Cup Final 1973

Your question got me thinking DrDougster.   Aussie t shirts are a good idea but I’m not sure about food.   We’ve been back in the UK for almost a year and I can honestly say there’s nothing in the food line I miss at all.

I’m not aware of residency rules for accessing the NHS unless they’ve changed in the last 10 months.  We moved back on May 1st last year and registered with a GP a couple of days later.  Both my husband and I then had blood tests and bowel cancer tests within 2 weeks.

3 hours ago, Melbpom said:

I know someone planning to return to the UK and planning to buy quickly if not before leaving Australia. They are British Citizens.

I've been looking at the new rates of stamp duty for non UK residents https://www.stampdutycalculator.org.uk/stamp-duty-non-resident-uk.htm and the 183 day rule for new residents.

Is this time requirement new and is it strictly enforced?

Yes.  We bought a house 2 months after arriving back and had to pay 2% as non residents.  I applied for the refund exactly 6 months after we got back and received the money with interest a couple of days later.

We had the same problem when we came back last year.  I emailed our last two insurers, Coles and Woolworths, and managed to get evidence of our last 6 years but couldn’t remember who had insured us before that!  Still better than nothing.  We are insured with National Farmers Union who accepted our Australian evidence and gave us 66%  NCD.  They were very helpful on the phone too….08082963357.  Good luck!

On 23/02/2022 at 01:51, beketamun said:

if you don't have to submit it, how will they know?   Are all the NHS ones the same?  I brought back 42 last week and they were all boxed the same, didn't see any other kinds.

Really? No wonder the NHS is short of money.

If you do not reside permanently in the UK you cannot retain or renew your licence.  A driving licence can only be issued by your country of residence.

5 hours ago, Ausvisitor said:

It's 100% legal. So long as they are still UK citizens and haven't surrendered their licence.

The address on your licence is your UK contact address it does not have to be your residential address. Many licences are registered to service addresses.

Equally it is perfectly legal to have a UK and an AUS licence at the same time.

In fact similarly to rules in AUS if you have a UK licence (a driver number not the physical card which can expire) you are supposed to drive on that permission in the UK rather than your AUS licence (vice versa in AUS - I just got my new NSW licence and I had to sign an undertaking that I would only use my NSW licence in AUS and not my UK one)

I believe if you no longer live in the UK you should hand in your UK driving licence.

5 hours ago, BeachBabe2022 said:

I find the people pretentious and the weather is too cold

Pretentious - moi?

3 hours ago, Lee Blowers said:

We are shipping all our belongings home from Brisbane to uk but our agent are saying they have major issues with uk ports and shipping lines .

And they are struggling with getting a freight booking for our 40ft container. 

Also there might be further price increases. 

Move home is stressful enough without these shipping delays.

Has anyone else had problems please  ???

 

 

It’s probably too late for you to change plans Lee as you’re leaving very soon but given the uncertainty and the cost of shipping nowadays I really question whether bringing stuff back is worth it.  Our container took 8 months to arrive.  We borrowed stuff from family and friends but did end up buying things we knew we already had.  I’ve filled a fair few charity bags since our container arrived too!  Things I though I couldn’t live without simply don’t fit into our lifestyle here.  There will always be the photo albums etc but they can be shipped more easily and it doesn’t matter if they take months to arrive.  We were lucky that we only had an extra £100 to pay but I dread to think how much the shipping took out of me in terms of stress.

They are bound to be.  Prices have been driven up by delays caused by Covid.

When we lived in Australia we had to contact the pension office and found phoning them on 0191 218 7777 was the best way.  You usually have to hold for a while but it’s worth it to get immediate answers.

I know we’re going off the original topic here but what has been written about wills is very interesting.  Does that mean that if you were potentially subject to inheritance tax in the UK you could simply transfer some of your assets to Australia and bequeath them in an Australian will?  Or if you simply keep the Australian will and don’t bother making a new one in the UK would you even be subject to inheritance tax?

According to the solicitor who drew up our will here, a will made in a country in which you are no longer resident is not valid.  We still have an Australian bank account with a reasonable amount in it but it simply forms part of our estate.

We lived nearly 15 years in country Victoria and I never saw a red back or a snake - although my daughter did say I’m as blind as a bat!  Our neighbour for the last 3 years was Canadian and we enjoyed celebrating July 1st with her.  She didn’t find the weather as cold as in Winnipeg but said that in Canada the houses are built with triple glazing and really good insulation whereas her Australian home had window and door frames which didn’t fit snugly.  Great when it was 42 degrees, not so good at minus 2!

