Adam 66

Hi Astonished, like you were hoping to (eventually) live in Sydney if I get accepted for the RAN. We recently holidayed there and loved it. Is your place a married quarter like the pusser here, or is it a subsidised private dwelling?

We will be renting our own home here in UK whilst we dip our toes in the water so to speak, and hope that the small return on our rented property (minus tax and letting fees) will pay for our accom fees in Aus. If we settle and love it, we will appoint a solicitor to commence the sale of our UK property in due course, depending on taxation issues and such and then buy a place in Australia and sever our ties with UK.

I leave the RN in 2 months, presently doing my resettlement package training as a gas engineer, and hope to get an HVAC job here soon to gain some skills and experience prior to emigrating to join RAN in about a year or so.

Point duly noted about the "When I was in the RN on HMS Massive" etc. Nobody likes a black cat do they ? I hope the bit about adopting USN methods includes their welfare and manpower management as the yanks seem to do a better job of 'looking after their boys' than we do, or maybe thats just how it seems from the outside.

astonished

Defence Housing in Australia is predominantly provided by the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) http://www.dha.gov.au/

this site has all the info you will probably need

astonished

housing costs http://www.defence.gov.au/dpe/pac/

astonished

lhmm link problem on previous

The letter is the quality of house
Rank is self explanatory
all prices per week
first figure 2 bedrooms
second figure 3 bedrooms or more
location doesnt matter

1.
Major General or higher
E
326.40
362.65

2.
Colonel, Brigadier
D
209.95
233.30

3.
Major, Lieutenant Colonel
C
171.50
190.55

4.
Warrant Officer Class 1, Warrant Officer Class 2, Second Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain
B2
154.80
172.00

5.
Sergeant, Staff Sergeant
B1
136.40
151.55

6.
Corporal or lower, trainee
A
113.85
126.50

7.
Major or lower
1A*
101.70
113.00

so a petty officer living in sydney almost on the harbour say in central north sydney town houses where i used to live or wooloomooloo would pay 136 dollars per week for a 2 bedroom town house.

gozzey

When do people think the best time to join the RAN is? before 40 and miss out of the nice lump sum payout and pension or go before then? My husband is 33 and wants to go now, I think later, when he retires from the RN at 40 and he has nothing to lose as I believe you can join the RAN upto age 45.

njk435

I don't think there can be a right answer. I'm Army, going to Aus aged 38 - 2 yrs to pension. I'll miss out on a lot of money but money isn't everything.

My decision was based on the fact that I want to be in Aus more than I want to be 'rich'.

I know others that are waiting for their 22 yrs - entirely up to the individual/family.

Also, there is no guarantee that the RAN/ARMY will still be recruiting in 7 years. The first time I checked, they weren't accepting overseas applicants. Also I looked at Skilled Migration and noticed that the points required were going up steadily every year, meaning I now only just have the points to go, should the ADF not be an option..

I suppose in summary it all comes down to what you want more - Australia or the pension

Adam 66

Is it possible to transfer your pension fund to the RAN or Australian Defence Force if you left service within UK armed forces and joined immediately into Australian defence to continue military service within the Commonwealth ?

I read recently in BR 8748 about the option to transfer across to RAN/RNZN if you have family in AUS/NZ (ie parents if you are young, spouse & kids etc if married to an Aussie/Kiwi). This ruling obviously doesn't apply to many, but perhaps there is also an agreement between MOD and Commonwealth nations regarding employment and pensions?

It may be worth doing a bit of research, it would be a shame to miss out on emigration opportunities and/or pension rights due to your dilemma if an option already exists that you haven't been told about. Maybe even contact the MOD pensions people in Glasgow and enquire, what have you got to lose? Like everything in this line of work, if you don't ask, you won't get (an awful cliche but true).

If you could transfer your military service and pension rights to AUS from UK it would solve your problem regarding getting in before its too late should recruitment be stopped.

njk435

I've checked directly with Mil super (the ADF pension provider) and they've assured me it is not possible to transfer pensions. This is mainly due to the fact that they operate a superannuation scheme (as required by Aus law) whereas ours is a non-contributory (allegedly) scheme.

There is a nice add on to the Aus one though, in that time served in a 'suitable' foreign service counts to your employer contributions. Basically they add more to your pot the longer you serve. I think from memory they pay in 17% for the first 7 years, 21% for 7 - 20 years and 28% for over 20 years. so my Aus time will all be at 28% contributions.

If I haven't explained this well, check militarysuper website.

If I manage 17 years in Aus Army, then when I'm 60 I'll be pretty well off with both military pensions, my UK pension and my Australian Age pension - just need to make sure I live long enough to enjoy it

Daisydora

I've read all this information about transferring from the Royal Navy to the Australian Navy which has been helpful, but what if you are an ex-serviceman. My husband left the Royal navy 4 years ago and we are really keen to move to Oz. I am a secondary school teacher, but haven't worked in teaching for just over 2 years (since the birth of our daughter) so we probably won't be able to apply for a skilled migration visa unless I return to teaching for the next year or so. My husband is very keen to join the RAN and having looked at their website found the information that seemed to indicate this would be possible. There are current vacancies in the job he used to do and the job description is almost identical. We sent off the information they required via e-mail and I was wondering how long would be a reasonable length of time before we chased this up. Has anyone else had experience of applying as an ex-serviceman and if so what are the realistic chases of my husband being accepted?

