Cup Final 1973

We’ve booked our flights for April 30th and our furniture (23 cubic metres) was picked up mid March. We chose a part load so it wouldn’t arrive too early in Yorkshire and so far it’s still in Melbourne.

We have 3 months to leave. If we are still here on the date specified ( June 30 for my husband, July 2 for me) we have to reapply.

Success! Re-applied immediately and Jason came up trumps this morning (!) at 7.09. Interestingly, in the 24 hours between my 2 applications my reference number had gone up by over 1700. Either there are a lot of people applying to leave the country or Lisa is working overtime rejecting people and they are all re-applying!

A quick update on applying for an exemption to leave Australia. I applied yesterday for myself and my husband supplying the same documents for both, confirmation of the sale of our house and the removal list of contents. My husband’s application was granted by Diane this morning, mine was rejected this afternoon by Lisa!!! I’ve been asked to provide proof, for example a one way airline ticket, yet you are specifically told not to book flights until you have permission to leave. Do you think it’s April Fool a day early?

After several phone calls I’ve managed to get our vaccinations on April 8th so we are looking at beginning of May to go. All we need are flights from Melbourne.....(that don’t go via JFK!)

Hi Lee, We are in the same position. The house and car are sold, a lot of furniture sold, the rest on a container in Melbourne and we are staying with our daughter until we’ve had the vaccine! I went on line to apply for permission to leave but it has to be done within 2 months of departure date, not before, so I’m hanging on for the moment.

Has Covid caused any problems with your travel plans?

I disagree entirely with Bunbury61. We’ve been hesitating between trying to get rid of all our stuff or shipping it back to the UK. I’ve been really surprised to read prices quoted for taking things home which don’t seem that different from how much we paid to bring them out to Oz 14 years ago! Do a quick add up of how much it will cost to buy a new TV, 3 or 4 decent beds, settee etc. not to mention towels, sheets and all your kitchen stuff. It makes the removal cost pale into insignificance. Added to which, you will always have to send some stuff back (photo albums?) so you will have some shipping costs.

Hi, does anyone know if there’ll be a problem renewing my expired UK licence as I’m over 70 and been in Oz 14 years?

I'm not sure whether your son will be going into year 11 in the English or Australian system. I do know that an ATAR will not translate into the English system because it is a ranking of Australian students in any given year and only applicable for applying to an Australian university.

I taught French for over 40 years so have no problem with the language, lived in France as a student and have lots of French friends. I appreciate what Tulip1 says but we aren't intending to smother our grandchildren. We simply want to be near enough to pop over for a few days several times a year. At the moment we go back twice a year which is becoming increasingly expensive and increasingly hard on the body! We also have to go for at least 3 weeks to justify the cost and distance travelled and that brings its own problems.

Thanks for that. It all sounds encouraging. We have loved our time in Oz, making loads of friends and it's really the pull of grandchildren dictating our move. The U.K. will be a stopover with France being the final destination. I reckon it's easier to move from the UK to France than Australia to France. I think I would struggle to fit back into life in England!

Hi, my husband and I intend to return to the UK this year after 13 years in Australia. I've read these comments with interest as we too wondered what we needed to do to "prove" we were moving back for good. We are retired and receive our reduced British pension here but always claim the full amount when we go back for a holiday. How do we show that we are back for good? We will stay with our daughter for a couple of months. Can she simply sign something to say that's our home? Will we be able to register with a GP if we are living with her? We will be taking furniture back but will need it to go into storage rather than into our daughter's home. Will this cause a problem with a TOR? Very grateful for any advice.