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I literally didn't change my name when I got married because I didn't want to have to fill out my old "alias" a million loving times on the immigration forms. My actual process wasn't that bad though, got married, came back to Australia, applied for the spousal visa the day before my WHV expired and was only on the bridging visa for a month before they approved it.
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Apr 27, 2014 18:43
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Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 12:49 on Jun 12, 2014 |
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Apr 28, 2014 00:39
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HookShot posted:I literally didn't change my name when I got married because I didn't want to have to fill out my old "alias" a million loving times on the immigration forms. I'ma pm you.
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Apr 28, 2014 00:49
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Rudager posted:Especially in Melbourne which is as far away from the sugar cane region in northern QLD as you can get on the mainland. Your geography is poo poo. Bundaberg to Melbourne is roughly 1950km. Bundaberg to Perth is over twice that.
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Apr 28, 2014 15:01
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HookShot posted:I literally didn't change my name when I got married because I didn't want to have to fill out my old "alias" a million loving times on the immigration forms. My wife just paid for a new birth certificate that showed who her parents are in our first step to citizenship and the  government spelled her mom's six-letter last name wrong. Good start.And I've got a long-rear end unusual German name. Maybe my 2020 arrival time joke was realistic.
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Apr 29, 2014 04:06
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leidend posted:My wife just paid for a new birth certificate that showed who her parents are in our first step to citizenship and the You're never going to get there because you're going to kill yourself when you've written your name for the twentieth time while filling out the forms, just FYI. Seriously, the application for Canadian PR had about the same stuff to fill out, except you only had to write your name and your spouse's name like twice on the entire thing.
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Apr 29, 2014 05:28
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Frogmanv2 posted:Your geography is poo poo. Bundaberg to Melbourne is roughly 1950km. Bundaberg to Perth is over twice that. ppfft if it's not on the east coast it doesn't count  Golbez posted:(Ironically, the only place Australian that I had free refills of booze and Coke was the one place where it's impossibly expensive to ship to - on Qantas over the Pacific Ocean) Hungry Jacks, aka Burger King, still does free refills last I knew! But yeah, it is more expensive to live here, but you'll also make more money even if you only work a minimum wage job and you also get alot of benefits, you can walk into any emergency room for anything at all and you'll never pay a cent. If you end up a full fledged citizen, your employer is legally obligated to pay at least 7% of your salary into a superannuation fund (the equivalent of a 401k). Also you're not expected to tip anyone here, one of my biggest gripes when visiting the states was that I never knew what something cost until I payed for it because everything is listed without state taxes or tips.
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May 3, 2014 09:43
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It's Sunday afternoon and I've been awake since Friday morning but Melbourne, I am in you. (Fluid Oz is gone?!?!?)
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May 4, 2014 04:42
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Gloomiebat posted:It's Sunday afternoon and I've been awake since Friday morning but Melbourne, I am in you. It seems it is - I only noticed as I do the web site for one of the Melbourne ice hockey teams that were sponsored by it. Went to update the site's sponsors yesterday and realised it was gone.
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May 4, 2014 06:11
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NoArmedMan posted:It seems it is - I only noticed as I do the web site for one of the Melbourne ice hockey teams that were sponsored by it. Went to update the site's sponsors yesterday and realised it was gone. It was terrible, but I like terrible. Lots of little things have changed in the past four months, Melbourne is looking great (if wet.) Jet lag update: I just sat down on my bed and woke up four hours later in the dark having missed dinner plans I made tonight 
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May 4, 2014 10:10
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Golbez posted:Thanks! And I grew up saying soft drink, but living in the midwest I'm exposed heavily to "pop" so I figured "soda" was a safe middle ground. Just want to add about the casino serving drinks thing. Its not really related to cost. Its the fact that each casino doesn't really have any competition. Most states/cities only have one casino licence and so theres not any competition between casinos. They pretty much know that people who want to gamble on table games have to come there so they don't have to offer much to keep people from going to another casino. Even things like free meals and whatnot are horrendously difficult to get at the casino in Sydney (unless you go gambling through $10k quickly). I think its a bit more culturally expected in the states as well. You also notice this in the rake they take from things like Poker which are horrible and the generally lovely games (from a house advantage) they push out. It will be interesting to see what happens when the second Sydney casino opens if that makes a difference or they both just recognise they can gouge.
