MissBetty

Hi everyone!

Am considering a move back to Blighty next year and would love some input from you all!

I grew up in Oz (ten pound Pom parents!) and moved to the UK as a teenager, parents never took out citizenship so was never able to return. I'm a paramedic so got a job sponsored visa and moved back 4 years ago, will be applying for citizenship this week - finally!! However I really really miss my family, I came here alone and - apart from one miserable year long relationship - have been on my own for most of the time. I hate my job here as I have been deskilled and us UK medics are seen as 'inferior' by our Aussie counterparts which causes me a hell of a lot of stress. I have moved around to different postings but after 4 years I am sick to death of being so damn unhappy at work.

The health system here worries me too as I am getting older (45), an hour's wait to see a doctor and then you have to pay through the nose for it. Also private health is very expensive and I often wonder what I would do if I fell ill or got injured. In the UK with the NHS I was entitled to 6 months full pay followed by 6 months half pay if I was ill but here I have to EARN my sick leave which is a mere 90 hours per year - hmmmmm!

My plan is to buy a place here on the coast and live in Oz for 6 months and live in the UK for 6 months. In the UK I can stay with family, I'm planning to work as an offshore/remote medic whilst I'm in the UK so I'll be away for 4 weeks or so at a time. I'd like to do some traveling on my weeks off - all those cheap flights from the UK!!!!

Does anyone else do this and, if so, how is it working out for you? Also I have not paid any national insurance contributions in the UK for 4 years so how does that affect my UK pension/GP visits etc and can I top my NI contributions up? I'm more than happy to do so as I want to do the right thing.

Any advice/suggestions greatly appreciated, cheers! B

Moggiemiss

Gosh, what a unique set of circumstances ...

Why do you want to spend 6 months in Oz and 6 months in the UK, if you are not happy in Oz?

don't just look at the financial situation, consider what would make you truly happy....

Money is important, especially if you don;t have much, but equally, the older you get, the more important you realise good health and good friends are what matters.

I hope it all works out for you and you can find some answers on the forum

MissBetty

Hi Moggiemiss thanks for replying!

I like living in Oz although I'm not happy in the small town I'm based in for work. My post sounded quite upbeat I guess but yesterday I had a bad day, the roads were cut off by flooding and I couldn't get out to see a friend I'd been waiting to catch up with for weeks. I just felt so frustrated I sat down and cried for an hour - pathetic I know!

I like the coast as I'm a keen surfer and the weather is so nice, unlike here in FNQ where we have constant humidity and mould on everything half the year - yuk! I really hate my job here too, I felt more valued as a medic in the UK and family is a huge thing for me as I am on my own. This morning my friend posted on Facebook how she spent the day out shopping and having lunch with her Mum - again I was in floods of tears, simple things I guess I always took for granted before.

I guess I just thought if I could do 6 and 6 I could have the best of both worlds maybe??!!! I have no kids or pets so its easy for me to move around and I can do private work as well. I totally agree re money, I'm not motivated financially at all, as long as I have enough to live on I'm happy with that. Anyway thanks for the kind words, much appreciated

SanDiegogirl

Can only respond on the NI contributions to say, yes, you can top up the contributions you have not paid for the past 4 years in order to get a full "Old age pension" when you retire.

You are eligible for the NHS when you are permanently settled in the UK.

MissBetty

Oh that's a bit of good news anyway, cheers! Really pining for home atm, am going to look at a storage unit tomorrow as it might be a better bet rather than buying somewhere until I'm a bit more sure of what I want to do. I don't want to move back to the UK town I was living in before, nothing wrong with it just think it would be a mistake somehow. Am tentatively applying for jobs atm just to see what is out there, wish me luck! )

Editha

You might have difficulty getting free NHS treatment in the UK. You have to be "ordinarily resident". If you only spend 6 months of the year here, and stay with friends, while your main home is in Australia, you may have difficulty proving that you are ordinarily resident.

