Move back to the Uk before or after birth

[Carlybear]

Hi All,

my first post right here!!

My husband, my 2 year old and myself (hubby and I are British and dd born in Aus) are planning on moving back to the uk for good early 2018 for family reasons! I'm just doing some research as we are due to have our second child in March! 

The two options we have I guess is 

1) have the baby in Sydney. Wait until we have birth certificate.  Apply and receive British passport and head back a couple of months after birth.

2) move back to the uk when I'm around 7-8 months gone and have the baby in the Uk?

we have lived and worked in Sydney for the past 8 years so I guess my questions are more based around having the baby in the UK

1) regular check ups. Should I arrange an appt with a GP for when I arrive so I can be assigned a midwife/hospital for the birth (we have family there so can use my mums address). I've heard people having a nightmare with this and been turned away or sent to a hospital miles away as they're full etc.

2) as I've been working in AU and paying my taxes here, am I entitled to free NHS care for the delivery/aftercare or will they slam me with a bill for having the baby?

3) would I be entitled to any benefits? Government parental pay etc as I would here in AU?

has anyone experienced this before, any info would be really helpful. I can't seem to get the answers I'm looking for on the gov website

Many Thanks

 

[AJ]

If you are not in too much of a hurry to head home, if it was me I would have the baby here where you are familiar with the system having had one before and also gives the baby citizenship and makes it easier should bubs ever want to live here in the future.

[Guest]

You should be able to register with a GP and then be assigned a MW (either via the GP practice or hospital, it can vary depending on the area). You would hope there would be no issues in terms of treatment but there is the habitual residency aspect to consider and research before you go deciding to have the baby in the UK. 

You may well have to go to a hospital further away to give birth. It can really depend on the area, time of year, day of the week, type of unit and so on. I've had friends been sent to a hospital further away on weekends and overnight and tbh its only 10-15 minutes perhaps in a city, but in a quieter area it could be further (ie where I used to live it was 40 minutes to the MW led unit, an hour 15 to the consultant led unit if traffic was clear). Certainly some of my friends did not give birth in the hospital they had hoped to deliver in. 

You would not be entitled to any maternity pay that I am aware of unless you've paid in in the UK over the years. https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/overview As to being able to claim from Aus, no clue. if you give birth in Aus however you would hopefully be able to claim something at least up until you move and perhaps after? It would need some research to find out if that is possible. 

You should be eligible for the child benefit once the baby is born but it isn't much. https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/what-youll-get

Also consider many airlines won't let you fly that late into pregnancy. I'd personally not want to be flying long haul Aus to UK at 8 months gone either. Or at 7. TBH flying after 5 or so months would have been hard for me given the size of bumpage I was carting round.  

I'd also factor in things like if you've been working in Aus, it may be better to have the access to the Aus system and any payments you may be entitled to. And to have the continuity of care throughout the course of your pregnancy if that matters to you in a system you are familiar with. 

Also if you are PR holders your baby, if born in Aus will be an Aus citizen also and can therefore hold an Aus passport and use that in the future if they should ever wish to. 

 

[Quoll]

If you haven't got it already, getting your Aus citizenship is a must then your new child will be a citizen by descent even if born in UK and that keeps all your options open for future choices of residence.

Returning late in pregnancy could be a problem - some airlines don't like transporting women late in pregnancy for starters.

i think you might well be viewed as a "health tourist" by the NHS on your return with whatever costs that entails. Hospitals, especially, are getting more assiduous at asking about residence these days.

No idea what benefits there may be.

Pragmatically it might make more sense to have the baby where you are, make the most of benefits and maternity leave provisions then move

[Carlybear]

Thanks everyone. I should of mentioned that we are all AU citizens. So the matter of citizenship for the newborn isn't a problem as no matter where it is born it will be have citizenship. 

I was toying with the idea of having the birth in the UK for more ease than anything, having the the suppprt of family/getting all the stress of moving out of the way before the baby came. Moving across the globe with a newborn sounds too hard but now looking into it, it may be more sensible to hold off.

it sounds like we have to start all over! Going off subject. It if ther is anything else we should consider when moving back let me know. 

[Collie]

Congratulations on the impending arrival.

IMO - Either move before 6 months pregnant (ie before Xmas) or wait until the baby is c.6 months old.

I think the latter is the best course of action.  Moving at any time is stressful as hell and you don't need that when pregnant.  Stress & pregnancy are not a good combination.

You know the system here (which IME is excellent for maternity care), you can let the baby settle down in the first 3 months and then start planning the move.  There may be other factors that come into play which you have not shared with us (eg sick relatives in the UK etc)

Good luck

[BacktoDemocracy]

14 hours ago, AJ said:

If you are not in too much of a hurry to head home, if it was me I would have the baby here where you are familiar with the system having had one before and also gives the baby citizenship and makes it easier should bubs ever want to live here in the future.

I would tend to agree with this, but only because the NHS is going thro a rough patch at the  moment with staff shortages and there are plans to  concentrate services into fewer  locations. 

[Phil & Vikki]

After, after, after lol.

For us, if we found our self in your position the option we would take is having our baby in Australia and then moving back after a few months. That way you gi through the same process that you have already been through with your first born, you know the ropes. You also do not have to worry about getting registered in the UK and having the trouble of all that. Yes going back with a new born may be a bit of an issue and you will have to take more stuff for them, but it just has to be done. We went back last Christmas with our new born, he was 3 months old. We had sterilised bottled and baby powder in jiffy bags. We made enough bottles for the whole journey and made up his milk when we needed it, an extra bag but nothing too bad.

 

The main driver for us would be the fact that we would be able to stay and get them their birth certificate here and then passport. It will be far easier here. That way, like people have said before both your kids will have the option to come and go as they wish. That is worth its weight in gold. All three of our kids have both UK and Aus passports. We see it as something we can give them for the future as you never know what direction they will take. With the cost, time and troubles we got to get here, the least we can do is save our kids going through that, if they want to live here in the future.