The curse of ping pongin
 

Hello everyone,
This forum kept us going and was a great support in all aspects when we first started our move to Australia in 2007. So thank you to Pollyana and all forum contributors for their tremendous advise.

After 3 blissful years in Adelaide and baby number 3, my dh (decided we should return to London- and so we did in 2012)

We are perm residents with our visa running out next year in Nov 2016. We are seriously thinking of returning back, although it will be difficult as one of our children is in year 9 and just choosing his GCSE options.

My questions are :
1- How long do we need to be in Australia before we can go out again, i.e sth to to with return visitor visa, basically can we go renew the visa and come back to UK for son to finish GCSE or do we need to live in Australia for 4 years to be eligble for Citizenship.

2- Can anyone share their thoughts about life in Newcastle (my previous employer in Adelaide is relocating to Newcastle and there may be a possibility for me to have my old job back)

Thank you in advance, the fevers of 2007 have returned again.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Where Newcastle Upon Tyne or Newcastle Upon Hunter?

If Newcastle Upon Hunter here is my go on the place.

Well 2 drive hours from Sydney (3 hours on a train). This is the crazy part. Newcastle, like Wollongong should be easily connect to Sydney by a high speed train, but we always live in hope.

Has about half the population of Adelaide at a bit over half a million.

Nice town, on the beach, not far from the Hunter Valley and some amazing spots coastal spots up the coast. It has an airport with flights to Melb, Bris, and Sydney.

It has a reasonably regarded university.

I think it has a lot going for it and could do so much better with a little investment and quicker connection to Sydney.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Yup. I have long been an advocate of High Speed Rail to connect Newcastle, Wollongong and Sydney - it would take the pressure off of the Sydney basin, and make these towns easy commuter areas. The 3 hr all stops train to Newcastle is a joke.


S

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Absolutely. Lets be honest, Sydney is bounded by National Parks on all fronts and most people want to live near the coast. The infrastructure exists in the Gong, Central Coast and Newcastle. It makes sense to invest in the rail.

There used to be a sea plane that flew from Rose Bay right into the river next to downtown Newcastle. I caught it once for a meeting in Newcastle but unfortunately it is no longer.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

[QUOTE=Beoz;11615433]Where Newcastle Upon Tyne or Newcastle Upon Hunter?

If Newcastle Upon Hunter here is my go on the place.

Well 2 drive hours from Sydney (3 hours on a train). This is the crazy part. Newcastle, like Wollongong should be easily connect to Sydney by a high speed train, but we always live in hope.

Has about half the population of Adelaide at a bit over half a million.

Nice town, on the beach, not far from the Hunter Valley and some amazing spots coastal spots up the coast. It has an airport with flights to Melb, Bris, and Sydney.

It has a reasonably regarded university.

I think it has a lot going for it and could do so much better with a little investment and quicker connection to Sydney.[/QUOTE

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Thank you for your reply.
I meant Newcastle in NSW- def not Newcastle in UK:)

Interesting to read the description. Great points. Thank you.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Criteria for citizenship - Lived in Australia for at least 4 years on a valid visa and at least 12 months of this period as a permanent resident, outside Australia for no more than 90 days in the 12 months before you apply and out of Australia for no more than 365 days in the 4 years before applying

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Thank you Kips.

That's very kind of you to reply.

I see that the we must stay in Australia for 4 years then solid.

We were hoping there was a shorter route to acquire citizenship, to help our son take return to UK to take his gcse's in UK. He's due to sit them in the summer of 2017..... arghhh...

Summer :)

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

It doesn't help you re your son's education, but citizenship is effectively 3 years solid for you because you can treat the year before you return as the year out of Australia.

And again it doesn't help you but for the benefit of others, had you been on a PR visa for two years before you left (I see you were only on a temporary visa for most of the time) and if it was less than three years since then, you could have got a 5 year RRV now.

But in any case, do you really want your son to (a) be doing GCSE's if his future is in Australia and (b) to delay returning until an age when your son will be old enough to decide he doesn't want to come with you? It only needs one young love affair for him to decide England should be his forever home.... happens a lot.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Thanks a million Louie.

Yes we were on a temp visa for two years, and perm the last one then we returned to UK.

I chuckled reading about the young love affair as I came to England myself young and met my English husband and never returned back to Eastern Europe! So I totally agree with you.

Would you be able to know that in case we need to go on holiday for two weeks or so whilst living in Australia but no citizens yet, do we need to have a RRV on our passport or our perm visa stamp in our passports suffices?

Thanks in advance. I love this forum.

Summer:)

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

You would need a RRV. The visa is permanent but the travel portion of it expires.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Depends when you go. If you mean after the initial five years of your PR visa, then yes as Dorothy says, you would need a RRV.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

The problem that's insurmountable is the same with all HST proposals - it would only BE high speed if it just connected two cities. If it has to keep stopping between them it's no longer high speed.

So unless there is a high volume throughout the day from Newcastle to Sydney and return it is completely unviable. Building it and running it during rush hours only doesn't make sense.

Re: The curse of ping pongin
 

Yeah probably not enough traffic to make it true high speed, but Sydney - Newcastle is about 150km by road. To make it commutable in peak you need trains travelling at about 150km/h so the trip is an hour - 90 mIns including a couple of stops here and there. As it currently stands 3 hours is absurd.