aconcannon

We’re back in Australia now - went for a 5 week holiday & landed back over the weekend. We’ve got a fair few commitments here in the coming 12 months so if we do decide to move back it won’t be until June / July next year anyway, which hopefully would give us time with the citizenship application

And the way things are at the minute just with standard processing times for things and the mail I suspect we could have a wait on our hands. We were planning to head home anyway July next year for a wedding so we’d aim to potentially move back then instead. Might be pushing it for time Re ceremonies and passports, but will give it a good bash

That’s exactly our thoughts. We won’t sell our house in Australia and will rent it out, head home for a few years and potentially reassess. We’ve been eligible to apply for our citizenship for a few years, but we haven’t done it yet so will get that sorted as well so we don’t have any visa issues re returning.

Today, is the last day of our 4 week trip back to the UK after covid kept us away for almost 2.5 years. We always appreciate our trips home, but we’re always happy to return to Australia, In fact we usually spend our trips comparing things to Australia & feeling happy that we made the move! However, with both my mum & my husbands grandmother having being diagnosed with cancer in the last 18 months & the fact we were due to return to Oz to start our own little family, it has made trip feel very ‘different’, & for the first time In 7 years we’re both feeling very different about leaving & debating whether we should move back to the Uk? Looking at things logically it would be a terrible time to move with the current state of the UK - NHS on its knees, property and utility prices through the roof & salaries still pretty low. We have a fabulous life in Australia both professionally & financially, something we probably wouldn’t have if we moved back… we’d literally be doing it for the love of family & wanting to be around them again. Has anybody else moved back for this same reason? Jas anybody moved back and completely regretted it? Keen to hear other peoples experiences.

Does anyone have an advice or knowledge to share in regards to owning a property in Australia, renting it out & living in the UK? Curious as to what costs are involved / tax implications etc at both ends? Thanks

We had planned to start trying for a family on our return to Australia from this trip, and we have both chatted about the reality of how we feel guilty now & miss family then it’ll be magnified even more if a baby is involved, and then we probably won’t have the funds to return to the UK for holidays as often as we are now. I guess only time will tell.

It’s definitely guilt talking as we didn’t particularly enjoy living in the UK & we love our lives in Australia. My parents sadly won’t visit which puts the pressure on us having to go back for visits. I’d love for them to Move to Australia, but I know it’ll never happen. I guess with my mum being so sick I keep thinking how that’s time I’ll never get back with her & so maybe moving home for a few years is the answer, but that’s also easier said than done

It’s been a while since I’ve reached out on here, but I always value the support and advice given & it always seems to be the first place I come to… Currently back in the UK for the first time since January 2020, just before covid hit. Hubby & I are in our late 30’s with no kids & emigrated just under 6”7 years ago. In the past 18 months both my mum & my husbands grandmother have been treated for cancer. Both are ‘ok’ at the minute, but both have a lot of underlying health conditions and seeing the deterioration in them has hit home hard. Life has been going well for us over there - we’ve bought our first house only 10 months ago, we’re just about to buy an investment property there & we’re planning on trying to start a family on our return. We also have both been promoted in work in the last 6 months and have never been in n a better position financially. Now our time is drawing to an end in the UK the guilt of leaving and tue thought of potentially not seeing the said family members again is causing us a lot of emotional uncertainty. We find every time we come back (usually every 12-18 months) the goodbyes and the guilt are a lot harder; where as surely it should be getting easier? Looking for words of wisdom and support. Thanks!

Hi [mention]Quoll [/mention] I don’t have to go no, but I’d like to go as I’m very close to my mum & feeling very useless being over here. I do have a brother but he also lives abroad and has children / a business to run so logistics for him aren’t easy. I have a job, but no children, so it makes more sense for me to be there to support them. Sorry to hear about your dad, that’s sad but sounds as though you’re happy wooo the decision you made. I have a strong urge to be there, and although it’s not an ideal situation I guess i just have to suck it up.

