Marisawright

Sounds like you’re stuck with it so good luck. Book your accommodation now as the whole of Sydney books out very early over New Years

They're unlikely to sue you. What they will do is take you to the Tribunal. There is a category for a landlord to request compensation from a tenant. Has the agent said anything about sueing?

I'd say Christmas would be the worst time to arrive. For one thing, you'll need to book three or four weeks in an AirBnB or holiday flat, to give you time to find a place to rent. As you know, every man and his dog want to be in Sydney over New Year, so you'll find all short-term rental places jack up their prices, even if they're not close to the Harbour. Also, many real estate agents close for the Christmas week and often for the week after New Year too, so you're going to lose two weeks effectively. To sum up, I'd arrive in the second week of January. Alternatively, arrive first week of December so you have time to find and move into a place before the Christmas shut down.

Good, just wanted to make sure. I agree with "the concept", actually. I'm always suspicious when I see people waxing lyrical about a place (or a person, come to that), especially if they go ballistic if you question them about it. Usually what that means is that they're fooling themselves, and the reason they reject questions is that if they allow any doubt to creep in, the whole fragile edifice will collapse. People who have a normal, healthy relationship with a place can see its pluses and minuses. I prefer living in Australia but I would never say, "Australia is wonderful, Britain is sh**". I wouldn't live in Perth if you paid me, but I know it suits families and beachlovers.

If you're 63 now, then you should be eligible for the Australian age pension at 66.5. However, if you leave Australia before that age, you won't get it. You have to be resident in Australia for the two years leading up to the date you claim. So you'd need to stay in Australia until that age, but you can fly out the day after you've got it. Are you absolutely positive you can't claim any UK age pension? I'm 65 and I left the UK 35 years ago. I claimed my UK pension last year. It's only a small amount, but if I went back to live in the UK now, I would claim my years working in Australia from 1985 to 2000, and that would more than double it.

The question to ask yourself is, do you want to spend every Christmas in Australia for the rest of your life? If that idea doesn't phase you, then come back and continue enjoying life. However, if the thought of spending your old age in Australia makes your heart sink, then move back now. Do it while the kids are young enough. I know that sounds dramatic but the problem is, if you wait till the kids are mid-teens, you won't want to move back because you don't want to disrupt their exams. Then if they want to go to university, you'll find you can't move back because they'll be charged extortionate fees at a UK uni (because they haven't been living in the UK long enough). So they'll have to go to university or college in Australia and then they'll meet a partner and when you want to move back, they won't want to leave their boyfriend/girlfriend. Maybe you'll decide to move back anyway and leave your kids in Oz, but then they will start producing grandchildren and then what will you do? I know that's all a long way ahead, but it's scary how quickly it all snowballs and you're stuck before you know it.

Well, if you're referring to me, you're wrong. I could have returned to the UK many times over my 30-odd years here, I'm lucky in that money or work have never been an obstacle. But I've always liked living here and only went back a couple of years ago because my oh was so keen on the idea.

I'm assuming you mean the UK disability pension, but what about the UK Aged Pension? You'll be eligible to claim that when you reach age 66, assuming you paid NI contributions before you left the UK (you only need 10 years' worth to get a part pension, and if you're short, you can backpay a few years to make up the difference). Of course, you'll also be entitled to the Australian aged pension, but only if you stay in Australia until you're 66.5 years old. It's a silly system, really - if you leave now, you can never claim the Australian aged pension, but if you wait till you're 66.5, you can claim the pension, and then you can continue receiving it forever no matter where you go. In your shoes, my plan would be get a State Pension forecast from the UK government now (see link below) apply for the British aged pension as soon as I'm eligible (you can do that from Australia, no problem); apply for the Australian aged pension as soon as I'm eligible (they will take the UK pension into account when calculating your entitlement); get on a plane! Once you're resident in the UK, you can also apply to have your work record in Australia up to the year 2000 recognised as counting toward a UK pension. https://www.gov.uk/future-pension-centre

Odd, isn't it. I grew up in Scotland and in fact, never left the country until I was 18 (and then only to go to England!). Yet I never had that feeling of being "at home" until I arrived in Australia, and suddenly I just felt I belonged. No logic as my family has no connection to Oz.