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May 5, 2014 08:01
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HookShot posted:You're never going to get there because you're going to kill yourself when you've written your name for the twentieth time while filling out the forms, just FYI. Well so far it's been a complete disaster. In addition to spelling my mother in law's maiden name wrong, Vital Statistics said there's no record of my wife ever changing her last name even though she has a passport and driver's licence with it. They also said "hey thanks for the $27 fee, you have to pay it again if you want us to get our heads out of our asses." We haven't even been able to start the application yet and have already had two government bureaucracy screw ups.
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May 9, 2014 04:58
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leidend posted:Well so far it's been a complete disaster. In addition to spelling my mother in law's maiden name wrong, Vital Statistics said there's no record of my wife ever changing her last name even though she has a passport and driver's licence with it. They also said "hey thanks for the $27 fee, you have to pay it again if you want us to get our heads out of our asses." Wow, that sucks total balls, and makes me really happy I didn't change my name (also got married in Canada). Hopefully you get it all sorted soon.
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May 9, 2014 17:01
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Gloomiebat posted:Back in this thread again. So, after last year spent in Melbourne jobless and mostly unhappy, I came home to the UK in December and landed a full-time job at with my old employer and have been there for three months. Glad you got a happy ending, how's life treating you now?
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May 24, 2014 05:59
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BCR posted:Glad you got a happy ending, how's life treating you now? Life's pretty sweet actually! I've been working non-stop here and I am absolutely shattered (I've just come off four 4am wake-up calls in a row); I fly home on Friday and cannot begin to explain how much I'm looking forward to my own bed but my work have paid for everything here and I've been in the swankiest hotel ever so it's not been all bad. Sadly have not had enough time off to do anything outside of the city, and I've already done all the touristy things so have just been chilling out and doing a bit of shopping. I have Monday off so I think I'm going to have a museum/gallery day and get some gifts for people back home. When I go home I've got a week off then it's back to the madness, but my job at home is much more chilled than what I'm doing here, plus, it's summer and I live in an amazing city so I'm quite looking forward to both that and the result of all the overtime I've been doing in my next payslip :P Going to miss Australia this time around though, who knows when I'll have the cash to come back  Unlikely to be a fully-funded trip next time!
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May 24, 2014 09:45
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This is more of a cultural question about Australia than a travel-related question, but....how big is the evangelical subculture over there? I ask because Australia exports some curious stuff to the U.S., including Hillsong Church and the inimitable Ken Ham. I am not a Christian (nor a rabid atheist) but I always assumed the US was basically the only western country with a significantly pious population. Does Australia have a strong strain of Social Conservatism? If so, how does it manifest itself over there?
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May 27, 2014 18:20
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Radio Talmudist posted:This is more of a cultural question about Australia than a travel-related question, but....how big is the evangelical subculture over there? There's some conservatism, but it's not really religious, in general. Like, you'll find most Australians favour traditionally church-opposed things like gay marriage, abortion, etc but they'll be really racist. There's a few of those mega churches, but it's not everywhere. I would say in America it's worse, Australia don't really have the leaders of these culty church movements with their own TV shows, that sort of thing. I would say that while most Australians consider themselves Christian, a majority wouldn't regularly attend church services. The culture isn't nearly as God-based as in America, I would compare it more to how things are in Canada, in general.
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May 27, 2014 22:39
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Radio Talmudist posted:This is more of a cultural question about Australia than a travel-related question, but....how big is the evangelical subculture over there? I don't know much about Hillsong but I think the reason why people like Ken Ham and Ray Comfort go to the U.S is because there's not much of a market for young earth creationism here. There's lots of self-identifying Christians but the large majority of them don't go to church or make their beliefs a part of everyday life.
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May 28, 2014 04:27
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Hi goons. This request is purposely vague as i'm pretty open to suggestions but i'm travelling through Australia during June/July and i've found myself with 4 days completely free at the end of my trip in Sydney. I'd quite like to check out some live music / clubs and really anything else that's maybe a bit of a hidden gem over there. So if you had just four days to take in Sydney what would you guys recommend? Also any information on cheapish accomodation would be great.
