does having bad credit stop you from emigrating??

Question

When my partner was previously married, he used to have a business with his ex wife, she emptied the account, therefore leaving him in in arrears, now he has married me and we want to start a new life in adelaide australia, therefore, could we declare ourselves bankrupt, or what problems do you think we would have!! my husband is a hard working joiner, plasterer and basically has she sealed his fate for the future, what do we do ??

Answer 1

I don't know. But if I was in bad credit I do a bunk to

Answer 2

You need a few thousand dollars in your account before you can move to Australia, it cost about $1000AU to even apply for citizenship. As a joiner he can get work there but you really need to clear the debt first before they will accept you.
I would pay off what you owe as quickly as you can and then you should be able to move there. As I said Australia needs trained joiners so you have a good chance of being allowed to move there if you are not taking debts with you.
Perhaps (and you need to check this) he could move the debts to you, you could become bankrupt and then you might be in a stronger position because he would then have a skill Australia needs and no debts and you could move with him as his partner despite the debts. It's just an idea and I would check before you do this!

Answer 3

I had bad credit, due to a previous partner, but I have emigrated to Canada from the UK and had no problems. In Canada, after 3 months, you can apply for credit and they do not check the country you came from, about your credit history there. If you want credit before that, they will check where you came from. It has been hard, waiting for the 3 months, but we can apply for credit next week! Just make sure that you when you emigrate that all your bills are paid on time and that will help you.
Good luck with your new venture. If you need any advice, please e-mail me and if I can help, I definitely will.

Answer 4

I suspect that if you go the bankruptcy route you won't be able to emigrate until he is a 'discharged bankrupt'! Otherwise anyone who went mad and borrowed/spent blah blah (NOT that that is what HE did) could just say - "OK I'm nbankrupt - you're not getting any money I owe and by the way - bye bye I'm off to the sun!!!"

Hardly likely to be reasonable is it!

He need to get some financial advice and depending how bad his debts are could probably re-structure to avoid having to go bankrupt - which brings all sort of baggage with it.

Don't go to one of the debt consolidators who just make more money out of him - If you are in the UK read this and arrange to see the CAB:

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/nm/d_bankruptcy.pdf

Answer 5

I am a public accountant and previously worked in the insolvency industry and it is my experience that people who develop financial problems did not normally foolishly spend, spend, spend. Usually things went wrong through marital, business or employment problems that resulted in them getting into some debt. Then the debt spiral started and gradually built up to a point where they can no longer meet their debts.

Most people owe the most money to huge organisations. Its little known by the general public that big organisations INSURE for bad debt. They will normally cover any eventual loss by a claim against their insurers. The insurers won’t pay out unless the debtor has died, become bankrupt or LEFT THE COUNTRY!

The debt between the debt and the lender is a debt between them only. If the insurer pays out, they generally cannot recover from the debtor.

Immigration departments in most countries do not consider insolvency or debts owing when assessing cases unless the applicant is seeking a business visa.

If you are off to Adelaide as a skilled worker then your debts won’t stop you. BUT you can’t apply as a joiner/plasterer. It’s one or the other, not both! When you get there you can work at what you like!

In Australia, the average worker can live very well, whereas here they can’t and it getting harder bit by bit. Remember, when estimating income and costs to the UK, in Australia a Dollar will buy as much as a pound in the UK. So a typical joiner or plasterers income of around $70,000 is equal to about £70,000 here in the UK in terms of what you can buy. Many things are cheaper than here (especially big ticket items like houses) and some a little more (beer is cheaper here). Overall, because housing (and so mortgages) are lower there, you can afford a lot more beer than here, despite a small price differnence.

When you move to Adelaide (a wonderful place to live - I loved it in the 2 years I was there) you will have a new start on your credit history - a completely clean slate. What happened in the UK, stays in the UK.

So, don’t declare bankruptcy as this is very stressful. Just get up and leave. Have your mail returned to sender with the notation moved out of the UK. Now they can quickly claim on their insurers without having to spend a lot of time and money hounding you into bankruptcy. They still get paid. The insurers lose a little money but that’s built into their charges to the banks. So, go get a new great life and start over, poorer but wiser.

On the general subject of immigration let me just say the following
Get a good agent locally based in the UK to help you. Non UK based agents really don't understand the UK's lack of centralised systems and how to get those missing papers you desperately need when you have lost them. One agent even get you job's and you can arrive in 4 to 6 weeks (or later if you want) (The clever immigration stuff is not shown by DIMA on the website).
DON'T just send your money via your high street bank to Australia. You lose 4-5% to the banks and you don't know it because it’s done in the exchange rate you achieve. That’s £5000 in every 100K of your house money gone up in smoke in seconds. (You may have money even if your partner doesn’t)
When migrating watch out for tax traps on any pension entitlements. Sometimes your should transfer them, sometimes you shouldn't. Many pension entitlements must be moved within six months of arrival to avoid being treated as income. So, this is a real trap!! If you get it wrong you can lose tens of thousands of dollars in additional tax when you retire and draw your entitlements.

Moving isn't just about a visa. What about that couple in November that paid the furniture removalist and the furniture didn’t arrive! They couldn't get hold of the removalists, and so rang the sea freight agent in Southampton. He said the removalist hadn't paid him and nothing was going until he was paid by someone. The removalist had scarpered agent said he had 21 sea containers full of people furniture on the docks. The couple had top pay over £3600 TWICE! Ask the agent for this and lots of other really good info...
Get smart and use an agent, especially if you are moving money over, because the saving on the money alone will more than pay for the agent AND they make sure you, your furniture AND your pensions actually get there the right way (and lots of other practical stuff).

What out for employers offering to “sponsor” you. Often sponsoring employers will pay you a lower wage to start with as this cover the cost of their sponsorship. So effectively you are actually paying the cost by working for less money. If you are in before applying for the job, then you will be able to negotiate a higher salary as they will now need you more than you need them! There a lot of extra money to be had in each of the early years of your arrival.
Ps, a lot of people really don't know much about the latest system for moving to Australia. Imagine if someone from Australia asked you about migrating to the UK. How much would you know to tell them about how to do it? Could you tell them how to get the best exchange rate, what removalist in Australia to use, what to do about their private and state pensions, could you even tell them there is no reciprocal health care available in their new country! Etc. So don’t listen to unqualified people in the Immigration department and especially amongst friends and acquaintances.

Ps there are a number of ways for skilled migrants to move to migrate OTHER than the points count system.

Hope this is helpful... Good luck with your move

Answer 6

Don't tell the Authorities & don't worry about it. This happens all over the world.
They need tradesmen, work on the plusses forget the negatives.
Have a good life

Answer 7

Some countries are funny about bad debts

Answer 8

Try asking citizens advice.I am not sure how you would stand with Australias rules.

Answer 9

one of my friends is interested in emigrating to aus, and they were told that you have to show that you have at least 3000 in the bank before they let you in

Answer 10

It should, but will not.