bongrider

I've been on a 457 visa for 2 years now and my contract is up for renewal. I've the choice between another 457 or a PR visa. My plan is to stay in Australia for another couple of years. The PR is appealing because of the access to medicare and the option of coming back to work in Australia on the same visa in the future. It's also interesting tax wise if we are to have baby here (baby bonus, FTB,...).

But I was counting on getting my super back (minus taxes) when I leave Australia. Is it true that this won't be possible if I am on a PR visa when I leave the country? Or maybe I can still recover the super I got while on the 457 visa?

Any help would be much appreciated

jimbo_d

no you can claim super at any time. i did it off the back of a working holiday visa.

slippery30

does it mean that when PR visa is granted, all the ealier super deducted when a person was on 457 visa can be reclaimed immediatly?...

can someone clarify this please...i thought it was only claimable once that person leaves australia or in extreme hardship i.e illness

jimbo_d

what do you mean? super stays in a fund and can be claimed at any time for a fee, if you go from 457 to pr the fund carries on as it was unless you say so and you carry on paying into it.

are you getting super confused with tax? if so you can't claim back tax you paid under a 457 if you go to pr

bongrider

Thanks for that. However I think that the WHV is also an eligible temporary resident visa (like the 457), which allows you to claim your super (see ATO website for the list of eligible temporary visas).
As the ATO puts it:
You are eligible to apply (for Departing Australia superannuation payment) if:
- you are a temporary resident
- you entered Australia on an eligible temporary resident visa
- you have departed Australia, and
- your visa has expired or been cancelled

To me this implies that if you are a PR when leaving Australia you cannot claim your super (because of condition 1).

comet555

Before we got our PR I looked into the whole super thing. As far as I know (or can remember) is that the super you contribute as a PR would be stuck in Australia. So I'm pretty sure that's the case for any super you accumulate after you gain PR.

I have no idea though if the super you contributed as a 457 would be locked in upon gaining PR. Either way I'm pretty sure you have to leave Australia in order to claim your super while on a temp visa (like the 457 or WHV). So not quite sure what happens to it if you stay in the country.

It might be worth speaking to an accountant if it's really important. For us though, we have no intention of touching our super until retirment. So even if we do leave Australia I have no issues with leaving or super here until we can access it for retirement.

slippery30

I just read the relevent rules from immi website and ATO website. There is some confusion as to rule 3 above " that you have departed australia"...there are some PR visas which can be granted onshore i.e ENS visas and person is not required to depart australia for conversion of 457 to PR visa.

I am not confusing super with tax, but my understanding is that generally super can only be claimed at the time of retirement and in only exceptional cases i.e illness or temp visa cancellation that it can claimed earlier. As far as i am aware super cant be claimed by paying a fee to the fund...

slippery30

Jimbo,

I dont think super be claimed anytime by paying a fee to the fund manager..its usually locked untill retirement..thats the whole purpose of super

bongrider

Thanks. This makes sense. If we want the advantages of the PR visa (welfare payments, medicare,...etc), we will have to give up the idea of getting our super back when leaving Australia.

We will have to wait until retirement to touch it, hoping that the Australian dollar is still worth something by then if we are overseas!

Something to think about...

PS: this page from the Wiki section of the forum has quite helpful info on the PR visa http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Perman...nt_(Australia)

jayr

Lets assume you earned about $100,000 a year and contributed 9% of that as super over 2 years. Your super would be worth $18,000, or likely less due to falls in superfunds generally.

Your options appear to be

1) physically leave the country on 457 expiry, claim the $18kish back, get another visa; or
2) stay and get another visa.

Now, the $18k is always yours, its just can you have it now or at retirement. Getting PR now, if available, gives you additional rights (such as to stay indefinitely) and known addiitonal benfits (baby bonus, FTB etc.) and possible unkown benefits like some of the FTB stimulus payments that have been doled out.

It seems youa re largely deciding between, get PR and lock super away, or stay 457 ad withdraw super.

If you withdraw super, it is not there for your retirement.

I ultimately would not link your desire to get your hands onthemoney now the foregoing a chance at PR.

Remember PR rules change (they just have). If you have a chance to get it now then go for it.

jimbo_d

It would need looking at but i've read of a few cases whereby people have lost their jobs and been at risk of losing their homes, and have tapped the super to pay the mortgage off. Maybe it's an exceptional case?

bongrider

What Jayr say is quite sensible, especially for someone planning to stay in Australia. However I think the choice isn't so straightforward anymore if you assume that we only stay another 2 years. Then the options are:

1) get another 457 and claim the $40kish back in 2 years; or
2) get a PR, then wait until retirement to touch the super.

Other good points about 2) are:
- possibility to access benefit payments
- possibility to obtain citizenship (I believe we'll be able to have it after 2 years on temporary visa and 2 years on PR visa)
- if we do have a baby while in Australia, he/she will get Australian citizenship + we'll (possibly) be entitled to FTB, baby bonus & Child Care Tax Rebate.

Bad point point is that we'll have to pay something like $2000 for the PR visa (compared to a much smaller fee for a 457 renewal) + lots of paperwork I suppose

Overall however, PR may be the best option. We'll probably only regret it if we really need our superannuation money before we retire... or if the paperwork is too tedious!

jimbo_d

One thing though if your super fund is as well performing as mine you might find it's worth bugger all now anyway!

ABCDiamond

So do rules on Temp Residents getting their super back...


On the issue of getting the Super back...
To get money out of Super, other than as a Temp resident, you need to apply to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), with your reasons.

Generally, you can withdraw up to $10,000 a year if they prove financial hardship, and have been claiming Commonwealth income support for the past 26 weeks.

They can also access as much of their super as needed if the need to avoid their property foreclosure or pay medical bills for life-threatening illnesses etc.

If the money is needed to avoid house repossession, you need a letter confirming this from the lender.

If the money is needed for Life threatening medical bills, confirmation of this is also required by the APRA.

Basically it isn't just a case of withdrawing it. You need to prove a good reason why. Other than that, it stays till you are old.

ozhappy981

If you think because you paid in $40k in super you can claim back $40k in super when you leave, you couldn't be more wrong.

If you're on a 457, leave and apply for your super payments, you now pay high rates of tax on it: You will pay 35% tax on the taxed element and 45% on the untaxed element.

As a general rule of thumb: assume you will get back no more than 50% of what you paid in ($20k repayment in your case).

Read here (scroll down for the tax rates):
http://www.ato.gov.au/superfunds/con...t/00173430.htm