You’ll also need to remove yourself from the electoral roll so you’re not fined for not voting!  If you’ve already made a will you’ll need to inform your solicitor to cancel it as it’s no longer valid once you move overseas.

10 hours ago, s713 said:

1 day rain here NW England this week. Enjoying the weather to be honest. Crisp and sunny till mid-afternoon, perfect walking weather. Anyone moaning about this for winter is a loon IMO.

We’ve had no rain for weeks in South Yorkshire.  Overnight temperatures often down to zero so we have frost sparkling on the grass each morning but my memories of dark dismal winter days are not true.  I’ve been very surprised by how much blue sky and sun we’ve had throughout January.  Yes it’s cold, 9 degrees today …. 🥶 but my North-East genes are kicking in again!  

….Utilized heightened English language competency exams?? 

What does that mean?

utilized standardized organizations…..not English, American 
 

8 hours ago, Steveozz1 said:

Hi everyone,

my partner and I are planning to sell up and move back to UK this year.....probably June/July time so we don't immediately die returning back to a Scottish winter!!

Looking for advice re shipping - which companies are good, indicative costs, etc. Also specifically, whether we should take out our own insurance as I got one quote from Crown and their insurance was very expensive I thought. As we are planning to go mid-year do you guys think its too early to get the ball rolling on this now?

Any advice or info from those in the know would be greatly appreciated. 

You can certainly start looking at different companies but it may be too early to get firm quotes if you’re 6 months away.  We moved back in April 2021, although the container was picked up in March and we started the quotes in January.  I’m sure the shipping situation has eased somewhat from last year but our container took exactly 8 months to arrive.  If I were to do the move again I would certainly review what we brought back and be more ruthless.  We used Palmers and I would not recommend them - once the money was paid they weren’t interested in helping.  Do ask which British firm will be delivering and find out as much as possible about the shipping.  Our container was moved by three ships in total spending weeks on the quayside in between ships. Once arrived in London it took a further 5 weeks before the English side delivered to Yorkshire.

I’ve always travelled using my 2 passports like Marisa.  I assumed they were linked on the computer system the immigration agent uses.

Vera is set in Northumberland not Yorkshire Parley.  Even further north Bulya!

14 hours ago, Bulya said:

We did a camping holiday in Cornwall.  Knickerbocker Glory the only decent thing as it rained all day every day.  We moved to God’s country not long after…  

You moved to Yorkshire?

6 hours ago, tea4too said:

People's love for where they live is great to read and few would pretend they didn't want to experience the same degree of contentment in life themselves. But we are not all cut from the same cloth and what you describe would not necessarily deliver the same degree of happiness for everyone else, myself included tbh. However it would be a shame for buglife's thread to disintegrate into a list of pros and cons about Aus and UK so I'll resist the temptation to counterbalance, but in general terms I don't recognise the grey and limiting UK lifestyle regularly portrayed by a number of posters. It's not my life and I don't see it as an inevitable consequence of living here.

Both Aus and UK are first world economies and over the decades life has changed in both countries. People are more mobile, generally better educated and thanks to the internet have a wider view of their expectations and opportunities. Life has not stood still wherever you live, both countries provide a (different) lifestyle that will either support a sense of home and belonging, or it won't. In terms of the thread title however, how long it takes to work that out is not always as cut and dried. T x

 

Well said!  I do find some posters have obviously never returned to the UK in years, or even decades and their descriptions of lifestyle here is unrecognisable.

I used Send to transfer all our funds in April and was impressed with the speed of transfer and the rate offered.

2 hours ago, Kristie said:

We’re you already in Australia when you were sponsored? 

No, I sent my CV to private schools all over Australia ( but not in the major cities) and received a couple of offers.  I had a phone interview in April and the school did the rest.  We migrated in the September….and I was in my mid 50s!  As Ausvisitor said though things have probably changed but it is still true that you need 4 years of training to teach full time in Victoria.  My husband was  a PE teacher and had done the 3 year course in England so was restricted to CRT work.

I’m assuming all the posters here are talking about government schools.  I was sponsored by a private school in Victoria but my subject was French which was always a difficult one to fill….and this was in 2006.