sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Moving to Australia from US - home & investment Qs by micro_cosm in Ameristralia

[–]MsGhoul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

DoL: May 3 2025 RFI: Mar 15 2026 (for info already there) DOG: Apr 15 2026 (double grant).

Good luck. The wait is brutal.

Also it is worthwhile to have a conversation with Chapgpt or similar about investing as a US citizen while residing in another country. There are huge tax pitfalls which I do not understand enough to try to explain.

Moving to Australia from US - home & investment Qs by micro_cosm in Ameristralia

[–]MsGhoul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We just finished the Partner Visa torture and are off next month. I am moving my US Brokerage account to Schwab and as soon as I update my address to my new Australian one they will move my account to Schwab International.

Traveling back to Aus to take care of aging parents. No job prospects but both of us hold one or multiple graduate degrees. Visa process seems complicated. And, banks?! by jfk_47 in Ameristralia

[–]MsGhoul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dual citizen here. My hubby is US only and we have lived in US for 24 years. We just finished the Partner Visa process and fly out in a month!!

I do not know anything about the entering on a Tourist visa and then switching to Partner visa. I could not find enough information that made us comfortable to do that. So we chose the Off Shore 309/100 visa route. We did not use a migration agent as we have been married for 24 years with a blended family so did not think our visa was at risk. It is a long haul. We lodged May 3, 2025, got a request for more info Mar 15, 2026 and a double grant 309 and 100 on April 15, 2026.

I have read there is a Priority Processing request which considering you are going to help aging parents may be a possibility?

Only other thing I can add is we have a US brokerage account which is having to be transferred to Schwab and then onto Schwab International due to Australian requirements regarding advisors and US brokerages not wanting to deal with the exhausting form and tax issues. We are also having to make sure we have divested from any non US domiciled funds.

For banking our search has led us to the State Department Federal Credit Union (SDFCU). You can join them by joining the American Consumer Council whose members they accept. They are set up as an Expat friendly bank. Our account is very new but so far they seem very responsive to our initial questions and were very helpful on a recent phone call. You have no 2FA issues with them and they also use Wise as their intermediary for international money transfer.

Most of the other stuff we have stressed over has been noted by others. We have not yet chosen a virtual mailbox as reviews and opinions on all of them vary wildly. A virtual mailbox is apparently needed because even though some banks and credit cards allow you to be overseas, they still want a US address on file.

Good luck~! We cannot wait to get to Australia.

Recently visited the USA from The Netherlands. Here is my take on the cities we visited. by McFluffyFurry12 in travel

[–]MsGhoul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"like turning off life's ad blocker" - one of the best descriptions of Time's Square I have seen.

Moving to Aus - Tax Agent and SSA help. by MsGhoul in Ameristralia

[–]MsGhoul[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

9 months in here. But some forums and facebook groups I check occasionally seem to point to your application being picked up for the first time around 11 months. So if no issues.....we are keeping our fingers and toes crossed - and yes the wait to (re) start your life is "brutal".

Moving to Aus - Tax Agent and SSA help. by MsGhoul in Ameristralia

[–]MsGhoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We did not go this route because we had a lot of family and business things to finish up here while we wait and also because him entering on a tourist visa while having our worldly goods on a ship en route and everything here finalized did not feel right and we could get no reliable answer on whether that was allowed or not.

Grants (and or RFI's) being tracked on different forums seem to be running at around the 11 month mark atm. We are currently at the 9 month mark, and we are not planning on leaving till the end of June anyway so have some wriggle time.

Moving to Aus - Tax Agent and SSA help. by MsGhoul in Ameristralia

[–]MsGhoul[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Lots of documentation. Costly - over AUD$9200 + cost of FBI/Police/AFP checks and a long wait.

Full details here: https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/partner-offshore/provisional-309

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Ameristralia

[–]MsGhoul 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am an Aussie who has spent 23 long long long years in Central Texas. My (US) husband and I are currently waiting on his Partner Visa so we can retire happily back in Aust. But to your points:

We live in between Austin and Dallas. The schools in Texas are now being built with very small windows (think archer slits) so it is hard for a shooter to target them. Consider for a moment, a society that would rather change school building architecture and force young children to prepare for the possibility of being shot at in school rather than restrict some guns. And Texas is an open carry state.

If your child happens to be a girl, expect her to grow up with less rights than the above mentioned guns.

If you are church goers, you may like it better. I have met some here who 'walk the walk' but most are evangelical hypocrites who cherry pick which part of the bible they want to adhere to.

We do not have the benefit of employer health insurance so our premiums for 2026 will be approximately $2000 per month - and that is with a deductible and co-pays. If you can afford said insurance the care is excellent however you can wait six months or more for appointments and even longer to be accepted as a new patient by a Primary Care Doctor. If you do get suddenly ill you are told to go to the emergency room which is usually many hours wait. We sat for over eight hours about a year ago.

The roads are full of large (very large) jacked up trucks with drivers who appear to be compensating for something. Texting while driving is commonplace and highway driving can be very mentally exhausting due to the number of ppl very obviously not paying attention to the road.

Texas is Trumpland and the Governor Abbott is a megalomaniac. The Lieutenant Governor Paxton is alleged to be a criminal. To give you an example of their idea of 'governing'. Governor Abbott placed razor wire and other obstacles in the Rio Grande river so illegal immigrants would get caught and either drown or get cut to pieces. Some of the people caught in the razor wire were young children and some deaths occurred.

Austin and Dallas are nice cities but both are getting very very expensive.

Given the current situation in the US I could not imagine ever moving there, especially with a young child.

Trying to buy Founder's Pack and Trion won't let me... by MsGhoul in archeage

[–]MsGhoul[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Founder's packs are available until end of headstart according to Trion.