jambo72

Hi,

I've posted around this before but to give you guys a quick overview of my situation I'll keep it brief:

I currently have my Permanent Residency visa in which the travel validity will expire in Feb 2017.

Currently I am living in Scotland (based in the highlands but working in Glasgow) with my partner, my daughter (7 months) and my 13 year old step daughter.

My partners father and younger sister live in Brisbane.

We have decided that in the summer of 2016 to head over to Oz for a couple of years. By then my partners daughter will be 16. Next year we are going to start the process of getting them on my PR visa.

However I am starting to have a real moral crisis about the whole thing. After just becoming a father myself to a daughter I cant help but feel absolutely heartbroken about taking the step daughter away from her Dad.

Dont get me wrong he has been nothing but a complete bastard to my missus and has left her to rot, financially, after they mutually decided to separate.

Now that's really none of my business and the fact is he's a great Dad and loves his daughter very much, like most Dad's do.

This is the problem, I just feel 16 is way too young to take someones daughter to the other side of the world. As for the girl herself she is desperate to go and is thrilled at the idea of being out there for a couple of years. However I feel she is too young to appreciate the impact of this will have on her father.

However here is the problem we have:

1) If we dont go by Feb 2017, I lose my visa..forever!

2) I also lose around 30K Super annuation that i have accumulated while working over there.

The reason we will have to go I believe is that I dont have a pension in the UK and at the very least we need to go back and for me to renounce my residency. I have been told that I need to be onshore and working for me to do this and get my money?

Also, selfishly, I want to. I want to give my own daughter the chance to experience the best of both worlds and dont really want to bring her up in Glasgow. Plus my partner has very strong family connections there as well.

Has anyone any experience of this type of situation? This is killing me to be honest and when I discuss it with friends or family I have had advise that has ranged from 'you need to protect your pension' too 'we are just being selfish and need to give it up'.

The whole thing is like a huge albatross around my neck..sometimes I wish I had never moved to Oz. What you cant have you dont miss if you know what I mean.

quoll

Unfortunately 16 is not a good age to be moving with kids at all. It can bugger up their education, especially if you go with it being viewed as a temporary option. Any younger than 16 and the child's father can refuse permission for them to go and you'd have to go through the courts to get permission. He will, I am sure, be devastated if he is a good loving dad and he may fight to the death for his daughter.

You shouldn't lose your super - you can get it at preservation age, surely.

You can apply for a RRV if you have compelling ties to Aus

jambo72

When you lose your Permanent Residency you lose your super apparently?

Yeah I would much, much rather wait until she was at least 18, but we dont have that option.

I dont think my partner could leave her for a week never mind a year with holidays.

Yeah, if it was my daughter I would be crestfallen. I think its a step too far to be honest, we might just have to give it up altogether. I cant help feel the regret around this could be pretty bad though.

The right to RRV expires after Feb 2017. If i thought I could do this another way once the girl was 21 then I would believe me.

NickyC

No. Definitely not.

Your super will stay in your account in Australia until you retire, whereupon you can withdraw it all. You don't lose your super, it's yours.

Scotty1

Yes i have been in the situation where my partner has left his son in the uk and its not easy. I felt guilty about wanting to move and the impact this would have on their relationship but I felt sure that it would survive. His mother would never have granted consent at the time we moved. But his son is now 16 and living with us, having maintained a good relationship with his dad, which is possible with regular communication and visits. In the end he decided what he wanted to do and I suspect your stepdaughter will do the same.

The decision on the quality of relationship that your stepdaughter has with her father is not really yours to make (don't mean to be harsh but its not) and a key issue is what she and your partner want to do. Your partner may well be very keen to reunite with her family and a 16 year old is capable of making decisions on their preference too. You are also not planning on doing it forever. There are plenty of things that you can be guilty about when leaving friends and family in the UK - don't add to your personal burden when it doesn't appear you are driving the move and the issue that is most concerning you is not really your responsibility.

And the problem doesn't go away because the child turns 18 - lots of parents get very upset at the prospect of their children living on the other side of the world - they just can't stop them

If you do decide to move, you will have some practical timing issues regarding spouse and child visas that will need some careful organising.At the minute it is taking 9 months to get a child visa from London and a similar time for a spouse visa. You will need the father's consent if you apply and the child is still under 16 (assuming a couple of other criteria are met which it sounds like they are). If you are not going to get the father's consent you may need to wait until the child is post 16 - and then add 9 months or whatever the wait is at that time for processing? In any case you will likely need the assistance of an agent for the child visa to remind the case officer that UK and Australian law are different. It is unlikely that the child visa will be straightforward.

