Marisawright

I think the point is that when you first arrive in the UK to settle, no one cares if you are a citizen or not. I know from experience that real estate agents do not care if you're a citizen or not, for instance -- they only want to know you have a job or have some other way to pay the rent. Banks don't care -- they want some form of ID but they won't fully open an account for you, until you show proof of an address in the UK.

Sounds like rearranging the deckchairs to me.

No, there isn't. Australia isn't desperate for migrants any more, in fact there are far more applicants than there are places for most occupations, so the government doesn't feel the need to offer incentives. If an employer is willing to sponsor you, they will probably offer you something towards your relocation expenses, but these days even that isn't likely to cover everything.

That's what I suspected. I recall someone else had the same problem with another shipper because they didn't dock in Sydney, so their shipment had to come by road from Melbourne.

Surely you're not eligible to apply for a 309/100?

It won't really matter from a tax point of view. Once you're resident in the UK, you'll be liable to pay UK tax on the interest whether it's sitting in your Australian bank account or in your UK one.

I tried that when I got locked out with the card reader. I can't remember why it didn't work but I recall that it didn't work either.

The good news is that house prices in Brisbane are substantially lower than Sydney (for an equivalent property), so it may not be as hard as you think. However the bad news is that Brisbane doesn't have beaches near the city like Sydney, so you're either up for a long commute or accept that you've got to drive to the beach on the weekends.

Why not ask them that question. I'm guessing "Movecube transfer" is the transfer from the port city to their depot in your city.

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.