lickylady

Hi,

We moved from Benfleet in Essex end September 07 to Adelaide. We have just bought a little bungalow in Brighton which we have been spending most of our time doing up, bit by bit, as well as both working full time. We have aunts/uncles/cousins here but need some more friends. If you fancy meeting up let us know.

chris and farideh

We were from Hornchurch & lived in Somerton Park, but sadly we no longer live there we left Adelaide end of October, just wanted to wish you good luck & Happy New Year, there are loads of nice people in Adelaide I'm sure you wont have any problems finding some nice friends.

Wendy

I'm not from Essex, but I do live in Adelaide. There's a few meetups arranged for this month if you fancy coming along to meet some people.

You'll find the links in my signature

lickylady

Hi Wendy, yes saw you have a meet up in January will try and come to it. Is it just for the girls or for the other halves too?

Wendy

Anyone welcome. There's quite a few of us now

bobbyfaescotland

Someone from Benfleet.

We lived on Canvey Island for three years and loved the area.

Not from Adelaide, sorry but would just like to say hello.

Bobby

lickylady

Hi ya.

Yes feeling a little unsure. We are just going to enjoy the adventure try and stick it out to get our citizenship which I now understand is 4 years in OZ instead of 2!!. We have had our visa's for 3 years and finally decided to go for it. moved here 3 months ago. Then we shall see, maybe we will be settled by then or maybe we'll try Spain and have another adventure. I am going back in May for 3 weeks and already looking forward to it. Seem to spend most of my time watching relocation relocation and on the UK websites as well as webcam. That is the greatest invention, I actually feel like I have been to my sisters house especially when she moves the webcam round the familiar room. haha

Wendy

If you've had your visa's for 3 years, then I presume you must have validated within the first year of getting them?

If that's the case then the old 2 year rule for Citizenship still applies to you, providing you apply before 30th June 2010

lickylady

Hi Wendy, Yes we validated them almost 4 years ago. I understood though that you had to have been living here and applied for citizenship prior to 1st Aug 07 (It may have been 1st July cant remember now). I did look into it and it said that only applications for citizenship that had been lodged prior to the change would be able to do 2 years? Even if you had been living here for 3 years, if you had not lodged for citizenship before the date then you would have to do another year to make up the 4. How can I find out for sure. Have looked on immi website and still not really clear.

themerlin

How do you get 20 Essex girls into a Mini ?

Tell them it's a Porsche.

Wendy

From the Citizenship website:
http://www.citizenship.gov.au/applyi...ligibility.htm

If people became permanent residents before 1 July 2007 and apply before 30 June 2010, they must have been physically present in Australia as a permanent resident for a total of two years in the five years before applying, including one year in the two years before applying.

If you entered Australia before the 1st July 2007 on a PR visa, you are classed as a permanent resident for the purposes of the Citizenship act so fall into this category.

lickylady

Thats fantastic. So they class as being a "permanent resident" from the date the visa activated and not from when we moved here to live?

Wendy

Yep, apparantly so. There's a very big thread about it somewhere in the immigration forum

Gonnago

We are in Chelmsford (Posh part of Essex lol) and hope to be in Adelaide soon - well as soon as our visa is granted, being optimistic and thinking June/July

Hutch

I reckon a lot depends on how like your username you are.