When did you originally arrive and depart Oz? How long were you here for and have you had an RRV before? Are you likely to have a job, bank account, house or other ties in Oz? The answers to these questions will determine if you can get an RRV or not and for how long.
As has been mentioned, you don't lose your super, you just can't access it until your retirement age, and you may well get an RRV - it depends. I think you may be getting confused with the provision that allows temporary residents (on a temporary visa) to access their super when they return to their home. However that is not you.
Education can be tricky - but quality of school is an issue. Basically if she moves over she really needs to do the HSC for two years, she cant do Highers so if she wants to go to Uni in the UK, she may have an issue.
So work out your options, then decide what you want to do. It is not as straightforward as you all getting a visa immediately and being able to move when you want.
Good luck

pome bstrd

Ive been a step child and have lived with step brothers and sisters.I think once you've lived in this kind of family unit you become wise beyond your years as you have to be more accepting of the situation and dynamics.i know at sixteen i didn't have a world of experience but i certainly new my own mind. at seventeen i went backpacking for four years straight .. thatcher would have loved that!
i would focus on the needs and feelings of your immediate family .... the people you are responsible for .... if the girl wants to go for a couple of years so be it she will be 18 sooner than you think and you guys will be the last thing on her mind.if she wants to pop back and see others , friends family ect she will be big enough to that to her hearts content.

just be sure when you get here you put your nose to the ground and work hard to enjoy it and make it worth while for them. as a family your going to have to be closer , tighter , and pull together . any cracks in the marriage or relationships within the family will tear out hear. Australia is the ultimate acid test for a family.

good luck my friend whatever you decide.

verystormy

Firstly, no you will not lose your super - you cant even touch it until you reach the relevant age regardless of where you live. So even if you came back to Oz, you can not take it out. If you dont, then it simply stays until you reach the quaifying age.

There is a big issue with your step daughter in that it would need either her fathers permission or a court order. If he wants to be awkward, you could be in for a long and expensive legal battle

Amazulu

A fact of emigration is that often, someone gets hurt

Only you can decide if it is worth it

Amazulu

Your super is untouchable and safe, waiting for your retirement - as it was intended for

moneypenny20

Being a bit harsh to you here but it's not really your decision is it? If your step daughter and her mother are 100% in favour then that's it as far as I'm concerned. If she's 16 and wants to go, it's unlikely the courts will take the father's thoughts into consideration (were he to argue). He may even be happy for her to have the chance of living in another country. Has anyone asked him?

As for the daughter not being old enough to understand the impact on her father, have you asked her? I love that you're being so considerate but you appear to be making assumptions based on how you feel about your daughter. (Only going on what you've put, there's obviously shedloads we're not privy to).

Someone always gets hurt by people moving, it's the nature of the beast unfortunately. Can't please everyone.

jambo72

Thanks for this.

From what you are saying is that we shouldnt even apply until my step daughter is 16 so that her fathers consent is not required? That's a biggy as were going to start applying next year.

I think this is going to have to pan out in that I leave before my travel expiry date runs out (Feb 2017) and they join up with me when the spouse/child visa's are granted.

As for getting the RRV I wouldn't get that while offshore AFTER my travel expiry date as I wouldnt have lived in Oz for 2 years out the last 5.

I arrived in Oz in 2008 as a temp spouse of a NZ citizen. At the end of 2011 I was granted my PR and had to leave in May 2012. By the time I return in 2017 I wont have been there 2 years out the last 5 so will need to be onshore for at least a year before I could apply for any sort of RRV to allow me in and out of Oz.

The crucial factor in all of this is I need to get my backside back in Oz before the right to travel expires.

I still have bank accounts and debt in Oz which I am paying but if I am living in Oz at the time of my RRV application then I will have a job, house etc as well.

I am hoping the spouse/child visa's should be okay as we will have been together for 5 years by then and possibly even married.

Thanks to all that replied!

louie

This doesn't help you unfortunately, but in case of other people reading this thread, I would just clarify that you can apply for a RRV during the validity of your current visa's travel period (or during the validity of a RRV).

If you had acquired PR earlier in your period of residence in Australia (so that you had two years as a PR before you left), you would have been able to apply for a RRV now or at any point up to when you had ceased to have had 2 out of 5 years in Australia. For example, if you had acquired PR in January 2010 and hadn't left Australia between then and May 2012, you would have been able to apply for a 5 year RRV as of right at any time up to May 2015 assuming no change in the rules before then. It doesn't matter that you would in any case have had the right to return until February 2017. Your two years in Australia would have been May 2010 to May 2012 and these would have been within the five years prior to applying in May 2015. So effectively one can extend the travel period for eight years after leaving if you are unsure of your future plans, but only if you were in Australia with PR for two years.

Bermudashorts

I thought it was really refreshing to see someone think about the bigger picture and thinking of others and not just what you want to do. Good on you.

quoll

Just to reiterate, be very careful about buggering up her education - even if sh arrives in time to start yr 11 (age 16) and gets a yr 12 score, she probably wouldn't be able to take that back to uni in UK without incurring international student fees. 18 with A levels is so much less risk on her part. She wouldn't, of course, see the implications, just the potential adventure.

Kapri

I agree

OP, we left my step daughter in the UK. She is 23 and can come out on a WHV if she likes but at the moment she chooses to be in London with her boyfriend and friends. We miss her but she is an adult and makes her own decisions.

Your stepdaughter is old enough to know her own mind. If she wants to go then great! It won't mean she loves her Dad any less. In two years she could be off backpacking anyway!

I think it's sad when younger kids are taken from one parent against their wishes but it's a bit different at 16.
Bear in mind that, if she doesn't settle, she may go back to the UK and live with Dad anyway.