia can't manage without him? That's what you need to do. Are you contributing to the rent in Australia? Simply putting your name on the lease, if you've never lived there, doesn't really mean anything.

As VeryStormy says, your biggest hurdle is that I don't think you're allowed to work. How will you survive with no income? You can eventually apply to be allowed to work on the basis of hardship, but I'm not sure how penniless you have to be, or whether your parents' income would be taken into account - worth checking the details. You said, "I...understand that if this was applied for in Australia that it would help the situation." To be clear, the advantage of applying in Australia is that you're in Australia, with your family, while you wait. The waiting time is the same, in fact for many visas, the waiting time is longer for onshore visas than offshore. While on the bridging visa, you can't leave Australia. You will have to apply for a BVB if you want to go overseas for any reason. You may want to consider setting up regular National Insurance contributions so you will get the British pension, as you may not be eligible for the Australian one, depending how long approval takes.

This is an example of why getting early advice is always a good thing. If you weren't already married, you could have applied for a Prospective Marriage Visa, which doesn't require you to have lived together. But as you are already married, it's too late for that. It is possible to get a visa even if you haven't lived together the whole time, but you have to prove it's a genuine relationship and not just a marriage of convenience. Immigration are more suspicious of relationships where the couple haven't lived together. Also, there needs to be a clearly defined moment when you entered a de facto relationship - and that means a relationship which is the equivalent of marriage - the only thing missing is the marriage certificate. Dating, even serious dating, does not count. How long ago was that date? Do you have evidence to prove it? That's where you will have difficulty, because usually, de facto couples can show the lease on their joint property, or the date they opened a shared bank account, or shared bills. Those probably don't apply to you. If you can't find some evidence that's equally convincing, you may need to settle for the date you actually married, which is April, which means you can't apply till April next year. And note that even then, you need evidence of a shared life, shared finances etc - you can't just continue to lead separate lives and visit each other. You would have to provide convincing reasons why you haven't been able to live together. Being in separate countries isn't reason enough, if he's a UK citizen who could easily have moved back to live with you for a year, so you could meet the requirements of the partner visa. If he has children then perhaps you could show that he couldn't move because of his parental responsibility to his kids?

If you're dual citizens then there are no formalities to complete, he can just head over there and work. A British company will not pay into his superannuation fund, but he will be able to make contributions of his own, if he so chooses, and of course the super fund will continue to earn income while he's away. He will have to pay tax in the UK like any other British worker, and very likely lodge a tax return in Australia as well. I could imagine that having his principal residence in Australia, even though he's working in the UK, could make his situation interesting from a tax perspective. It would be wise to consult a tax expert who is knowledgeable on both British and Australian tax laws. We've seen a lot of people come a cropper by relying on separate British and Australian accountants.

You'll see there are other threads on waiting times for other visas, but that's because the waiting times for those visas has blown out, to years in some cases. The 482 is just a temporary visa to help employers facing short-term skill shortages, so the government is still processing those fairly quickly.

Yes you can arrive on a tourist visa and apply for the visa once you’ve settled. Make sure you ask the agent about the downsides of living on a bridging visa. You are in limbo, not legally a resident of Australia but you’ll lose your residency of the UK.

The "why" is because of budget cuts which means there aren't enough staff to do the work, so the backlog just keeps piling up. I seem to recall someone saying the Department has admitted their are problems with its processes, but in my experience (as a former manager) that's just corporate-speak for, "Our consultants came up with improved processes so we cut staff accordingly, but now the staff that are left can't seem to make them work". Of course one could also be cynical. We all know how anti-immigration this government is, so I wonder if this is their reasoning: If people are applying for citizenship, it should be because they are settled in Australia and don't want to leave. So most people shouldn't be too bothered if the process takes a long time, they're not going anywhere and can get on with life while they wait. If people are champing at the bit, it's because they want to get their citizenship and then abandon the country to go home, so why should we give it to them? Let's keep them waiting till they give up and go home."

Why do you think applicants with an agent should be faster? All applications go in a queue. There is not a special, faster queue for applications with agents! The job of an agent is to make sure your application is perfect, because if you have mistakes in your application, it causes delays. Maybe in your country, government officials will give you special attention if you are constantly ringing up, asking them to hurry. Australians are different - we do not like it when people are pushy and demanding. An Australian official is more likely to think, "This person is annoying. He thinks he is special and superior and expects me to jump when he calls. Well, I will teach him a lesson - I will put his application aside and make him wait even longer." So you see, your agent is wise if she is not constantly contacting Immigration making trouble.

