HelenI

Hi all I'm new here but really need some advice. I'm born in Belfast and lived in Canada since 1984 and married with two children who are now 24 and 26. Husband is Canadian citizen also from another country from birth. I want to retire to England in two years upon my retirement and bring my husband too. The kids will stay as they have their own lives here. What challenges will we face regarding moving to England. Would I be still be able to just live there and what about my husband?

SanDiegogirl

Unless hubby has British Ancestry (parents, grandparents) you'll need to sponsor him for a spouse visa.

Helen1964

I just wanted to wish you luck.
I'm from Belfast too. Husband is non-British.
We're planning to retire in the UK but not sure where yet. We might start off in Northern Ireland and see how it goes.

Hollyflynn22

Been in Canada for 22 years now, looking to go home.

HelenI

Thank you and yes i would need to sponsor him as he's from Egypt.

HelenI

Hi thanks so much! I'm Helen too and have a sister in Heswall who I would like to live near so thinking Chester would be really nice to live! I hope you find a good place to live and N. Ireland is great too.

HelenI

I wish you good luck going back home! It is a big decision but I'm sure you'll enjoy it once you've settled down over there.

SanDiegogirl

In which case you'll need to read this document carefully to see how you qualify under the financial requirements:

https://assets.publishing.service.go...t-v6.0-ext.pdf

Basically you can qualify using income, savings, pensions etc.
As you are talking about retirement then probably not going to be applying using income (ie. you are not going to have a job to go to in the UK)
So its savings, pensions, other income

To apply you use this website:
https://www.gov.uk/uk-family-visa

getoutofbritainquick

My family and I have been in Canada 15 years and will be moving back to the UK next year. The kids will be coming with us and we will be retiring. We will initially be staying with my brother in Plymouth before we check out areas in Cornwall and Devon to live. A few issues we have come across is the TOR looks a pain in the butt to complete to ship all our worldly possessions - moving to Canada was easy the moving company put the list of goods to follow when the packed for us. Returning to the UK is a lot more difficult - you have to create the 'goods to follow' using the TOR list and have it pre approved by UK customs before the removal companies will pack your things (unless anyone has any other experience to share?), our kids will be 'ordinary residents' for 3 years and will be treated as 'Foreign Students" this means will have to pay double for further education fees, you will not be treated as 'tax residents' for 6 months which has stamp duty implications if you buy property in the first 6 months (but can reclaim this at after you become 'tax residents'. The other main issues are getting a credit rating for credit cards etc. We have a HSBC Premier Account which we set up in Canada with both Canadian and UK accounts for transfering money easily.
The UK property market is experiencing an artificial boom due to the suspension of stamp duty but the same is happening here in Canada due to very low interest rates. The market is crazy at the moment in Victoria and we are putting our house on the market now and will be moving into rental ready to return to the UK next May when our son completes grade 12. We come very close to just selling the house and just go back to the UK this week.

Since COVID started our region has gone stark raving mad and accelerated the destruction of every last remaining green space all over the place. They are clear cutting whole mountains leaving them bare and putting up high density housing and condos everywhere you look. The place is looking starting to look like a communist country. There is not one place left untouched and the whole town is a virtual construction site. The environmental damage is immense. Quite frankly I have never seen anything like it as we live in a geographically constrained area and getting around is becoming quite an issue with the rapidly increasing traffic.
Victoria used to be a quaint peaceful town but since COVID the increase in homeless and crime has gone through the roof which is so sad. This place will be a zoo in a few years time. We can't wait to leave.

brits1

Hi how old are your children ? unless they are university age I have never heard of students having to pay double amount if fee's.

durham_lad

He did say he was referring to "further education fees" which I take to mean colleges and universities.

getoutofbritainquick

They will be 21 and 18 when we arrive in the UK. My eldest will be going back earlier than the rest of the family. I have heard some universities may waive this requirement - has anyone had an experience of waiving the foreign fees? This sucks for us because we have paid taxes in the UK for over 30 years and are no going back to retire permanently. Quote: Usually, yearly tuition fees don’t differ very much between undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in England. You should also be aware that non-EU/EEA students are sometimes charged double or triple the amount that is set for local and EU/EEA students.

• Average tuition fees for EU/EEA students: 9,500 GBP/year
• Average tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students: 17,500 GBP/year

Helen1964

How come you’ve been paying tax in the UK if you’ve been resident in Canada all these years?
I’m tax resident in France so the only tax I pay in the UK is on income from a rental there. Which, once you deduct the personal allowance, isn’t very much.
Good luck with everything.

durham_lad

During the 29 years we were resident in the USA we also paid no UK tax. I thought it always worked that way for the average person. Even our UK based income from savings interest and in later years my UK private pension was only taxed in the USA while we lived there.

Many folks don’t like the fact that when one pays income taxes it is to fund the government’s expenses ongoing and you don’t somehow build up future credits. State pensions are a build up of future credits but that is a separate tax paid through NI contributions.

robin1234

The way I read that statement, they were referring to British tax paid while living in Britain before moving to Canada. They were in Canada for 15 years, and now retiring. So, paying 30 yrs of tax in Britain, then resident in Canada for 15 yrs, just about brings one to retirement age.