• Hello Members, This forums is for DV lottery visas only. For other immigration related questions, please go to our forums home page, find the related forum and post it there.

DV 2015 Oceania winners

Thanks Britsimon - that's what I suspected but always nice to have this forum as a sounding board. Really appreciate the response :)
 
So exciting Essey!

Gemma, I know you are disappointed but January really isn't far away.
 
Last edited:
Ok, I have an issue I'd appreciate advice on with the police check. My parents are weird creatures. When they had me, they called me Emmily. Drunk, high, fresh off the boat with a poor command of English, who knows?

But from the time I was young, I was always Emily and, as soon as I turned 18, I changed it to Emily formally via Births, Deaths and Marriages.

So I have a first name change and a married name change. I'm guessing a name check will still be ok, so long as I list all the names I've been known under?
 
Last edited:
Ne
Ok, I have an issue I'd appreciate advice on with the police check. My parents are weird creatures. When they had me, they called me Emmily. Drunk, high, fresh off the boat with a poor command of English, who knows?

But from the time I was young, I was always Emily and, as soon as I turned 18, I changed it to Emily formally via Births, Deaths and Marriages.

So I have a first name change and a married name change. I'm guessing a name check will still be ok, so long as I list all the names I've been known under?[/QUOTEName check will be fine as long as you say you list all names known by:)
 
Not sure what happened there my reply seems to have attached itself to your post...... Strange!!!
 
I have a question that may have been asked before but I cannot find the thread, can you activate your trip, leave for 364 days then fly back to the states for another 6 months, leave and come back in again without upsetting the AppleCart, we are trying to work out when to sell our property and hubby wants to wait another year and a half to sell up, does that raise any red flags, this might be one for you Simon??
 
I have a question that may have been asked before but I cannot find the thread, can you activate your trip, leave for 364 days then fly back to the states for another 6 months, leave and come back in again without upsetting the AppleCart, we are trying to work out when to sell our property and hubby wants to wait another year and a half to sell up, does that raise any red flags, this might be one for you Simon??

Well, with any absence (ANY - even 1 day) the immigration officials can raise a red flag on re-entry. If they are not satisfied with your answers, They won't deny you entry, but you will receive an invitation to appear before an immigration judge. Then you will have to prove that you hadn't abandoned your Green Card - and there are a few tests for that.

One test would be have you maintained a residence in the USA. They are likely to "forgive" that in the first year where you go home to tidy up affairs, but that second absence is harder to explain.
Another test is whether you took up residence in another country - and same comments apply.
Obviously you also have tax reporting obligation after the very first activation - and again, not meeting those obligations would be a mark against you.

So - you might be OK - but it is risky. Why not move, keep the house and rent it out for a year (since you'll be renting Stateside for a year anyway) and that will hedge your bets and make the most of the capital appreciation. CGT on a main home may be reduced or eliminated so that could be tax free gain in both countries (USA CGT tax band is quite high). Just a thought.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CC1
Why not move, keep the house and rent it out for a year (since you'll be renting Stateside for a year anyway) and that will hedge your bets and make the most of the capital appreciation. CGT on a main home may be reduced or eliminated so that could be tax free gain in both countries (USA CGT tax band is quite high). Just a thought.

I'm no tax expert, but how does turning your principal place of residence into an investment property help you avoid Capital Gains Tax? As I understood it, in Australia, you only pay CGT on investment properties (after the first 7 years as an investment) and PPRs are not subject to CGT.
 
I'm no tax expert, but how does turning your principal place of residence into an investment property help you avoid Capital Gains Tax? As I understood it, in Australia, you only pay CGT on investment properties (after the first 7 years as an investment) and PPRs are not subject to CGT.

That is country specific of course, but in the UK if a home was your PPR and then you rent it out there is a period of time where it can be sold and still be treated as PPR for CGT. They are closing that "loophole" in the UK currently, so it may not exist over there - obviously worth looking in to.
 
That is country specific of course, but in the UK if a home was your PPR and then you rent it out there is a period of time where it can be sold and still be treated as PPR for CGT. They are closing that "loophole" in the UK currently, so it may not exist over there - obviously worth looking in to.

Yep, the first 7 years is CGT free here for investment properties. I think I misunderstood your first post when you said that CGT on main home will be reduced or eliminated, because my thought was that something that doesn't exist can't be eliminated or reduced in the first place.

