Marisawright

Sorry yes, I do mean NI contributions.

Me neither. That's why I moved to Melbourne, rather than move to Sydney's outer burbs.

A million dollars for a house is very cheap by Sydney standards.

@Geraldineinoz, I'll take this one thing at a time. UK Pension The good news is that your UK pension should increase when you move back, because you'll get all the annual increases you missed out on. I recommend you also look into back-paying any missing NHS contributions, which will increase the pension you get. It's not too late! It's usually well worthwhile, but the UK Pension Service can help you work out whether you would benefit from paying them. I suggest waiting until you're in the UK to contact them, because the answer will be different when you're living there, compared to if you enquired now. Australian pension Are you sure you'll lose it? I can believe you'll lose it temporarily, because once you sell your house, you'll have money in the bank and then you'll fail the assets test. However once you've bought your home in the UK, you might be able to get the Aussie pension again. So I wouldn't consider it a lost cause -- keep in touch with Centrelink and let them know when your circumstances change, and see what happens. Superannuation Talk to your husband's superannation company and see if they'll pay the income stream into a UK bank account, or whether they'll have to continue paying it into his Australian bank account. It's no great problem if they pay it into an Aussie account, because then you just use a company like Wise to transfer it when it suits you. The bad news is that his income stream (and your other pensions and income) will be taxed by the UK taxman, but the good news is that it won't all be at 40%! You'll each be liable for the same income tax as every other British individual, i.e. no tax on your first £12,570, then 20% tax on income up to £37,700. Then it's 40% on anything above that. There's no tax exemption for pensions like there is in Australia unfortunately. House Sale/Investments If you sell your house and put the proceeds in an Australian bank account before you leave Australia, the money is just savings and won't be liable for any British tax. If you have other investments, or if you delay the sale until after you've left, it may be a different story and you should get some professional advice.

Only one of you needs to get a skilled visa, then the other partner and child just get added to that visa. So I would investigate whether your partner could qualify for a skilled visa. As Andrew says, I wouldn't waste time trying to work it out for yourself, because the rules are changing all the time and there's a lot of outdated info on the net: if you are serious about moving, book a consultation with a good migration agent and get the up-to-date, accurate situation. Try Suncoast Migration or Go Matlida. If it turns out that your only option is for one of you to retrain, it's really important to choose something you want to do for a living -- because there is NO guarantee that any occupation will still be on the list in 5 or 6 years' time, when you've finally gained enough qualifications and experience to apply for a visa. For instance, a lot of people assumed Australia would always want nurses, but before the pandemic, they were thinking of taking them off the list (the pandemic changed that!). It would be a shame to put in all that effort, find your chosen occupation has been taken off the lists, then be stuck in a job you don't really like in the UK.

I'm sure you and @calNgary both had a good experience. Most people do. But just because most people drive on motorways and don't have an accident, doesn't change the fact that lots of accidents happen on motorways. Same with shared containers. The risk is higher than with a dedicated container or Movecube. It's up to the individual to balance risk vs cost.

Most of those stories come from people who book space in a shared container. And yes, that does happen, and it's inevitable if you think about it. Your stuff is loaded into a huge container with stuff from three or four other families. The shipping company has processes to keep them all separate, but the container is likely to get unpacked and packed again a few times before your shipment gets to you. Customs may decide they need to inspect something in the middle of the container and your stuff is at the front, or the company might unload the container onto smaller trucks for final delivery. The more handling, the more chances of things going missing or getting broken. That's one of the reasons the Movecube became so popular so quickly. You get to pack your own stuff into your own cube, which gets sealed up. Having said that, I think you're doing the right thing. I recall you're likely to be in the country, and the cost to ship your goods from the arrival port to a country destination are likely to be eye-watering and not worth it.

TBH, from your previous comments, I think you'd be better off with a shared container. Movecubes are best if you have a lot of boxes and small to mid-size items to ship. If you're shipping large furniture items like beds or sofas, they'll fill the cube inefficiently and leave you with odd empty spaces that you can't fit anything into. If you've looked at examples of how to pack the Movecube, the whole reason it's worth using is that you can use every inch of space by packing all the crevices and gaps with small items. However here are some considerations when making the comparison. Firstly, make sure you're comparing like for like. Different shippers deal with the arrival charges differently. NO ONE can tell you what the customs/port charges will be when your shipment arrives in Australia, because it depends entirely on customs/port authorities. Some shippers don't mention them at all, some mention them but say, "we can't tell you what they'll be". Movecube usually includes an estimate of those costs in their quote. If you check the small print, it will say it's just an estimate. Therefore, I'd be going back to Movecube, and ask them to clarify what that customs charge is. Remember that with the Movecube, you're paying for extra security: your goods will be shipped in a sealed box which will be opened only by customs. A shared container may be packed and unpacked several times during its journey, (as partial shipments are added and removed), increasing the chances that your stuff will get lost or damaged.

Petair -- run by vets.

Round my way (in Melbourne), some kind of -doodle is compulsory, or a French bulldog. Greyhounds are still 'in' but not sheepdogs so much.

If you are an Australian citizen, you won't lose your citizenship no matter how long you're overseas for. My understanding is, it doesn't matter what date you leave Australia and move to the UK. Whatever day you leave, that's the day you stop being liable for Australian tax and start being liable for UK tax. So if you leave in, say, December 2024, you'd be liable to pay Australian tax for the period from July to December, and that's it. Whatever you earn from that date on in the UK has nothing to do with Australia, and vice versa. I should say, that assumes you haven't left kept any investments in Australia.

Are you aware that if you leave Australia before you reach pension age, you won't be able to claim your Australian govt pension? Do you have enough super that you won't need it? Are you eligible for the UK pension instead? Also, be sure you look into the best way to collect your super. If you wait until you've moved overseas and then claim your lump sum, you'll lose a huge chunk of it to the British taxman. So if you want a lump sum, it's vital to withdraw it well before you leave Australia. Once it's landed in your Australian account, it's just 'savings' and you'll be able to transfer it without tax implications.

Are you sure it's a partner visa you want to apply for? It sounds like maybe a Prospective Marriage Visa would be a better choice? For a partner visa, you must already be in a 'de facto' relationship for at least a year. That means you've already been living as if you are married for a year. Dating or being engaged does not count. I'd recommend a consultation with a MARA registered migration agent to make sure you're applying for the right visa.

However do check whether there is an outlet in the city you're moving to...

Not saying they are. In fact, that's the point. I remember being struck by that when I first arrived in Sydney. Sydney has its Little Vietnam and Little China and Little Lebanon. Yet try to find a suburb where Scots or English or Welsh people congregate and you'll draw a blank. Presumably because we're English-speaking and mostly white, we tend to just become part of the larger community. I've observed other Australian cities are the same -- except Perth. I have relatives in Perth and was surprised at how many of their friends are other Scottish migrants who live in the same area.