Jump to content

Up sh** creek without a paddle


Recommended Posts

Ubon Joe - I need your advice.

I have a Non-OA retirement visa permitted to stay until 18th December 2020.

At my last report I was told to return on the 6th December. 

Because of the Covid I was unable to return to Oz in March where I was going to apply for the pension

I made an application for a pension online in July but they rejected it last week because I was not in Oz at the time of the application.  

With no income I have used up a good part of my 800,000 baht in the bank.

Borders are still locked in WA and I don't fancy doing two weeks in quarantine due to the costs.

What do you see as my alternatives - if any  and what will be the possible consequences?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may not find any life saving paddles anytime soon.

You state you have no income over and above the 800k visa extension money which you are now using to live here.

You found out the hard way that you can't apply for the pension from overseas, and even if you could travel easily to make the application, it is not portable until you have served your 2 years in Australia.

If you are relying on the pension to provide your subsistence money in Thailand it can't happen for that period. I don't think there's any good short term solutions for you particularly in regard to the Aussie pension.

 

 

Edited by Old Croc
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have 2 options

1: use an un-reputable agent that can falsify the documents 

2: Contact the Australian Embassy and register for a repatriation flight back to Australia.

The Australian borders are not closed to its own citizens returning on repatriation flights

But what ever your choice is, you will still have to return to Australia for 2 years to qualify for your pension to be portable

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check this website

https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/age-pension/who-can-get-it/residence-rules

To get Age Pension you generally need to have been an Australian resident for at least 10 years in total. For at least 5 of these years, there must be no break in your residence.

 

If you are living in Thailand then you have broken your residency with Australia. So you may have to go back and live there for a minimum of 5 years with no break to be eligible to apply for the aged pension

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the well-meaning replies.  I feel aggrieved by the way I have been treated by the OZ system. I worked as a dental practitioner for an unblemished 52 years during which time I witnessed  hundreds of passport applications without remuneration, or thanks from the govt.   Apparently I was trustworthy enough for that job.  I find myself in this situation due mainly to the Covid-19 panic and not being able to apply for the pension on a trip booked for last March.

Government departments are making hand-outs of what must be many millions of dollars to people affected by the lockdowns.  I spoke to a Centrelink rep (with a foreign accent) a couple of times and requested a review but he was unmoved and pulled the "you must be in Oz to apply" chestnut. (They sat on my online application for 3 months). Besides that they falsely calculated I had an income of over $7000 a fortnight, but of course they did not want to admit that mistake. I applied for different bank loans but they were rejected because I have no income. Apparently the banks are better informed than Centrelink.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, xerostar said:

Thanks for all the well-meaning replies.  I feel aggrieved by the way I have been treated by the OZ system. I worked as a dental practitioner for an unblemished 52 years during which time I witnessed  hundreds of passport applications without remuneration, or thanks from the govt.   Apparently I was trustworthy enough for that job.  I find myself in this situation due mainly to the Covid-19 panic and not being able to apply for the pension on a trip booked for last March.

Government departments are making hand-outs of what must be many millions of dollars to people affected by the lockdowns.  I spoke to a Centrelink rep (with a foreign accent) a couple of times and requested a review but he was unmoved and pulled the "you must be in Oz to apply" chestnut. (They sat on my online application for 3 months). Besides that they falsely calculated I had an income of over $7000 a fortnight, but of course they did not want to admit that mistake. I applied for different bank loans but they were rejected because I have no income. Apparently the banks are better informed than Centrelink.  

Sorry to say, but that's not a chestnut.

 

It has been part of the criteria for as long as I can remember.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, oznomad said:

I dont think you are interpreting that correctly.

 

I am not interpreting anything. That is the actual wording on the Australian Services website that was updated in November 2019. That update is just 1 year ago. Will27 claims that everything is incorrect but he is wrong because things have changed a lot since he could remember. Requirements have changed for many thing for pensions.

Edited by Russell17au
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

30 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

I am not interpreting anything. That is the actual wording on the Australian Services website that was updated in November 2019. That update is just 1 year ago. Will27 claims that everything is incorrect but he is wrong because things have changed a lot since he could remember. Requirements have changed for many thing for pensions.

I assume he is talking about this:

 

"If you are living in Thailand then you have broken your residency with Australia. So you may have to go back and live there for a minimum of 5 years with no break to be eligible to apply for the aged pension."

 

You have interpreted it incorrectly.

Like I said, you can go back and apply tomorrow.

 

Edit* If you take this to the home country forum where it belongs,

someone will explain it to you.

 

There's pages of information there if you want to discuss it.

 

 

Edited by Will27
  • Like 1
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I have stated is what the Services Australia claim that they require. How many of you have gone back to Australia and applied for the age pension as soon as you have arrived there? NONE of you. So therefore you do not know what you are talking about and you are giving false information instead of giving the correct information that is listed on the Australia Services website. When I applied for my age pension I had to have lived in Australia for a minimum of 2 years BEFORE I could apply and since then many things have changed.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Will27 said:

You have to have lived in Australia for a minimum of 2 years before it's portable.

 

From what you're saying, an Aussie citizen could go back to Australia tomorrow after having lived 

in Thailand for 10 years and be told they have to wait 5 years before they get the pension.

 

That's not going to happen.

 

Like I said, take it to the home forum and it can be discussed in detail.

This post is about an Australian that is looking at his options because of the time he has on his visa and the way he could possibly get out of the mess he is in. So this is the right forum for that.

You are wrong again. To get the aged pension back when I got mine you had to have been living in Australia for 2 years it had nothing to do with portability back then.

 

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Russell17au said:

This post is about an Australian that is looking at his options because of the time he has on his visa and the way he could possibly get out of the mess he is in. So this is the right forum for that.

You are wrong again. To get the aged pension back when I got mine you had to have been living in Australia for 2 years it had nothing to do with portability back then.

 

This thread is for visa's, not the Aussie pension.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Will27 said:

This thread is for visa's, not the Aussie pension.

Exactly. If OP wants to discuss the pension aspect he can post in the Home Country forum.

 

Please confine responses to the visa issue. I'm sure @ubonjoewill be by soon to reply on that

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

but aside from the pension problem

why not use a visa agent to get you a one year visa, no need for money in bank 

not sure what the cost is, was 12,000 for a retirement visa last April for me

at least if you get this visa, its one less worry, and can renew the same way each year, no worries about 800k and other things 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The OP has 2 choices;

1: use an agent for his visa

2: return to Australia and hope for the best for his pension

but eventually he will have to return to Australia to get his pension so he has some income as he has stated he has no income at the moment.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are repatriation flights but he must register at the Australian Embassy for the dates of the flights. If he does not return to Australia and sort something out about money then he is going to be in even bigger trouble if he cannot get a visa this year and he will still have to do something about his visa next year with no income..

Edited by Russell17au
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have a good look at the Centrelink pages. There are two issues involved: first, satisfying the eligibility requirements for the pension which include having resided in Australia for 35 years during the period from 16 yo to applying. If the total is less then the pension amount is reduced by 1/35th per year. The second is qualifying for the pension to be portable. The 2years comes into this section. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the OP have an OA retirement visa which I will apply to extend soon. I had thought of doing a border hop and letting it expire, re-entering on a tourist visa and then converting that to an O. Obviously reason being extensions on an OA will only be granted with 400K inpatient/40K outpatient health insurance and only for the period of coverage. 

All that went west with COVID so I will take the insurance. The OP will need to do the same.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...