Retiring in the UK from Australia: visits, passports, pension and the NHS (2026)

Who the UK suits, and what to weigh up

The UK suits you if you hold a British or Irish passport, or could get one, or if your children and grandchildren live there and you want long stays with them. There is no retirement visa. On an Australian passport alone, the limit is 6 months a visit unless a family visa fits your case.

Your passport decides most of it. A British citizen going home, by birth or by descent, can live there with no visa at all, so the questions are money, the NHS and two pensions. An Australian with no British link starts with a different question: whether any route lets you stay past 6 months.

Money is the hard part for both. On our estimate a month in London comes to more than A$10,000 for a couple, rent included, which is far above what the Age Pension pays overseas. A UK State Pension paid to you in Australia never rises, and that changes the sums for anyone who worked there.

Health care on a visit is simpler than in Portugal or Thailand. Australia and the UK have a reciprocal health care agreement that covers NHS care that can’t wait, within 6 months of arriving. Smartraveller rates the UK “exercise a high degree of caution”, because the UK’s terrorism threat level is severe.

What a month costs

Our estimate for a month in London is about A$10,380 for a couple and A$8,180 for one person, rent included. We base the UK’s figures on London.

A month in London	Couple	One person
Rent, one-bedroom flat in the centre	A$4,180	A$4,180
Living costs (food, transport, bills)	A$3,810	A$2,120
Eating out, local trips and extras (30%)	A$2,390	A$1,880
Total	A$10,380	A$8,180

How a month in the UK compares

For a couple

the UK, our estimate

A$10,380

Comfortable in Australia

A$6,580

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$4,040

About A$3,800 a month more than a comfortable month in Australia.

For one person

the UK, our estimate

A$8,180

Comfortable in Australia

A$4,680

Age Pension, the most paid in Australia

A$2,680

About A$3,500 a month more than a comfortable month in Australia.

Not built the same way: Australia's figure (ASFA Retirement Standard, comfortable, June quarter 2026) assumes you own your home and includes health insurance; our estimate for the UK includes rent and leaves health insurance out. Age Pension: the most paid in Australia from 20 September 2026; living overseas for good, the base rate is about A$3,710 a month for a couple and A$2,460 for one person.

Our estimate: Numbeo’s living costs for one person (without rent) plus a one-bedroom city-centre rent, plus 30% for eating out, local trips and extras. For a couple, living costs times 1.8. Converted at the Reserve Bank of Australia’s average exchange rate for the 12 months to September 2026 (A$1 = 0.5160 pounds). Health insurance is not included. We use Numbeo’s London page, last updated 20 October 2026: about £1,092 a month in living costs for one person (about A$2,120) and £2,157 for the flat (about A$4,180). Short furnished lets usually cost more than the long-term rent in this table.

Rent is about half of the one-person total, so a spare room with family changes these sums more than anything else. Outside London, rents drop. Numbeo’s figures (updated 20 October 2026) put a one-bedroom flat in central Manchester at about £1,370 a month, about A$2,660 at the RBA’s 12-month average rate. Worked out the same way, a month in Manchester comes to about A$7,050 for a couple and A$5,450 for one person.

Against the Age Pension. After 12 weeks away, the most the pension pays is the base rate: about A$2,460 a month for one person and A$3,710 for a couple, before tax (rates from 20 September 2026). That leaves a couple about A$6,670 a month short of our London estimate. One person is about A$5,720 short. In Manchester the gap is about A$3,340 for a couple and A$2,990 for one person.

What costs more than you’d expect. Council tax sits outside our estimate. GOV.UK says you usually pay it if you’re 18 or over, renters included, with 25% off if you live alone. In England the average Band D bill for 2026-27 is £2,392 a year (about A$4,640), and the London area average is £2,068 (about A$4,010). A family visa adds the immigration health surcharge, set out under visas below. An NHS prescription in England costs £9.90 an item (about A$19). Flights home for birthdays and funerals are the other big line, because there’s no quick hop back.