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Jun 1, 2014 20:31
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djf posted:Hi goons. This request is purposely vague as i'm pretty open to suggestions but i'm travelling through Australia during June/July and i've found myself with 4 days completely free at the end of my trip in Sydney. I'd quite like to check out some live music / clubs and really anything else that's maybe a bit of a hidden gem over there. So if you had just four days to take in Sydney what would you guys recommend? Also any information on cheapish accomodation would be great. If you want to check out some live music then pick up a copy of one of the street press papers/magazines. Drum Media and The Brag are the two to look out for and each will have a list of all the gigs happening in Sydney for that week. Basically most genres are covered. They are free to get and you can usually find them laying around the entrance at music/record stores, universities, some pubs and venues.
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Jun 3, 2014 03:41
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djf posted:Hi goons. This request is purposely vague as i'm pretty open to suggestions but i'm travelling through Australia during June/July and i've found myself with 4 days completely free at the end of my trip in Sydney. I'd quite like to check out some live music / clubs and really anything else that's maybe a bit of a hidden gem over there. So if you had just four days to take in Sydney what would you guys recommend? Also any information on cheapish accomodation would be great. I don't know how cheap is cheap for you but if you don't mind hostels I stayed at the Funkhouse in King's Cross for a few nights end of last year and liked it a lot. Clean, small-occupancy rooms (I think maximum four per room with your own locker) and you get about a billion electrical sockets/power points per bed. Much better than the craphole I lived in in Melbourne for three months (try two plug sockets between 20 people. Priorities, people!) In all seriousness though I'd recommend it, King's Cross is lively and it's not too far a walk to the CBD, and there's a train station down the road from the hostel if you're going further afield. If you've not planned to already go on a tour of the Blue Mountains, they're fantastic. I went on a one-day tour which was admittedly all I had time for but it was wonderful and I'd love to go back.
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Jun 10, 2014 21:08
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Aside from rego, what other costs of owning a vehicle are there in Australia I might not expect? I expect I'll get put over a barrel as a first year (in Australia) driver for insurance, even though I've held a license for 12 years with no accidents 
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Jun 12, 2014 12:49
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Depending on which state you're coming to you may find that third party insurance (liability insurance) is included in the government registration fees; the extra insurance you get is mostly for theft and damage. Unlike in the US it's perfectly legal to drive an uninsured vehicle as long as it's registered; not that you should, of course, but I mean that it's more about theft and damage, as opposed to the US where everyone lives in fear of medical bills and litigation. I had a Triumph Bonneville that was redbooked at $7600 in Victoria. From memory, it cost me about $400 a year for rego and $450 a year to insure with insuremyride.com (by far the cheapest company) parked in a driveway with no locking device in a relatively high crime neighbourhood. YMMV. The other thing to be aware of is that some states can have seriously high penalties for minor traffic offences. My first ticket in Victoria was for going 110km in a 100km zone. It was something like a $250 fine and 3 demerit points. In WA it would have been something like $90 and no points.
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Jun 12, 2014 16:31
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They're pretty high here in Queensland too. So is rego. I have a V6 2 door Jeep Wrangler and it costs me $850 a year to register. I know you weren't asking about that specifically but it's pretty high just fyi! That does include CTP (compulsory third party) insurance though. I don't recommend driving an uninsured vehicle though. Heh
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Jun 12, 2014 23:09
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leidend posted:Well so far it's been a complete disaster. In addition to spelling my mother in law's maiden name wrong, Vital Statistics said there's no record of my wife ever changing her last name even though she has a passport and driver's licence with it. They also said "hey thanks for the $27 fee, you have to pay it again if you want us to get our heads out of our asses." So I'm going back to Australia and I just got a new passport since my old one expired, and have to update my info with Australian Immigration. My old Canadian passport had a bit of a screw up and they forgot to put my middle names on it. I figured 'whatever, I'll get it changed next time I renew my passport'. Well I did that, no problems, but now that the name is changed on my passport the Australian Immigration people want a notarized copy of proof that my name has changed, which is impossible to get, because my name never actually changed, just they added the bits that were missing to my passport. 
