Patphillips47 Posted February 27, 2016 Share Posted February 27, 2016 Would I need to apply for residency when I am British citizen? Yes Dianne right of abode and residency are two different things as I will try to 2001 we returned to the Uk to look after my Mam who was in her 90s and ailing we did not try to claim any UK benefits as my hubby was on permanent disability with Centrelink and was paid in the UK We tried to claim a rates rebate because of income levels and the fun commenced Interviewed for over and hour as to where we had spent our money We had sold in Oz and bought outright in UK Asked why we hadn't just rented and lived off or money from the sale of the house in Oz despite the fact we still had a small amount of savings after buying the UK property Gave my Mams details and the fact I was an only child but the result came back NO your not granted resident status When I queried and asked why they stated A ) You have dependants in Oz Er no my children were 35 and 36 with families of their own B) You left an Australian bank account open Yes I most certainly did as our Aussie pensions were paid into it and I transferred online When I queried it all and they mentioned the bank account I said ok I will stop our Australian pensions and rely on handouts from Great Britain Oh no was the reply you can't do that !! Ok said I then you give me residency - the letter was in the mail a day later stating residency was granted Then I continued the claim for council tax Oh joy I had. 16 year old clerk make it seem I was doing something wrong by still claiming Australian disability In th finish I contacted Centrelink who phoned me and asked how they could help They sent specific letter stating they knew where we were ( council tax lass has implied we we fiddling Oz ) plus lots of literature Next visit to the office where the council tax is sorted I was blithely told our Aussie pensions came from FAYS er no FAYS is lie social Centrelink pensions had no place in the Uk system ie no box to tick so the office staff at the council were totally confused We did in the end recive a slight allowance off the rates because we had a lower income but ! Sorry if that's a long rant but to this day I get so upset at the indignity of the process We were totally honest in all of our dealings yet ended up feeling we had done something wrong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diane Watson Posted February 28, 2016 Author Share Posted February 28, 2016 Yes Dianne right of abode and residency are two different things as I will try to 2001 we returned to the Uk to look after my Mam who was in her 90s and ailing we did not try to claim any UK benefits as my hubby was on permanent disability with Centrelink and was paid in the UK We tried to claim a rates rebate because of income levels and the fun commenced Interviewed for over and hour as to where we had spent our money We had sold in Oz and bought outright in UK Asked why we hadn't just rented and lived off or money from the sale of the house in Oz despite the fact we still had a small amount of savings after buying the UK property Gave my Mams details and the fact I was an only child but the result came back NO your not granted resident status When I queried and asked why they stated A ) You have dependants in Oz Er no my children were 35 and 36 with families of their own B) You left an Australian bank account open Yes I most certainly did as our Aussie pensions were paid into it and I transferred online When I queried it all and they mentioned the bank account I said ok I will stop our Australian pensions and rely on handouts from Great Britain Oh no was the reply you can't do that !! Ok said I then you give me residency - the letter was in the mail a day later stating residency was granted Then I continued the claim for council tax Oh joy I had. 16 year old clerk make it seem I was doing something wrong by still claiming Australian disability In th finish I contacted Centrelink who phoned me and asked how they could help They sent specific letter stating they knew where we were ( council tax lass has implied we we fiddling Oz ) plus lots of literature Next visit to the office where the council tax is sorted I was blithely told our Aussie pensions came from FAYS er no FAYS is lie social Centrelink pensions had no place in the Uk system ie no box to tick so the office staff at the council were totally confused We did in the end recive a slight allowance off the rates because we had a lower income but ! Sorry if that's a long rant but to this day I get so upset at the indignity of the process We were totally honest in all of our dealings yet ended up feeling we had done something wrong Thank you for this information. Can I apply for residency before I leave Australia and if so how did you go about getting it. Which government department do I need to contact? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 Would I need to apply for residency when I am British citizen? You can't apply for residency, it's a legal status that is determined by where you live and for how long. It affects whether you can claim benefits. If you're not reliant on benefits then it won't worry you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rule Britannia Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 I seriously don't think your mad at all for leaving Australia, are you kidding me, you mean your going to miss those 47 degree days of heat, come on, you are going back to the UK, you are going to be a hair's whisker from Europe, Italy, France, Belgium ect ect ect that 's not expensive to get to, 33 years is a fair old go at it, and just think of that amazing fresh air- countryside to go visit, the old world pubs, villages ect, the Castles, Yes I think I miss it too, am heading off back to the uK very soon, as I find it totally difficult in the employment sector ie getting a job, even with my degree and with working for a top oil company / oranisation it makes no difference at all, I have never experienced so difficult in my entire life, I am already picking out which Car I am going to buy....nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Thank you for this information. Can I apply for residency before I leave Australia and if so how did you go about getting it. Which government department do I need to contact? No you can't apply for residency from Australia you have to be in the UK Really as Marissa said you won't need to claim it unless you intend to make a claim for say a rates rebate We claimed it for just that reason as our income from Oz was below the threshold for the rates rebates Turned into a protracted battle in some ways especially when they said No to our residnecy You will need to if you buy a property in the UK produce your British passport and proof of your funds for money laundering purposes personally if I were you I would