Hayshake

As a former Bone marrow donor who gave bone marrow about 20 years ago to a patient in England, I would recommend everyone to go onto the Bone Marrow register. I was on the register for about 20 years before I was matched with a patient with Cancer. I can assure everybody that the donation process is almost painless, just leaves you feeling sore for a few days.

Hi Kathy, We have been through the process and purchased what we thought was a permanent residents Visa, but decided to go through the 2 stage process. This entails buying a 2 year temporary Visa which leads on to a Permanent Visa when the balance of the fee is paid. After living in Adelaide for 3 years we decided to move back to England. The last time we came out to Australia in January 2015 we were informed at the airport that we did not have a valid Visa for entry to Australia, so had to let Emirates arrange a visitors Visa for us whilst we were waiting to get on the plane. After we arrived we visited the Immigration office in Adelaide only to be told our Visa had been cancelled because we had not lived in Australia for 3 of the last 5 years, this apparently was because they do not recognize living with a temporary Visa as Residence. I would suggest that your parents apply for an extended holiday Visa which I believe can be had for 12 months, which would give them the chance to test out if they want to live there permanently or come back to England. Our (Permanent Residents Visa?) turned out to be a very expensive 3 year exercise, as it cost us over £30,000 which it appears we have now lost!!.

A point of view from over there, (England), although we do not use childcare, yes it is expensive, but is I believe is often helped by a government payment. Food is definitely cheaper, House rents I think are a lot cheaper, unless you want to live in London or a big city. The view of whether things are more expensive or not depends on the exchange rate used for the conversion. We have found things in Australia expensive in recent years due to the fact that there were only A$1.55 to a £1, but now it is more like A$2.10 to a £1 things are now cheaper for us when we visit Australia, which we do most years. Prices and costs therefore depend on earnings as against costs and these vary by exchange rates all of the time.

Having just had our Permanent Visa cancelled due to not living in Aus,even though we paid A$62500 for permanent residency. I would recommend applying for a permanent Visa, even though this would mean paying the full sum required on application, but this would mean that your period of residency starts straight away. If due to unforeseen circumstances you decide to leave Australia, hopefully it would be after 2 years and give you the residency requirement of living there for 2 years in the first five years after issue of your Visa. We came unstuck because we first applied for a temporary Visa to save paying all of the money up front, after the first 2 years living there we then paid the balance to get the permanent Visa, so we lived in Australia for 3 years in total but the first 2 years did not count as they were only on the temporary Visa. We returned to the UK as a) we had been unable to sell our house and b) due to the fall of the pound against the dollar, we were finding it difficult to live on the money being paid on our pensions. At present we do not want to live in Australia, but had assumed that we could return at some point in the future. Should also add that the permanent visa only lasts for 5 years, and if you wish to leave the country for any reason then you have to pay for Resident return Visa's which at present cost is another A$750 for 2 people. I am currently trying to appeal to get our Visa reinstated and have written to Senators and the Immigration minister so far without even a reply, SO BEWARE!!!

We are a couple who did have a permanent residency Visa having paid the about A$65000 and put up the A$10000 bond. We started with a temporary Visa about 7 years ago, which counted as the first instalment towards our permanent residency Visa and we paid about A$30000 then. 2 years later we either had to leave the country or apply for permanent residency and pay the balance of the A$65000. We decided to do this as at that time we were intending to live permanently in Australia. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to return to the UK in 2010 as the tenants in our house decided to move out. Should add that the pound also dropped to about 1.55 A$ to a £1 which meant that living on an English pension was very difficult to do, as it made things so expensive. We have lived back in the UK since that time, and are now back in Adelaide again for the 2nd visit since. WE had a great shock when arriving at the Airport in UK with a permanent residents Visa in our passports, only to be told that they had expired. Fortunately the airline - Emirates helped us to get a Visitors Visa so that we could travel on our booked flight. WE have now visited the Immigration office in Adelaide, only to be told that our permanent Visa has now expired, due to the fact that we have not lived in Australia for a complete 2 years in the past 5. Should add that we have lived here for about 31/4 years in the past 7. WE were told that we would have to apply for a Residents return VIsa immediately explaining the reasons why we have not lived here permanently, and at the cost of another A$750 they would consider if they would grant it to us, but we would have to return to live in Australia again, which at this time we do not wish to do. We always thought that when we had purchased a permanent resident Visa it would allow us to return to Australia when we wished, but it appears that this is not the case. So my message to intended parents emigrating, be aware, once in, it's a job to maintain your Visa if your circumstances change, and could like us, cost you an awful lot of money.

I received a speeding fine a few years back when driving a friends car, whilst there on a holiday from the UK. He obviously had to tell the Police who was driving, and gave them my name and address, and also advised me of what he had done. I never did receive any paperwork in England for the offence, so hence never worried unduly about it. However on my next visit to Adelaide I did wonder if I would be challenged at the immigration at the Airport, or that they would somehow know that I was back in Australia. The Good News, nothing further heard. Happy Christmas to all. Have just chatted to my son in Adelaide, and he tells me that he is missing his Family this Christmas Tide, even though he has a settled life in Australia after about 15years. Still we will be there again in January on our 17th Visit.

