Marisawright

This is the biggest killer for me, too - and it seems like a lot of people on this forum are not aware of it. My understanding is that it will be made retrospective, so moving now won't avoid it - did they say it wouldn't be?

They changed the rules last year. If you live overseas, you can't collect your full Aussie pension unless you've worked at least 35 years in Australia before age 65. I've only been in Oz for 27 years and I had a few years off work during that time, so I don't have enough time left to rack up the 35 years.

That's madness. It looks like I was lucky - I never got around to changing back to my maiden name when I divorced, because everyone in Oz knew me by my married name and it ws too much trouble. I had a real kerfuffle when I eventually remarried because I had to submit all kinds of documents to establish the chain of name changes - but they didn't complain about having UK documents in there. Maybe it was because I wasn't going back to the maiden name. That was only a few months ago.

We looked into this exhaustively and I agree, it's confusing. If you're over 60 and take money from your Australian super fund, it gets special treatment, and is not taxable in Australia - as you know. If you have moved to the UK, any money you draw from your super is classed as income. It gets no special treatment. To quote: "The general rule is that where double taxation agreement is available, the country of the pensioner's residence has taxing right in relation to pensions sourced from another country. For example, a UK resident receives an allocated pension from an Australian fund. No tax is payable by the Australia fund, tax on the pension is payable instead by the pensioner in the UK." http://www.ngssuper.com.au/assets/Downloads/Retiring-Overseas.pdf

Whatever you decide, I recommend you apply for citizenship first. If you're a permanent resident, you don't have an endless right to return to Australia. Once you've been away for a certain length of time (it used to be 2 years), you lose your residency and will not be allowed back. Right now, you may not feel like you'll ever want to come back - but it's always wise to keep your options open.

Just a cautionary note, have you checked up on your pension entitlements etc? My hubby and I have been contemplating a move to the UK (he's Aussie, I'm a Scot). We're still thinking of moving over there for a few years - but once I get to retirement age, we'll have to come back. The reason is that I don't have 35 years' work record in Australia, so that means I can't collect an Aussie pension overseas. And I didn't work in the UK for long enough to get anything significant from them. Plus our Australian super will get taxed as income.

The person in the post office is an idiot - a UK marriage certificate is perfectly acceptable. That's the trouble with the government delegating this stuff to people who don't know what they're doing. If your passports are going to be valid beyond the date of your travel, why bother changing them? You'll find it easier to change your British passport once you're in the UK. It also doesn't matter whether your passport matches your driver's licence or other docs. You can change your Australian passport over there too, if you decide you need it.