I want the authorized user to get online access but I don't want to be the one to input their SSN. Is this something they can do on their own by calling Capital One?
Does the name or card number of an authorized user appear anywhere on the credit card statement? If not, how can it be proven that someone is an authorized user of a credit card account?
Will this change if someone were an account manager instead?
Most folks work 9-5 on weekdays. Retail usually closes at 5:30, except one day a week where they close at 9pm. So if you're most folks, any shopping -- including groceries -- has to be squeezed into 3 hours one day a week and 9-5 during the weekends, competing with social obligations.
I can imagine Rundle Mall retailers may be okay with this because there is traffic all day long. But how do smaller retailers compete with the likes of Coles, Woolies, KMart, Myer, etc. for limited shopping time?
When I was sponsored for my 186, my partner and I had neither married nor lived together so I couldn't add him to my application. He also had work obligations and couldn't yet move to Australia so sponsoring him on a partner visa after I moved was the best option.
We contacted migration agents shortly before I left. They advised us to apply for an 820 onshore while on an ETA, and said that applying for the 300 visa takes longer, has less flexibility, and would just unnecessarily delay the processing times of those who had No Further Stay conditions. The idea was to use the time on a visitor visa and the BVA to build the household cohabitation pillar. We were told that because we hadn't lived together, a 309/100 would not be advisable even if we got married.
We're still eligible for the 300, but let's say we got married. If the government then pushed through with the rumored plan to block visitor visa holders from applying for the 820, how could we build the household pillar if the only option remaining was an offshore 309?
I am sponsoring my partner for an 820 and I figured I'll just get an FBI clearance while I'm visiting the US since it's cheaper. It turns out I wrote my birth year wrong (2026, stupid mistake). Does that invalidate my police check for Australian visa purposes?
Before moving, my partner and I have talked to a few migration agents to ask about partner visas. They are OMARA registered and do not have any disciplinary decisions against them according to OMARA records.
One of them has an office address that is in the CBD according to their website (and Google Maps). I dropped by one day to check if the office was legit. As it turns out, the whole floor was rented by a law firm and they didn't have his name in their roster.
Another had only a PO Box registered.
Others were interstate so I'd have no way of checking if any address listed is legit or not.
I know that OMARA is supposed to have your back, but disciplinary decisions are usually made 3+ years after the complaint is first filed.
How common is it among migration agents to not have a physical office?
I have an international ticket with United originating from the US. It is fully refundable, but bought using a debit card.
I'm thinking of moving the departure flight to another date and keep the return flight. I have two options:
"change" the departure flight to another date, making sure to choose the "fully refundable" option
"cancel" the entire flight itinerary and book another fully refundable flight from scratch.
Both should cost $0.
The objective is to keep the entire itinerary fully refundable. I know option #2 is simpler, but that means my bank account is down by 2x the fare amount because the refunds won't come until 7 days later.
Does option #1 work? I'm posting the screenshot below after clicking the replacement flight with the "change" option. I can see there's a "fully refundable" option, but I wonder if only the flight difference (which is $0) is fully refundable (in which case this effectively makes the whole ticket nonrefundable), or if the entire trip is fully refundable.
Thanks!
TL; DR: Lacking an 888 on the sponsor's side due to family disapproval. What to do?
--
I'm a relatively new Australian permanent resident in a relationship with a non-Australian partner who is living in the US. We met while I was living there and have been a committed couple for 1.5 years now (and some time dating before that). We are in our mid-late 30s. Because our workplaces were 1.5-2 hours apart, we did not live together, but he would spend weekends at my place.
I moved to Australia late last year; he's still in the US but we are planning to live together in Australia by January. Migration agents recommended the 601-820 route with relationship registration.
We originally thought my partner's mom and my brother could give us Form 888. My partner and I had flown across the US to visit my brother and his fiancee for 3 days around a year ago. As it turns out, just this month, my brother and his fiancee decided not to invite my partner to their upcoming wedding due to their disapproval of my relationship.
While this is hurtful, I don't want to discuss whether it was justified or not. I want to ask about a practical concern: the form 888.
The only other person on my side who can sign our 888 is my friend who is also in the US, but she's only met my partner once. We met when she was studying full-time at my university but she moved a long distance away before I met my partner. She was the first to know about my relationship, but she mainly knows about my partner from my phone calls with her. She is also currently in a tough relationship crisis herself, so I'm not sure if she'll have emotional bandwidth by the time I need the 888.
Other than them, we have no other candidates for the 888.
My partner and I have plenty of daily WhatsApp messages and photos together. We also have photos with his mom and photos with my brother. (I also have older photos of my brother and me to prove that he wasn't a paid actor, lol) I am going to include him as a permitted occupant once my apartment lease renews this year. We have a joint bank account, but we only opened it 2 months before I left and we used it for our weekend expenses (mainly eating out). We're also going to use the account for our expenses in an upcoming trip together (flights, hotels, credit card expenses), and once he comes here in January, we'll either open a joint AUD account or if we can't, use the joint USD account to pay for our credit card expenses here. Other than that, our living expenses have always been separate.
Given the constraint in our social circles: is it possible to argue the lack of an 888 due to family disapproval? While my partner's mom seems to be willing (and I'm hoping will continue to be!), I worry about the lack of 888 on my side as the sponsor.
How can we proceed if we can't get 888 from my family? Can photos with my family and an explanation suffice?
I've opened 3 tangerines from the same bag and they all have these brown fuzzy stuff and some brown beads in the middle. I have eaten a lot of tangerines in my lifetime, and they never have this brown thing. FWIW, the tangerines don't have any visible damage on the outside. They smell normal.
I've heard about endoxerosis. Is this that? Or is it mold?
I've consulted three tax preparers now (H&R Block Expat, and 2x from Taxes For Expats, the first being the free call and the second being the $50 consultation. The advice from the free call from Taxes for Expats was apparently reviewed by a professional; both the H&R Block Expat and TFX consultant are EAs). They've been giving me different answers.
For context, I am neither a US citizen nor green card holder, but have filed 1040 in 2024. I left the US in October 2025 for Australia (now a permanent resident here), but I pass the substantial presence test for 2025.
Tax preparers A and B said I can file dual-status or full-year 1040. Tax preparer C said I'm not eligible for dual-status, and will have to file a full-year 1040 (I disagree with tax preparer C on this one though).
Tax preparer B said my entire superannuation is taxable if I filed a 1040; tax preparer C said it's only the amount above the superannuation guarantee of 12% that's taxable. (I have no idea which is correct, but I'm hoping it's C!)
Tax preparer B said that if I file dual-status, I only have to report the accounts FBAR for the resident period. Tax preparer C said that even if I filed dual-status (which she disagreed with), I have to report the FBAR accounts for the whole period.
They did both agree though that a 3520 is unnecessary if I didn't contribute anything to my super for 2025.
I'm so confused. I'm okay with paying a professional but with how different my taxes could be depending on whom you hire, I may be better off doing the dual-status filing myself.
The only advantage of having a paid tax preparer is that they have their name on the 1040. Are they going to be responsible for any penalties?
