ping pong pom.

[grandad]

Are there any seniors out there that are thinking of going back to the U.K or already have? We have to go back next year for personal reasons, but as we have permanent residency we don't know where we stand with legal things. We still have a house there so we can live in it, but we will be leaving the grandkids behind and that is why we came to Adelaide in the first place.We intend to ping pong backwards and forwards, six months here and six months there. Anybody else over 60, done that and how did it work with pension and taxes?:rolleyes:Be Happy. Grandad.

[Diane]

I have a very good friend that does this - to and from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria though. She flies out to Aus the last weekend in October, and back to the UK in March, with the changing of the clocks, as she has a daughter here and a son there. She used to keep a house in the UK but now has sold that and rents an apartment in London when she's there, although she does own a house here in Oz. She is in her late 70s and the most amazing lady - used to do this with her husband, but since he passed away, does it on her own and has a great time flirting with all the single men on the flights!! She doesn't do any paid work in either place, but works in a local Op Shop when she's here. She is (obviously) due back to Oz in a week or so, so will give her a call then if you want me to ask her anything specific about taxes and pensions etc.

[grandad]

Hi Diane,

Thank you for your response. Since I posted my message I have heard from immigration which has got me very confused. I quote. Although we have been granted a permanent visa, it talks about..."if you are planning to stay overseas beyond the validity of your visa" and yet it says if we have come in before the visa date, there's no problem. We have to contact the Return Residents visas people if we plan to stay away more than 2 years. We don't plan to do this, because we want to do similar to your friend, but our house will be in the U.K and we will rent in Oz. We would love you to put us in touch with your friend when she returns and perhaps she can help us with advice on the pensions and taxes.

Thank you.

Grandad.

[Diane]

No problems, I think it's this weekend she arrives so I'll be calling her anyway. I will check what sort of visa she's on as well and check if she's happy for me to pass on her details

[grandad]

Thank you.

[foxychick]

If you are on PR, but not yet a citizen, then I would imagine the normal rules will apply, ie, you are free to travel between countries until the 'expiry'date on your visa (normally 4 years after grant) then you will have to meet criteria to apply for a Residents Return Visa each time you leave, there are costs associated with this, and so your best bet is going to be to go for citizenship as soon as you are eligible, this will then overcome any visa issues. Regarding pensions & taxes - don't really know, I guess it depends which country you are classing as your country of residence - if it is Australia, won't your UK pension be frozen as from the day you left? you should be taxed in the country you class as your country of residence? may be best to contact an accountant on that one.

[grandad]

If you are on PR, but not yet a citizen, then I would imagine the normal rules will apply, ie, you are free to travel between countries until the 'expiry'date on your visa (normally 4 years after grant) then you will have to meet criteria to apply for a Residents Return Visa each time you leave, there are costs associated with this, and so your best bet is going to be to go for citizenship as soon as you are eligible, this will then overcome any visa issues. Regarding pensions & taxes - don't really know, I guess it depends which country you are classing as your country of residence - if it is Australia, won't your UK pension be frozen as from the day you left? you should be taxed in the country you class as your country of residence? may be best to contact an accountant on that one.

Thanks for that, considering we paid a shed load of money to get our PR, it seems a bit of a muchness to have to pay again.

Serious thinking.

[Hayshake]

We are permanent residents of Australia, but back in the UK. We are in a similar position to yourselves, paid a fortune for permanent residency but still have our house in the UK, as unable to sell 4 years ago, a) due to the Thames flooding. (We live quite close) b) The depression in House sales. (People wanted our house, could not sell their own).

We now consider that we are not prepared to sell our house and transfer the money to buy an Aussie property, as with the poor exchange rate, and the increased cost of housing, we would be unable to buy a house anything like as good as our one in England.

I have just checked my Passport, we have a Sub Class 143 Visa, which states that we have multiple travel. Holder permitted to remain in Australia indefinitely, however I seem to remember that if we are away from Australia for something like 5 years that we have to apply for a resident return Visa.

Currently we have been back in the UK for 13 months, and plan to return to see our Grandchildren again in January for a couple of months, so I do not anticipate any problems returning provided we return on a regular basis.

I am sure this covered on the Government website, but it gets difficult to remember all of the rules!!!.

[grandad]

Thank you for your reply. Since posting the thread, we have heard back from immi.gov and they said that if we don't come back beyond the validity of our visa, i.e 2014, then we can apply for a residents's return visa. of course we will have to pay for that visa, it won't be free. So we'll see how we go, but it will be nice to have the N.H.S and our pensions unfrozen anyway. Good Luck. Grandad.