Hi all, i have just been granted my 136 independant visa. I am wanting my girlfriend to come with me on a defacto basis. She has currently got debts. Is there any way the debt can be transfered to enable her to pay off the debt when we arrive and are working in Australia. Obviously we appreciate she would not have a job as soon as we arrive in Oz but once working would not have a problem with clearing this debt. She currently works in sales for a brassware company,(bathroom taps & accessories). Any advice would be much appreciated on this matter.

Hi

Sorry to give bad news but to the best of my knowledge unless it's a student loan you can't transfer it and would have to pay it off before leaving, I do know the Aus and Uk governments have some kind of agreement over bad debts so you can't escape them!

Both get 2 jobs and get the debt paid off you'll feel so much better for doing so

That was as i thought!! Thanks . any one else know anything we dont????????

Hi,

I am slightly confused by this, my partner and I are both on a 136 visa, and about to head out. We have a mortgage and student loans ( we are renting the house out).

I wasn't aware of any restrictions that prevent you from going out if you have a loan.

Surely as long as you continue to re-pay your loans whilst you are away, then there should be no problem with going out.

Please would you elaborate a bit more on this.

Cheers

Alex

Sorry, yes you continue to pay off loans if you can transfer money to UK account to pay debts. But you can't transfer debt to Australia, well unless you get a loan there to pay off previous loan, or maybe if you were in debt to a global bank?
There are no restrictions on leaving UK in debt, but a lot of people see Aus as a way of escaping debt!

You can get a loan in Australia after 1 year with a bank but would have to continue to pay an international money transfer order everytime you pay some off the dept in the UK. It would prob be easier to use Paypal or a credit card to avoid transaction fees but its still expensive. Maybe you should try set up a bank account in Australia now before going and get credit checks done so you can avail of a Credit Card straight away. Commonwealth have a UK bank but I hink me being from Ireland I have to open a straight forward savings account until I hit Oz... hopefully soon, hoping before christmas so fingers crossed.

Thanks Rob, If anyone else has any other suggestions they would be appreciated.

My wife left a small amount of debt when we left for Oz - mainly credit cards, small loans etc.

We just transferred enough money to the UK every 3 months to cover the basic repayments for the next three months. Costs about $20 to $30 for an international transfer (well at least one of about $1500 per time - may cost more for higher amounts).

Eventually we had saved enough money here to make one big transfer to pay off all the debt.

Thats good news the money transfer is not as much as i expected. How long did it take you to get your tax code to enable you to work?