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Canal & River Trust Licence


Mark May

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Hi, I'm seeking a little advice about the length of Licence (12 or 6 months) I should purchase. I'm an Aussie living down under and will be retiring in a couple of months. I plan to buy a Narrowboat, and continuously cruise the canals (for a few years at least), hopefully before Jun 18, depending if the right one comes along. Unfortunately for me i will be a cashed up, self funded retiree (no drain on the British public purse) who comes from a commonwealth country and speaks the Queens English, fluently. As such, I am restricted by UK immigration regulations to six month stays in the UK in any 12 month period - it wouldn't be a problem if I was Italian, Spanish or Greek etc, broke and looking for a handout from the British taxpayer. I could just lob in the UK and demand to be fed and housed for free. Anyway, after a lot of research, looking at mooring costs etc around the canal system I've come to the conclusion that the best way forward would be to cruise for 5-6 months, than Hardstand my boat for the 6 months that I'm forced to return to Australia. My question is; if I opt for a 6 month Licence, do I have to specify the dates each year (e.g 1 Apr-30 Sep), or does the 6 months commence when I put the boat back in the water? Alternatively, would it be just as easy to wait until I fly back into the county each time and buy the licence/s then? Sorry for rattling on :-)

thanks in advance

Mark

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You buy the licence for the month it goes back into the water. So arrange the craning for the first of whatever month you are coming back over, and pay for the licence from the start of that month.

An alternative to hard standing is finding a marina where CRT have no licence jurisdiction over it( ie whilton, sileby etc) and arrange your 6 months there, pay new licence when you come out onto the canal again. 

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Hi

 

Welcome.

As long as your boat is on the hard you do not need a licence. Assuming you are wanting to licence 1 April - 30 September then just take out a 6 month licence late in March to run April-Sept, boat to be dropped in early April, then you will get the early payment discount. I would suggest (to be on the safe side) at end of September you let Cart know you are removing the boat from their water and that is why you are not renewing. That way you avoid problems over getting the early payment discount the next year.

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If I was leaving the boat for six months my preference would be hard standing

First you can wash its bottom and apply a coat of blacking and repaint the gunwales at the end of the six months

Second its high of the ground stops people looking through windows and perhaps breaking in

Thirdly CRT cant argue if it aint in the water things change and they might change whilst you are out of the country.

Fourthly a minus the cold will get to things far more when its in the hard so make sure its drained down properly and if possible empty of diesel

Thats just my thoughts

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3 hours ago, Mark May said:

 it wouldn't be a problem if I was Italian, Spanish or Greek etc, broke and looking for a handout from the British taxpayer. I could just lob in the UK and demand to be fed and housed for free.

I hate to be pedantic but you are greatly over simplifying the situation.   EU residents can only stay in the UK for 3 months unless they are in work or actively seeking work with a genuine chance of employment.

You could demand to be housed and fed but it would only happen after you had jumped through various hoops and fulfilled various conditions.

Contrary to popular opinion you can not "just lob up and demand to be fed and housed free".

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10 minutes ago, Jerra said:

I hate to be pedantic but you are greatly over simplifying the situation.   EU residents can only stay in the UK for 3 months unless they are in work or actively seeking work with a genuine chance of employment.

You could demand to be housed and fed but it would only happen after you had jumped through various hoops and fulfilled various conditions.

Contrary to popular opinion you can not "just lob up and demand to be fed and housed free".

Its simpler than that. the reason he cant just rock up is because he speaks English as his first language and drives on the correct side of the road and during the very recent major conflict of 1939/1945 his country was our ally. To just rock up here none of those things count for jack..................it

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Just now, mrsmelly said:

Its simpler than that. the reason he cant just rock up is because he speaks English as his first language and drives on the correct side of the road and during the very recent major conflict of 1939/1945 his country was our ally. To just rock up here none of those things count for jack..................it

You may not have noticed but he can stay twice as long without looking for a job as an Eu resident so he is getting some privileges.

Where English speaking comes into it I don't know languages are so well taught on the continent that many (most>) speak with reasonable fluency.

How far back into history are we going to look with regard to allies?

