Waiting for things to improve
 

Hi,

With the recession and a lot of people struggling with either lack of work or the £ against the $ making buying houses a lot more expensive, i wonder how many people in the UK go through the visa process, get accepted, then wait for everything to hopefully get "better", before moving over. That said, after you've been granted your visa and you've validated it, how long does your visa stay activated for before you've "got" to move over to Aus ?
It seems a real shame that peoples dreams can be shattered so easily, one minute the ecomony's fine then by the time you go through the visa stages, come to sell your home and move over, everything goes t*ts up.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Your visa is valid for 1 year from the date you received your police check or medical. So if you completed your medical on the 3rd September 2009, your initial entry date to Australia to validate your visa will be 3rd September 2010.
I am an Australian citizen who will be returning to Australia with my husband who is Northern Irish in August. The rubbish exchange rate concerns me however 7 months is a long time where the economy is concerned. It is the risk you take. I thought it had bottomed out a little while there to $1.75 to the £1 however it seems to be getting lower. Here's hoping the pound strengthens within the next year.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

what visa do you have???

We had 6 months to validate our visa's - while our daughter has a year to validate hers now.
We validated our visa's back in 2007? and to my knowledge we had 5 years from that date to move out there, think we will need to get another visa while we're out there if we wanted to stay past 2012 but once we've done that we'd prob do citizenship if all was going well.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

On an independent (175 or 176) visa you have 1 year from medicals or police checks (whichever is older) to validate, you then get a further 4 years to make your final move. 5 years in total from the granting of your visa to make the move.

Ours was granted on the 10th September 2009, we have until the 4th September 2010 (date the meds were submitted) to validate and then until the 4th September 2014 to make the final move.

We're um'ing and ah'ing at the moment. House has been on the market since the middle of November and we've had 13 viewings with 2 silly offers. We're set to fly out on the 20th May....

At this point I have no idea what we'll be doing.

I am trying to be positive, the house will sell and we'll be on the plane on the 20th May and on our way to Australia.... :eek:

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

I am Australian so my husband was accepted via a spouse visa. He needs to validate by the 3rd of September 2010 but we will move out August this year. Despite the exchange rate something else may crop up anyway so we'll make the move this year. The longer you leave it the chance of some change in personal circumstances or something else holding you back is more likely.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Thanks very much everyone for your replies.
Jenjen we haven't applied for our visa yet, i'll be going for skilled independent for a bricky.
I think it gives you a lot of time for it to change for the better when you've got 5 years to move over after the initial being granted.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Not true. It depends on what visa type.
You've got years before you even get a visa, so things will probably have improved financially by then. See the sticky in the immigration section for current processing priorities.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Hi Dorothy,
I Looked on that processing priorities, i'm not sure what the timescale would be, so how long do you think it would be to get a skilled visa ball rolling. I hope it's not years, as my biological is ticking away very quickly :)

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Do you keep your money in the UK earning 0.5% interest OR suffer the exchange rate and earn 6.5% term deposit interest here in Aus??

Maths never was my strong point :confused:

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Currently non-CSL 175 visas are lowest priority, with processing expected in 2013. That means that if you applied for your visa today the application would be processed in 2013. Although, things can change overnight, so who's to say DIAC won't turn around tomorrow and start processing 175 visas in 3 months?

Your best bet is to make sure you are actually eligible for a visa, apply for your skills assessment, apply for your visa and sit back, get on with life and when/if your visa is granted decide if it's the right time to move.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Yeah good call rossi!

So lets say for instance you brought over £10k and lost out on the exchange rate but gained on the banks interest rate,whast the sums?

ABC?:thumbsup: "WORK YA MAGIC"!

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Well of course it is impossible to answer until afterwards but here's some rough figures.

If I start with £10,000 convert now to AUD at 1.75 and place on deposit at 6.5% for one year then I end up with $18,637

i.e. 10,000 x 1.75 x 1.065

If I start with £10,000 keep in sterling at 0.5% interest for one year I end up with £10,050.

For me to be better off keeping my money in GBP for the year and then converting, the rate would have to rise to 1.854478 by the end of it.

i.e. 18,637 / 10050.

So if you think the rate will go above 1.854478 in a years time then you are better off keeping it in GBP. If you think it won't then might as well convert now.

It is crystal ball time I am afraid.

Also this is a bit over simplified because if the GBP is strengthening then it might indicate that the interst rate is rising too as the two are linked.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Or put your money offshore where the interest rates are higher & the gap is narrower!?

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Maths was my strong point, but this goes well beyond maths.

This is gambling with no rules.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

What do you call "silly"?

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

Nice work Bermuda, in terms of the prospects for the pound I'm not optimistic.

In simple terms the problem is that the UK has got itself into major debt and needs interest rates to stay low in order to be able to afford the repayments. This (and the fact that the economy is in a terrible state and getting worse, ignore the headlines & watch the unemployment figures) makes the pound more likely to fall than to rise. On the other hand look at Australia, relatively low debts and raising interest rates to keep its economy cool, this means the GBP/AUD is only going one way in the near term, and does not point to a strengthening pound.

The debt is the reason why the Govt is cutting expendature (services) while increasing tax, its to convince the people we owe that we can make the repayments, and this is before an election when they're trying to also stay popular with the public. I fear things in the UK are going to be very painful afterwards, regardless of who wins.

In summary I know my savings are going to buy less in Australia when we get there, but salaries there now look really attractive (quite a bit more than the UK when converted to pounds), and I'm really gratefull I won't be here when the public gets landed with the bill for saving the irresponsible bankers/govt who have in effect taken out huge loans in our name to cover the losses incurred by their greed/stupidity respectively.

I know people think the Australian Govt has made mistakes in handling the crisis but Australia is in a far better economic position than the UK, not least due to the fact that they actually produce real things (mostly raw materials).

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

We are just about to put our house up for sale after the Olympics (we are in the vancouver GVRD) so for us it is a matter of just getting all our ducks in a row. Even if it sells for less then what it could have in the scheme of things it doesnt matter. (they actually figure it will go up after the Olympics)

The goal is to move to Australia not sit in Canada waiting for the market to get better.

Warm weather and sunshine as oppossed to dark dreary nasty wet or frozen weather .:rolleyes:

we allready did our initial entry to validate so we have some time but in all honesty we never want to see another canadian winter again.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

£35k below asking.

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

you have to ask yourself if that that 35,000 is the decideing factor?

And can you afford to hang on ? Does your visa expire? can and will you make it up fairly quickly wage wise once you are in Au

will that extra 35,00 that you get a year from now mean as much if aus real estate goes up the equal or greater amount?

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

We need a bit of cash to fund the move otherwise if we sell for £35k less we won't have enough money to bring out to start living. That will pay the estate agent, solicitor and mortgage. That's about it.

Part of me thinks we should just sell to cut our losses and run so to speak. I would feel more comfortable being in Australia and not having financial ties to the UK. We've got a little while to go yet so we'll chance our luck for a bit longer and then it will be crunch time!

We will be renting intially for a while to get the area sussed and schools etc before we buy. So I'm not immediately worried about the house prices. We'll buy when we can afford to buy if ever. :)

Oh and our visa doesn't expire until 2014. We'd have to validate this year at the very least so time is on our side in that respect.

The waiting game!

Re: Waiting for things to improve
 

make sure you validate even if it is a quick trip for a few days that way you have your options open. Dont look at it as a holiday look at it as part of completing your migration application.