This item has been discussed lots on this Forum, with Gollywobbler being the most knowledgeable. My wife and I have taken this route, living in Australia for 3 years before returning back to our home in the Cotswolds. Basically there are the 2 routes to take if you qualify under the parent rules, i.e. that you have all of your children in Australia or at least 50% of your children living in Aus. I cannot remember the actual Visa Numbers, but one you apply for and go on a waiting list for up to 15 years, or you can pay to buy a Visa which can take up to 18 months to get. You would also have to qualify medically, and have medicals done for which you have to pay for. I believe there is also a way of applying whilst in Australia on a tourist Visa, but this can also take a long time, and you have to have Medical insurance cover whilst there. I would suggest that you search out the previous threads on this as they will give more information. One word of warning, if like us you rely on Pensions from the UK then your income is dependent on the exchange rate, and although it is improving, it is still a long way from when we moved to Australia in 2007 with a rate of 2.25 dollars to the pound. This can go up and down, I we have many English friends living in Australia who are now having difficulty with the cost of living there.

There are normally loads of taxis at the airport of which many are huge estate cars and minibuses. There is normally a person who calls the taxis up according to how many people need carrying. We had 4 people plus lots of luggage and had no problems when we came back from Holiday a few years ago.

Wish you well with your Sale, went through the same exercise about 3 years ago. A nightmare still having to live until flights out, but having to get rid of most of your possessions before the time. We found a Garage sale was the best option at the last minute, but still lost quite a lot on purchase prices. Good Luck

Found this maybe useful link on how to deal with smakes, but I would not recommend it. http://www.4cyc.com/play-YIMigVo1pyA

Hi Roger & Jane, Having lived in Adelaide for 3 years after purchasing a parent Visa, which incidentally took over a year to get, we are now permanent residents but living back in the UK. My understanding is that you can now buy property to live in, or alternately rent which many people do. It used to be the case that permission had to be applied for to buy a property on a temporary Visa, but I am sure that has now finished. I should point out that in order to be issued with a Visa you will need to satisfy all of the requirements, such as family test and health, so if you are thinking of applying for an onshore visa it would probably be best to rent in the first instance antil you were sure that you qualified.

I seem to remember when parking in adelaide on roadside parking places that you always had to park nose in and reverse out, otherwise a ticket is imminent.

I would like to add a parents point of view. You may be amazed how sad it makes one feel when a member of your family moves to the other side of the world. Our son moved to Adelaide 15 years ago, leaving a good job to be with an Aussie Girl friend. We were terribly upset, as we had always been a very close family, and my son was one of my best friends, going to football and playing golf with him. We had been visiting Adelaide for a few years before his decision, visiting some Aussie friends whose daughter was his girl friend, so we knew about Australia and what the travel entailed. However this distance thing meant a great deal to us, and when we had a close friend die, whose son was in Australia we realised how far it was, as when he came back for the funeral, in his eulogy he said sorry to his Mum for not being able to get back in time to say goodbye I would say that it probably took about 5 years for us to finally accept our son being in Australia, and when his marriage broke up and he said he would come back to England, we said to him to stay in Adelaide as his children were there and he owed it to them to be around for them. We also decided to emigrate to Adelaide and paid for our parents visa's ( a lot of money) lived in Adelaide for 3 years to help him over his marriage breakup, and are now back in the UK, as Australia is too expensive when you are living on pensions from the UK with the poor exchange rate. We now travel back to Adelaide most years whilst our health is okay, but recognise that as the years go by that we will not be able to do the journey due to maybe health and financial difficulty, and not see them, particularly our Grandchildren whom we love dearly. Maybe all those who have emigrated to Australia and have children, will go through the same type of Trauma themselves as their children grow up and make their own lives, as no doubt some will make the move back to England, as we have discovered many Australians prefer the English way of life.

As older people who have tried it out in Adelaide, I can give you our experience. We have many friends around the world and my wife has many close friends in England, and although we lived in Adelaide for 3 years and have permanent residency. We have made many friends in Adelaide and joined numerous organisations, but my wife always felt that she was really missing her close friends in England. ( I think this may be a female thing). We also live on Pensions which come over from England, and with the devaluation of the pound, meant that it was very expensive to live in Adelaide, hence the reason for our return to The Cotswolds. We still have many friends in Adelaide, and try to visit on an Annual basis, as we have family in Aus. Our friends put us up, they loan us a car to use whilst there, and we have a great time. We still say that maybe we will return if the currency improves, but as we are now approaching our 70's, I doubt if it will within our lifetime!!!.

Having just returned on Emirates from Adelaide to Heathrow, (arrived 21st March) I thought I would add my comments. We flew economy to Adelaide with a stopover in Dubai for 2 days and business back, thanks to a good deal I found, just over £2000 return for economy for 2 but only just over £4000 for our trip including 3 nights hotel in Dubai. We found the trip out comfortable with good service and food, but flight was 2 hours late leaving, so anybody wanting the 2am flight to Adelaide would have missed the connection. Our return on Business can only be described as excellent on the Adelaide/Dubai leg, almost personal service as the Boeing 777 had only a few Business seats, but the Dubai/Heathrow leg was quite busy in the Business section so service was not so good, but the food was again excellent. However the plane was 1 hour late leaving Dubai, so with 4 flights, 2 were late, not very good. However we would probably fly Emirates out again due to the convenience of short stopovers compared to the Far East connections. Should add that we have now visited 16 times in the past twenty years and have lived in Adelaide for 3 years, using most of the airlines at one time or another.