rent for say 6 months get yourself settled then buy a property Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Dianne I just read your blog about shipping your furniture etc and ,this is from personal experience I would say think about what you bring Houses by nature in Oz are much bigger than the UK ones We have a 3 bedroom end detached bungalow in the UK but when we put our queen size bed in barely room to get past the bed ! We also gave away large 3 seater lounge and a bed settee - both way too big for the bungalow As for electriclas you can just change plugs but having said that when we came back in 2013 we did not bring our fridge as on the whole Aussie fridges are much bigger and a pain to get into a smaller kitchen I will PM you Dianne with an email address sometimes easier to put things down in private Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 I seriously don't think your mad at all for leaving Australia, are you kidding me, you mean your going to miss those 47 degree days of heat, come on, you are going back to the UK, you are going to be a hair's whisker from Europe, Italy, France, Belgium ect ect ect that 's not expensive to get to, 33 years is a fair old go at it, and just think of that amazing fresh air- countryside to go visit, the old world pubs, villages ect, the Castles, Yes I think I miss it too, am heading off back to the uK very soon, as I find it totally difficult in the employment sector ie getting a job, even with my degree and with working for a top oil company / oranisation it makes no difference at all, I have never experienced so difficult in my entire life, I am already picking out which Car I am going to buy....nice! You summed it up very well there. There may also be the shock of being blasted forward in time by 20 years when you get here, but its a very pleasant shock to deal with. . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 A couple of things, we bought our house cash and there was no need to prove where the money came from. We had no problem getting credit. Our house here in England is bigger than our house in Brisbane. To the OP enjoy England, you will have a ball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 A couple of things, we bought our house cash and there was no need to prove where the money came from. We had no problem getting credit. Our house here in England is bigger than our house in Brisbane. To the OP enjoy England, you will have a ball. We too bought out house cash but had to produce our passports plus show our bank account details - I showed both to show where money went from A to B We have just put our house on the market here in th UK and had to show passports ,drivers license and a utility bill On the credit score a lot depends on how long you have been away from the UK our first time it was 20 years and we had a lot of difficulty trying to get established Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 We too bought out house cash but had to produce our passports plus show our bank account details - I showed both to show where money went from A to B We have just put our house on the market here in th UK and had to show passports ,drivers license and a utility bill On the credit score a lot depends on how long you have been away from the UK our first time it was 20 years and we had a lot of difficulty trying to get established That's strange, we didn't have to do any of that from memory, it was very straightforward. We were in Brisbane 12 years but lived in Australia the majority of my life, we didn't find it difficult at all, we were just sensible and over a period of about 6 months we had credit cards and a new sofa to help move our credit rating along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 We did get a credit card after about 6 months with a 500 quid limit used it as much as I could and paid it off it went up in leaps and bounds As one lass said in the bank the more debt you have the more they will give you, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 No you can't apply for residency from Australia you have to be in the UK Really as Marissa said you won't need to claim it unless you intend to make a claim for say a rates rebate We claimed it for just that reason as our income from Oz was below the threshold for the rates rebates Turned into a protracted battle in some ways especially when they said No to our residnecy You can't "claim" residency anyway - you are either resident according to the rules, or you're not. There are actually two types of residency and they are completely separate, with different rules. One is the one that's decided by social services and the other is decided by the tax office. If you confuse the two you'll get nowhere! In fact, you can be resident according to social services and not resident according to the tax man, and vice versa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 That's strange, we didn't have to do any of that from memory, it was very straightforward. We were in Brisbane 12 years but lived in Australia the majority of my life, we didn't find it difficult at all, we were just sensible and over a period of about 6 months we had credit cards and a new sofa to help move our credit rating along. As has been pointed out before, your experience of UK banks is way out of date. Nowadays, if you don't have a credit rating, you're virtually a non-person and it can be very frustrating. Anyone who has been out of the UK for six years has no credit rating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 There may also be the shock of being blasted forward in time by 20 years when you get here, but its a very pleasant shock to deal with. It just goes to show you how different the various parts of Australia are. Coming from Sydney to the South Coast of England, I feel as though I've gone backwards 10 years (and when I visit my sister in Scotland, more like 20 years). