Marisawright

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.

So first drama is the passports... Got all the necessary paperwork and marched into the Post Office. Not so easy....I have my marriage certificate, my citizenship papers, my divorce papers and my current passport, but because my marriage certificate is UK they won't accept it.

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.