HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

Hey, recently thinking about moving back to the UK, I'm a UK citizen just waiting on my passport to renew..

anyways my question is...will i need a special visa to move back? or since im a British citizen with a British passport i can move back anytime? (been in the US for 7 years)

also is there anything special details i need to move back? can i just packup and leave in a day?

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

Just leave whenever you want to.......

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

ok ty! didnt know if i was gonna get bombarded with a million questions at customs

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

As long as you have a British passport - no questions.

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

Visas are for foreigners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travel_visa

Like most of the horrors of life - a modern invention !

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

just go through the electronic barriers and nobody will even speak to you! The U.K. doesn’t record or count people out of the country so they don’t even know when you left.
if you’ve been gone less than 15 years nobody cares.

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

Is there issues if you’ve been gone more than 15 years and want to return?

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

no issues you just have to file paperwork for tax and reregister to vote ... that’s what I was told by a friend who moved back in 2018. It may no longer hold I guess.

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

There are no issues no matter how long you have been away if you are a Brit with a British passport.

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

It's caused census head-scratching for at least 30 years - the UK has a problem keeping track of its population, with apparently relatively largescale emigration of men aged between 20 and 40. :wave:

I can't help but think that some anonymized data from the NI and income tax records would prove illuminating, as anyone with an NI number who is below retirement age, where contributions suddenly stop, has either died, is working for cash (or just stopped working), or has left the country.

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

Pulaski the other possibility is that they have been abducted by aliens. Quite common

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

when I first worked at ons as a fast streamer in the late 90s I could not believe the lack of longitudinal data collection ... it was comical ... the way they used to count migrants was the gp records ... because that’s the first thing young migrant men do when they get to the East of england to pick crops ... get registered with a gp ... ha ha

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

None whatsoever.

We had been out of the country for 29 years in 2016, and our son had been out of the country for 30 years when he returned in 2017.

Being out of the country for so long meant we had a couple of things to do that we would not normally have to do. The NHS numbering system had changed so we had to apply for a new one but were to see a doctor immediately even before the number came through. (I had a prescription to transfer to the U.K.). Our son had never had a NI number so had to apply for one, but started a job before his number came through so no problem.

We had old paper driving licenses but they were renewed with the new picture ones without any bother at all. Our son drove on his US licence until he took and passed a UK driving test.

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

I'm not sure if the 8 year rule applies to visa holders, but might be worth knowing about.

Re: HELP! moving back to the UK!
 

Now I am confused. Can someone please explain the 8-year and 15-year rules.
And if one has been abducted by aliens are the rules the same? Of if voluntarily off-planet for say 15 years, how does that work?
My old NI number still seems to work. And the UK govt seem to know where I am, occasionally I receive brown envelopes posted from Malta with forwarded correspondence.