Stardustt

I'm hoping by posting this I'll find someone in a similar dilemma.

I've lived in Cyprus for almost 14 years. It was sort of by accident that I ended up here. Though I always wanted to live aboard, I imagined i would be living in the USA, not Cyprus! However, I met my husband here and recently had two children. We are contemplating a move back to the Scotland. Though hubby never lived there, he enjoyed the holidays we spent visiting.

Our main reasons for contemplating this move, are to provide more opportunities to our children and be closer to my mum. We also want to own our own home (we rent a lovely home) and it will be difficult to get a mortgage here and buy anything that's a good investment. I also feel limited in my career, there is no further training I can do here and I would love to switch careers from finance.

Our children are very young, hubby can move with the EU family deal before it's too late and more challenging to for us.

We don't feel Cyprus will offer the kids much in the way of opportunity. Though it's a very safe environment for them and lovely and warm most of the year (except when it's too hot to go outside)

We do love Cyprus. The weather of course, the amazing friends we have and the more relaxed way of things. It would be very difficult to pack up our lives and go!

I love Scotland and haven't been in two years just before all the COVID stuff. I have some family but some are no longer interested to be in our lives. I'm very conflicted in what to do..i'm not looking at Scotland through rose tinted spectacles as I remember the things I didn't like and that's what is holding me back.

My husband is supportive of moving but has almost left the decision with me. He says he will be happy as long as we are all together. Though we have no idea what he can do work wise, and would probably have to gain some new qualifications (he's over 40)

How do you make these decisions?

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Twitcher1958

To me, the big positive factors to move back are the age of your children and the proposed proximity to your mother. As children get older, there’s more chance that they get engrained in your current pleasant way of life and it will likely get harder to move them from that.
None of us should expect to structure our lives completely around our offspring, but up to a certain age, it’s our responsibility to make decisions which will impact them long term. As they get older, they will naturally expect more of a say in such decisions - who knows if that will help or not?

SanDiegogirl

You make the decision based on your research regarding obtaining jobs to support you in the UK. While the UK may offer more opportunities for the children and you would be nearer your mother, that comes with increased costs.
I think you need to get the job prospects/prospective income sorted out first. If you have no idea what your husband could do work wise, then that is a major problem .....

Stardustt

Yes I agree, the age they are now is the best time to go.

Stardustt

It is a huge problem, which we also have here at the moment , for lots of complicated reasons he has to leave his job he would need to retrain here or take on odd jobs. Either way we have this issue so it could be the best time to make the move, more opportunities for him also.

Johnboyuk

There are plenty of opportunities to retrain in the UK at all levels and the government is taking an active part in this:

National retraining scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

jarv5116

Get your hubby a HGV licence.
UK is desparado for drivers at the minute.
Pick up a driving job anywere in the country

durham_lad

Good idea except the hubby has to get his own HGV driving licence.