Renting long term. England’s rules changed on 1 May 2026. GOV.UK says assured shorthold tenancies all became assured periodic tenancies that day, with no fixed end date. A tenant gives at most 2 months’ notice to leave. A landlord can take a deposit of up to 5 weeks’ rent (where the rent is under £50,000 a year, about A$96,900) and must protect it in a government-approved scheme. A holding deposit is capped at 1 week’s rent. No rent can be asked for before you sign, and then at most 1 month in advance. The rent can rise once a year, not in the first year, with 2 months’ notice.

Landlords in England also check your right to rent. A British passport works, even an expired one; without one, you show your immigration status with a share code or your documents. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own tenancy rules. Before you sign, it helps to have in writing what the rent covers, whether council tax and bills are extra, and which scheme holds the deposit.

Visas for Australians

There is no UK retirement visa. Australians can visit for up to 6 months at a time with an electronic travel authorisation (ETA). The right to live there comes from British or Irish citizenship, the right of abode, or a family visa.

Visiting. GOV.UK says a visitor can usually stay for up to 6 months. Australians don’t need a visa for that, but each traveller needs an ETA before flying. It costs £20 (about A$39) and lasts 2 years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. You can make as many trips as you like on it, up to 6 months each, and decisions usually come within a day. GOV.UK also says visitors can’t live in the UK through frequent or back-to-back visits, or make it their main home. Visitors can’t work or claim benefits, and an ETA doesn’t guarantee entry.

GOV.UK warns that other websites may charge more for an ETA and tells people to avoid sites that imitate government services. Smartraveller says travellers have been scammed by private online visa services, and to apply only through the official site.

If you hold a British or Irish passport. You can live in the UK without a visa. Dual Australian-British and Australian-Irish citizens must enter on their British or Irish passport, or with a certificate of entitlement in another passport, and can’t get an ETA. Smartraveller says the UK has enforced this since 25 February 2026. As a temporary measure, airlines may accept an expired British passport issued in 1989 or later, with a valid Australian one in the same name. Irish citizens can live in the UK too, under the Common Travel Area.

British without knowing it. GOV.UK says you are usually British automatically if you were born in the UK before 1 January 1983. Born there later, it depends on your parents’ status at the time. Born outside the UK to a British parent, you might be British automatically, depending on when you were born. GOV.UK’s checker walks through each case.

The right of abode. Some Australians who aren’t British citizens still have the right to live in the UK. GOV.UK says you have it if one of your parents was born in the UK, you were a Commonwealth citizen on 31 December 1982, and you have stayed one since. Australians are Commonwealth citizens. You prove it with a digital certificate of entitlement, which costs £589 (about A$1,140). From outside the UK, a decision usually takes 3 weeks after your appointment.

Family visas. GOV.UK says you need a family visa to live with a family member in the UK for more than 6 months. There are versions for a partner and for an adult who needs long-term care from a relative living there. From outside the UK, a partner visa costs £2,064 (about A$4,000).

For a partner visa, you and your partner usually need a combined income of at least £29,000 a year (about A$56,200). Income can include money from a pension, and cash savings above £16,000 (about A$31,010) can count towards it. The first visa runs for 2 years and 9 months, then you extend. After 5 years in a row on it you can usually apply to settle. Australians and anyone over 65 don’t need to prove their English.

A partner without a British passport. This is the route when one of you is British and the other isn’t. The British partner’s income and savings count towards the money test. GOV.UK says the two of you must plan to live together permanently in the UK.

An adult who needs care. The adult dependent relative visa is for someone who needs long-term help with everyday tasks because of illness, disability or age. The care must not be available or affordable where you live now. The relative in the UK must be British, Irish or settled, and able to house and support you without public funds. From outside the UK it costs £3,635 (about A$7,040). If your relative is British or settled, the stay has no time limit.

UK Ancestry visa. It needs a grandparent born in the UK. GOV.UK says you must be able to work and plan to, so it suits people still in work. It costs £726 (about A$1,410) and lasts 5 years.

