Moving Back to UK after 18 years

[Mark Battersby]

Hi all, 

I hope that this message finds everyone well.

I am unfortunately separating from my wife,  we have lived in Australia for 18 years.    I am now going to be returning to the UK as I have no ties and my family is still in the UK.

Just wanting advice as to legal requirements if any,  pitfalls and things to watch out for from an immigration perspective,  I have a British and Australian Passports.

 

Thank you all in advance 

Mark 

 

[VERYSTORMY]

There are no legal issues, you can just jump on a plane. 

[Amber Snowball]

Apply for a transfer of residence (TOR) if you are moving possessions or pets.

[Quoll]

Declare your next tax return as your last tax return.  Take a copy of your no claims car insurance with you - it may help getting a NCB when you land.  Remove any insurances from your superannuation, you will just need to let them accumulate (hopefully) until you can claim them at preservation age without premiums eroding them.  Might be useful to hang on to an Australian bank account for a while at least but beware they steal inactive ones after a few years. Enjoy the ride!!!

[bug family]

6 hours ago, Mark Battersby said:

Hi all, 

I hope that this message finds everyone well.

I am unfortunately separating from my wife,  we have lived in Australia for 18 years.    I am now going to be returning to the UK as I have no ties and my family is still in the UK.

Just wanting advice as to legal requirements if any,  pitfalls and things to watch out for from an immigration perspective,  I have a British and Australian Passports.

 

Thank you all in advance 

Mark 

 

Hi Mark,

Bit of moral support, I am in a very similar circumstance, do you have any children with this marriage? if you do not mind me asking......

Where are you looking to return to and will you be starting over again from scratch..i.e. mortgage , job etc...

Hope you know that you are not alone and this adventure works out for you 

[Marisawright]

Sorry to hear your circumstances and hope it all goes well.

I can't think of anything you're required to do legally before you leave Australia.  There's a list of stuff you should do - cancel bills, arrange to ship your belongings (check out Movecube if you have only a small amount), redirect mail.  

 Dont close your Australian bank account.  For one thing, you'll need to go on using it for a month or two, until you can get a British bank account sorted (you can "open" an account on day one, but they won't let you actually use it until you've got proof of a permanent address).  

If you have time, it's worth checking your Australian bank to see how expensive it will be to use their debit and credit cards in British ATMs and shops.  If their rates aren't good, it would be worth changing banks - I know it seems like a waste of time when you're leaving, but if you end up having to keep using your cards, you'll be glad you took the trouble. My pick would be HSBC or ING which both (Iast time I looked) have no fees for using your cards overseas, and good exchange rates.

Don't cancel your Australian credit cards either, because you won't be able to get a decent British credit card or an overdraft for a couple of years.  This is because the UK is run by "credit scores".  If you don't have a credit score, you can't get credit.   As you've been away so long, you won't have a score and you'll have to create one before you can get credit. This article offers some ideas on how to do it:

  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/bad-credit-credit-cards/

Once you're in the UK and have an address, write to your super fund with your new address, and tell them to cancel all insurances.  Contact the electoral commission and get yourself taken off the electoral roll.  Don't forget to let your Australian bank know your new overseas address, too.

 

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Marisawright

[Mark Battersby]

18 hours ago, bug family said:

Hi Mark,

Bit of moral support, I am in a very similar circumstance, do you have any children with this marriage? if you do not mind me asking......

Where are you looking to return to and will you be starting over again from scratch..i.e. mortgage , job etc...

Hope you know that you are not alone and this adventure works out for you 

No Children,  which would have made this very difficult indeed,  I am looking to return to Manchester (my hometown) and will have some value from the separation to start over.   No job as yet but I have never been shy to do whatever is neccessary.

Hope you are not finding your situation too stress full,  you are not alone either and hope it works out for you too.

 

[MacGyver]

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

Sorry to hear your circumstances and hope it all goes well.

I can't think of anything you're required to do legally before you leave Australia.  There's a list of stuff you should do - cancel bills, arrange to ship your belongings (check out Movecube if you have only a small amount), redirect mail.  

 Dont close your Australian bank account.  For one thing, you'll need to go on using it for a month or two, until you can get a British bank account sorted (you can "open" an account on day one, but they won't let you actually use it until you've got proof of a permanent address).  

If you have time, it's worth checking your Australian bank to see how expensive it will be to use their debit and credit cards in British ATMs and shops.  If their rates aren't good, it would be worth changing banks - I know it seems like a waste of time when you're leaving, but if you end up having to keep using your cards, you'll be glad you took the trouble. My pick would be HSBC or ING which both (Iast time I looked) have no fees for using your cards overseas, and good exchange rates.

Don't cancel your Australian credit cards either, because you won't be able to get a decent British credit card or an overdraft for a couple of years.  This is because the UK is run by "credit scores".  If you don't have a credit score, you can't get credit.   As you've been away so long, you won't have a score and you'll have to create one before you can get credit. This article offers some ideas on how to do it:

  https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/bad-credit-credit-cards/

Once you're in the UK and have an address, write to your super fund with your new address, and tell them to cancel all insurances.  Contact the electoral commission and get yourself taken off the electoral roll.  Don't forget to let your Australian bank know your new overseas address, too.

