Validation trip - What should I do?
 

Hi
As many of you are already aware our house sale which was due to exchange last week fell through and now our buyer has gone altogether. We are now going to have to validate in the next couple of months as due date is may 10th.
What things should we do whilst we are there? and what documents would we need. Dont really want to do this trip but thought as we are there we might as well use time constructively.
Thanks everyone your help is much appreciated as always.
Irene

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

I forgot to say that we will be staying with relatives in Melbourne (Mornington Peninsula) where we will be living.
Irene

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

Well you couldn't have picked a nicer area Irene. You could get your tax file number sorted out & maybe open a bank account, apart from that just enjoy yourselves.

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

Thanks Bordy
I had opening a bank account Commonwealth on my list. ? register with doctors and school.
What documents do I need for tax file number?
Irene

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

In that case I'd plan to validate sooner rather than later - by mid April the weather in southern Australia can get quite cool. February and March are usually nice.


Assuming you'd prefer to have nicer weather for your holiday.

Jeremy

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

Book your tickets for arriving in May, you never know your house may sell, its quite conceivable that you may be in the position to not only validate but go for good.
If I where in the situation I would book as far as I could with the veiw to validate, as long as you arrive before the 10th, but don't rule out a buyer turning up next month or so and the paperwork shooting through, anything is possible.
The only things you can really doing on a validation trip would be looking round the various areas for houses for rent/buy and getting in with some of the realestate people who would email you if something came up, I can't imagine anything else really other than having a holiday with a bit of house hunting thrown in. If you had time and are not quite sure on area as in Brissie/Perth get an internal flight and have a look its probably the only time you will be able to see other cities before you turn up and start settling in.

Hope this helps

Jenny

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

It really is not a good idea to leave validation until the last minute. All you need is illness, injury, strike, flight delays or something like that and you suddenly find you can't get to Australia by the deadline => full scale visa mess.

DIMIA take a dim view of people who do not validate their visas on time.

For a stress free life - validate early.

Jeremy

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

Thanks everyone
Yes its a dilemma but had thought that we would not wait until last minute for that very reason of ill health etc. Also my 6 year old soon to be 7 has her sats early May. Now that it is probable that we will be here the school will not allow her time off in May. I spoke to them about this today. Due to annual leave and bank holidays etc thinking that Easter will most likely be the best time to validate. We had considered waiting until mid April but I think it is too risky. If of course a buyer comes along great but we have had our house on the market since last August thinking that we had plenty of time but you can never tell. We have had 2 chains brake down, 1 early on and the last one on day of exchange. I think I would feel too nervous to wait until last minute and buyers may get wind of our need to go and try to renegotiate.
Irene

Re: Validation trip - What should I do?
 

I would do the items suggested - BUT I would also get a PO Box address at the post office that is either likely to be most local to you on your arrival or is easy to access/park etc. Then when you're back in the UK you'll be able to set up an international redirection before you leave... and hopefully you won't have them mucking up the address (missed off a digit on our PO box number so mail was returned to sender as unknown) as you'll have given them written instructions.

Also - if you have friends/relatives who'd be willing to look after some stuff for you out here, you could think of bringing out items that you'll need before your goods arrive... eg extra clothes, or basic kitchen/dining utensils that you can do without in the UK, but which will save you money/time when you arrive here.

If you have children, perhaps bring some of their things out here (if storage isn't an issue), so that when you arrive 'for real' they have the comfort/excitement of old toys rediscovered.

HTH
teagg