Anyway regardless of that, I thought the original suggestion of renting the house out for the first year was a good one, unless the family are relying on the the funds from the to make the move.
 
Yep, the first 7 years is CGT free here for investment properties. I think I misunderstood your first post when you said that CGT on main home will be reduced or eliminated, because my thought was that something that doesn't exist can't be eliminated or reduced in the first place.

Anyway regardless of that, I thought the original suggestion of renting the house out for the first year was a good one, unless the family are relying on the the funds from the to make the move.


Well taxwise - always worth checking that out. Even if there is no home country tax there could be USA tax implications and taxes are paid on currency conversion gains also (which is BS and one good argument to make a clean break if you can.

However, having said that, I would recommend that people don't buy immediately on entering the USA. Take a little time to figure out where you want to be. If you don't have enough cash to purchase a home without a mortgage then you probably can't (or shouldn't) buy for a while anyway until you have some credit history. So - my perspective is to keep money in property somewhere, and then you don't feel so bad about being off the property ladder during the first year...
 
Like everything else here each state will control their own rules but a good way to start these things is often through the national umbrella organizations.

For Pharmacists this might be a good route and this particular webpage discusses the route/timeline quite well.

http://www.nabp.net/programs/examination/fpgec
Thanks for looking into this Simon, these are the guys I applied with and they were very specific in their requirements. We are moving to Texas, which seems to be one of the worst for state based rule upon rule upon rule!!

Did you have any further advice of the work experience stuff in my original post?

As always, thanks for your help :)
 
Thanks for looking into this Simon, these are the guys I applied with and they were very specific in their requirements. We are moving to Texas, which seems to be one of the worst for state based rule upon rule upon rule!!

Did you have any further advice of the work experience stuff in my original post?

As always, thanks for your help :)

Specific is good. The more painful organizations have the same horrible lists of requirements, but they don't tell you - you just have the joy of being blocked at every turn.

About the work experience, I would not get the evaluator letter to tie to O*Net - it isn't mentioned as something being necessary so would just be a waste of money. But all the other evidence you have gathered is good. No harm in adding anything else.
 
Well, with any absence (ANY - even 1 day) the immigration officials can raise a red flag on re-entry. If they are not satisfied with your answers, They won't deny you entry, but you will receive an invitation to appear before an immigration judge. Then you will have to prove that you hadn't abandoned your Green Card - and there are a few tests for that.

One test would be have you maintained a residence in the USA. They are likely to "forgive" that in the first year where you go home to tidy up affairs, but that second absence is harder to explain.
Another test is whether you took up residence in another country - and same comments apply.
Obviously you also have tax reporting obligation after the very first activation - and again, not meeting those obligations would be a mark against you.

So - you might be OK - but it is risky. Why not move, keep the house and rent it out for a year (since you'll be renting Stateside for a year anyway) and that will hedge your bets and make the most of the capital appreciation. CGT on a main home may be reduced or eliminated so that could be tax free gain in both countries (USA CGT tax band is quite high). Just a thought.
That's great advise, thanks again, I have read that a few people have done activation trips so I had presumed this was common practice if you have to go back and tidy up affairs, we do have funds for a deposit without selling but are still deciding between Cali,Texas or North Carolina, so as you say will probably rent for 6 months or so, my hubby is an Registered Psych Nurse so logically Houston would provide the greatest amount of job opportunities, just don't know if I could handle the heat :)
 
Yeah mine was exactly the same.
I've also just received instruction from the Consulate in Auckland and it states we must supply "Evidence of your funds/assets and CV/Resume to enable you to support yourself in the US". Also we need to fill out and return a ACK/IV/p4i form, photos, copy of passport and originals and copies of all other personal documents PRIOR to our appointment. This seems to have changed from previous years?

Hey Toni, do they send these instructions through to your email?
 
Hey Toni, do they send these instructions through to your email?

No, they posted them to me. I had my medical done by the medical centre just down the road and they had them at the consulate 3 days later. I also had to post or drop off the paperwork a few days before, the same day we did our medicals as it was easier. Make sure you take cash to the consulate to pay the fees. What date is your interview?
 
No, they posted them to me. I had my medical done by the medical centre just down the road and they had them at the consulate 3 days later. I also had to post or drop off the paperwork a few days before, the same day we did our medicals as it was easier. Make sure you take cash to the consulate to pay the fees. What date is your interview?

Awesome thanks. I guess I'll wait for this package to arrive first before booking my medical. Interview is on the 4th of December.
 
Top