The health surcharge. Visas for more than 6 months usually carry the immigration health surcharge: £1,035 a year for each adult (about A$2,010), paid up front, the NHS says. For a 5-year stay on a family visa, GOV.UK puts it at £5,175 an adult (about A$10,030).

Citizenship later. After settling (indefinite leave to remain), GOV.UK says you can apply for citizenship once you’ve lived in the UK for 5 years and held settlement for 12 months. You need to pass the Life in the UK test and meet the English requirement. If you’re married to a British citizen, the 12-month wait after settling doesn’t apply. You can’t have spent more than 450 days outside the UK in those 5 years, or more than 90 days in the last 12 months. It costs £1,839 (about A$3,560), ceremony included.

Documents to get in Australia before you go. GOV.UK’s first-passport list asks for originals, not photocopies. Born before 1983 to a UK-born father, for example, you need your full birth certificate, his birth certificate and your parents’ marriage certificate. None of the GOV.UK pages we read for visits, family visas or passports asks for an Australian police check. If one is asked for, an AFP national police check costs A$57, and the AFP says most online checks arrive within a few days. DFAT legalises Australian documents with an apostille, A$105 a document from 1 January 2026, and Smartraveller says processing times vary.

These are UK rules and they change. UK Visas and Immigration, the British High Commission in Canberra, or a regulated immigration adviser in the UK can confirm what applies to you. Questions worth asking: whether your British citizenship passed to you automatically, how much time between visits the border expects, and which family visa fits your case.

Your Age Pension and Medicare in the UK

Your Age Pension can keep paying while you are in the UK. Services Australia says the social security agreement with the UK ended on 1 March 2001, so the usual rules for non-agreement countries apply.

You claim the Age Pension while living in Australia; the Australian High Commission in London says it can’t take claims from the UK. You generally need 10 years as an Australian resident, with at least 5 of them in one unbroken stretch, and years you lived in the UK don’t count towards that. So you claim before you leave.

Once you’re paid, the pension can continue for as long as you’re away. After 6 weeks the Energy Supplement stops and your Pensioner Concession Card is cancelled. The Pension Supplement stops completely at 12 weeks (since 20 September 2026). After 26 weeks you are paid at a proportional rate if you lived in Australia less than 35 years between age 16 and pension age. That rule matters if you came out from Britain as an adult. Our guide to the 6, 12 and 26-week rules explains each step. If you move overseas for good, you get the base rate only from the day you leave: A$29,520.40 a year single, A$44,506.80 for a couple.

Department of Social Services figures released under freedom of information show 1,185 people getting the Age Pension in the UK at the end of 2025, down from 1,509 five years earlier. They were paid an average of about A$654 a fortnight each.

A UK State Pension as well. If you worked in the UK, you may have one. You need 10 qualifying years on your National Insurance record to get any new State Pension, and the full rate is £241.30 a week (about A$470). You claim it from Australia through the International Pension Centre, within 4 months of reaching UK State Pension age. It can be paid into an Australian bank, with a 0.39% conversion charge, every 4 or 13 weeks.

GOV.UK says it only rises each year if you live in the European Economic Area or a country with a UK social security agreement. Australia is neither, so a UK pension paid here stays at the same amount. If you return to live in the UK, it goes up to the current rate. If you split the year between the two countries, you choose one country to be paid in.

Filling gaps in your UK record got harder on 6 April 2026. GOV.UK says you can no longer pay voluntary Class 2 contributions for time abroad. Class 3 for time abroad now needs 10 years in a row living in the UK, or 10 years of contributions, where it used to be 3.

Services Australia counts income from all sources in the Age Pension income test, so a UK pension can reduce your Age Pension. The International Pension Centre and Services Australia can each tell you how their side applies to you. A licensed financial adviser can help you weigh it up.

Medicare never pays for treatment overseas, even in the UK; the reciprocal agreement works through the NHS (see the next section). If you are an Australian citizen and move overseas, you can still use Medicare for treatment in Australia, on visits home, for up to 5 years after you leave. Visits home do not restart that clock. After 5 years, you re-enrol when you move back to live. Permanent residents are different: their enrolment ends 12 months after they leave. Our guide to Medicare overseas has the detail.