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JockinTas Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 It just goes to show you how different the various parts of Australia are. Coming from Sydney to the South Coast of England, I feel as though I've gone backwards 10 years (and when I visit my sister in Scotland, more like 20 years). Yep, after Sydney, when I go back to where I was brought up in Scotland - it's like turning back time. Not a bad thing though as far as I'm concerned. I much prefer the slower pace of life hence the move to the north coast of Tasmania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 You can't "claim" residency anyway - you are either resident according to the rules, or you're not. There are actually two types of residency and they are completely separate, with different rules. One is the one that's decided by social services and the other is decided by the tax office. If you confuse the two you'll get nowhere! In fact, you can be resident according to social services and not resident according to the tax man, and vice versa. In some cases you need to apply for residency in our case it was when we applied for a rates rebate we were informed by the council we had to apply for income support to get a rates rebate Their system would not pick up on our Aussie government pensions so they put them down as occupational pensions So we did apply for income support knowing full well we would not get it Because of that claim for income support we had to apply for residency I still have the letter from 2003 with the change of decision from DWP The taxation office gave me a coding without a hitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 "The taxation office gave me a coding without a hitch" Yes that's what I'm saying, the tax office's definition of residency is totally separate from the DWP. I still don't believe you had to "apply for" or "claim" residency - I think what you had to do was pass the "habitual resident's test", which everyone has to pass before they are granted benefits (the rates rebate is a benefit). https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/coming-from-abroad-and-claiming-benefits-the-habitual-residence-test/british-and-irish-citizens-claiming-benefits/ In your case, I'm guessing that having most of your family still in Australia, and a bank account (and presumably superannuation/pension) in Australia, and that you returned to care for a relative rather than choosing to return because you wanted to live in the UK, were factors in their original decision. I'm glad for your sake that they changed their mind but you have to admit, in the end they've been proved right as you are now planning to go back to Australia. http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/may/21/britons-travelling-studying-abroad-forced-jobcentre-residency-test Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted February 29, 2016 Share Posted February 29, 2016 Yes it was the habitual residents test probably the way I worded it was not right It was the refusal that threw me saying we had dependants in Oz - no we didn't we had adult children with families of their own On the other hand here in the UK my Mum had only me as I was an only child my Dad had died a few years earlier and I couldn't afford the trip annually They also said we should have closed our Aussie bank account which we couldn't do because our Aussie Centrelink pensions were paid into it I had cashed in what small super I had and brought the funds to the UK We sold up in Oz and bought a house with those funds -and brought all our belongings including the car because as far as we were concerned the UK would be home We were asked why did you buy a house why did you not live off your savings - we bought to put a roof over our heads The whole rigmarole came about because we tried to get a rates rebate as our Aussie pensions were below the threshold but we were basically treated as if we had done something wrong I'm glad for your sake that they changed their mind but you have to admit, in the end they've been proved right as you are now planning to go back to Australia No in fact your wrong we actually went back in 2006 having stayed from 2001 to 2006 but we returned to the UK in 2013 thinking retirement But again the pull of family on a different continent is taking us back So we will leave home to go home Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolman Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 As has been pointed out before, your experience of UK banks is way out of date. Nowadays, if you don't have a credit rating, you're virtually a non-person and it can be very frustrating. Anyone who has been out of the UK for six years has no credit rating. Yes but what I was quoting was someone's experience from more than 10 years BEFORE we moved here. Why should they have a credit rating if out of the country for 6 years ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macalec Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Good for you , I too am thinking of going back to live been here 50 years just a bit daunting at the moment trying to arrange things You are not mad at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JockinTas Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Good luck AlecanMac. Hope everything goes well with your move back to the UK :smile: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macalec Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Really look forward to hearing how it goes ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rule Britannia Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Hey there, well it's been 9 years too long for my liking, and it's time I started living and travelling around Europe and focusing on my passion more... I don't want to sound negative, but it's Aggressive, the driving here is some of a disaster, when ever I go out in the car, I get some To....er drive right up my arse, and then the food, I really could go on and on which I am currently doing, and then the job market is a laugh, clue less jumps to mind, and that's just the women....LOL LOL But seriously, I miss the Country, I miss the old worldy villages, with those amazing pubs you can walk into and get an amazing sunday Roast, and I'm not talking about Nicole Kidmans' kid....LOL that's a great name that is (quality) History, Culture, high-end cuisine, Food is just quality really it is, unless I have missed the plot here, I find the food just totally under par her in Perth, unless you want to pay Top Dollar Yes Top Dollar, it is flavourless, I thought all these things after one year of living here, and I find it totally Boring, there is nothing to do except go to the Ocean, how many times can you do this? the Sun is Just too hot, 40 plus degress, people idea of an out is going to the local shopping centre, or go to the Gym, at least in the UK you can get in your Amazing Car, because the prices of Cars in the UK currently are Amazingly cheap - point in case, BMQ Z4 6, 000 dollars, are you serious, An Audi A6 again the prices are just amazing, at least your going to be driving around in Style , don't forget to look at the prices of Jaguars, my ultimate favourite quality car, you will be impressed at the prices of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macalec Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patphillips47 Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Good for you , I too am thinking of going back to live been here 50 years just a bit daunting at the moment trying to arrange things You are not mad at all Have you been back at all during those years like Oz the UK has changed so much Do your homework on moving back and good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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