MissBetty

Yes I hadn't thought of that, will bear it in mind cheers. Mind you after working for the NHS for 11 years and watching the way people from overseas abuse the UK health system I'd be a bit peed off! Once I was sent out to a woman who was an illegal immigrant awaiting deportation whose doctor had arranged for an ambulance to pick her up once and week, take her to the local ED for injections (thought she might have a blood clot) and then take her home again..This was booked for quite a few weeks - beggars belief really!

englishguygoinghome

We've used the NHS as non-residents 3 times (all three for our son who was under 1 at the time), offered to pay all three times and been politely declined twice! It appears that there is some discretion available to doctors:

1) visit to A&E with the runs, the charge nurse said they couldn't process payment out of hours and they may send us a bill but probably wouldn't
2) visit to a doctors during normal hours - this one cost us 30 quid
3) visit to a Saturday surgery - told them we were abroad, they asked for the address we were visiting in the UK and said it was too much hassle to put anything else on the paperwork - also got free prescription medicine this time.

So I guess it all depends, I'd have thought that your case (being in the UK for more than 183 days so tax resident) would probably end up getting free treatment once you've managed to register with a GP. Hell, for practical purposes you ARE UK resident, just enjoying regular long holidays!

MissBetty

Lol! True, true and there must be lots of people like myself who work offshore and are away for half the year anyways?! Cheers for the post

Editha

I spend an average of three months each year in the UK, staying with my mother. I'm actually part owner of her house, so I'm in my own home. My GP there refuses to treat me on the NHS, and I do have to pay privately. On one occasion I needed hospital tests and it did take a while for the invoice to come through.

christmasoompa

Which government will you be paying tax to? That's usually a good test of where you'll be considered 'resident'. For example, a UK citizen that worked offshore for 6 months of the year would still pay tax etc in the UK, and presumably have a permanent UK address - so would be entitled to free medical care on the NHS.

We were asked for proof of UK residency at the hospital when my husband had an accident, even though we are both as British as they come! I guess we were the people they decided to 'spot check' that day.

Editha

When my mother gets hospital care, she has to fill in forms enclosing proof of residency every time. It seems to be standard practice now.

Editha

http://www.pah.nhs.uk/files/c)%20Non...20Citizens.pdf

MissBetty

Thanks so much for the info, I'm glad I asked could have got badly caught out there! Have been wrestling with what to do for days now - just like half the people on here lol! Well I heard back from the NHS this morning, I took a sabbatical and I can have my job back as long as I give them 6 months notice and agreed to some retraining - done and done as would be great to have a job to go back to to start with! I think I have narrowed it down to three options atm:-

1. buy a place here as an investment, stash my stuff, come home and just come back a few times a year

2. ship all my stuff home, put in storage and make a decision after giving it a year

3. put my stuff into storage here, come home and make a decision after a year

I can apply for a year's sabbatical from my job here so if things don't work out I'll have a safety net should I need it also I own a property in the UK.

I think no 3 looks like the most sensible option and maybe cost effective? I'm getting some storage prices over the next week but I am not sure if I'd ever want to come back here. Like I said I like the lifestyle here but I had a great life in the UK before and I just DID NOT appreciate it. Family is the most important thing to me and it always will be, will talk to my lovely Mum ( a ping pong Pom herself!!!!!) for some sound advice soon. Let me tell you this stuff drives you round the bend - thank goodness for BE - at least I know I am not alone. Right my head hurts now, thanks for the info/advice everyone

mayhemuk

First - good luck etc etc

My plan would be not to buy in Aus. But set up my base in UK.
Then instead of ping ponging use my breaks from my UK medic work to go see other places as well as Aus.

The above would be based on deciding where I ultimately would end up in 20 years (for me would be UK) and setting up the work/time off split to make sure I was properly covered for UK medical etc and retirement planning.

Obviously would need further advice on the details of the financial plans!

Best wishes.