JaseandAnne

Mate, they don't care where your from as long as you can pay. I actually think you'd be better off with a Chinese passport as they seem to favour them as they have the money at the moment!!

If i'm totally honest I had no guilt about leaving my Mum who was in her early 70's when we left. My dad is dead and my wife's family aren't close infact we never hear from them. We made the move for a better quality of life for our children, a more outdoor less sedimentary life for us and them, this we have. With my mum I do worry about her getting to the point where she needs looking after and I'm an only child. She lived in the next street to us in the UK virtually behind us and while I have asked her to come and live here (not sure how we'd go about that) she says no, she has a big circle of friends and a dog, is in good health and I have older children who still live in the UK although she doesnt see much of them they seem more of draw than the two little ones that live here.

HI, I do not have experience of coming here with a pre existing condition however after my wife was diagnosed at 39 with Breast cancer we now have a reasonable understanding of the public and private systems. I'm pretty sure when you get here and see a GP, after registering for Medicare, they will want to do the tests again. When I first went to the doctors here they were not interested in getting my history from the UK they just did a whole raft of blood tests, questions about previous illness, family history, ECG etc and started again. Be mindful that some exploratory tests you have to pay for and are not available on medicare. The system here is very different, GP's are private and you have to find the ones that "bulk bill" the government as they just bill the government for your visit and blood tests etc. Unalike the UK where they have a budget to stick to, here every time I go they want to do some test or other and Ive actually started saying no as i'm in good health and fit. Back home they had to think I was dying before they would send me for a test I would wait weeks for. Here, have a blood test today , result in two days. Its run very much like a business, don't like your GP then go to another, no problem with catchment areas etc. Now, we have health insurance and while we did use it for my wifes cancer and she had excellent care for her operations and the hospital was more like a hotel, the health company are just an insurance company. Every year our premiums go up, what we get for it gets less unless we pay more money and of course there is an excess to pay but you will definitely need it as you'll need ambulance cover, especially with two littlens. Ambulances are not free here, also you'll definitely need dental cover as with most insurers you'll get check ups free or cheap for the family. My wife chose to have her Chemo on the public system as it was the same but no excesses to pay and the care was excellent. Hope this helps a bit and hope your litteln is ok.

Hi Aussiebird 2012, when I checked my Vevo account it appears that the RRVs were granted just after the holiday visas, which is odd because im sure I got the emails stating the grants the other way round hence my original post.I Have printed off the RRV and it states that it is valid for 12 months and that my daughters have PR and the right to work etc. The holiday visas are also still showing as active but one of my daughters did not return to the UK and has had to provide the original grant notice for enrollment to TAFE (college) and also for medicare etc, all have checked her PR status and there are no issues.

Hi, As I understand it you will be a permanent resident if you have satisfied the entry requirements of the visa when it was first valid, for example our visa required us to "activate" the visa by visiting or moving to Australia within the 12 months from date of grant. Then the travel part of our visa was valid from the date of visa grant for 5 years. This has now ran out and whether inside australia or out you have to apply for an RRV. You will always be a permanent resident however they don't have to issue you with an RRV.

Ditch her mate, get yourself over here and meet an aussie bird! I'm not sure ive been much help!

Thanks Rossmoyne, I’ve just been on my immi account and it shows the RRV and the holiday visas as both current and active. I’m thinking ,if left ,the holiday one will just run out leaving the RRV. Its a shame you can’t actually get hold of the people at the department. I think I will give your lady a PM, better to know. Jase

so,little update, I applied for both RRV and Holiday visa as I was advised to do, they finalised the RRV with about two weeks to spare, two days later they finalised the holiday visas!! I've now got to try and contact them to cancel the holiday visas in favour of RRV. You would of thought they would of seen the fact that there was a very recent application for the RRV!!

It is mate, i'm proper fed up about it and annoyed I cant get any response from anyone at the department. I think i'm just going to apply for the other RRV i need for daughter two and just then get them holiday visas and argue the toss if they give me a hard time about it. They surely cant think that over 5 months to process an RRV is acceptable.

The department hasnt even looked at them yet Ali, in my Immi account it states that it hasnt been allocated. And tbh I have provided lots of evidence including legal documents about parental responsibility. Well Ali, while I understand that not everyone knows everything if you phone a government department there should be someone there that knows the sh*t they are selling, especially as the lady is telling me that some travel visas can effect another visa but cannot tell me why or how. Sadly not been here long enough for citizenship, got to be here 4 years but looking at other peoples posts they are waiting an extra 18 months to get their citizenship so its looking more like 6 years before you get it.

