Online poker in Australia?

[Msrmek]

Hello everyone, I'm a guy from Finland and I have been planning to move into Australia for a while now. I'd like to ensure few things from you, aussies.

Is online poker legal and taxfree in Australia?

And another question,

Can you access the top 10 poker networks from Australia? (FTP, PokerStars, iPoker, Everest, ongame, PartyPoker etc...)

Also, How hard it is to get permanent living permission in Australia?

Thank you for your supplys,

Mek

[thret]

Yes, there are no restrictions for online poker in Australia. It is not taxed. You may access every site.

A permanent VISA is very hard, as a poker player almost impossible (ie. without a real job). Unless you are wealthy or going to marry an Australian you basically have no shot. Correct me if I am wrong here, but I had a friend move to Aus from Japan and he said the easiest way was to buy a couple of businesses - which is what he did.

[Strong Play]

legal: yes
taxfree: yes
access top10 networks: yes

living permission: dunno, but if you bring a few young finnish women with you i'd be happy to vouch for you at immigration...

[Msrmek]

Does Australia support moneybookers or netellers? If it does, then visa card is not needed (Since I can use my own neteller or moneybookers card). Also I can use my own finnish visa for it I guess. :P

[Blu3B3ar]

Also, How hard it is to get permanent living permission in Australia?

Fairly difficult and you need to the determination to do it. For many visa classes, you need to undergo a skills assessment (work experience/certificates/etc), English testing. I would strongly suggest carefully reading the Aussie immigration website at Department of Immigration and Citizenship for the fuller details.

There should be no restrictions with Neteller/Moneybookers in this country, I think.

[thret]

If you are going to be staying for any significant length of time you should get an Australian bank account... then you will be able to take advantage of Gary Benson ENG Home - free withdrawals from PokerStars - no vig, current exchange rate, etc. Much better than any other method of cashing out.

[Msrmek]

Is there anyone who is willing to help me over with this stuff? If there is, I have msn and icq to communicate. You can throw me a PM and I reply back A.S.A.P.

[The Croat]

In Australia no access to Merge Network (Carbon poker etc). Also I am not sure about Cryptologic, because that has WPT and last time I couldn't play there, but maybe it changed networks or something.

Marrying an Aussie girl should do the trick, and easy as there is supposedly a massive man drought here. Although I must warn you most Aussie girls are fat, half are ugly, and in general due to limited competition that we have on this insulated island the women are a whole league behind the European stunners that you are used to.

I wouldn't worry about even becoming a legal resident, Sydney for example has prolly like 10k illegals living here. Worse case scenario you'll end up in some detention centre for a few months but on the plus side you will pick up a bit of Mandarin and Pakistani.

You haven't spoken about why you'd like to move to Australia? Maybe I can dispel any myths that you might have. Finland has the highest literacy in the world, is in EU, high standard of living, attractive women, just a shame about the couple of gun massacres they had...

[Msrmek]

The main reason I want to move out of Finland is because of the poker taxes. I probably would need to pay around 40-50% taxes from my winnings and that's way too much. I haven't chosen yet what country I am moving to, but Australia sounds good; Nice weather, legal poker, no taxes

[The Croat]

Oh I see. I'm sure there are other European countries where online poker is not taxed. Monaco? Lichtenstein? When you make it big in poker you'll be able to virtually avoid taxes altogether!

Australia does have great weather...maybe a little too great for someone coming from Finland.

I didnt think Australia was that hard to get into. Watching a TV show called Border Security, I likened our Immigration policies and enforcement to the US-Mexico border. I hate to say but if you have blonde hair and blue eyes I cant imagine any residency problems, and coming from Finland you probably do.