I agreed with the last post, do it for yourself, it sounds as though you have made enough sacrifices.. No one will take of you if you don't take care of yourself... Go go it..!!

Me too, agree with others, go do something for you alone, whatever it takes and for however long it takes. Remember, 'If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"!! And you never can tell what tomorrow will bring, nothing is set in stone!!!

Whatever you do, don't wing it! The employment situation is absloutely dire. Get a job first if you can. And don't tell the authorities you have savings

I agree, this is a bad economic time to wing it/force it. I'd run back to the States tomorrow if I could, but am making myself hold off until the economy improves (my house is currently £30k-40k below it's 2007 purchase price and most US universities have a hiring freeze). Think very carefully and don't be too impetuous ... especially with 4 kids to feed.

I appreciate all the advice so far in this thread. And it seems that I am not alone in wanting to return to the UK. The emotional content of family is the driver for me, in which there are a couple of factors which I haven’t mentioned.

I have two older daughter (both in their early 20’s now) who have babies of their own; I am unable to reconcile the thought of only seeing my eldest children and my granddaughters (both under a year old) once a year. I had been hanging onto a pipe dream in which they move out here to the US to live with us but in reality it’s just not going to happen.

My father is just getting old, I talk to him every week on the phone, I haven’t seen him in over a year, It sometimes (usually) feels like I’m waiting for something bad to happen to him.

Then there’s the rest of the stuff that I have struggled with; Workers rights, Healthcare, Politics, Money, Education, Bread (uneatable), TV, the list is kinnda lengthy.

It’s been a great 4 years, a truly excellent experience for us all. There are things here in America that are just fantastic and it can be a superb place to be, but if your hearts not in it and not a day goes past where you don’t miss your family, friends or a decent crusty meat pie then it’s probably time to bite the bullet and fix it.

Thanks for the link to the Green card re-entry permit extension, I will read that in depth, you never know….

If there was just one piece of advice I'd give to all expats (especially MBTTUK-ers), that would be the one ...

A different opinion from everyone else. Sod it, just wing it thats what we did and it's worked out just fine.

Job and business wise things are workng out great and yep we do have children to feed also,

Jon

When did you come back to the UK?

where in the US are you?

the pull and romance of returning to the UK can become super strong and unbearable, and the feeling of relief when you are on the plane can be exhilarating.

However as another poster here put, the mind plays tricks and once all the mind clutter and stress has gone, and post honeymoon period and you settle back into the UK life and normality, winter kicks in and in many cases friends who are more distant second time round don't show you the love, then all of a sudden thoughts of, those exciting first trips round Tesco's and 60 minute flight to paris change to, "ohhhh what have I done"...

Not always the case, but often, subtle changes occur in you over time and you realise you have more in common with the place you left than the place you have gone back to, even if you didnt realise.

Just saying this, not to deter you, follow your dreams, BUT id leave a window open to return if you can, get your PR, green card or whatever you dreamt of back in blighty in the first place and then go back so you have a back up plan.

Don't worry about the money, that can be re-earnt, piece of mind cant. I spent probably $100k AUS returning to the UK, shipping, costs, resettling and then moving back out again to Aus after 12 months, and I don't regret doing it cos I had to do it, and was only ever going to do it once and would have gone bonkers if didnt.

Good luck, just leave a door open if you can....

What a sensible post Sherro. Dying to know what it was about the UK that had you speeding back to Oz.Did you have kids there? And what was it that you missed about Oz?

Who are you asking? [Need to include the original post to know who you are responding to ...]

Have you ever seen the movie Sliding Doors? It has Gwyneth Paltrow, and anyway short story it's about how she lives parallel lives as the result of making/not making it onto a tube train. Would be nice in these situations if we could just enter the parallel universe of returning to the UK, and try it out for a few months, and if we get the "Oh cr*p what have I done?" experience, just slide back through those sliding doors to our original universe.

Of course that could apply to a lot of important life decisions, but some of us on here have spent an arm and a leg on those "Oh cr*p" excursions back and fro (and back again, and fro again...)

$100k AUS - what's that in £££?

I agree ,theres never a good time to go anywhere ,if its not the exchange rates or the job situation or the price of houses etc etce tc ,just so many variables so you have to do as the heart dictates as the brain will just talk u out of it .
Migrants or returnees have to decide quickly i believe and stick to it , the advantage the returnees have is all they have to do is sell and go home ,no paperwork .Migrants on the other hand get rapped up in all the hype and the paperwork and the books they read and the excitement builds to a creshendo on the final day they are both excited and scared , but their rellies being good ''brits'' will make sure to say ''go britain is bolloxed''.

Roughly £51,800