I was born and raised in London, but have been living in the US for 30 years with my American husband. Our 20 year old daughter is quite the Anglophile and has expressed the desire to maybe live in the UK. Well, that put a bug in my ear, and although she still has not made up her mind, we have decided that we two will go. I have come to realise just how much I miss the UK as I get older. Case in point: I cried most of the way through Skyfall, and it had nothing to do with the plot

I already have all the financial information needed for moving back with an American spouse, but I have one question regarding the NHS: how long would it take for my husband to be eligible for healthcare as an American citizen, and how do we go about it? Thanks

AFAIK, NHS elegibility is based on residency and not citizenship, so as long as he can prove a UK address, he should be covered, he may have to state that he has moved as a permanent move, but it shouldn't delay things.

Thanks, mikelincs, I think our biggest problem then will be deciding exactly when to move! Good news indeed. I'd say at least two years, when our DD will be out of nursing school. Will move over to the other threads and get caught up on all the other details. Thanks again!

Your daughter is a UK citizen by descent and so can get a UK passport and live in the UK.

You will have to apply for a visa for your USC husband and meet the new financial requirements.

As people have said both you and your husband will qualify for the NHS as soon as you move to the UK with the intention to stay as residents.

Please research the tax, SS, financial and Medicare implications of moving to the UK as a retiree. For example if you think you might ever want to return to the US you should consider keeping up your Medicare payments.

Thanks nun. My daughter is applying for her passport as we speak. My husband, who is older than me, is already collecting social security and is on Medicare, but I am still working. As far as I understood it, he can still collect S/S while living overseas? Will look into his visa situation.

I still have a few years to go to 65, but I understand now that there may be a change in age eligibility from 65 to 67 for Medicare in the near future. As I am only 54, I think I will have to take the chance that I would not care to return if it comes down to that. With my husband turning 70 in 4 years, I am loathe to wait too much longer, although he is in excellent health, no issues, no meds at all.

One thing that is disappointing is my daughter not being able to go to graduate nursing school in the UK, as apparently all courses are NHS funded, and she does not qualify until after having been a resident for 3 years. But as it happens, she is looking at Israel instead. It may not be as hard to move back to the UK without her, if that's what she chooses, since she may very well move somewhere else too!

Are you and your daughter US citizens as well? If not, it's a good idea to get citizenship if you can before you leave. You never know, you might want to go back, even just to visit.

Moving to the UK won't affect your or your husband's SS. However, if you don't start paying medicare at 65 or he stops paying his premiums then if you go back and want to start Medicare again you will find that your premiums have increased by 10% for every year you have not been paying them. So 7 years will see the Medicare premium double. This is one of a number of issues that need to be considered. Others include the taxation of US pensions by the UK and the US and if you have US mutual funds you need to make sure they comply with UK regulations and don't buy UK financial products that violate certain US rules.

Retirees tend to have more complicated finances than younger people so you need to do a bit more planning when moving countries.

There's no need to get US citizenship if you want to just visit, but if you ever think you'll want to move back it's obviously something that you make that easier. However, having US citizenship greatly complicates the tax and financial aspects of moving back to the UK.

Yes, we are both citizens. Really the only issue is if I stay working here long enough to collect social security, or if I give that up. We are lucky in that we own a small biz in interior foliage and once we sell would have more than enough to qualify for the financial requirements, even without hubby's S/S. I am hoping to find a part time job once there, but we are a frugal couple, and could manage without it.

Yes, will have to look into all that. Wish we could be 100% certain we would not ever need to come back. Seems so complicated!

I do have one other question I just thought of: my UK passport still has my maiden name as I never bothered to change it. I was able to fly to Pakistan and to Swaziland with it, but this was pre 9-11. I was thinking it would be easier to pick up where I left off in the UK (haven't been there since 1989) as far as NHS number, etc, if I kept the name. But now I am wondering if I would be able to fly out with a US passport in my married name and arrive with a UK passport in my maiden name?

The name in your passport should be the same as your legal name and agree with the name on your ticket. So maybe you should apply for a new UK passport.

Once you start looking into how your US SS and pensions will be taxed you will be faced with some nice complicated documents. It's not too difficult once you get your mind around the principles, but doing US taxes and UK self assessments takes some care.

That was my feeling too <sigh>

Looks like I have my work cut out for me as far as taxes, etc. Think we may get some professional advice for that.

Make sure you get someone dual qualified in the US and the UK. The usual tax professional is not qualified to do international tax. I've seen instances where the biases and assumptions of professionals that don't specialize in international tax cause a lot of problems.