However as a Brexit supporter I thought you would have been taking the stance that we shouldn't be letting foreigners in, or is it just those that don't speak English you object to?

However my apologies for taking the thread of course, but the cynical comment which suggested EU citizens could just walk in and get everything is more than a little annoying to me.

We had better leave it there or move to the Brexit thread.

P.s. If I remember my history correctly many of the EU countries fought with us in the war.

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Be respectful. The default for a UK visitor visa from NZ and Australia is three months  to align with the European visitor visa. However the UK grants the immigration officers considerable discretion to grant the six month visa. We have been politely asked some quite astute questions to ensure that as visitors from NZ our visit whould only enhance the UK economy with only neglibable risk to the UK taxpayer. I am sure the immigration officers have our entire arrival and departure history onscreen when they stamp our passports.

We looked at six month licences rather then a twelve month licence but found the costs comparable once dry storage and craneage payed for.  For a winter mooring our canal club only charged us the annual rate divided by the weeks occupied and liked australasians as they would receive six months plus income from their winter moorings rather then the six weeks or so wanted by locals

Don

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Jerra said:

You may not have noticed but he can stay twice as long without looking for a job as an Eu resident so he is getting some privileges.

Where English speaking comes into it I don't know languages are so well taught on the continent that many (most>) speak with reasonable fluency.

How far back into history are we going to look with regard to allies?

However as a Brexit supporter I thought you would have been taking the stance that we shouldn't be letting foreigners in, or is it just those that don't speak English you object to?

However my apologies for taking the thread of course, but the cynical comment which suggested EU citizens could just walk in and get everything is more than a little annoying to me.

We had better leave it there or move to the Brexit thread.

P.s. If I remember my history correctly many of the EU countries fought with us in the war.

. and so you should, apologise 

3 hours ago, Jerra said:

I hate to be pedantic but you are greatly over simplifying the situation.   EU residents can only stay in the UK for 3 months unless they are in work or actively seeking work with a genuine chance of employment.

You could demand to be housed and fed but it would only happen after you had jumped through various hoops and fulfilled various conditions.

Contrary to popular opinion you can not "just lob up and demand to be fed and housed free".

Yeah you are being pedantic, boringly so as a matter of fact. Anyway, I don't want to be fed and housed, I won't be there for work, actively seeking work, nor will I have a genuine chance of employment, because I won't be looking for work - I will be retired.  I have accumulated the equivalent of suitcases full of money over the course of my working life and thought it would be great if I returned for the eighth or ninth time to the Birthplace of my Ancestors, and help prop-up their ailing economy. As someone "mentioned the war" I will still fulfil my duty, helping my British ancestors in their hour of economic peril, but only in 6 month chunks due to some esoteric immigration regulation. 

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11 minutes ago, Mark May said:

Thats not a bad idea. Alternatively, find another ozzee who already has a boat - though they are a bit thin on the ground

Not that thin, one has just sold up and gone home and another is about to http://gypsyrover-australia.blogspot.co.uk/p/nb-ferndale_24.html

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50 minutes ago, Mark May said:

. and so you should, apologise 

Yeah you are being pedantic, boringly so as a matter of fact. Anyway, I don't want to be fed and housed, I won't be there for work, actively seeking work, nor will I have a genuine chance of employment, because I won't be looking for work - I will be retired.  I have accumulated the equivalent of suitcases full of money over the course of my working life and thought it would be great if I returned for the eighth or ninth time to the Birthplace of my Ancestors, and help prop-up their ailing economy. As someone "mentioned the war" I will still fulfil my duty, helping my British ancestors in their hour of economic peril, but only in 6 month chunks due to some esoteric immigration regulation. 

I have just the solution for you with your philanthropic approach to aiding our economy, you can came on a Tier 1(Investor) Visa which will allow you to stay here for 3 years and 4 months (can be extended). Hope this helps, you do have £2 million to invest in the UK don't you?:D

This does seem eminently fair since if I want to retire to Australia I have to show that I have assets of A$500,000 if I want to live in a low growth area or A$750,000 if anywhere else and with a net income stream of A$50,000 per annum, that is how it works, isn't it?

