Coming home for good, and what not to close on the way out

Going is a decision you make over months. Leaving tends to happen in a fortnight, at the end of a lease, between a last shift and a flight. That is why the regrets are so consistent: almost none of them are about the choice to return, and almost all of them are about something closed, cancelled or allowed to lapse in the last two weeks.

"Can I get this back from India, and how long would it take?" Some things reopen in an afternoon. Others need you to be physically present in a country you have just left.

• **A bank account.** Closing one takes ten minutes. Opening one from outside the country, without a local address, is a different task entirely. Ask your bank what happens to the account if you are overseas long term rather than closing it on the way to the airport.
• **A credit history.** It is tied to the country, it does not travel, and it is rebuilt from zero if you return. Nothing preserves it, but knowing that changes how you time a loan.
• **Healthcare enrolment.** Ask Services Australia what a long or permanent absence does to your position and what restarts it, and get the answer before you go.
• **Retirement savings.** Superannuation or a workplace pension is not automatically payable because you left. There are rules about when and to whom, and they depend on your visa and status. Ask the fund directly, in writing.
• **Re-entry rights.** If there is any chance you will come back, this is the one to take advice on first, because some statuses are lost by absence and cannot be recovered.

Employment references on letterhead, with a contact who will still be reachable next year. Statements for every account. A letter confirming your dates of employment. Your tax file summary and any assessment. Medical records and a letter from your doctor summarising anything ongoing. Qualifications and transcripts, certified.

All of it is routine to obtain while you are there, and slow to impossible from another continent.

There is usually a final return, and the year it falls in depends on when you leave. Your residency for tax purposes may change partway through a year, which is exactly the situation that needs somebody qualified rather than a forum. Keep your day counts and the records from our tax guide, and ask before you file.

Plan the transfers rather than moving everything on the last day at whatever rate the airport offers. Large sums may need documentation on both sides showing where the money came from, and having that ready is much easier than assembling it later.

A permanent return is not a long holiday, and it is the one move where the arriving side gets no attention because everybody is focused on the leaving. Put the first three months in Roots the way you would a trip: the house, the paperwork, the medical appointments, the work. It is a lot, and it goes better written down.