nivlug

A move back to the UK has been forced upon me after 10 years overseas and while I am fine with that there are a few things that worry me.

Basically, I would love to hear any personal stories from anyone who has been in the same situation as me, survived and made it work.

I am 40, 2 kids (one is 13 and the other is 11), have GBP50K in savings, I don't own a house anywhere and my mother lives in England.

Just need some reassurance that this is going to work for me since I need to get a mortgage (I've kept a bank account open since leaving the UK), get the kids into a school, find a job (I am an EFL teacher with a Master's Degree in that field) and basically start all over again.

Anyone here had to return back to UK with pretty much nothing, started all over again and made it work?

Any advice you can give to a worried parent would be so much appreciated.

Thanks a million.

p.s. Me and the kids were all born in the UK.

Mummy in the foothills

50K is a lot! Much more than a lot of the people on the moving back in your 50's and 60's
I bet you'll have no trouble finding work with a masters in teaching. Isn't there a shortage in some areas of the country. EFL? Is that English as a foreign language?
With 50K or there about's you'll only end up with a small mortgage if you buy a modest home.

charleygirl

Aw well I cant offer any personal experience stories, but I do want to wish you well......... and I think having 50k is a great way to start, when I go home I will have no savings...........
Good luck and I am sure you will get lots of help from people on this forum, where are you returing from.

nivlug

Thanks for the words of encouragement. We'll be returning from China.

mbike

Hi

We just came back from Australia, leaving good jobs etc to pretty much nothing. 4 months on we have have jobs schools (and a house almost sorted)

Some things pertinent to you from our experience...

Be prepared to spend a bit of your savings securing a rental. Without a financial guarantor here you may be expected to fork out up front on rental (we paid six months)

50 k will give you a good deposit on a house when you start looking. Contrary to popular opinion the banks are still lending but only at low LVRs. Our mortgage advisor told us you get brownie points for a big deposit but beyond 40% it no longer counts for much.

The banks really want at least 3 months paid full-time work - preferably on a permanent contract - for a mortgage, but a good broker should be able to help you get around that. We started the mortgage process after 3 weeks in work!

Can't really help with the EFL thing. I taught english for 5 years in Spain in the 80's but changed careers when I came back to the UK. I think it has had quite a bad press here due to all the sham schools set up to let in student visa people via the back door. British Council accredited schools would, I guess, be the way in http://www.englishuk.com/en/english-uk/useful-links

Good luck

Mummy in the foothills

Another thought, can you get your police check/clearance or whatever it's called to take with you if you are looking for school work they ask for the background clearance, so you could be one step ahead at least

aasmith1957

We arrived back in Nov 2009 from having spent 18 years in Perth WA.
I was told you couldnt get police clearance by yourself if you would be working with elderly,vulnerable people etc(teaching,nursing etc). Your prospective employers would do this.Straight forward police clearance would be fine if working in some other field.

I had my interview then had to pay 23 pounds for Disclosure Scotland,it took around 5 weeks as they obviously had to check with Australia.

Just be aware that if you change your job even after 3 months or so,you have to go through the same process (in case you were fired because of something) eg stealing,drug taking etc.

Maybe someone else can clarify this for you instead of spending time and money to get ordinary police clearance which will be of no good.

Good luck with your move back home:thumbs
Audrey

Mummy in the foothills

Thats good to know. I'm a Nurse and wondered if they could get a Police clearance from another country when going after UK jobs. £23 isn't too bad a price if they had to check with Aus.