jimmyinoz

thanks Marisa, thatll save us a few grand ,, hows life back home so far ?

Soooo a bit of an update since we last posted ..The worlds turned to shit !!! my employer wants me to stick to my original plan of retiring in Sept ,{i know he cant force me but hes a new business owner and likely to stress so who knows ] ,another issue is my super [like evryone elses] took a severe hit in March So i took it out of the balanced investment option and put it in a cash investment plan that seems to have plugged the hole that my money was dissappearing down ,Im not making anything but not losing 7k a week either . The revised plan is now to retire officially on 3 Sept find a bit of casual work till My other halfs visa comes through and hope the UK is returning to some form of normality by January . We now dont have enough savings to satify the financial part of her visa but i do have an "offer" of a job that should satisfy the 18600 salary requirement plus were only short of a few thouseand so i can show that to the Immigration people .Further to that weve decided to bite the bullet and go with a Immigration agent any referrals would be greatly appriciated cheers ..a lot of variables now ..

yeah my missus was of the same mind ,shes of Italian /Dutch descent but born in Tamworth NSW never been to Caledonia but felt like its was home .We will probably live in Ayrshire where im from

Thanks Marrisa ill let you guys know how we get on with that . I dont intend to retire per say but carry on working when i get home until we find a business to invest in or start after which well buy a house in the west of Scotland where im from and most of my large family still live My wife is a good deal younger than me with excellent qualifications so i dont see her having any difficulty supporting herself in the future , ive looked at my UK pension and ill back pay my NI to bring that up

So ...went home for a wee holiday 2018 and i had the usual spell of "missing my mountains and glens " but to my surprise my Australian partner said shed never felt more at home anywhere , anyway ive been travelling since i was about 14 and as i approach a ripe old age of 60 i think its time to "Gan Hame". Now my question is [and i guess youve heard of this visa stuff a million times ] my darling wife has to apply for a spouse visa [as i did to come here ].We satisfy most of the requirements the only one causing me confusinion is the financial requirement. I have $140000 in super i have reached the age at which i can withdraw it [by sept on my 60th birthday this will be tax free] Can i use the period that its in my super account as part of the 6 month cash savings period we wont be applying until nov at which point it will have been in my bank account for 3 months . My idea was to provide my yearly statement[in july ] as proof of funds combined with the 3 months in my savings account ,i can draw it out now but id rather wait until the tax free option becomes available for obvious reasons . we have lived as a couple for 7 yrs and we are getting married in march [finally lol ] we have no dependents [they've all grown up and left ] i have a good job here and my boss says he will give me casual work after i retire in Sept until we leave in January next.

cheers

and thats all ive got lol

cheers mate thats a great help its 60 if you dont wanna get hammered with tax and depending on when you were born i was born 1960 after july so my preservation age [earliest i can access] is 56

got it thanks for the advice ..

awesome Still i dont want to wait till im 65 just to get a few extra dollars

lol my missus just read this and said " Im not a bloody a mail order bride" lol

she will have yes she will apply for indefinte leave to remain in the UK as an Australian citizen , being of good character and being married to a Uk national i dont see any problem with this . yes the UK govt can be assholes when it comes to foreign nationals settling there but ive every confidence that we can overcome any issues ..after all we are a legitimate couple lol

thanks that s what i was after ..i understand why they wouldnt want the money going out of the country [and as long as this govt dosent change the goal posts again it should be ok ] i intend to declare retirement BEFORE i leave ,and transfer the funds for the house to my cousin ,who owns a property /real estate company, for the purchase of a house, She will then rent out and manage the property untill we leave a few months later [i can work while were waiting to exit Australia, logistically this makes more sense

Australia and the UK have a reciprocal agreement for health care she will get better free healthcare on the NHS than here and no up front payments. After 2 yrs on her 'authority to remain' visa she can apply for UK citizenship i dont see any issue with her getting it. All we have to do is the reverse of what we did to get here 13 yrs ago . .I did all my own immigration paperwork and research ..a bit long winded but relatively straight forward .. i see no reason to pay anyone 5 grand to fill in forms for me ..

