Roy67

Thank you 

Hi Marmite girl, thank you for your views, it’s comforting to hear your thoughts.

I know some will think we’re mad for travelling at the time we are but we have our reasons. 

April 13th is our departure date, we’ll keep you all posted.

All the best

Roy 

Hi all,

My wife and I are returning to the UK in a few weeks. Is there anyone else in the group who is also leaving Oz to return to the UK around March/April/May time 2021.

Everything organised, but my biggest concern is that restrictions keep changing and we might not be able to get into the UK. 

Does anyone have any views on that.

It’s an LG

2 minutes ago, AliQ said:

Hi Roy, we have recently returned to Australia from the UK, and were told by Sony that our UK TV (smart TV only a few months old) would not work in Australia, regardless of any "add on gadgets". I checked with them because it was a great TV and wanted to ship it over.

Good luck with your move.

 

Thanks for the heads up. 

Thanks everyone for your responses.

The TV is only a couple of years old and was quite expensive. It wont actually make any difference to the cost of the container if I take it or not. I was more curious if the TV would actually work due to different frequencies etc. if I sell it here I’ll probably only be able to get a few dollars for it. I think, weighing up the advice given  I’ll probably take it, plug it in and take my chances.

I’ll report back when I plug it in. It’ll either be a great TV or a very expensive, very large CCTV monitor. 

Thank you all for taking the time to respond to my question.

Cheers Roy

Fair point. Thanks for your advice. 

Thanks for the advice. 

Hi, just wondering if my 2 year old Australian smart Tv will work in the UK ?

Thanks Marisa, that’s what I thought but just wanted to check. Thanks for your reply, Roy 

Hi everyone, thanks for all the advice. One last quick question. Will my bank in the UK hit me with fees for receiving my money from Australia?

Hi, thanks for that. I’ve just looked up the securi token for my bank and they do issue them in exceptional circumstances. I’ll enquire about this in the morning. 
Great advice, thank you. 

14 minutes ago, LKC said:

We did this the morning after we landed - I don't think I slept the night before, and I honestly look like a serial killer on my photo  That said, it was really handy to have for ID purposes. We went into a post office that had a kind of booth/kiosk thing, which did the photos and electronic signatures for the licence, they checked it and sent it, and we had them back within the week. If you look on the Royal Mail website for driving licence renewals, they'll tell you the nearest one that offers the service.

Money transfer wise, we used OFX. Due to the amount of money, we had to do several transfers, but we had spoken to the bank (went into the branch in Aus) beforehand, and they increased the limit. They (Westpac) also gave us a little gadget thing (SecurID Token) that generated a unique passcode every time we logged in to do a transfer, just as a second security measure, in case we weren't able to use our Aus phones for the SMS passcode. As it turns out, I managed to somehow lose the Aus SIM cards soon after we arrived (they were in a plain envelope, I think I must have thrown them away by accident), so I'm glad we'd sorted out the other thing!

Our house sale in Aus didn't go through until about two months after we left, due to our buyers needing an extended settlement, but the money transfer side of things was really no bother to arrange from the UK.

Thanks, good advice about the licences. 

10 minutes ago, AliQ said:

Get your UK driving licence re issued with a photo and your address as soon as you land. That is useful ID. We applied and received our news ones in just over a week, mind you, that was before covid. However,  we found the DVLA  very organised and efficient before and during covid.

Thanks everyone for your advice, it’s given us a few things to check and think of. Much appreciated.

Roy

Thanks for the advice, that’s great. 

16 minutes ago, AliQ said:

Hi Roy,  when we returned two years ago, we found it relatively easy to set up life again. We used OFX for large transfers, opened a UK bank account with our tenancy agreement, but as you are living with family you will have an address to use which is great.

Keep your Australian mobile phone sim, you need to be able to receive SMS codes for some money transfers. 

Good luck with your move

 

 

No that’s not something I thought of. I’ll do this next week, thanks. 

30 minutes ago, Marisawright said:

Have you checked your UK credit score?  That was our biggest problem when we returned, because we'd been away too long.  The UK isn't like Australia - your credit score rules your world.  If you still had a bank account recently, you might still have one.

Wow, thanks very much, that is fantastic advice. Much appreciated.

Hi, thanks for the response. I’ve considered using the two you mention. Problem is, once I’ve got to the UK won’t there be a limit imposed by my bank in Australia as to how much I can transfer over the phone or through an app once I’m in the UK. 

Hi, my wife and I are returning to the UK after 13 years in Australia. We have renewed our GB passports and have an exemption to leave. Our TOR has been submitted. Sadly I closed my UK bank account down two years ago and I could kick myself for doing that. 
I hate the idea of transferring my money to a third party money transfer agent and then waiting until we get to the UK before we can open a bank account etc. This could take a while as we don’t have anything with a UK address on. We will be living with family for a short while when we get back. Using the bank to bank transfer is an expensive option. I have read various reviews of a few transfer agents and they range from moderate to terrible.
Has anyone got any advice as to how they transferred their money back to the UK please.