Hi all, I‘ve sadly received the call that all expats dread, and one of my parents is very sick. I’m weighing up the logistics of getting back to the UK & have accepted that I’ll potentially be stuck there for several months due to flights being cancelled etc, and of course not forgetting the costs of the 14 day quarantine on my return to QLD. I wondered if anybody has been in a similar boat? I have a heap of questions & would be so grateful if anybody could shed some light please. 1) has anybody had their exemption to leave Australia rejected, and if so on what grounds? 2) am I right in thinking I can’t book an outbound flight until I have the exemption in place & clean covid test results? 3) in regards to people’s flights being cancelled for returning to Oz, how many days notice are you getting & is the new proposed flight being confirmed the same day? 4) any other tips, tricks or general advice on the situation would be appreciated immensely. As always, thank you! The support of this group has been invaluable to me over the years :-)

Has anybody ever pinged back to the UK specifically to start a family & regretted it? We’ve had an amazing 4.5 years living in Australia & have never once even contemplated moving back, however, we’re thinking about starting a family in the next year or so & following a trip home this Xmas & seeing close friends with their newborns and the strong family bonds/ support, it’s made us wonder whether we’d be best starting a family in the UK? We know Australia has a lot more to offer children in terms of lifestyle, but does that outweigh the love children get from close relationships with grandparents & other relatives? Neither of our parents will come out to Australia so that in Itself is a huge consideration for us. We’ve also moved about a lot during our 4.5 years here so even though we have friends, we don’t have any super close bonds / support network. I’m also a tad concerned maternity leave is only 3 months at the minimum wage in Australia & daycare costs are extortionate! Keen to hear other people’s stories.

We always make the most of public holiday weekends and take breaks locally / interstate so we don’t do too bad. It would be nice to go overseas and explore some other countries near by, or to just have an extended trip somewhere together but time never permits as our annual leave is always banked up for coming home. I wish I was strong enough to drag the next trip to the UK out a bit longer, but I worry immensely about my parents health (which isn’t good) & then I feel huge amounts of irrational guilt that I’m putting my desire for a holiday in Asia over spending quality time with my parents whilst they’re still alive - such a rollarcoaster of emotions

Thanks for the kind words. Much to my husbands dismay (as it means sacrificing any other holidays) we have saved up our annual leave & visited for 4 weeks annually since we emigrated 4.5 years ago. I have no regrets from doing this and I know I’ve more than made the effort, but moving forward I just don’t know if I can continue to work for 11 months of the year in a bid to come home to see my family for 1 month. My husband has decided after this trip he doesn’t wish to return for at least 3 years...so it looks like I’ll be returning alone next year, or not at all.

I’ve been very happily living in Australia with my husband for 4.5 years. Yes there’s been a lot of emotional highs & lows, mainly due to my narcissist mother who refuses to visit us or fully accept our lives in Australia, but we’ve never looked back & can’t ever imagine moving back to the UK. We are currently in the UK with our annual Christmas trip coming to an end tomorrow. I always feel very emotional when the time comes to leave, as do my parents, but I find every year when the final 24 hours are looming Its emotionally harder than the year before... is there any hope out there? Have people found the goodbyes have got easier over time, or does everybody feel the same as me? I’ve spent the whole of today trying to not let my emotions show, but every time I look at my ageing & not so healthy parents I feel tremendous amounts of guilt & an urge to break down in tears! This year, I’ve even had thoughts creep into my mind that maybe we should consider moving home - something I’ve never considered before & never thought I would consider! My husband isn’t close to his family & so his emotional attachment is a lot less. Fellow ex pat friends don’t seem to relate either as they have the bonus of their families visiting them in Australia so they generally know when they’ll next see their parents again - I don’t have that luxury. I wonder if that’s what causes the bulk of my upset. Sending positive & happy vibes to anybody else in a similar position to me right now & thanks in advance to anybody who can share their words of wisdom. This forum has been an incredible support / coping mechanism for me over the years :-)

Thank you for the kind & wise words. It’s always good to hear it from the perspective of a parent. It’s a bit of a funny situation with my mum as she had never said the words ‘come home’ ‘don’t leave me’ etc, because she knows that’s wrong. She just finds other ways to let me know how she feels - she knows how to tug on my heart strings in such a way you couldn’t call her on it & if (or should I say ‘when’) I call her on it she gaslights me & says I’m being dramatic / making it up. It’s tough. I’ve gained so much today from speaking to people on here & although it’s a little sad I’m turning to strangers in an Internet forum, it’s definitely helped me to make sense of things. And in answer to your question, other than working (she’s self employed) all she has is her alcohol as that controls her life & has pretty much destroyed every friendship she’s had. I wish she’d learn from her mistakes but she doesn’t see them. It’s really sad. Thanks for your advice I really appreciate it :)