So i still havent found an answer to my original question has anyone taken thier super home as a lump and if so what if any tax did they pay on it ?

In that case as, i suspected, taxation here is extortionate ,and as i stated earlier i have enough NI payments to draw on 90% of the UK pension to put some figures on it i can buy a 3bed semi in a village near my home town of Irvine for 59000 outright which after expenses of moving will leave us with around 20kGBP in the bank .. currently running costs of that home including telephone internet etc are around 300 quid a month ,i have several contacts in the transport game which i will ultilise on a part time basis to bring in another 800gbp a month ,not a kings ransom but enough .plus whatever OH brings in I am nothing if not resourceful ..but i still havent had an answer to my original question?lol ..

in my experience most expats who go home find it very difficult if not impossible to get the aussie pension whether they reach 65 or not there appears to be this belief here that its somehow a hand out and "only for you poor people " lmfao ..its a reward for the tax you paid into the system and the work youve done to contribute to the country ..thats what a pension is! most here dont seem to get that still not my problem .... they can keep it !!! if their that skint . You have to apply for it whilst in Australia AND have spent at least 2 yrs here previously so i could wait unitl im 65 claim it and then go but the Uk will just subtract it from my UK pension as foreign earnings so it may well be counterproductive We ll manage ..my wife will get the UK pension as long as she spends at least 10yrs working [which she will just slid in under the wire] and so will i and like i said ill be working as soon as hit blighty ..im not moving for another 5 yrs at least as mentioned [ill be 63 by then ]my missus will be 55..i have a lot of contacts back home

youre welcome

I know how you feel ive been here 13 yrs and im heading home in about another 5 .. however ive met some of the most genuine friend s im ever likely to meet here for instance when my dad died in 2010 they had a whip round for me and helped keep my business on its feet while i was back home sorting things out .ive lived in Qld and NSW ,i must admit i like NSW better . It sounds like you live near Brisbane lol it appears to be the norm around there i lived a bit further up in Gladstone ......Youll find country people here more genuine than city types ..i guess you get this wherever you go ..I spent most of my life in London but came from a wee town in Scotland so i may be a bit bias lol . .I hated the atmosphere in London it sucks , maybe thats the solution is to move Ive travelled all over the eastern part of this country conducting business ..it seems the further south you go the more Euro it is ..my advice is dont chuck the towel in just yet,develop a thick skin [Aussies are pretty much the same as working class brits ]and maybe investigate other states ..

From my research im entitled to 26/30ths of my UK pension and allowed to work 20hours a week ,that and the fact my missus is a good deal younger than me ..and intends to go back to work when we get home [shes an Aussie but with euro roots } T he only time ive "topped up " my NI was when i had a 716 and was self employed ,didnt need to otherwise , And every UK resident citizen is entitled to use the NHS regardless [were not Americans lol ]the system was set up by Nye Bevan for that specific purpose to enable universal healthcare regardless of financial means . I came to Australia for a number of reasons mainly to give my boy a decent place to grow up ..i arrived with 1800quid no job and no home ,,..but through hard graft and a bit of ingenuity i got sorted ,I guess i had a bit of a dream about buying a bit of land out in the bush and being self sufficient but thats going to be impossible now ..and in the future possibly illegal..[one state in the US has just made it illegal to come off the grid ].anyway being Scots i have reasearched my home county and house prices are stil reasonable ..and likely to dip in the next five years with brexit etc [my cousin owns a local property company ] so we should just be ready to buy just as the market dips

Thanks for that advice i was going to keep an account here for awhile anyway ive done that in every country ive worked in ...much appriciated

im interested to hear how your getting on with this as my partner and i are thinking about moving back home ..i cant do this if i cant pull my super out to buty a house though and wondering if you have had any luck with that

hi hope you get home ok ..im wondering if your taking your super with you [or are you youngsters ] as were looking at returning home in the next 5 or so yrs to retire and i need my super to buy a house ..good luck i know how you feel bee here for 13 yrs and i cant put my finger on it but ..i know i miss my mountains in Scotland

hi we're pretty much agreed that wed like to retire back home in Scotland ..the question i have ... has anyone taken there super with them as a lump? as we need that to buy a house back home