tomar

I agree that you should come for several months if you haven't been here before, but if you are already familiar with Australia then apart from the exorbitant cost of the new 405 retirement visa, if you aren't eligible for a parent contributory visa, it's your choice to come. I know quite a few retirees spend 6 months a year here, which is obviously a cheaper way.
On the subject of costs, we have just had retired UK friends here and it was very interesting to compare cost of living. On the whole it was cheaper here on the Sunshine Coast, when comparing council tax, petrol, electricity, gas etc. especially as UK has had a very cold winter. The amount they had paid for electricity, gas and coal was very high, and they were still cold! We rented a 2 bed flat in UK for 2 months Nov/dec, with gas central heating and paid over 200 pds just for gas, and we certainly didn't have it on all the time. Food costs have obviously gone up here, which is hitting everyone.
Nowhere is perfect, but retirement should be a time to try something different, and nothing has to be for ever.
I know I would rather be old and warm, than old and cold, if I couldn't afford to heat my house in UK, which was happened to both sets of our parents.

ozzybe

Many posts reflect the change between the old 410 visa and the new 405 - can anyone identify the difference between the two?

People make reference to the cost of the new 405.....can anyone tell us when this new visa came into effect?

Thanks also to everyone who has taken the time to reply to my post - all your comments/info have been most useful!

tomar

Not quite sure approx 5 or 6 years ago on July 1st. The old 410 was scrapped and the very very expensive 405 investor retirement visa bought in. Any of us already on the 410 visa weren't affected, and although there have been updates to the old 410 they have all been in our favour, unusual I know!

tomar

Sorry meant to continue.
The old visa didn't require much cash or income, and in our case no real checks were made as to how long we had the money and don't recall that anything was much checked at all.
Now as far as I know you need either $500.000 or 750.000 depending on where you will settle, regional or non regional to invest in the state, and get interest on. After 4 years 250.000 is returned to you, the rest is left invested until you leave or die!!! You then need the same amount again to invest probably in property, and annual income of 60.000 0r 65.000 depending again on where you settle. So mega expensive, and you have to prove you have had these funds for 2 years. All this is on the web site. For both the 410 and 405, you have to be totally self funded and have private heath cover.
I'm not an agent or anything, so some of this might be out of date, I only know what some friends had to do recently.

ozzybe

so in effect this has become a way of needing to 'buy your way in'?

If you have to lodge a $750,000 deposit and only $250,000 is returned to you after 4 years, effectively the remaining $500,000 is the cost of residency in Oz.............and as I understand, this is only for 4 years, gives no right to permanent residency or citizenship, and has to be renewed at a further cost each time??

Have I understood correctly?

Maybe there is another way to retire in Oz - my brother [20 years in Oz] and my mother [15 years there] live there, but I have 2 [non dependent] children in UK who may not want to come to Oz. would this preclude me and OH getting entry under family type visa??

Grayling

There is no 'family type visa'

Your only option is to get a retirement visa.....unless one of your children emigrated and then they could sponsor you for a parent visa in a few years.

lesleys

http://www.immi.gov.au/visitors/reti...sa-options.htm

bakedbean

Just for the record, there are different minimum levels depending on what part of the country you're looking at and, in Penang, they differentiate between Foreigners and Those with the MM2H Retirement Visa. However they do fiddle about with the rules from time to time, much like any other country.

At the moment (May 2011) in Penang, if you have the MM2H visa, minimum investment is RM 250K. That's about GBP 50,400 or AUD 77,000. There's a 3 year lock-in for foreigners. Cannot sell the property for 3 years. There are loads of Aussies here doing that and splitting their time between Penang and Australia. Penang is English-speaking (ex Colony) and majority Chinese racially.

eddie007

My parents think its a good idea..... They're on their way...

rozellem

Ozzybe,

why not try it for size first. There are two definite ways you can do this for free. Either house swap your UK house with one or more Aussie residents. This way you can make your way around Aus free of charge staying in other peoples homes. Or you could become a house sitter and do the same kind of thing. Both these options have many websites you can look at, do a bit of googling.

brissybee

Personally, I think retiring to Australia is a really bad idea. When you get too old to fly back to see your family, or you can't afford to fly back, you may well feel trapped. Also, you might find the Summer heat knocks you around. I would make it a holiday rather than a plan. That's my two cents worth anyway.

slapphead_otool

Sadly, as much as I like Australia, I agree here.

A lot of people find its ok when they are young, but when they get old they find the heat, distances and lifestyle oppressive. But by then they have no real connections to the UK either, and find themselves in no-mans land.

I met a 76 year old Londoner in Manila the other week who just dreams of walking back into a London pub and having a beer. Sadly his old local has closed like many UK pubs, and he has lost contact with all of his mates. Poor bugger has to console himself with girlie bars full of hot half naked teenage Filipino girls and beers at 1.3 pounds a can.

coolerkingcooler

I'd say visit a few places for a while if you can. Certainly try Brighton and surrounding areas in Adelaide if you like beaches and not being too far from the city.

Good luck with what ever you decide,
Cooler

macy

Unfortunately the days of an easy way in to Oz are long gone, the retirement visa as others have mentioned is only now for the very few who are willing to go along with it's conditions, Australia doesn't want a country full of "retired" people and wants to discourage them as much as possible hence the visa restrictions on a retirement visa. My Aunt looked at this possibility but then saw the conditions and changed her mind, the retirement visa is not the faint hearted and doesn't offer any real stability.

My parents were lucky and have their contributory parent visa with both children now residing in Australia. Unfortunately with both your children living in the UK this isn't an option for you. Do a search on the immigration forum and ask questions and they will be able to give you great advice with your options. Good luck.....

ozzybe

Thanks everyone for all your help and suggestions and reluctantly we are now in agreement that retiring to Oz for us is no longer a good idea.

We have missed out on the time when getting into Oz after late fifties/sixty was do-able and so now are going to focus on maybe renting out our house in UK for several months at a time and taking a few longer trips to Oz/USA & Canada while we are still fit and healthy!

But your comments have been so worthwhile in helping us see the true picture -thanks again!