The trouble stormy is that the department allows people to keep PR because people often go back and forth, some because for work some because they "ping pong", it works for that reason and also they can make money out of it. I understand this and don't mind them making money but they are offering a service and are unable to fulfill that service in a timely manner, what happens if i needed to get home for a crisis or a sick relative, you cant wait over 6 months??. The RRV is not cheap and they take the money straight away. I'm happy to buy two RRVs but they are taking too long to process and having checked the progress, the RRV hasnt even been allocated. Its just a bit frustrating, I tried to email from my Immi account for an update but it just give error message page not found 404, which just adds to the frustration so I emailed through the complaint/suggestion email, that was 7 weeks ago and nothing. Although ive vented my displeasure on this forum my email was polite and explained my reasons and dates.

So, I have two daughters (twins) who are PR but are in UK finishing their education, both are due to fly out Christmas for 5 weeks before going back to continue their last year. At the end of July one of them stated she had had enough and wanted to come back and not continue with the next year of education so I applied for a RRV. We are now near end of October and they still haven't looked at it, they've taken the money though, $375 !! So I called them and asked about it and also the fact that I need another one for the other daughter to come out. I spoke with a very helpful lady and this is what she said. RRV are taking, on average, 5 months to process from the time that it is allocated and they are not being allocated for up to 85 days!! She told me there is no point in applying for an RRV for daughter 2 as it has no chance of being allocated before christmas let alone granted. So, i asked my options, there weren't any other than cancel their flights!! I explained I was not going to do this as they are coming for Christmas. I explained that I would cancel RRV for daughter 1 as it has taken so long (she has decided to carry on with current education) and get two holiday visas. You cant do that she said it will affect their PR, I explained that it cannot effect their PR as you are either PR or you aren't and they are!! This she agreed but then stated that 2 holiday visas may effect future RRV's but she was unable to explain how. She then went onto say that the girls would have restrictions on a holiday visa, ie they wouldn't be able to work, to which I explained they are coming here for Christmas not a job??? I went on to explain that if the department were unable to provide a visa in a timely fashion and I considered 5 months a bit over the top for an RRV then I had no option but to get the two holiday visas and in future if this hampered any subsequent RRV's I would be quite happy to use the departments over lengthy process times as evidence that led me to obtain holiday visas. She agreed that this course of action seem reasonable and my only option if I wanted to see my children for Christmas. She did also do a lot of telling me that she "cannot advise me" to which I stated if you are the Department of Immigration and you cannot advise me who can? She said I would need to see a migration agent but I personally don't think this is right, a government department should be able to tell you about the things it is set up to promote and govern, you shouldn't have to go to an outside agency and pay for information about what that department does and how it does it. So, here are my thoughts on the visa farce, when you apply for a PR visa as part of that visa you are allowed to travel to and from Australia for a period of time. This travel part ends and then you have to apply for a RRV to travel too and from Australia. But as far as I see it as a Permanent resident once you are in Australia you can do as your PR status allows, the RRV only allows you travel in and out you are still a PR , so whats the difference if a PR enters on a holiday visa and then just stays?? Still a PR just your right to travel in and out has ended? In fact this happened to my daughters in 2016, they were towards the end of the original visa so no need to apply for an RRV, they got to Heathrow and the check in staff stated they could not see the PR visa on their systems so for the princely sum of £50 each issued them a holiday visa. once they arrived i contact the Dept of immigration to find out what happened, they said they didnt know but there was no issue they just cancelled the holiday visas, no refund though, was down to me to chase it through the airline!!

Hi, I can only give you my experience of Vetassess from 2010 when I applied as a car mechanic and this may be different from their processes now. When I applied, my vetassess was a practical and interview in one. Before the economic downturn here, Perth, Vetassess assessors traveled to the UK and worked from the Technical college in Accrington, Lancashire, this was a long old way for me from the south coast so I stayed over night. At this time there were many examiners for different trades, however on the day I picked I was the only candidate for MV, they did try and move me but I had already booked time off and accommodation etc. My practical was pretty straight forward but based very much on what you would learn as a 1st or 2nd year apprentice. The guy chatted to me as we went around the work stations and at the end we sat down and he asked me trade related questions making notes as he went. It was a full 8 hour day and he didnt give anything away as to whether I had passed or not, that came via email. This process also gave me an Australian qualification, a Cert 3 on MV mechanics which was what I needed to hit the ground running without needing to do any courses once I had landed. My thoughts on this process was, if you are experienced and know your job then you will ace it, but there were a number of things we did that were typical college, by this I mean you learn it at college but never use it in practical application. Can I just ask, have a you got a job to go to? The job market is starting to pick up so we are told but I'm not seeing it. The only jobs I see are for large companies and chain groups who dont appear to look after their staff very well and have a high turn over. regards, jase

Pegg, don't bother, the whole process, once you get to Perth, is bullshit designed to cost you money. Plus, once you've got it through the bullshit its classed as an import, which it is, so you pay more insurance and its worth less if you wanted to sell it.

Ooooow Jen78, I might take a look at that, see if they have anything for me!!