We are considering moving back to the U.K. my partner is unhappy and unsettled and is sure that Oz is probably not for him. He feels it is a little culturally lacking and misses a lot of Brtishness. He does know that the lifestyle and weather etc is fantastic but as he said the other day he could buy a house in Europe and get that there and be within 2 hrs from the u.k.

I am afraid though that once he gets back there for good he will regret it and then maybe want to return once the novelty wears off. We have been here for around 7 mths and just wondered what amount of people have returned without gaining their Citizenship from the country they migrated to. I just worry that he may decide that he's made a big mistake and want to return and will not have the option to. Its just so hard and costly to decide.

We have just recently returned from a trip back to the U.K. and he is pretty sure he wants to return and now i am swaying that way. (i wasn't really bothered about returning before). Its also ironic as i didn't mind life in the U.K. and could have quite easily stayed there, this is something he wanted a little more than me. Don't get me wrong it was a joint decision. Its just how can you just change your mind like that, he says he just knows.

So if anyone can help and tell me whether they made the right decision to return and if they regret not having got their citizenship.

Lisa

Been here 5 months and about 4 months too long, have been here twice before so had an idea what oz was all about I love it here for hols its a great place just not for me to live. Its simple really I miss home my friends, family and my life, being so homesick has come as a big shock to me I expected times when we all would be but the feeling is relentless and I was the driving force to come here Daughter at crucial time in education so gonna try and stick it out till she finishes school.

Hi lisa,

We have been here almost 2 years now and although things have become a hell of a lot easier, I still get the hankering for the UK now and again. I think its going to be a long time before I shake this off, but we are definately happier here. I have met some fantastic friends here and have a more active social life than I ever did in the Uk, but still something holds me back, of which of this moment I don't quite know what it is. We are definately going for citizenship. My only suggestion is to give it go, try for the 2 years as we have (it's flown).

Good luck to you it's worth a shot
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I think for me it was a gradual realisation rather than a bang, I don't wanna be here kind of feeling. We would stay if things were different with family time, but they won't be, so for us it's a matter of family comes first. So if we don't see each other, then that's a problem lol! A lot of people get edgy around the 6 month mark, where they realise the holiday is over etc. I personally really miss the humor, the history and the green of the UK..............the canucks are way nicer than the English though in my opinion lol!

Just makes sure he's at peace with himself, as all the house hopping in the world can't help you if you are running from something.....don't mean to be offensive there though, but you know what I mean I am sure.

The very best to you both, and lifes about giving stuff a go eh?

Mrs Miggins xxx

Well, we didnt migrate exactly - we came here because there was a good offer and we took it. I dont think, though, that I have ever thought of Aus as "home" and even from the beginning had that real limbo feeling - my head telling me that this was home but my heart telling me I was a tourist and vice versa when I went back to UK. Back in those days I could see some benefits to being here - if you discount the education it wasnt a bad place to bring up kids. Now I am stuck here and the loathing has set in - probably because I am stuck here. I didnt hate it quite so much as when I thought there was an escape clause. Bottom line though, it has never felt like home.

I becam uncertain at six months, and now am positive its not for me at 12 months, every day feels like a year now, as we have got to stay until my 16 year old completes school (2 years to go), mind you we might be backrupt by then, coz work for me is the worst thing here and i avoid it at every opportunity.

We will get citizenship though coz we have to stay for our teen, but if not , i wouldn't bother my arse about it.

We said 2 years and it has been 18 months now and I have never felt settled on Oz. I just know I am not going to be happy here long term. This sounds a bit like your OH.
I like it here but I certanly do not love it. People keep saying give it time but the majority love it and cannot understand that we left a nice life in UK and went on a 2 year adventure which has been fun and we have no regrets. Once we have seen Melbourne and NZ then it's back to the UK for us. I like being part of a country that I feel that I can identify with and be part of and I feel so English out here and I will never feel or be Australian. My Australian friends won't let me
I have learnt a few lessons about emgrating here that I didn't expect to and when we go we will go home wiser.
Good luck and ask yourself one fundamental question.
Forget the sun, the house, the laid back lifestyle, the whatever appealed to you before you came over.
Are you happier here?
If not and you have the option to GO HOME.

May sound daft, but as soon as we got here i knew we had made a mistake. I speak on behalf of Perth though and not the rest of OZ. We visited Brisbane and Sydney and loved it. But i know my heart belongs in UK, so after 2 longest years of my life, we are going home in August.
Sometimes trying to fit into another culture just doesn't fit.

Margaret .....have you tried any different fields of nursing ? Practice, community ?

Casual is ok because you can choose when you work and what hours, but it is usually the shitty shifts that are left and speaking to our casual staff they end up with the worst type of patients.

Two weeks and I'd had enough.

Are you heading home then?

No I'm stuck here with an Aussie husband and Aussie children.

In all honestly...I remember the journey from the Airport to our rental and as I looked out of the taxi along with my family I thought "where the hell have I come to"......we had not been before and even after 10 years I can remember that feeling like it was yesterday.....I did no sleep that night, neither did my husband, we did not want to unpack just get on the next plane home.....we thought at the time how daft that sounded but 10 years on and giving Aus a really good go it was not for us...we have travelled and there are nice places, we live in Perth and that really is not for us...would we of moved to another State...we nearly did (Queensland) 4 years ago but we went home for our first visit and home was still home.....it's not always about the area's it's about what really matters to you......I do wish we had gone home after that visit but we were building our home we now live in.....so we are now hoping to ruturn home this August at the latest....the way we feel now about living here is that I would not want to return....would I stay another two years for my Cit?...no (but I already have mine after 7 years here)but no really at the moment two weeks is like 2 years........but that is me, sometimes you really do know deep down what you want....you just have to listen.....two years can be a long time if you are unhappy......
All the best.....

Nu-Shooz, have you got your citizenship? Or are you going before you get it? If you have it are you glad and if you haven't do you wish you could make yourself stay longer and get it?

Everyone tells us that we should stick out 2 years as it isn't a long time and I know this, but you only get one life and is it worth my partner being miserable and us arguing for the next 18 months. Should I live for the now and move back to the UK or think of the future and stay put? Thing is the future has a funny way of never turning out how you plan anyway.

I think we are going back to England in all probability and I guess it's tough if we regret it. We'll cross that bridge when and if we come to it. It will just get right on my nerves if people say I told you so, you should have stuck it out. I've got to remember it's my life and the life of my partner that is important, life's too short to not go with your heart and his heart says go home.

I do like it here, but I liked it in the UK too. I had a good life, good job and nice hols only thing i'll miss is the warm weather and the chance of a passport i might never use.

Like most people I was definitely up and down for the first few years (getting divorced, becoming a single mother, finding job to keep roof over head after being SAHM etc didn't help either!).

However it wasn't really until my first trip home, three years in, that the homesickness really kicked in and five years later, two more trips back is still alive and kicking.

Now stuck here for another eight years until youngest is 17 and it really sucks. It's come to being on antidepressants and seeing a shrink to try and cope with that thought.

Thank god for MBTTUK, I feel like people on here are the only ones who really understand how it feels (hugs).