I'm homesick too. I have been now for about two years or so on and off, on this stint I've been in the US for five and half years.

I think that for me things changed when I got married. I had the mental shift of moving from thinking like a bachelor on a world adventure to how I wanted my family to live and what I wanted for them.

My parents and siblings and their kids are in the UK. I have a really close relationship with all of them, but feel that I have missed out loads on my nieces and nephews growing up.

The only thing stopping me from getting on the plane tomorrow and going back is that getting into the US was difficult and all the paperwork and running around for the greencard would be wasted.

I think daily about the quandary of waiting for citizenship (five years away) or going home and losing the GC.

Getting a job is one thing, but the economy in the UK is so small that, that job may not last and finding another one locally could be extremely difficult.

I'm homesick. It's for the family, friends, family events, Tescos, Sainsbury's, having cups of tea complaining about the crappy summer, having cups of tea complaining about the summer being too hot, having cups of tea and complaining about people complaining, watching the cricket with my Dad and asking why we are watching Durham against Middlesex on a Wednesday afternoon, trying to decide who we want to lose more Liverpool or ManU, the list goes on..

I'm homesick too.

I really feel for you missing your family when you are so close. I miss mine and we aren't close at all

Is your wife American or British? If she is American I guess that would make it easier for you to come back if you wanted to.

I liked your rendition, I could have wrote that myself (except I'm the only English person who doesn't like tea), especilly the Liverpool ManU bit. Atleast we know have a Tesco, well Fresh and Easy, that sells back bacon.

You can't even complain to your friends and family back home that you are homesick, 'cos they just think you are living one big adventure and are crazy for wanting to be back in rainy England. They don't get you go to work everyday, do the chores, and watch crappy TV on a night, just the same as you did in the UK, but without all the good bits.

Bummer - Leslie 66 made the excellent analysis that the hard work for the GC is the only thing which keeps a lot of people here
The things that twangs my twongers is green fields, footpaths, cornwall etc on films - I go 'look, look it's green!'
Your dilemma makes me realise how lucky I am to have a GC and the chance of the passport at the end of next year. Here is me moaning about having to renounce the citizenship to avoid tax if I go back permanently, when you have a more serious dilemma
They put us in 2 'catch 22 positions' when we going for GC and it all but wrecked my health after almost a year fighting them every day - yes they even denied i had an appointment when i went to grosvenor square - then gave me the GC - so it was a hairy ride up to the end

If you have had a GC more than 5 years, can't you apply for the passport ?

Have I read that wrongly ?

Before I left the UK, the best Friday night for me, was to play with my nieces and nephews, while my siblings and their partners would argue about what to eat that evening. Playing footie in the back garden, while my sister shouted at us that the kids would catch colds and needed their jackets. Yep, I'm close to my family and thankfully, their close to me.

My wife is actually from India, so we have to balance out going to India or England for holidays. Of course, the fact that you get more than two weeks holiday in the UK and being able to see my family all the time is another reason to want to go to the UK. So pretty much if we go back we'd both have to give up the GC's and if we ever wanted to come back to the US it would be through the H1 process.

I love tea, but it was more the occasion, my sister, myself and who ever was just passing always seemed to pop into my mum and dad's house, they still do but I'm not there and have a great old time.

Even the whole bacon thing, it was my Mum complaining about the smell, my father eating too much of it, my brother arguing that it was okay to eat a whole packet each, etc.

Sorry if I didn't make that as clear as I should have. I've been in the US for about 5 1/2 years, about 5 of those years were on a H1B visa. I've only had the GC for a few months, so it's still a fair stint before we would be able to apply for citizenship.

The GC is an amazing thing. When you don't have it, you almost become obsessed with getting it. Once you have it you stop and think okay now what.

For me, it was the first time I really felt my wife and I were alone in the US. I picked up the GC from the mail box, told my wife, called my Dad and then thought now what?

I don't have rose tinted glasses on. I remember the long commutes to work, the cost of petrol and living generally, I remember leaving for work at 7 and not getting back home till 7, but I remember dropping by my mums on the way home, arguing which family event was more important to go to at the weekend, my niece asking me to go to her school play, my nephew asking if I he could come round in the evening as my sister and BIL where going to be late from work. My priorities have changed, before I would say I was focussed on work, now it's on family.

Amazing ! other people do think like me after all..
As soon as the CIS threw up barriers, I obssessed and worked day and night to make them give in and gimme that card....
Similarly, when I was in Florida and no longer qualified for motorbikes, I went and did the test just to have the same as I had in England, even though I didnt want a bike at that time
Now its the passport thing - I will turn up with all 100 answers in my head and swear to support the USA when it bombs any place including heaven, and then think 'what's next'

I will probably start campaigning for non 'natural born americans' to be presidente even though I don't want to be - I can't stop pushing
I reckon that I will only stop climbing mountains when there are no more mountains to climb

That's a bit harsh and for someone whose in Perth and been there for 5 years how would you know what's going on in Yorkshire?
Not everywhere has yellow sharps bins and it is true that some places do provide a plastic sack as an alternative rather than put up with used needles lying around.

I think your ex Army?? i live in Germany but was also on BATUS a few times. Yeh i suppose you can get home sick. I got a German Wife and sometimes i just want to get out of Germany.

No im not ex army..... just a home sick Brit......... who needs to see the green green grass of home..........;( And the time to do that is fast appreaching I think..... time to find a job and go home