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1 hour ago, Mark May said:

. and so you should, apologise 

Yeah you are being pedantic, boringly so as a matter of fact. Anyway, I don't want to be fed and housed, I won't be there for work, actively seeking work, nor will I have a genuine chance of employment, because I won't be looking for work - I will be retired.  I have accumulated the equivalent of suitcases full of money over the course of my working life and thought it would be great if I returned for the eighth or ninth time to the Birthplace of my Ancestors, and help prop-up their ailing economy. As someone "mentioned the war" I will still fulfil my duty, helping my British ancestors in their hour of economic peril, but only in 6 month chunks due to some esoteric immigration regulation. 

You are missing my point by a long way.  You stated that EU residents could lob up and demand to be fed and housed they can't.  I never suggested you would be looking for work but the fact remains you can visit for 6 months EU residents can only visit for 3 unless in work or looking for work.

Your original post sounded as if you were unhappy that EU residents were being treated better than you.  They aren't!

Don't let the Brexiteers hear you mention an ailing economy they keep telling us we are doing well and it will be even better after Brexit.

Unless I am very much mistaken the standard tourist visa for Australia is 3 months so you in Australia seem to have similar "esoteric immigration regulations".

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I'm not sure what the regulations here in Oz are, but what you have written wouldn't surprise me. It doesn't/or hasn't stopped 200,000 new immigrants arriving in Oz each and every year for the past 20 years - it's what our government passes off as "growth". It's not hard to grow your economy by 1.5 to 2% each year when you are importing a 2% population growth each year. Makes it very difficult (expensive) to by a house though if you're a young couple starting out. 

There is a UK immigration avenue (person of independent means/no access to public funds) that "may/can" allow you to apply and stay in the UK for 5 years, and then apply for permanent residency. You just need a permanent income stream in excess of £25,000 p/n. I meet that benchmark, easily. However, there is no certainty of a successful application, and there is some obscure regulation that you must remain in the country for the 5 year period, or something. I'm still investigating that. 

I just want to go over there, spend £50K - £100K on a nice boat, cruise the canals for 9-10 months of the year, throwing money around the place like confetti for a few years, then sell-up and sit by the fire back here in Oz. When I went to school and was growing up the UK and Australia were joined at the hip. 

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10 hours ago, matty40s said:

Don and Val keep all their Waitrose and Marks & Spencers receipts in a file readily available for customs officials to peruse should they question the incoming currency balance.:D

No need to do that. The HSBC does it for us. Deposits are all ex NZ. Withdrawals are all UK. One way traffic of money in the UK'S favour!

Anyway back to the OP

 There have been an awful lot of Australasians ahead of you and a lot currently on the canals and rivers enjoying exactly what you are proposing. For us the reality has actually been better then the dream and that was a big ask.

The licence is an absolute bargain for what you get compared to the sum of vehicle registration and local body rates back home.

Don and Val

PS and there will be a really nice boat available from Rugby Boats very early in October

Edited by DandV
Added PS
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I'm guessing that the 6 month limit might have something to do with tax-residency as well.  We have been looking at splitting our time between Oz and the UK and to maximise our stay we would have to limit our stay(s) to 182 days maximum to avoid becoming tax residents in both the UK and Australia and having the nightmare of paying tax on income in both countries.  We are dual citizens so the issue of visa's and length of stay do not apply and its still not clear if spending 180 days in Oz and 180 days in the UK each year (before anybody says anything the missing 5 days are travelling) would entitle us to 'ordinary' resident status (NHS access) or not, if we are CC'ing and therefore not 'residential' property owners.

DandV do you have any insight into this (last point) as you seem to split your time?

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As NZ pensioners we can not spend more then six months in any one year outside NZ without curtailing our pensions. We keep a few days in hand from our UK foray in case we have to make an emergency family trip out of NZ as well. The UK has always given us the six months visitor visa which gives us emergency health cover only under the current NZ UK reciprocal deal Fortunately we have never had to avail ourselves of this. Tax residency has never been an issue under this arrangement.

Also  we understand the weather in the approximately six months we away on the other side of the world is considerably colder then we have now become accustomed too!

Don and Val

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