Adam 66

Hi Daisydora,
I have applied and sent all my Quals etc. on paper to be assessed and I am now waiting for the Aus Navy to get back to me. I am currently still serving and have just turned 40 and started 2OE, though ironically I hand my ID card back today and leave the RN at the end of September after 24 years service as 'Man and Boy'.

You have to leave the RN before joining the RAN anyway so the fact your hubby is already a civvy isn't really any different to my circumstances as I will be a civvy once I join RAN (assuming I am successful as an applicant). I am currently a CPO but will have to drop a rank to PO in the RAN. I'm not worried about status so long as they pay me for what I do (plus pension on top ).

So long as hubby meets the experience, quals and age requirements then he should be of interest to the RAN. I believe the age limit for emigration as a skilled worker to AUS is 45 unless of course anyone knows better, and I am not sure whether the RAN will take overseas recruits past this age and if so, what they can do about the immigration system to get around this age limit.

littlenick

Hi

My hubby sent off all paperwork the beginning of July and we are now waiting to hear whether he will be offered a job. His finish date with RN is Feb 07 so we are hoping to move out there near enough as soon as he finishes. If I remember right he made contact with them about three weeks after sending off first email with quals etc and recieved an email back saying application was in the post. We received that about 2 weeks later and then couriered it all back and now the wait begins. My hubby is a CPOWEA and apparently they are looking for quite a few people so hopefully (fingers crossed) everything will go ok and we will be out there early next year.

Do you have any children? We have 2 boys aged 14 and 11 who are really looking forward to moving. We do keep telling them that they will have to go to school, that's it's not a long holiday! Hope all goes well will your applications.

Daisydora

Hi , thanks for that both of you. My husband is only 30, he was only in the navy for 10 years so at least his age won't be against him. I just hope they consider he has enough experience and qualifications. We have 3 children. My oldest is going to uni here in September for 3 years (he is nearly 19) and will probably follow us out when he has finished. My second son is 17 and is just starting an NVQ 1 in catering. He will be coming out with us and will hopefully be okay with getting a job as there is a shortage of chefs (hopefully he will get an apprenticeship or will be able to continue training) Our daughter is only 2 so doesn't understand too much about it all at the moment. The older 2 are really keen although we realise they may change their minds if the process takes too long. My family have been really supportive as it was something my mum and dad were set to do 30 years ago when my dad left the army but changed their minds at the last minute. They have always had regrets about that. The hardest thing appears to be the waiting.

hutchy

[QUOTE=njk435]I don't think there can be a right answer. I'm Army, going to Aus aged 38 - 2 yrs to pension. I'll miss out on a lot of money but money isn't everything.

My decision was based on the fact that I want to be in Aus more than I want to be 'rich'.

I know others that are waiting for their 22 yrs - entirely up to the individual/family.

Also, there is no guarantee that the RAN/ARMY will still be recruiting in 7 years. The first time I checked, they weren't accepting overseas applicants. Also I looked at Skilled Migration and noticed that the points required were going up steadily every year, meaning I now only just have the points to go, should the ADF not be an option..

Im in receipt of a UK Armed Forces Pension having served in the RN for 24 years. I joined the RAN in 2003 as a lateral recruit. I would say one thing to anyone wanting to join the ADF who is near to getting their UK pension. The cost of housing in Oz is going up all the time and when you come to want a mortgage, you can use your pension as added income which helps greatly when applying for a mortgage. I know that there are MQ's and they are of a good standard but eventually you will have to buy or you will be forced to live in a rental. You did all those years and took the s*** so my advice would be do the time to get the graturity and pension. I know that the RAN will have vacancies for years to come because we can not keep our sailors in and suspect this is the case for the Army as well.
Hope that this reply from someone who is already here helps.

Regards

Terry ex CPO (RN) now PO (RAN)









I

gozzey

(Quote)Im in receipt of a UK Armed Forces Pension having served in the RN for 24 years. I joined the RAN in 2003 as a lateral recruit. I would say one thing to anyone wanting to join the ADF who is near to getting their UK pension. The cost of housing in Oz is going up all the time and when you come to want a mortgage, you can use your pension as added income which helps greatly when applying for a mortgage. I know that there are MQ's and they are of a good standard but eventually you will have to buy or you will be forced to live in a rental. You did all those years and took the s*** so my advice would be do the time to get the graturity and pension. I know that the RAN will have vacancies for years to come because we can not keep our sailors in and suspect this is the case for the Army as well.
Hope that this reply from someone who is already here helps.

Regards

Terry ex CPO (RN) now PO (RAN)

Are you just as likely to be able to get into the RAN at 40 rather than say 30, does your age go against you?

gozzey

Hi, you mentioned the pensions rates do you know if your time served is counted or do you have to start a fresh? ie if you have done 20yrs in the RN will they count that time in your actual pension or just start a new one paying 28%?