Health care and insurance

On a visit, the reciprocal health care agreement covers NHS care that can’t wait until you get home, within 6 months of arriving. If you live there, free NHS hospital care depends on being “ordinarily resident”.

On a visit. Services Australia says the agreement covers care from an NHS GP, where you register as an NHS patient. It also covers a public ward or outpatient care in an NHS hospital, and an ambulance to get there. Prescriptions from an NHS doctor carry a small fee. It doesn’t cover dental care, private care, or medicine from a pharmacy that the NHS doesn’t subsidise. Services Australia says to ask for care as an NHS patient and to be ready to show your passport and Medicare card.

The 6 months count from the day you arrive. Care you plan in advance isn’t covered either, because the agreement is for treatment that can’t wait. The UK’s migrant health guide says A&E departments, walk-in centres and NHS 111 are free to everyone. GP and nurse visits are free too, whether you register as a patient or as a temporary one. Overseas visitors who aren’t exempt are charged 150% of the NHS cost of hospital care.

Smartraveller says the standard of medical facilities is similar to Australia’s, though there can be delays for NHS treatment and strikes in ambulance services and hospitals. The NHS won’t pay for a medical evacuation, which can be very expensive. Travel insurance still matters on a visit, and Smartraveller says it must cover all medical costs, including evacuation. Ask whether it covers your whole stay at your age, any conditions you already have, and getting you home. Our guide to travel insurance for long stays covers age limits and trip caps.

Living there. The NHS says hospital care is free to people who are ordinarily resident, which means living in the UK lawfully and on a properly settled basis for the time being. Nationality, past UK tax, National Insurance and owning property don’t decide it, and you may be asked to prove where you live. In England, if you are on a visa of more than 6 months and have paid the surcharge, you get NHS hospital care on a similar basis to residents. Anyone subject to immigration control counts as ordinarily resident only once they have indefinite leave to remain. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own health services, so the details can vary.

You can register with a GP as soon as you arrive. The NHS says anyone in England can, for free, without proof of address or immigration status. Private care is paid for in full, Services Australia says.

What is where. England’s major trauma centres, for the most serious injuries, are in cities. GOV.UK’s list from 2012 puts four in London, and others in Manchester, Brighton and Plymouth among them. Scotland has four, in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. From a village in Cornwall, the Highlands or the Welsh hills, serious care usually means a long drive or an ambulance to one of those cities. Call 999 in an emergency and 111 for anything less urgent.

Your medicines. GOV.UK says a visitor can bring up to 3 months’ supply, with a letter from the prescriber listing each medicine, the dose and how much you have. Anything containing a controlled drug goes in your hand luggage. For more than 3 months, a UK doctor or pharmacist has to prescribe it, and you may have to pay. Our guide to taking PBS medicines overseas has the Australian side.

Care as you get older. Social care in England isn’t free like the NHS. The NHS says you pay the full cost if your savings are over £23,250 (about A$45,060), and a home you own counts if you move into a care home. Our guide to aged care overseas or at home compares the Australian side. If you’d like help working out where to start, book a free planning session on Zoom.

Where Australians live

We know of no figures on where Australian retirees settle in the UK. Here are five areas to compare, with rough driving times from central London.

Area	What it’s like	Getting around	Hospital	Airport
London	The capital; our cost base	Flat; the Tube, buses and trains; no car needed	Four major trauma centres	Heathrow, Gatwick and others
Brighton and the Sussex coast	Seaside city; about 2 hours by road	Hilly behind the seafront; trains to London	A major trauma centre in Brighton	Gatwick is the nearest
Manchester and the North West	Big city with lower rent; about 4 hours by road	Mostly flat; trams and buses	A major trauma centre shared by several city hospitals	Manchester’s own international airport
Edinburgh	Scotland’s capital; NHS Scotland rules; about 8 hours by road	Hilly old town; trams and buses	One of Scotland’s four major trauma centres	Edinburgh’s international airport
Devon and Cornwall	Rural and coastal South West; about 4 and a half hours by road to Plymouth	Hilly; a car helps outside the towns	A major trauma centre in Plymouth	Small regional airports; long-haul flights go through London

London has the non-stop flight from Perth and four major trauma centres. Rent is its big cost, and our figures are based on it.

