Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

`Hi all,
I'm sure this has been done to death but in a bid to not spending any more hours trawling through the forms i thought i'd ask for those of you that lived in the US and went back home to England to give me your pros and cons.
My story is, I lived in England my whole life (with temporary moves to Canada and Israel). Got married to an American i met in Israel and moved to USA. We have been here 9 years and 6 of those in beautiful Colorado (south metro area). We have a 4 yr old and a 6 yr old who attend an amazing k-12 charter school. We live in the most affluent beautifully clean and well kept town. My parents moved down the road from us 3 years ago from the UK. It's been wonderful. I don't say this to boast, i say it to give context into my pull to go back home.
The school shootings are terrifying. It's something i have not been ok with. Every time i drop my kids off at school i leave feeling so sad and almost prepping myself that they may not ever come home to me. It sounds over dramatic but i have reason. In the last 2 years there was a STEM school shooting i'm sure you will have heard of, that was 2 miles from my house, opposite my youngest's pre school and my older boy was enrolled in that school until the day before the shooting happened when he got into our 1st choice. PHEW! There was another one planned at the high school down the road from us that was foiled by chance. Then there's the memories of Columbine :( Like i said, we live in a safe beautiful part of the state, there's no safety from mental health issues and guns.
It's just getting too frequent for my liking and i hate that the kids have to 'hide from a bear and suck on a lollipop to stay quiet' during drills.
In 10 years, friendships are shallow but pleasant.

My parents will move to the UK if i leave. They may even go if the administration take away obamacare as their retirement didn't plan for US healthcare but instead for the NHS.

I have US and UK citizenship and we could technically always come back, but we have investments to think about and uprooting the kids is something i wouldn't like to do again if i can help it.

I'm most worried that i have rose tinted memories of England.
I lived mostly in Northamptonshire in the countryside. Something i didn't love as a kid but would love now!
My husband is worried about the weather being depressing but i counter that with easy short trips to spain, france, crete etc.
Living in Colorado is like living in your holiday destination which sounds ideal but what that does is make you not want to explore much else, and when you do you can't wait to come back to colorado. Again, sounds ideal but it means never having that super exciting trip or vacation, not fully feeling like you are unplugging from 'home' (colorado). It's hard to explain.

I believe we would move to Oxford, Maidenhead area if we move. Berkshire area. I would want to enroll the kids in a charter/grammer school if i can.

So please, give me your pros and cons. Please, if you can share also what state you lived in and what county you are in now in the UK.
Please be kind. Apologies, i'm writing this at speed as the kids demand my attention so i'm not at my most articulate!

Many thanks!

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

I am still living in the US but have continual contact with family in Bucks. One work to be cautious of is Brexit. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/07/24/b...son/index.html . I heard on the radio today that one engineering job in the West of England had 15,000 applicants, another paralegal job had 700 applicants, 100 applicants for a hotel job. My niece did get laid off a month ago but has managed to find work, my sister on the other hand has not. Traffic is much worse than when I left 10 years ago. My sister got a parking ticket for being a minute late, she has a blue badge and it was 10 minute parking. That would not happen in America. There are many more flats that have been built, thus creating higher density housing in green belt land. I live in Oregon and even with the Portland stuff going on I feel as safe in the US, maybe safer, than I do in the UK. It is a very different culture.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Also it depends if you are OK with sending your kids to school. Home school options appear to be more organized in the US compared to the UK, but I can only make that decision on my limited observations from me and my family/friends.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

You make the UK sound worse than it is. Getting a parking ticket for being "one minute late" would easily be dismissed considering nearly every council employs a 10-minute window from the expiry time of a parking permit to allow the owner of the car to return to their vehicle and extend their stay or leave. Not only that but if she had a blue badge then she wouldn't need to pay for parking and they can stay anywhere from a few minutes to up to three hours. In either instance, that ticket would be dismissed instantly by any competent local council administrative review board.

What about the UK do you think is making you feel more safe in Portland where there are protests and unidentified men in black snatching up protesters and throwing them into the back of unmarked van?

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Apparently a lot of car parks are privately managed now. Also they don't have people giving out tickets, they have ANPR cameras that watch you coming in and going out. You can google incidents, there was one just last week in an Aldi car park, https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/new...rongly-3753292. My sister is not one that wants confrontation, but it is common enough that which has a whole section on it, https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/new-...ines-explained . It was only £60 whereas in the US they are quite often over $100

Also I guess you have never lived in places like Luton, or Birmigham, where there are stabbings on a weekly basis. I know 25 years ago there were locker inspections in the schools for knives, it has just worse now.Yes, the downtown Portland is an issue, but I can easily avoid that. But where I used to work, in Acton, there are 2 or 3 violent crimes a day in a population of 16,000. Quite often weapons are involved. There are good and bad parts, in both the US and the UK.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

The reality is though, crime and particularly violent crime is far more prevalent in the US than the U.K. by a very large margin. The knife crimes in the U.K. are largely an issue of youth gang on gang and are mainly confined to particular areas. The average member of the public has very little chance of being subject to it.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Must depend on where you are - my children (at secondary) have never had a locker inspection of any kind, neither have their friends at other schools. And nor did I at mine, although that was close to the 25 years ago you've mentioned!

Knife crime is crap in the UK, but it doesn't come anywhere close to firearms offences in the US.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

I never had locker inspections either at my school. It highly depends where you live. All I'm trying to say is there are good and bad in both countries. I do hate having to pay for parking when I go to the hospital and you have no idea how long you are going to be. Also the lines in the grocery stores used to be horrendous, and it took a lot longer for the UK to get click and collect up and running for everyone.

However it is great for those quick vacations to Spain.

Northampton is a little bit of a hot spot for the virus. Also Linford Wood is in the top 10 for some unknown reason, about 1 in 300 deaths of the population.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Totally agree.

I've never understood the point of click and collect. I do normally have my groceries delivered every week though, have done for the past 20 years. I hate any kind of shopping, including food shopping!

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

I think the biggest difference is click and collect is free and has more time slots available. We would never have used it if it wasn't for the virus.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Thank you everyone for your responses.
We have decided we want to go back to the UK and we are very excited about it.
Just got the kids passports through and now we are working on the dreaded spouse visa and job transfers :)

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

Congratulations on the move. I'm not sure what you have decided to do with the kids, but I saw an online option that looked reasonable that you may be able to use.

https://interhigh.co.uk/

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

how long did the passports take? How did you get the photos signed by someone who’s a U.K. resident? I’m needing to get my kids’ passports renewed ASAP! Thank you (and congrats l)

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

I have had a teacher (US) signed my passport renewal in the past. For the initial passports I think they need to have a British passport.

Re: Pros and cons from your move from US back to UK
 

that isn’t allowed for kids even for renewals unfortunately