In a welcome move, the Australian Government has said it will legislate to extend the validity period of subclass 410 Retirement visas to 10 years, and remove the working restriction on these visas.
Subclass 410 Retirement visas ceased to be available to new applicants at the end of June 2005, but there are nevertheless some 8,700 410 visaholders in Australia at the moment.
The 410 visa is a long term temporary residency visa, with an initial validity period of 4 years. Initially renewals of this visa were required every 2 years, and there was a no work condition attaching.
Work rights were relaxed in 2003, and relaxations to the health requirements upon renewal of 410 visas were announced later that year.
In 2005 the rollover period for 410 visas was extended from 2 years to 4 years.
Successive Immigration Ministers appear to be sympathetic to the position in which Retirement visaholders find themselves. Many 410 visaholders are now long standing members of Australian communities, and granting permanent residency is a natural next step – the present Minister appears willing to listen to representatives of the 410 cohort, and in extending the renewal period to 10 years is (we would submit) providing quasi-permanent residency to affected individuals.
| Full access to Medicare appears to be the main issue with this visa category, together with an ongoing requirement to maintain private health insurance.Indeed, with temporary visaholders being able to structure their personal tax affairs such that overseas source income (including UK source pensions) are not subject to tax in Australia, some would contend that 410 visaholders are in a good place visa and tax wise.If you are a subclass 410 visaholder and would like to discuss your personal tax and financial position please contact us at our Perth or Geelong office. Go Matilda Accounting and Tax is one of the few firms of advisors that have consultants with knowledge across the UK and Australian jurisdictions, and are therefore ideally placed to assist with the preparation and lodgment of UK and Australian Tax Returns, and to provide strategic advice on personal tax planning.
We also recommend that Retirement visaholders visit the internet discussion group that lobbies for the interests of individuals holding subclass 410 visas – British Expat Retirees In Australia, or BERIA: see the weblink below. |
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| http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BERIA/ Source : www.gomatilda.com | |
All the latest NEWS from Perth 
Australian share market opens higher
Posted in Political News, tagged $1.15 billion, $16.01, $20.48, $22.00 Westpac up 10 cents, $34.26, $36.40, $65.46, (AEST), 0.23 per cent, 0.31 per cent, 0.60 per cent, 10.15am, 12.1 points, 14 cents, 15 per cent, 20 cents, 3889.3, 4.41 per cent, 4cents, 50.34 points, 8.7 points, ANZ, asess, Average, banks, Ben Bernanke, benchmark, BHP, broader, capital, cash, cash return, comments, Commonwealth Bank, contracts., deficit., down, earnings, efforts, equity, Exchange, Federal Budget, Federal Reserve chairman, firms, five cents, four, gained, gains, generating, higher, Industrial, investors, long rally, lost, lower, lucky, major, March, marginally, Mining giant, mixed finish, mixed lead, morning trade, mulled, NAB, new, open, opened, opening, Ordinaries, over, paused, points higher, Political News, quarter, raise, reassuring, reported, Resources, Rio Tinto, rival, S&P/ASX200, settle, share market, share price index contract, stronger, Sydney Futures, The Dow Jones, to 3872.3., Tuesday, up, US trade, volume, Wall Street, was up, wobbled on May 13, 2009| Leave a Comment »
At 10.15am (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 12.1 points, or 0.31 per cent, at 3889.3, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 8.7 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 3872.3.
The four major banks were mostly higher at the open.
ANZ gained 4cents to $16.01, NAB was up 14 cents at $22.00 and Westpac was up 10 cents at $20.48.
The Commonwealth Bank, which reported cash earnings for the March quarter of about $1.15 billion, generating a cash return on equity of over 15 per cent, was down 20 cents at $36.40.
Resources weren’t as lucky, opening lower in morning trade.
Mining giant BHP was down five cents at $34.26, while rival Rio Tinto lost 4.41 per cent to $65.46.
Wall Street wobbled to a mixed finish on Tuesday as investors paused to assess gains from a long rally and mulled the new efforts to raise capital by banks and other firms.
The markets also digested better-than-expected data on the US trade deficit and reassuring comments from Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, about the health of the banking system.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 50.34 points, or 0.60 per cent, to settle at 8,469.11.
The tech-dominated Nasdaq dropped 15.32 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 1715.92 while the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index lost 0.89 point, or 0.1 per cent, to settle at 908.35.
On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the June share price index contract was trading 17 points higher at 3885 on volume of 4900 contracts.
www.news.com.au
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