Brighton and the Sussex coast are close enough to London for a day trip by train, with a major trauma centre in Brighton itself.

Manchester and the North West have rent about a third lower than London’s on Numbeo’s figures, and an international airport.

Edinburgh works under NHS Scotland and Scottish tenancy law, and Scotland sets some of its own income tax bands.

Devon and Cornwall are quieter and further from big hospitals. Plymouth has the major trauma centre for the area; the far west of Cornwall is a long way from it.

Wherever your family is may matter more than any of these. If grandchildren are the reason you’re going, a short trip from them may outweigh the rent. If you hold an Irish passport, or have an Irish-born grandparent, see our Ireland page as well.

Renting or buying a home

Foreigners can buy property in the UK. GOV.UK’s stamp duty rules include a surcharge for buyers who aren’t UK resident, which shows the route is open.

Freehold and leasehold. GOV.UK says most flats are leasehold, and houses can be too. You own a leasehold home for a fixed number of years under a lease, and it returns to the freeholder when the lease ends. The lease also sets out service charges and who pays for repairs.

Stamp duty in England. For a home that is the only one you’ll own, Stamp Duty Land Tax is 0% up to £125,000 (about A$242,000) and 2% on the next £125,000 (about A$242,000). It is 5% from £250,001 (about A$484,000) to £925,000 (about A$1.8 million), then higher. GOV.UK says buyers pay a 2% surcharge if they weren’t in the UK for at least 183 days in the 12 months before buying. Owning more than one home usually adds 5% on top. If you’d still own a home in Australia, a conveyancer can tell you whether the 5% applies. Scotland has Land and Buildings Transaction Tax and Wales has Land Transaction Tax in its place.

People to ask. A solicitor or licensed conveyancer in the UK does the legal side and the searches, and acts for you, not the seller. Smartraveller suggests reviewing your will if you buy property overseas. Our guide to overseas property and visa scams covers the warning signs. For the Australian side, see whether to keep, rent or sell the family home.

Tax: there and at home

The UK’s tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. GOV.UK says you’re automatically UK resident for tax if you spend 183 days or more there in a tax year, and other tests look at your home, work and family ties. In the year you move, the year is usually split into a non-resident part and a resident part.

UK residents pay tax on their income from everywhere. The Personal Allowance is £12,570 (about A$24,360) for 2026-27. Above it, income tax is 20% up to £50,270 (about A$97,420), then 40%, then 45% over £125,140 (about A$243,000). Scotland has its own bands. A UK State Pension is taxable income.

A new arrival’s break. Since 6 April 2025, someone who becomes UK tax resident after at least 10 years as a non-resident can claim the 4-year foreign income and gains regime. GOV.UK says that relief covers foreign income such as interest from an overseas bank account and profits from overseas property. Claiming it costs you the tax-free allowances. Whether your super or Age Pension fits is a question for a UK tax adviser.

The tax treaty. Australia and the UK have a tax treaty from 2003; it is on the ATO’s list. Its pensions article says pensions, government pensions included, paid to a resident of one country are taxable only in that country. How that works for the Age Pension, super or rent from a house in Australia depends on the details.

At home, the ATO’s residency tests decide whether you are still an Australian resident for tax; our guide to tax residency when you retire overseas walks through them. If you become a foreign resident, you lose the tax-free threshold, so Australian income such as rent is taxed at 30% from the first dollar (2025-26), as the foreign resident tax rates show. Sell your Australian home while you are a foreign resident and, for sales after 30 June 2020, you generally lose the main residence exemption from capital gains tax, apart from narrow life events.