It depends what kind of work you're looking for. All the big corporations have their main offices in Sydney and Melbourne, except for a few who are in Brisbane. The mining companies are in Perth. So for people looking for senior management or IT positions, pickings in Adelaide can be slim because the top management and the main IT operations are all elsewhere.

Well, you have only yourself to blame because you've decided to exploit a loophole to get to Australia earlier than if you followed the normal process. However, never trust what they say on the phone. You are only talking to a customer service person who may not know all the complexities. If you're trying to do something this complicated, and it's important to you, then you should have a good agent handle it for you. They know the rules a lot better than some clerk in Immigration.

If it's just a shoe box size, your only option really is Australia Post. Anything else is going to cost more. The chocolates might make it or they might not, but bear in mind that a lot of people think Australian chocolate doesn't taste as good as British chocolate so she might not thank you! I never post presents back to the UK any more, because I was finding that the postage cost more than the gift! I just choose an online UK gift shop and order from there. There's loads of them.

I think even the doctors have been sucked into believing it...

That's the common belief, but I suspect some of it is the health funds (and the government) trying to scare us all into getting private health insurance. For instance, I lost my voice and was referred to a private throat specialist. He was a horrible man, but he diagnosed a possible cancerous growth and was about to book me in for an op. He asked me what health fund i was in and when I said I didn't have health insurance, he said, "In that case I'll refer you to the public system". I didn't trust or like him, so although I thought it would mean a long wait, I decided to take the referral. Only three weeks later, I saw a doctor at Randwick Hospital. He diagnosed a fungal infection and I was right as rain in a couple of days. Another example - I had a spinal fusion, too, and I also went to a private neurosurgeon. I'm very happy with the result even though I was out of pocket almost $10,000. However, just a few months later, my friend's father had exactly the same op on the public system. He waited four weeks, and it cost him absolutely nothing. So, while I'm sure there are long waiting lists in the public system for some things, it's by no means true for everything.

Unlike the NHS in the UK, Medicare in Australia doesn't employ any GP's. They all either work for themselves. The doctors decide what they want to charge for their services, just like any other business person. However, Medicare won't pay the doctor that amount. The government has decided a set fee for each service and that's the amount that can be claimed, no more. If a doctor decides he's happy to accept the set fee, then when you go to see him, you just present your Medicare card and he sends the bill straight to the government. Some doctors are happy to do this because although they're only getting a set fee, they save a lot on admin costs. When I first came to Australia, it was very common for doctors to bulk bill. I don't know whether it's doctors getting greedier, or whether the govt hasn't increased the set fee for a while, but I notice more and more doctors aren't content to bulk bill. If you go to a doctor who doesn't bulk bill, then it depends how up to date their systems are. You will either have to pay the full cost of the consultation and then submit a claim to Medicare OR (more common these days), the doctor will swipe your card and claim the set fee straight from Medicare, then you pay just the difference. The difference is called "the gap". "The gap" is not covered by health insurance. Health insurance mainly exists to cover you for treatment outside the public system. Most Australians take it for granted that if they need specialist treatment, they'll go to a private specialist rather than waiting to see someone in a public hospital. In fact, it's so taken for granted that if a GP refers you to a specialist, he won''t even ask if that's what you want.

In that case you're lucky, because you're not restricted to the big cities where most of the major companies are. The Sunshine Coast is a growth area. I have no idea what the demand for teachers is like in Queensland so you'd need to look into that.

Most doctors today claim the basic fee direct from the government and you only pay the extra

Sunshine Coast would be better for a young family but it will depend on what work you do

I suggest going to Centrelink and getting that over with first. Take your figures with you - what you get in rent plus details of all the expenses you pay for the property (mortgage, agent's fees etc). It's up to them to calculate what it all comes to and how it affects your benefits. You could go to an accountant first and wait for him to give you an idea what the outcome will be, but what good will that do, really? Centrelink will still want to do their own calculations and every day wasted is another day you're in the wrong. Also make an appointment with an accountant, to get your tax sorted out. If the rent is your only income you may find you've got nothing to pay but there will be tax returns to file.