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Jun 14, 2014 06:43
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Sounds like something a terrorist would do
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Jun 15, 2014 02:08
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Hahahaha yeah, I know, right?
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Jun 15, 2014 03:57
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South Australia is pretty awesome: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db7hvx_Srkw
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Jun 16, 2014 07:04
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For those of you who worked on a working holiday visa, were you able to declare yourself a tax resident (different from legal resident)? From what I've read, if I find a job to work, I should be paying the more normal tax rate on a student visa (first 18.6k untaxed, then ~21ish percent after that, etc), but my significant other is looking at coming over on a WHV for a year, and paying 32.5% in income tax on anything she earns is pretty ridiculous. The stuff I was reading up on said WHV holders are a bit of a grey area (it basically boils down to whether your primary activity is working or holidaying), although if she was living with me and working a job, it would seem like she'd be a shoe-in for being a tax resident. Also, are there any certs (preferably that could be done online or in a short time in person) that would give me a leg up on finding casual jobs? I did a quick search and a forklift license class is like 2 days at ~$550 + license fee, dunno if it'd be worth it. Looking at Hobart, if that matters. Last thing: just a heads up for anyone thinking of bringing a pet, the fees for boarding them during quarantine are going waaaay up as of this summer, from $29/day to $149/day (minimum 10 days to clear quarantine). Womp womp.
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Jun 17, 2014 04:48
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Pompous Rhombus posted:For those of you who worked on a working holiday visa, were you able to declare yourself a tax resident (different from legal resident)? https://www.ato.gov.au/Calculators-and-tools/Are-you-a-resident/
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Jun 17, 2014 06:20
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Does anyone have advice or experience of working remotely (from Australia, via the internets) for a European company? How should / did you setup your tax - should you be an employee or a contractor etc? What did you do and how did it go?. Any advice much appreciated.
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Jun 19, 2014 18:42
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http://www.fairwork.gov.au/ https://www.ato.gov.au/ Go to the horses mouth.
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Jun 28, 2014 02:59
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xutech posted:Does anyone have advice or experience of working remotely (from Australia, via the internets) for a European company? Yeah, what BCR said, pretty much start with the ATO and see what they say. I'd imagine the ATO will consider you a resident for tax purposes if you are living here and working for an overseas company, especially if you're an AU citizen or here on a permanent visa. Might be a bit trickier if you're here on a temp visa like a 457 or working holiday, but I doubt that's the case. Does the company have a presence here in AU at all? If so, by far the simplest is to work through them and have them pay you and handle all the tax crap. In fact, if they do have a presence here, then working as a contractor for them will likely be considered "sham contracting" by the ATO/FWA. This is generally frowned upon, as it's usually abused by companies to get out of entitlements they should be paying for what is really a regular employee. If they have no presence, I can't see any other good option besides getting an ABN, setting yourself up as a contractor, and handling all the taxes/medicare/super/etc... payments yourself. Keep meticulous records of all your expenses, and there can be some good tax write offs for this sort of setup. Speaking from experience, keep your home office separate from everything else, only use it for working, and things will be much simpler come tax time.
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Jun 30, 2014 07:22
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What's tax/super claim back for backpackers that someone has already used?
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Jul 4, 2014 23:28
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So I'll be flying into Perth at the start of August. I had a fantasy of bullshitting my way into a mining job, but apparently that's really difficult. Does anyone have experience with shutdown work, like being on fire watch? I know that's maybe not very likely, so I might very well end up bartending or picking fruit all depending.
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Jul 21, 2014 14:47
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I'm going to be in Sydney for two weeks in early September. Any recommendations for things to do that are more local than touristy? Also, I'm looking for cheap but good food around the CBD and Pyrmont and/or reasonable walking distance of those two places, or anything really outstanding that I could take a train to. Any advice gratefully accepted. 