Talk to a registered tax agent in Australia, and to a tax adviser in the UK about your pension and super, before you go.

Money and banking

The pound sterling is the UK’s currency. Smartraveller says ATMs are available, credit cards are widely used and contactless payment is widely accepted. Keep your card in sight at ATMs, it adds, and check your statements.

Your pension. Services Australia pays every 2 weeks into your Australian account if you’ll be away less than 12 months. Away longer, it pays every 4 weeks into an Australian or overseas account, a UK one included. Paid overseas, the money comes in the local currency, usually within 2 to 6 days. Bank fees are yours. Our guide to living overseas on the Age Pension has the numbers.

A local account. Each UK bank sets its own rules, so the bank can tell you what proof of identity and UK address it needs.

Moving money. The main options are a transfer from your Australian bank, a currency transfer service, or cash from an ATM on an Australian card. Each charges a fee and builds a margin into its exchange rate; ask for both. GOV.UK says you must declare cash of £10,000 or more (about A$19,380) carried between Great Britain and a country outside the UK.

Currency swings. Your Age Pension is in Australian dollars and your bills are in pounds, so the exchange rate sets what a month really costs. At the RBA’s 12-month average rate (A$1 = 0.5160 pounds), £1,000 is about A$1,940. If the Australian dollar fell 10%, the same £1,000 would cost about A$2,150.

Day to day

Language. English, so daily life needs no new language.

Getting around without driving. Cities run on buses, trains and, in London, the Tube. GOV.UK says that in England you can get a free bus pass at State Pension age if you live there. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland it comes at 60. Londoners can travel free within London from 60. Smartraveller warns of regular strikes in public transport.

Driving. Smartraveller says you can drive for up to 12 months on your full Australian licence, with no International Driving Permit. After that, the UK asks for a UK licence. Australia is one of GOV.UK’s “designated countries”, which have licence exchange agreements with Great Britain.

Safety. Smartraveller says terrorist attacks have occurred and the national threat level is severe. Protests can turn into riots, and in Northern Ireland tensions can rise from April to August. Bag and phone snatching is on the rise, particularly in central London, by thieves on scooters and bicycles. It also mentions muggings, knife crime and drink spiking, and says to use only officially marked taxis. Penalties for drug offences are severe.

Weather. Smartraveller says the UK gets damaging storms, flooding and snowstorms, with transport disruption. London’s averages:

Month in London	Average high	Average low	Rain
January	8°C	3°C	42 mm
February	9°C	3°C	36 mm
March	12°C	5°C	40 mm
April	15°C	6°C	40 mm
May	18°C	9°C	45 mm
June	21°C	12°C	47 mm
July	23°C	14°C	35 mm
August	23°C	14°C	54 mm
September	20°C	11°C	51 mm
October	16°C	9°C	61 mm
November	11°C	6°C	58 mm
December	8°C	3°C	48 mm

Figures: Met Office records for London from 1981 to 2010, published by the World Meteorological Organization. Rain falls on 6 to 11 days a month all year.

Public holidays. England and Wales have 8 bank holidays. In 2026 they fall on New Year’s Day, Good Friday (3 April), Easter Monday (6 April), two in May, one on 31 August, Christmas Day and Boxing Day (moved to 28 December). Scotland and Northern Ireland have some different days, such as St Andrew’s Day and St Patrick’s Day.

Help at home. Paid help with cleaning or the garden is arranged privately, and we found no official figure for what it costs in the UK. Care at home as you get older is covered under health care above.

Making friends. Family is the obvious start if you are going to them. In England the free bus pass from State Pension age also makes it cheaper to get to clubs, classes and the next town.

Getting there and coming home

There is no non-stop flight from Sydney to the UK. Expect at least one stop, usually in Asia or the Middle East, and a full day of travel or more. From Perth, a non-stop flight to London Heathrow takes about 17.5 hours and runs daily on the 2026 schedule. Routes change, so check when you book. Smartraveller warns that conflict in the Middle East can close airspace and cancel flights at short notice, even if you are only changing planes there.