 

 

A temporary solution for the bank account issue is to open a Wise account (formerly Transferwise) or similar (Revolut is another similar service I think). Download the app, open it in Australia (including ID verification) then receive a card to your Australian address. You can then (via the app) open an account in the UK which gives you a sort code, account number and a UK bank address. On your return you can receive salary into it, setup direct debits, make card payments and do just about anything else you need from a regular bank account. 

[KZ1]

I can also recommend Wise.  Had an account for a few years & found them to be great. Within the App you can have an AUD & GBP ( + others) accounts & transfer funds instantly & at the interbank rate.  The only issue to watch is drawing cash.  For an Aust issued card the limit is 2 cash withdrawals per month & under $350 total, before a 1.75% fee kicks in, but there are easy work-arounds.

[Amber Snowball]

Change your address on mygov before leaving as medicare won’t let you change online if outside of Australia. Use a relative or something, just easier. 
 

I’ve used Wise and found them good, if it’s a large amount of money check they are covered by the bank insurance thing so that if they go belly up your money is protected.

[Sloth]

From the myGov website:

"Travelling overseas - accessing myGov

While you're overseas, you can still sign in to myGov.

However, to sign in with a code sent by SMS, you'll need to:

• use the same mobile phone number registered to your myGov account
• be able to get the code by SMS, while outside Australia
• connect to a mobile phone network compatible with your phone service provider.

If you can't get text messages while you're overseas, you won't be able to sign in to your myGov account. Before you travel, you'll need to change how you sign in. You can change your sign in option to use the myGov Code Generator app or secret questions and answers.

To change how you sign in to myGov, you can either:

• download and set up the myGov Code Generator app on your mobile device
• use secret questions and answers.

If you don't have the myGov Code Generator app, you can download it from the App Store or Google Play and then set it up. You must do this before you travel overseas."

[Parley]

I haven't used it but using the two factor authentication app should solve the problem if you are going overseas, rather than receiving sms's

 

There is another option too about creating a digital identity, for use by all government services. That may prove easier allthough I haven't tried it out.

It explains it all at MyGov.

Edited February 18, 2022 by Parley

[Amber Snowball]

I can sign in and change lots of details without issue. It is the medicare part that won’t let me update the address. That’s it. There’s an option to update all associated records in one  hit, tried that, didn’t work. Tried to update it directly on the medicare part, won’t accept it. You have to put an Australian state and postcode in for medicare online. You can probably ring them I can’t be arsed. Just saying this to alert people that it’s worth doing before you leave as you are in the same timezone. 

9 hours ago, Sloth said:

From the myGov website:

"Travelling overseas - accessing myGov

While you're overseas, you can still sign in to myGov.

However, to sign in with a code sent by SMS, you'll need to:

• use the same mobile phone number registered to your myGov account
• be able to get the code by SMS, while outside Australia
• connect to a mobile phone network compatible with your phone service provider.

If you can't get text messages while you're overseas, you won't be able to sign in to your myGov account. Before you travel, you'll need to change how you sign in. You can change your sign in option to use the myGov Code Generator app or secret questions and answers.

To change how you sign in to myGov, you can either:

• download and set up the myGov Code Generator app on your mobile device
• use secret questions and answers.

If you don't have the myGov Code Generator app, you can download it from the App Store or Google Play and then set it up. You must do this before you travel overseas."

 

[kimboslice]

Hi

i know your uk pension is frozen the day you leave the uk. If you return after say 2/3 years, how does that affect your final salary, do you have to make the 2/3 years up. We are both 58 years of age. Thanks in advance.

[Marisawright]

2 hours ago, kimboslice said:

Hi

i know your uk pension is frozen the day you leave the uk. If you return after say 2/3 years, how does that affect your final salary, do you have to make the 2/3 years up. We are both 58 years of age. Thanks in advance.

What does your final salary have to do with your pension?

[kimboslice]

6 hours ago, Marisawright said:

What does your final salary have to do with your pension?

Worded wrong 

not salary the amount you get each week 

[Marisawright]

9 hours ago, kimboslice said:

i know your uk pension is frozen the day you leave the uk. If you return after say 2/3 years, how does that affect your final salary, do you have to make the 2/3 years up. We are both 58 years of age. Thanks in advance.

It will depend how many years' contributions you've made.  If you've only missed 2/3 years then it might not make any difference, because you might already be eligible for the full pension.  

[Cup Final 1973]

11 hours ago, kimboslice said:

Hi

i know your uk pension is frozen the day you leave the uk. If you return after say 2/3 years, how does that affect your final salary, do you have to make the 2/3 years up. We are both 58 years of age. Thanks in advance.

Your UK pension isn’t frozen the day you leave the UK if you haven’t already started receiving it, which you wouldn’t have given your age.  Once you reach pensionable age and elect to receive the pension in Australia it is then frozen at that level.

[Marisawright]

11 hours ago, Cup Final 1973 said:

Your UK pension isn’t frozen the day you leave the UK if you haven’t already started receiving it, which you wouldn’t have given your age.  Once you reach pensionable age and elect to receive the pension in Australia it is then frozen at that level.

That is true, I didn't mention it because I wasn't sure what the OP thought "frozen" meant.  If he meant he doesn't get NI credit for those missing years, then he's right.