Husband working in Australia advice

[Justnavigating]

My husband is looking into working in Australia. A long term plan may be - in the distant future - to live over there , all of us ( I am in a skilled trade , so is he ) .

There is a role he could do that would pay very high , he would go over for maybe 2 months then back for 2 weeks at a time . The wage would be better - less tax. — and could help us to get out of debt. It’s early days and there is a lot to think of .

My question is how does this work for UC purposes ? Would Australia still declare the income the same ? This would mean we probably wouldn’t get anything , but I would like to keep it open in case that work stopped . People have said he wouldn’t actually live here - but , we would still be married and he would be contributing ( sending me money for bills ) and I couldn’t say he didn’t live here as he would still be on the tenancy , my landord wouldn’t allow me to live here alone I don’t think , my wage can be low as I only work part time at the moment due to children . I’m not worried about not getting any UC but I wouldn’t want to just close the claim until we needed to , as it’s a pain setting it up again . Some have said it would be spousal income but I don’t think it would as even though we’re not living together all the time as he would mainly be in Australia, he would still be on the tenancy and it wouldn’t be fair to claim as single when I’m benefiting from his income. I have children , he is not the father .

To clarify - I’m not asking how to cheat the system and pretend I’m single I’m asking the opposite !

Also , tax is lower there and he would be paid by an Australian company , not a U.K. company but would he still be taxed here on it ?

Just want some advice and to make sure it actually will be beneficial as it’s a big change and a big sacrifice for us as a family and I don’t want to do it if we’re only slightly better off as it’s not worth the sacrifice but if it’s a massive difference that could help us clear debt and maybe buy a house here if I didn’t want to move there ( I’m not sold on moving there at the minute , it wouldn’t be for a very long time if we did )

thank you

I’m in Australia and quite well versed with fifo as I have had some colleagues do it and none of that sounds right at all. You can earn a fortune with fifo if done right but that doesn’t match with anything he is describing. The passport bit is the cap on a bizarre mountain of iffy information. YOU and your kids would need to live here for several years full time to even begin that process.

Honestly, I’d just say ‘okay dear, that’s nice’ and ignore him as he’s sprouting a load of hot air with no reality at present and you seem passively dazzled by it all.

For reference I am in Australia, with foreign family members who have become citizens through marriage, and I’ve lived and paid tax in the uk and Australia. You should also know that a large number of fifo workers are either young and single, or divorced, it’s not an environment particularly conducive to stable partnerships.

Yes he meant eventually with this !

Yes he is , yes if I tried to move of course there would be issues ( hence why I would not ) but no issues to travel .

However , I don’t think this is relevant to the post ☺️

If he’s self employed and is classed as resident in the UK normal self employed tax and national insurance rates will apply

This has red flags all over it and I would be nipping it in the bud now

@Justnavigating If you don’t print out every page of communication he has had about this today, and read it all three times today, you are going round and round in circles.

Not one Australian on your thread thinks what you are saying has any parallel to real life.

Absolutely not 🤣

I don’t know how this post simply asking for specific advice turned into “ your husband wants to break up with you but doesn’t know how “ . Can always count on MN to try and delve further into your life and make a drama !

I have been married to this man for a long time and I know him . If he wanted to break up with me he would not need to spin a story like this to do it !

It’s been 2 days and in that time we have spent about 6 hours together , in total , after manic days at work and I am exhausted ! We have not had a proper talk about it , it’s been snatched conversations. It’s extremely likely I’ve got the wrong end of the stick in some things I’ve heard … I’ve not really taken it too seriously as it’s only just been mentioned and I’ve had a hectic week at work .

Er, “specific” advice dealing with government money whether it’s tax, UC or whatever needs details and you re very short on detail.

Ever so gently, I think you had a rush of blood to the head about a particular point and came to Mumsnet unprepared.

Better advice will come with detail but I do hope our questions have given you points to think about and explore in your discussions with your DH.

@Justnavigating you did say you might move out there eventually, so do you mean once your DC are adults?

I’m sorry, OP, but it sounds like your husband doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. I was pretty sceptical when I read your initial post, but the part about dual passports tells me 100% that neither of you have a clue what the deal is!

And 20% tax when he’s earning fortunes? Something is massively amiss to me.

I moved to canada with my boyfriend 2 years ago we have been together for 10 years we have extended our visa for another 2 years. I would like to start trying for kids in the next year but would like to give birth to the kid in canada as i have a permanent job here and they have better maternity benefits than Ireland. If i was to have the kid in ireland we would have to leave canada before our visa is up as i would need to work 1 year in Ireland before getting maternity benefits! He wants us to give birth in Ireland solely because he wants his mam and dad to be there i have explained his parents could come and spend time here when baby born! We plan on spending maternity leave in ireland and then moving home so our family would be around the baby! I think financially it makes sense to have the baby here with better maternity leave etc where if i go home i have to wait least 2 years before having a baby! Appreciate any thoughts i feel like his family opinions always come first instead of whats best for us (his mam had made many comments in past about his sister having baby abroad and i feel like he does not want to let his mam down on another grandchild being born away i do plan on moving home right after baby is born appreciate any thoughts

Sorry it’s early , I didn’t mean to snap .