The UK is 11 hours behind Sydney in our summer and 9 hours behind in our winter. For a few weeks around the clock changes it is 10. Perth is 8 hours ahead of London in the British winter and 7 in the British summer. A morning call from London reaches Sydney in the late afternoon or evening.

At the UK border, Smartraveller says Australians 10 and over with an ePassport can usually use the eGates, and there’s no landing card.

If you move to the UK and later come back to live, Services Australia says there is no waiting period to claim the Age Pension. You still have to meet the usual rules. If you’re granted it and then leave Australia within 2 years of returning, your payment may stop. Our guide to coming home covers your pension and Medicare.

Your first steps

One order that works, from a first visit to living there. The right order for you depends on your passport, your health and your family.

1. Ask for help first. Book a free planning session on Zoom, or contact our team. Once we understand your situation, we can point you in the right direction.
2. Visit in a British winter as well as a summer. Smartraveller suggests a temporary move of 6 to 12 months first; see trying before you move.
3. Talk it over with your partner and family early. Our guide to talking to your family has ways to start.
4. Use GOV.UK’s checker to see whether you’re already British, or have the right of abode through a UK-born parent.
5. Gather original birth and marriage certificates, yours and your parents’, while you are in Australia.
6. Dual British citizens travel on a British passport or a certificate of entitlement, because they can’t get an ETA; other Australians need an ETA.
7. Check what happens to your Age Pension at 6, 12 and 26 weeks. If you haven’t claimed it yet, the claim has to be made while you live in Australia.
8. Get a UK State Pension forecast if you worked there, and ask the International Pension Centre how living in each country changes it.
9. Find out what health cover you need for each visit, keeping in mind the agreement’s 6-month limit.
10. Work out what happens to the house, and whether it counts for the pension while you are away.
11. GOV.UK says staying with family for more than 6 months needs a family visa; the fee and the health surcharge are listed above.
12. Tell Services Australia you are leaving, and set up how your pension will be paid. In the UK, register with a GP.
13. Know your way back: the Age Pension and Medicare rules for coming home are worth reading before you go.

Questions people ask

Can an Australian citizen live in the UK?

Yes, if you are also British or Irish, or have the right of abode through a UK-born parent. On an Australian passport alone, visits are capped at 6 months, and living there needs a visa, such as a family visa.

Can Australians stay in the UK for 6 months?

Yes. With an ETA, which costs £20 (about A$39) and lasts 2 years, each visit can be up to 6 months. GOV.UK says you can’t use frequent or back-to-back visits to live there.

How can an Australian live in the UK permanently?

Through British or Irish citizenship, the right of abode, or a visa that leads to settlement, such as a partner visa. On a partner visa you can usually apply to settle after 5 years. Citizenship can follow, straight away if you’re married to a British citizen, or after a further 12 months if not.

Is there a UK retirement visa for Australians?

No. The UK has no retirement visa for anyone. The routes that remain are citizenship, the right of abode, family visas and the UK Ancestry visa, which is for people who will work.

Can I get my Australian pension living in the UK?

Yes, it keeps paying, with the usual 6, 12 and 26-week rules. The social security agreement ended in 2001, so you claim the pension in Australia before you go, and UK years don’t count towards the residence test.

Is the Australian pension taxable in the UK?

If you’re UK resident for tax, the 2003 tax treaty generally gives the UK the right to tax pensions paid to you. How that applies to your Age Pension and super is a question for a UK tax adviser and a registered tax agent in Australia.

Does Medicare cover me in the UK?

Medicare doesn’t pay overseas. Under the reciprocal health care agreement, you can get NHS care that can’t wait, within 6 months of arriving, as an NHS patient. Dental care, private care and a medical evacuation aren’t covered.

Will my UK pension go up if I move back to the UK?

Yes. GOV.UK says a UK State Pension paid to you in Australia doesn’t get the yearly increases, and goes up to the current rate if you return to live in the UK. Services Australia counts it as income for the Age Pension.