sammyjoe

Hi, It sounds to me like you already have your answer and you should go with your gut instinct. We came back this Christmas after 3 1/2 years in Adelaide, where we loved it and made some great friends. But last year my fixed term contract position came to an end and I tried to transition into the legal profession over there (which is what I am actually qualified to do) and found that the job situation was even worse there than during the recession in the UK. I got so fed up of not being able to get even low level admin work, because I 'wasn't Australian' or because I was 'over qualified', that I decided to retrain as a Forensic Psychologist. Doing my training back in the UK was a no brainer because not only is it about $50k cheaper it also 2 years quicker, because more of my pre-existing qualifications are recognised. However, this did leave us questioning, had we failed at the Australian dream? I tell you one thing, since coming back and having watched some of the programmes on UK TV depicting a fake reality of what like in Australia, it has made me sightly angry. I frequently get asked why did we come back, are we crazy? And I point out that reality and what they see on TV are two different things. 1. My career went several steps backwards in Australia. 2. We worked as many hours in Australia as we did in the UK. 3. Our lifestyle was very similar, although we went on less holidays in Australia because all our spare cash went on visas! 4. No we didn't live anywhere near the beach or have a pool, so those 47 degree days that frequently came during summer were no fun at all. 5. Winter was blipping cold and we both were always full of viral infections in Winter. Yet funnily enough we have survived our first UK winter in years and loved it compared to Winter in Australia, plus neither of us has been ill. 6. We hope to start a family this year and the prospect of paying out $10k every time we wanted to bring ourselves and two kids back was not a thought we relished. So it sounds like you have a lot of the same reasons for wanting to move back that we have had. I think the truth of the matter is, that the Aussie dream life no longer exists and the recession is starting to catch up with Australia. I can also tell you that since coming back, yes we have hit some obstacles, such as not being eligible for any store credit for large furniture items or cars, but we have found it easier to find work and my husband after being on an annually renewed contract in Australia, after 6 weeks in his new job in the UK, not only was made permanent , but was also promoted. So just know that you are not alone in knowing whether it is the right thing to do or not, but it certainly sounds like you are stuck in the kind of limbo that we were in Australia. And life isn't perfect back in the UK, but we have family and friends around and we don't have that citizenship barrier being thrown in our faces.

Hi, Like others have suggested I would look around. We bank with Natwest and kept our UK account with them open for the 3 1/ 2 years we were in Australia, upon their advice. We have very recently been to find out about potential for getting a mortgage from them and the only stipulation they had was that we must have been in a permanent job in the UK for six months before we can apply.