I remember your posts from the last time. You may find you have more luck this time if you start with a low price. Sometimes it's counter-productive if you start at a high price, then keep reducing - people will hold off thinking that you'll just keep on reducing the price. I repeat my offer of contacting me privately. First step - let me know what town you're living in so I can take a look at property values. I can't remember if I asked last time - did you prepare your house before they took the pictures? By which I mean: ruthlessly declutter every single room (pack everything non-essential in boxes and put the boxes in the garage, or in storage somewhere); remove every single photo and picture of yourself and your family; get the garden and the house looking immaculate. Then once the pictures are all taken, keep it looking exactly the same until the house sells. People should be able to see past your stuff but they don't. They just don't.

In that case, go to Centrelink and confess. The longer you leave it, the worse it will be. Collecting benefits under false pretences (which is what you are doing) is fraud and they treat it very seriously. If you volunteer the information, they may let you off lightly and just arrange a repayment schedule for any overpayment of benefits.

There's two ways to look at this situation. The morally correct solution is to confess your situation to Centrelink (an accountant can't help you there) and also consult a good accountant about how to deal with the ATO. Make sure you choose one who's experienced in dealing with international tax. The other option is to escape back to the UK as fast as possible. The longer you stay, the more likely it is that either the ATO or Centrelink will catch up with you. If you leave now and let them both know you've ceased to be a resident, there's a chance they may just close your files and never notice. The trouble is that it means you can never come back. A tax file number is for life, so if you come back, you'll be back in the system (only with more money) which makes it even more likely that they'll query where your funds came from, and it will all come out.

It could be as bad as she thinks. As an Australian resident, she is legally obliged to declare her worldwide income on her Australian tax return. It sounds like she hasn't done that for nine years, which means she coujld be up for a big fine if they find out. However, if her income was below the taxable threshold, she might be OK. What's much more serious is that she's now lying to Centrelink about her income. If Centrelink find out, she may be charged with fraud.

Of course people go camping in Australia all the time. Personally, I don't think it's as comfortable as camping in Europe. For one thing, the creepy-crawlies and snakes are more numerous (and more dangerous) here, so you need to be certain you've got a tent with a good seal! Then of course there's the heat, depending what time of year you go - but you could have a fabulous camping holiday in winter in Queensland, for instance. In summer, the problem is that you often can't pitch your tent in the shade. The first time we went camping here, we wondered why everyone was laughing as we pitched our tent. Eventually, a kind person walked over to us and advised us to move, because the eucalyptus trees drop their branches without warning (and I mean BIG branches, not little twigs), so it's dangerous to camp under them. Having said all that, I think you're mad. If you get your visa, you'll have the rest of your lives to camp all over Australia. Once you're settled in Australia, you'll be able to use your own camping gear and car - you might even buy your own campervan. Why spend a fortune to do it now? In your shoes, I'd be using my holidays to visit other places in the UK and Europe which will be much more expensive to revisit once you're in Australia. And I'd be doing it on a tight budget because I know how much it costs to migrate and I'd be trying to build up my pot of savings. Have you done a budget for your move?

Even if they have, it won't help you. Each person is judged on their specific disease. As you've read in the other posts, Immigration will look at how much you're going to cost the Australian taxpayer in whatever regular drugs you're taking, and also the cost of ongoing medical treatment, as well as the likelihood of further transplants or kidney failure in the future. You may be on different drugs and have a different prognosis. Being on the NHS, we're often not aware of how much our drugs and treatment are actually costing the government, so you may not realise just how much the bill would be. I found a research paper that says the average cost of care for a kidney transplant recipient is about $10,000 per annum and if that's true, then I'd be pessimistic. Follow the advice given to the OP - consult one of the recommended agents who specialise in medical cases. They have dealt with many cases like yours..