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Jul 24, 2014 07:10
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Beachcomber posted:I'm going to be in Sydney for two weeks in early September. Any recommendations for things to do that are more local than touristy? Also, I'm looking for cheap but good food around the CBD and Pyrmont and/or reasonable walking distance of those two places, or anything really outstanding that I could take a train to. As for your local/tourist thing....are you by yourself or with people? Just getting away from the city will lead you to some cooler more local neighbourhoods. If you have an idea of what you want to see I can recommend a place to visit. For cheap food around Pyrmont/CBD head to Chinatown in Haymarket/Ultimo. Steer clear of the restaurants on Dixon street but do go to some of the food court places which can have good cheap eats. Gumshara and Menya are the best Ramen places (Gumshara being very Japanese Tonkotsu). Chinese Noodle House and Chinese Noodle Restaurant (they are across from one another and look the same) do great dumplings and hand made noodles. Happy Chef seafood noodle has great Laksa and Wonton noodle soup. That one is in Sussex street food court. If you don't want asian food and want cheap then you might find it much tougher. A $10 pub lunch should be found at a lot of places. Some have gone up to ~$12 though the bastards. You used to be able to get $5.95 mains at some pubs but they are largely gone from the city.
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Jul 24, 2014 12:31
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December Octopodes posted:So I'll be flying into Perth at the start of August. I had a fantasy of bullshitting my way into a mining job, but apparently that's really difficult. Does anyone have experience with shutdown work, like being on fire watch? I've been out of mining for a few years now, but everything I've heard indicates that work is growing harder to get across the industry, including shutdown work. It basically comes down to having an in demand training/education or knowing somebody, or preferably both. I had good luck looking for work through the Job Shop in Northbridge when I was a backpacker in Perth, though.
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Jul 24, 2014 13:00
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Fists Up posted:As for your local/tourist thing....are you by yourself or with people? Thanks for the food advice! I'm going to be with my fiance, but she will be going to Google during the day, leaving me with a lot of free time. They'll feed her, and we've got a 'serviced apartment' to stay in, but cooking every meal is bound to get a little old, especially when traveling. I like to get out there and experience (taste) things. Ostensibly Australia isn't that different from California, but on the other hand, it really, really is. It's a lot of little things, I guess. Last time we went to Australia we did touristy things. A Blue Mountain day tour, those tiny tourist zoos by Darling Harbour, Taronga Zoo (definitely going again). I spent a lot of time in the room, because I felt lost and didn't really know what to do, which I regret. This time I'm doing my research first, trying to come up with some Australia-y things to do, like the coastal walks and the botanical gardens, so if you have any ideas where I could go/what I could do that would be awesome without being an obvious tourist, that's more or less what I'm after.
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Jul 24, 2014 21:08
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Beachcomber posted:Last time we went to Australia we did touristy things. A Blue Mountain day tour, those tiny tourist zoos by Darling Harbour, Taronga Zoo (definitely going again). I spent a lot of time in the room, because I felt lost and didn't really know what to do, which I regret. This time I'm doing my research first, trying to come up with some Australia-y things to do, like the coastal walks and the botanical gardens, so if you have any ideas where I could go/what I could do that would be awesome without being an obvious tourist, that's more or less what I'm after. Its supposed to be a day walk, but if youre fast on your feet you can clear it in a few hours. Great views, and you can finish the day at Manly Beach. Also for cheap food in that area you pretty much go Asian or bust yeah you might be able to find a $10 steak or Schnitzel somewhere, but ones that dont make you feel like youre chewing leather are few and far between. EDIT: Anyone know of any good Kebabs is Pyrmont? But if you really want to experience some good eats then jump on a Train Id highly recommend taking your wife to Newtown and going to a little Burger Bar called Marys. Its in an old STI clinic down a lane way with a Red Light above the door, looks shady as gently caress, but Id be really interested to see what an American thinks of the Burgers there. Its not exactly cheap, burgers for the bourgeois is an apt way of describing it, but its good. drat good. Newtown in general is good for eating/drinking, while its changed a lot since I lived in the area its still the Hipster Apocalypse and the Thai on offer there is some of the best in Sydney. Rougey fucked around with this message at 00:52 on Jul 25, 2014 |
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Jul 25, 2014 00:30
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