Yes, if we did that’s when it would be but to be honest I don’t think I would ever . I couldn’t take my children away from their dad , leave my family and I also couldn’t leave my children when they’re older that’s not the life I want x

@Helpagirlout99 you need to start your own thread to get some answers to your questions.

@Justnavigating I'd suggest sone serious looking at residency links for tax purposes and the details of the job. I think there are much bigger questions to be answered than the UC one, and it is a big, complicated area. I don't think I'd advocate that sort of distance, even for a FIFO style job with flights paid (to the UK at the end of every rotation??).

Haven't read the whole thread but UC will close the claim as he'll be out of the county for more than 28 days.

To be honest I think he’s feeling very down about our financial situation , this has been offered and he’s got a bit taken with it and is going by what people have said and it sounds amazing so he’s all for it. He most certainly wouldn’t rush into it and just go without knowing everything but I thing it’s just dazzled him and he’s seeing this amazing opportunity to solve our financial problems . He works a lot and we struggle so I think that really gets him down so he’s seeing this with rose tinted glasses .

I was very skeptical of the dual passport thing as I know it’s not a county you can just move to, admittedly I do have a job that would make it a bit easier to get work over there and he has mentioned that to who ever he spoke to so it could be that they have said that I could get one that way or something I don’t know .

Everyone is right I have definitely came her unprepared - I’m absolutely clueless ! But I am like this - I research and ask people and try to get all the info . I’ve said to him I cannot see how he could go over and earn that amount and then bring back what he says , admittedly he is in a skilled job that would get him work easily most places with good pay ( he’s on good money here but our debt is just really high ) but it just doesn’t sound right to me - it seems too good to be true .

I know it's not the main point of the thread but are you getting proper advice about the debt. You don't need to share why but do you both th know how you got into debt and are sure it wouldn't happen again?

It might be that some agencies could help you with the debt so you didn't feel like E you had no choice but to lose him for 90%, of the year.

On a separate note isn't he worried about get lag. When I last went to australia it took most of a week to function and 2, weeks to feel normal...

Definitely do your own research into this. The passport bit isn't right for a start. You need to be permanently resident for 4 years to apply for citizenship - and he wouldn't have thought he would anyway. I am a dual citizen and it took me 8 or so years from first moving to Australia.

I have known a lot of FIFO (fly in fly out) families in my time. Most of the spouses found it really hard - and that's when their partner was flying between Perth and regional WA - not flying in and out of the UK. I've never heard of anyone doing that. Search for FIFO families groups on line, Facebook a good place to start. Ask these questions there, you'll probably get a lot of wisdom.

I couldn’t take my children away from their dad , leave my family and I also couldn’t leave my children when they’re older that’s not the life I want

It's good to be completely honest about this rather than humour him then, because you don't want to move there so it's not going to happen. Anything else feeds his fantasy that it will happen and takes him further down that road to Oz. I don't blame you either, it's a huge change and only works if both people really want it (and sometimes not even then). In the meantime, him working out there so much sounds terrible for your family, complicated for the financials, and not likely to solve your debt issues. I hope you can get help with them (step change is always recommended on here) that doesn't involve this.

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is OP.

You are already getting backtracking on how long he will need to be out there and how often he will be back. Its all well and good saying you guys can fly out but you dont say how many kids you have and its a grand a person. Make sure you take all costs into accout, the cost of living is expensive and as PP says your husband is going to be on his own out there so will be spending more than if he was at home.

I have said that I will not be moving whilst the children are young , he has said he’s thinking it could be something years from now when we are retired and I have said I would hopefully have grandchildren by then and still wouldn’t want to . He’s always said he wants to retire abroad and I’ve always said I don’t think I do.

I do think that it is a case of he’s just seen something that sounds amazing and he’s got excited.

There was a similar opportunity to this a few years ago - not Australia but out of the country - it all looked as good as this but then once we found out a bit more , it actually wasn’t. It was more money , but not enough to justify the time apart .

I agree about flights . I think it’s actually that they will fly him out of here to where he needs to be and internal flights across Australia but not home . I have said the costs for us to visit would be really high . He has kind of justified that with the money he would be making but , again , I think once we sat down and worked that out it wouldn’t be as “ cheap “ as he’s thinking .

I think he’s had a lot of info - from someone from a company that recruits so obviously will only tell him the positives - and that there will come a time when we sit down and realise it’s not as great as it seems x

I used to live in Australia & it's very expensive for accommodation & food compared to the uk. Is there a plan for how much all that would cost?

If he's willing to work abroad for a few years to save some money, could he look a bit closer to home, depending on his area of expertise eg Gulf States for oil/gas extraction, Botswana for mining.

Nearer home for visits and the time difference isn't so bad.

And you won't even be eligible for citizenship unless you qualify for permanent residence first. That's not that easy to get.

Where is the job based?