They usually provide some boxes but check what’s included in your quote. They can supply as many extra as you like, but will charge you for them

The snag with drawing an income from your Australian super fund is British tax. In Australia, pension income is tax-free so that's not a problem. However the UK tax office is not so kind - pensions are income and have to be declared as such. The other possible issue is that the pension will be subject to the vagaries of the exchange rate.

I would definitely advise notifying the bank ahead of time, just in case. As I mentioned on the other forum - if you want to take lump sums out of your superannuation, be sure to withdraw the money well before you are due to leave, so that it's sitting in your Australian bank account before you leave Australia. Then you can transfer the money with OFX or Moneycorp or whoever you wish to use. You may wish to enquire about topping up your UK govt pension, since you sound like you're still not old enough to apply for the Australian govt pension - and once you leave Australia, you won't be able to apply for it.

True, but Australia wants to maximise the benefit to the country. The younger people are when they migrate, the more working years they have to contribute to the workforce and to pay taxes. So naturally, they are more attractive as migrants. If there are plenty of under-45s eager to migrate (which there are) then there's no need to open up to others.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. The age limit for the permanent residency visa is 45. If you are transitioning from an employer sponsored visa to a permanent visa, there are a few situations where the age limit doesn't apply but they are rare. Probably by the time you apply in four years, those exceptions will be gone, too, so I wouldn't advise banking on them. And yes, your occupation must still be on the skills list at the time of transition.

If you’re old enough to withdraw the lump sum before you leave Australia, there’s no tax to pay, because once it’s sitting in your bank account, it’s just money and you can send it anywhere you like However if you withdraw it as a lump sum after you’ve left Australia, the British taxman will take a very large chunk.

As Ali says, the first hurdle is to get permission from your ex. Then the prospective marriage visa is likely your only option as you would struggle to qualify for any of the others

I'm pretty sure the cutoff is now 45 for all visas with a few exceptions. You need to check the exceptions. However, visa rules change all the time. You can guarantee they'll have changed again by the time four years has passed and I'd be willing to bet they would remove the age exceptions. There are so many people wanting to move to Australia, they can easily afford to lower the age limits.

It's not as simple as that, I'm afraid. You will need to apply for a parent visa, which is several thousand pounds. There is a waiting period of at least 5 years to get the visa. If you move to Australia, your state pension will be frozen at whatever rate you're receiving when you move. You will never get any increases for the rest of your life. You don't say where your daughter is living, but you need to check property prices there, to see if you could afford to buy a home - especially as you'll have to use such a large chunk of your equity to pay for the visa. I'm sure someone will suggest that you can travel to Australia on a tourist visa, then once you've arrived, you can "decide" you want to stay, and apply for a cheaper, non-contributory visa. But be careful, as there are major snags. The waiting time for that visa is 30 years, which means you'd spend the rest of your life in Australia in limbo, classed as a visitor even though you're living permanently. You'd have to get special permission to buy a house (and be charged tens of thousands in extra duties if you do), you'd not be eligible for any benefits such as aged care, and have limited access to public health care. If you think all of that sounds unreasonable, bear in mind that an Australian mother, wanting to join her daughter in Britain, simply wouldn't be able to - there is no visa available.

I think it's a phenomenon that's easily explained. Just talk to the average divorcée. She thought her mate was so wonderful, she swore to be with him forever - and yet when they divorce, you'd think there had never been a single good thing about him. It's a very common human trait, to justify our decisions by exaggerating the reasons we made them. Especially if we're not entirely sure we did the right thing - then we exaggerate to convince ourselves as much as others.

Guessing, but several other kinds of insurance depend on residency, so it would make sense that car insurance would be the same. Nothing to do with what licence you hold.

Optimistic to assume you’ll find permanent work in a month. Most people have to commit to a rental before they find a job. I would say, forget the 5 day meander from Sydney to Brisbane. You’ve got the rest of your lives to your Australia and you need to watch your pennies in case the job hunt takes a while